Rare, the legendary developer behind more than 100 games over nearly 40 years, has always drawn inspiration from its own history—and Banjo-Tooie, the sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, is a prime example. Surprisingly, one of the influences came from none other than GoldenEye 007 on the N64.
Chris Sutherland, a former Rare developer and Banjo-Tooie programmer, explained in the latest issue of Retro Gamer magazine that parts of Banjo-Tooie’s gameplay were shaped by the team’s obsession with Rare’s classic first-person shooter. Certain sections of the game allowed players to see the world from Banjo’s perspective while using Kazooie to shoot eggs, mimicking a shooter-style experience. Some multiplayer mini-games worked similarly, a direct nod to the N64 FPS.
Sutherland said, “There were four or five of us on the Banjo team that would play GoldenEye, probably every lunchtime for a couple of years, so that was a strong influence on Banjo-Tooie.” He also noted that director Gregg Mayles always wanted Banjo and Kazooie to operate separately before joining together, which naturally limited some moves and encouraged a new set of abilities. “It just felt like the next logical step. Once we split the characters apart, your moveset was reduced, so you couldn’t do all the things you could do before. It was another way to give you a different set of moves, and then there were missions built around that,” Sutherland explained.
Rare has always been adept at switching genres, later returning to shooters with Perfect Dark, Perfect Dark Zero, and even incorporating first-person gameplay in Sea of Thieves. Meanwhile, fans of Banjo-Kazooie can still hope for a reboot, as Rare reportedly continues to listen to pitches for a new entry in the series.
