Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts Analysis 

Come on this being a Mumbo focused Spin off makes so much sense!

Klungo’s stitches on his face make more sense then any other stitches bc of Grunty beating the shit out of him in Tooie, leaving him scarred and deformed. Like Palpatine

If they didn't use the Bajo IP, This game would probably be a well loved hidden gem

I gave nuts and bolts another try this year and i gotta say I had a lot of fun with it! I would've preferred a more traditional Banjo game but nuts snd bolts can still be a lot of fun. It had some interesting ideas and worlds and still has that Banjo charm to some extent. Also thanks for featuring my art!!

I remember being all excited for a new banjo game, then playing it for 15 minutes never to think about it again until now!!!

I got this when it came out in 8th grade, I was so excited about it having played the other two many times (I had an older brother), and it still is one of my favorite games of all time. For whatever reason, I didn't get it in my head that it had to be exactly the same and it worked out. Most beautiful music and graphics, so much fun, Showdown Town is one of the greatest worlds ever to grace a game, just a thought-provoking and genuinely innovative game. It's sad that the trend is still to hate it.

Literally was telling friends last night while playing Banjo Tooie, Nuts and Bolts is banjo threeie and this pops up in my recommendations today

If you look at this game it is totally okay but it didn't felt like a Banjo Kazooie Game. I mean it is a similar problem with the Paper Mario Games. Paper Mario Sticker Star isn't the best game but it's okay. So many people hated this game because it doesn't felt like a Paper Mario Game. Btw. I totally agree with your opinions on the designs!

I love Banjo Kazooie nuts and bolts I really hate how people keep hating on this game just because it's different than the others even though the characters are still good the music is still good and the game play while different is still good but I still really hope they make a new Banjo Kazooie game soon

Another awesome video, and there are heaps of things I agree with a lot of stuff in this video. Also, I tried Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts months ago sometime in 2023, and I agree that it is so different to the first three Banjo-Kazooie games, but I really enjoyed playing it though.

It's theorized that the game was originally supposed to be more like the last two games, but switched up to the car building game it is later in development.

I absolutely loved the hub world and the first world. It was a lot of fun exploring and the missions in the first world weren't demanding, so I enjoyed them. Then the second world came around and from that point on I think the game is just awful. In the first world, there could be a race on the water, so you make a boat, or you need something that flies, so you make a plane. But from the second world on, the requirements for your vehicles to complete missions become more and more specific, and your time becomes more involved with constructing a vehicle just right so that it can complete the mission rather than actually enjoying playing it. What was at first "make a boat so you can complete the race," which allows a lot of freedom and creativity, became "figure out what kind of boat is needed to complete this mission through trial and error." So it goes from freedom, creativity, and completing the mission with the vehicle you designed to something of a puzzle, trying to figure out what is required. This is compounded by the repetition of the mission types, and very quickly the game lost its enjoyability for me.

We already have banjo threeie, which is banjo kazooie grunty's revenge

Currently playing this and I’m so glad you mentioned how annoying the racing is in this game. If you hit another driver, it’s always you who spins out, not the other drivers, and it’s pretty much game over at that point. Either that or you knick something or one of those Grunt bots smack into you at the wrong time, you have to restart. I don’t mind difficult races, but I just hate when they’re unfair.

This game and Super Mario Sunshine have a lot of similarities, from the hub world to the change in gameplay from the rest of the series.

This is the game of the series i grew up with, since when I was young I was scared of the original (game over screen), even though I never made it past nutty acres act 2 back then, I have a ton of fond memories of it. I started replaying it and I’m around the jiggoseum (I did the grunty challenges for the previous areas).

You might be onto something with Mumbo. He did train Gruntilda, and have you noticed how quick and eager he is to date her when you game over? I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be smuggling coconuts to both sides of the Kong Islands conflict. Probably forged his mumbo tokens out of blood banana coins.

Huh... the game focusing on Mumbo could have been interesting. While I've always understood the "good game, bad Banjo game" mindset, I always felt that it benefited from the series; I personally believe it being a new IP altogether would have hurt it, but that Mumbo idea is a fascinating middle ground tbh Also, yeah, obviously I would have preferred a traditional platforming sequel either way

TL;DR It's a good game, but goddammit, people want Banjo-Threeie.

Now we might need a video on Yooka-Laylee

Hopefully there's a Yooka-Laylee retrospective coming soon.

Fantastic video! Great review and well said!

If we ever do get a 3rd game I hope they give us the big worlds from Tooie but letting us complete levels in one go like Kazooie. Having us constantly needing a future move to complete an earlier level kills the flow of a collecthathon!! Kazooie only did that once so it was bad to deal with vs Tooie doing that in the 1st level on onwards.

“Players don’t want to collect, they just wanna shoot things.” Well, seeing as Halo isn’t afraid enough of its series’ identity to make a comment like this… *Reaching for the eject button on the console.*

Nuts and Bolts is a great game and was way ahead of its time. It’s just not the game we wanted after the first 2. Especially after such a long hiatus (which now seems small compared to the current one)

If I were to summarize my critique of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in a single sentence, it would be: It is a good game on its own, but it is a bad Banjo-Kazooie game. The game does a lot of things right, what many others do not. It tries out something new. New gameplay mechanics, new ideas, new characters designs, new art direction. Rare just went so far, that the game has almost nothing in common with Banjo-Kazooie and should just be a new IP.

I'll defend this game till the day I die. It's my second favourite in the trilogy behind the original but it's also the one I go to most often for its replayability and customization. And yes, I've been playing Banjo since the original on N64. This game was super ahead of it's time, it's soundtrack is one of my favourites ever in a video game, it's depth is unmatched by the previous games and it's graphics still look pretty timeless. I wish more people gave it a chance and approached it with an open mind day 1 like I did... Maybe then we would have gotten more Banjo games.

The main thing I hate about this game is the character design. Kazooie and Humba for sure are the worst. I don't like L.O.G. as a character. Other than that, I think it's a good game. Not a good Banjo game, just a good game. If it had nothing to do with Banjo-Kazooie, it would be perfectly fine. Always good to see one of your analysis videos.

Lol @ that Zelda intro sequence. I immediately though TOK was “Legend of Zelda Nuts and Bolts” after that one direct. There was a time I was so desperate for Banjo Kazooie in Smash I would’ve been fine with a N&B implementation of them I’m really glad Sakurai didn’t do that though 😅 I basically had the same history with it as you. Bought it, quickly dropped it, but years later went back and it grew on me

I'm default hesitant to watch walk-throughs of games I haven't played but might someday. But this was great, and struck the right balances.

Humba Wumba is the only Nuts and Bolts character design I like lol

I played Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts when it first released in 2008. I had a friend who specifically went out of his way to buy an Xbox 360 just so we'd be able to play it. With the limited internet I had at the time, I remembering buying gaming magazines (something I normally didn't do) just so I'd be able to hear about details and see sneak previews about the game. Both my friend and I ended up staying up all night to complete it, so needless to say from my initial perspective, I still don't quite understand the later retrospective criticisms along the lines of "people only hated it when it came out because it wasn't a Banjo-Kazooie game" or a lot of the other weird straw-man arguments that came about. Because when it first came out, I thought it was just fine and novel for what it was. The dislike for it seemed like it really only started to seep in within a couple years or so after it came out. Once it became apparent that it wasn't quite a big success and that Banjo-Kazooie was likely to go back to being a largely dormant franchise (the most dormant it's ever been as of today) and that this would likely be the last note it would have to end on. But, if it really was as simple as being just another weird experimental entry that failed in it's last ditch risk to do something new, creative, and experimental to freshen up variety within it's franchise, I think people would've been more forgiving. Frankly, I think there's also something where the novelty and promising potential of the vehicle building started to wear off, so then it was left as just another experimental game with repetitive missions, a janky early physics engine, awkwardly segmented progression, and abrasive dialogue, which all seemed to show a lack of confidence in itself. Personally, the gameplay was promising and the concept was interesting, which I think could've been improved and made even better with another go, spin-off, sequel, or simply more time to cook and become fuller and more realized. It's become kind of a disappointing and unfortunate situation all around that nothing ever really came from it, but also that it genuinely had room and potential to be more in what it set out to do. Even today, it feels tough to talk about because it seems to be both simultaneously overhated and overhyped. Regardless if it was attached to the Banjo-Kazooie IP or not, to me it's just fine, but only just fine and somewhat mediocre. And in some ways, I think if it wasn't tied into being a Banjo-Kazooie game, it wouldn't be talked about as much.

4:50 L.O.G reminds me of Monita from Nintendo Land

For Trophy Thomas, I _would_ agree about him being annoying, except for his ingame purpose: to Master an event, you need to get a score that's supposed to be his best. In other words, he can be thought of as a secondary antagonist, and plays into that role _very_ well. For Klungo, considering how much we were forced to beat him up in Tooie, I _suppose_ all those stitches make sense... For Humba, her previous outfit was "traditional Native American", and this one was more "modern Native American". Fits well. I agree on the other "fails", though would add that they way over-emphasized Banjo's nose, making that a fail too... and I don't give King Jingaling a pass despite agreeing with the points in his favor. The nose is just too long. I should mention for LOG though, his "eyes and mouth" are a Pong game, which I consider a really nice touch.

I never finished nuts & bolts but from what I did play I had a decent time. I totally agree if this was treated more as a spin off with Mumbo as the main character it would have been received much more favorably. But it being the last banjo game does sour things. I feel the same way about Rayman being replaced by the rabids. I only ever played Rayman 1 on GBA and a demo of Rayman 2 on the App Store, but I did have raving rabids for Wii and really wish that wasn’t his last game. Thankfully he’s had a small resurgence with the sparks of hope DLC and being in the Blood Dragon Show so hopefully something is on the way. And hopefully the same with Banjo.

As a "Banjo(-Kazooie) Super Fan" myself, I ofc had the opposite sentiment, NnB was my first pre-order ever and although I too had a bad taste in my mouth initially I grew to LOVE this game. Great video btw dude! Very much great take overall and glad u gave it a try. Cheers bro! ❤

Honestly the whole notion of this game being "In place of a third Banjo game" was the biggest problem when it came to its issue with appeal, and it really could have been described as a spin-off even WITH Banjo. People already have trouble understanding spin-offs even when they are announced as such. Halo Wars, a spin-off deliberately made as a fun callback to the original plan for Halo as an RTS, was still misunderstood to be a 'replacement' for the next game in the Halo series. Maybe back then businesses were still wet behind the ears when it came to internet info spreading and what information needs to come out first to get people on board with an idea. I honestly think the game could've had a wholly different reception with certain differences. It's basically a creative spin-off and if Mario and other mascots can do tons of weird random game types, no reason Banjo shouldn't. People also harped WAY too much on the 'oh noes XBOX' factor. As to the gameplay, I found the most fun thing was breaking rules. Coming up with not only unique ways to clear a challenge, but also finding ways to cheese the rules, even in Log's challenges, which are basically just part-limited runs. You can rebuild the design you get in any way without losing time. With the infamous Sailcar in the Terrarium, I re-read the rules and then plucked the antenna off the top, exited the builder, picked it up and ran all the way to the finish. XD I tended to use Banjo and Kazooie on foot wherever I could and focused on using the machines to fill in the necessary gaps instead of trying to make a device to do everything. When it comes to TotK, I found that game did have some issues with potential ideas not working due to very mild changes in environment and it lacked anywhere near the same options for control as N&B, such as the ability to actually control weapons when piloting. Meanwhile, N&B favored fun over physics and just kind of ignored certain inhibitions, which made it more nonsensical, but honestly more practical to be honest. You can cheat your way around Showdown Town even without the Magic Carpet glitch. I spent SO much time just running around that place getting crates early. It was immensely fun. There was a lot of genuinely funny dialogue, but I have to agree with Bottles on this one, they used racing too much as the default where I think they should have gone with battle challenges instead. Those offer the most fun creativity, and don't get used enough as an objective.

One of the best games ever, a game that rewards genius and creativity. So you can tell why people wouldn't like it 🤭🤭🤭

Nuts and bolts is a fun game on its own. I olay it when i want to play a vehicle buildung game. It honestly sucks this was the banjo game we got. It seems banjo was slapped into this game last minute. Hence the offputting plot and weird mechanics

The lack of being able to explore isle o hags or gruntys lair in a sequel has bothered me for decades. Even Mario Odyssey let you come back to the castle.

hmm... maybe I'll give this game a go. I have it on Rare Replay. I'm currently going through "Grunty's Revenge" now though and honestly, the game isn't that bad. Kinda fun actually. Maybe you can do a retrospective on that game one day. I'd totally watch it.

Nah they did humba dirty 💀💀

Will you do a Yooka-Layle series video ?

ITS HERE!

I'm gonna be that one person. This is not Banjo Kazooie. It's like you said, this is just a Lego game lmao.

I didn't finish this game, but I can say that it is due to lack of skill, I liked putting things together even though I would have liked it a lot if it had been a platform like the previous ones, but don't listen to me, I even like Grunty's Revenge for GBA

-I don’t mind Banjo & Kazooies redesign -Gruntys new design is awesome I don’t like Mumbos redesign but I don’t hate it I don’t like Mumbos redesign but I don’t hate it Humbas redesign is BAD, doesn’t resemble Klungos redesign is ok Jinjo redesign is not good Jolly Roger’s redesign is BAD, doesn’t resemble Boggys redesign is BAD, doesn’t resemble Blubbers redesign isn’t great And for me the new voice samples are ALL inferior.

A bit late to your latest video but here I am. So I don’t have much to say about nuts and bolts. Although I do like everything you had to say about the game. On one hand, they shouldn’t have changed the game as much as they did. They could’ve easily done a third traditional banjo game and it would’ve sold very well. Everybody would’ve been happy with it. On the other hand, this doesn’t look like the worst game in the world. There’s definitely a lot more bad games out there compared to nuts and bolts. I do see the redeeming qualities that it has but I’m still rather neutral on the game. Also, I wanted to ask you something. Have you heard of the banjo games on the GBA? You should definitely check them out if you want some more banjo goodness. I personally think Grunty’s revenge is super underrated. Since you’re such a big banjo fan, like myself, I know you’re going to enjoy it.

Shouldn't Banjo-Threeie be renamed “Banjo-Threebie?”

How many people like banjo nuts, and bolts raise your hand😂😂😂😂

I will always despise the story in nuts & bolts but if viewed as a side non canon game I think its fine 👍🏻 definitely agree about the character models, the music and the levels. Also the Grunty fights are way too easy I agree. I think L.O.G. is absolutely horrible but if I pretend he doesn't exist I don't mind going back and playing this game every few years. I sometimes just love walking around near Gruntys castle & surrounding areas in spiral mountain to hear the music and think what could've been in Banjo Threeie 😢 maybe one day

Neither me nor my friend who are banjo kazooie fans liked this game. I couldn't get over how ugly the characters were or how they reduced their roles or how the game mocked fans of the previous games. And how the game played. My friend who beat it (unfortunately) said for him the game never got better and only got more repetitive and the only world he liked was banjo land and it frustrated him to see how good a banjo threeie couldve looked from banjo land but he instead was stuck playing nuts and bolts (hes a trophy hunter) Neither one of us liked how they dropped the ball on the stop and swap either making it pointless to go for when it just gave you some minor stuff for the cars.

Banjo-Tooie is the better Banjo game, but I enjoyed this game overall more than Banjo-Tooie (the original Banjo-Kazooie is still my favorite though). I will say that if this game had been a spin-off to hold us over until the real Banjo-Threeie came out, it probably wouldn't have gotten as much hate as it did. But it had been 3 years since the last Banjo game at that point (Banjo-Pilot) and 8 years since the last mainline Banjo game at that point (Banjo-Tooie). So I do understand the frustration of fans with the game when it released. And I will say I wasn't a fan of the art direction and models they went with, but I'm able to get past them for the most part. I think they made them like that because this game was originally meant to be part of a BK cartoon they were making? It was something like that, but they just kept the models and reworked the game to try and be "Banjo-Threeie" when the show was canceled. So not the Banjo game we wanted, but it's still a fun game on its own that I would spend a long time playing and messing around in when I was in my teen years lol. Good video.

I believe the significant alteration in Humba Wumba's design stems from widespread criticism of the original portrayal, which was deemed racist and sexist, particularly towards women and Native Americans. She has become a focal point of controversy within the series. In the event of a Banjo-Threeie release or a remake collection akin to the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy, it's likely that whoever oversees the project will opt for either a complete replacement of Humba or a substantial redesign to address these concerns.

Awesome video But that banjo game is flop for me I was excited to find out that they were making a new one until I saw it i Hate how banjo looks all boxy and it became a car builder 🤦🏻‍♂️ how did they screw it up

Nuts and bolts was a mess, but it had its good parts. Better than tooie no doubt, that game was just plain awful. Too bad kazooie ended up being the only really good game in the trilogy. The series deserved better.

I actually have an old copy of this one but never played it. I heard it's not good and I don't like the design

The fact that they gave kazooie eyelashes makes me sad. She's a loud, rude, gnc queen don't put makeup on her!!!

No matter if you like or dislike this game, its not a Banjo Kazooie game.

Nuts and bolts deserves the hate because even though it's not a bad game literally NO ONE asked for this, and it resulted in the death of a beloved franchise.

nuts and bolts will *NEVER* be banjo-threeie,this stupid game killed the franchise all cause microsoft wanted rare that badly,game killers is what they are

The idea was cool but the execution was bad

One of gamings biggest disappointments.

I hate this game

I hate it nuts and bolts I actually played it👎👎👎 that game is what killed the game I'm still hoping that they make another game or a remaster of both of the games

Since I never played this game, so I can only assume the new character designs and clothing indicates they have a specific role for a game base on crafting vehicles. So Mumbo seems like a mechanic? Bottles looks like a car dealer, so he'll sell you parts? Humba Wumba...idk, a mechanic also? Provides extra challenges? The token hot female??? 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

This has to be a joke. Banjo and kazooie are still faithful to their original models.

BK:N&B was an awesome game that was never given a chance, and JonTron essentially buried this games reputation forever. An absolute travesty.

The workshop reminds me alot of the Gummi Ship workshop from Kingdom Hearts.