Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Kazooie is a platformer developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. It stars a bear named Banjo and a bird named Kazooie who rides in his backpack, and follows them as they set out to rescue Banjo's sister from the witch Gruntilda. In the tradition established by Super Mario 64, it is a collect-a-thon: the player explores large, distinct themed worlds gathering musical notes and golden jigsaw pieces, using an inventive shared moveset in which the bird provides flight, egg attacks, and speed while the bear provides strength. The game was praised for its polished design, its dense and characterful worlds, its humor, and its memorable David Wise and Grant Kirkhope music. Among its most beloved worlds is Treasure Trove Cove, a golden beach holiday of a level complete with sand, a climbable sandcastle, a stranded pirate ship, tide pools, and a territorial crab, sitting under a bright summer sun. The whole game carries that late-1990s Rare brightness, greens and yellows turned all the way up, and it arrived in June 1998, right as the season opened. A commercial and critical success, it spawned a sequel and remains a high point of the console's library.