COMMENTARY - Someone please just announce a new Banjo game already

Getting jiggy with it.

By Jonathan Garrett
14/04/24

There has been ample opportunity for Microsoft to further mine the breadth of versatile IP at their disposal. Their first party infrastructure is diverse and thankfully starting to hit a fair reasonable release cadence, and when you have Phil Spencer himself acknowledging the legacy of titles in their back pocket, it’s time for them to step up and do the right thing. It’s time for Banjo to reveal himself.

Now, lets be crystal on this; Nuts and Bolts was an egregious misstep that forever tainted the IP. It has its defenders, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with a studio with a pedigree like Rare wanting to try something new. But it wasn’t Banjo. It should have been its own thing. Shoehorning vehicle and construction mechanics into a series known for being a platforming collect-athon was a painful misunderstanding of what the majority connected with across Kazooie and Tooie.

Fast forward to the last couple of years, and the breadcrumbs are being sprinkled. We mentioned Phil already. He’s game. But last week, Toys For Bob’s Paul Yan said the following: “One company we'd like to work with is one we're already working with — Team Xbox! They've been a great partner and they also have a very interesting roster of characters that Toys for Bob could have a lot of fun with. The honey bear is the first one that comes to mind — I think we can all agree Banjo's been hibernating long enough, right?”

That is such a bold statement of intent from a company already working with Team Green. Given their storied history of lovingly restoring the Crash series to maximum glory, a low stakes remastered collection (ignoring Nuts and Bolts of course) could be a great first step. It’s also perfect for Game Pass; platformers like Banjo deserve to be experienced by a broad audience.

To play devil’s advocate, the expectations for something like this would be astronomical. The scope of anticipation from a huge percentage of nostalgic gamers (who likely grew up on the N64) would be next to impossible to satiate. However, as Michael Huber from Easy Allies likes to say, “Everything returns. Everything comes back”.

Sources: Pure Xbox and Canadian Guy Eh

No, thank you.