Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge
North American GBA box art
Developer(s)	Rare
Publisher(s)	THQ InFusio (mobile)
Composer(s)	Jamie Hughes
Series	Banjo-Kazooie
Platforms	Game Boy Advance, Mobile phones
Release date(s)
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single-player

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge is a 2003 platforming video game developed by Rare and published by THQ for the Game Boy Advance. The game was released in North America on 10 September 2003 and in Europe on 24 October 2003. Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge is a spin-off game in the Banjo-Kazooie series and takes place two months after the events of Banjo-Kazooie for the Nintendo 64. The game also contains a time travel plot; its story actually takes place before the events of Banjo-Kazooie as well. Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge used an overhead platform design similar to Conker's Pocket Tales to replicate the 3-D feel of the console entries in the series, but on a smaller scale.

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge was the first Rare game that was released after being purchased by Microsoft from the Stamper Brothers, and the first Banjo-Kazooie game to be released on the portable Game Boy Advance and to only be licensed by Nintendo. A port for mobile phones was released in July 2004, and a mobile compilation of the game's minigames, titled Banjo Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge Missions, was released on 14 June 2005.

Gameplay

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge is played from an overhead perspective, as opposed to the third-person view of its predecessors. Similarly to previous Banjo-Kazooie titles, the game is spread across five individual worlds accessible from the main hub world, Spiral Mountain. Banjo must collect up to 10 Jiggies from each world to unlock new ones with help from Master Jiggywiggy, eventually leading to Gruntilda's Castle. Jiggies can be earned by completing various objectives, such as winning a minigame, defeating a boss, or helping someone in need. New to Grunty's Revenge is the Jinjo Oracle, a statue who offers hints regarding Jiggy locations in exchange for saving Jinjos trapped in each world; collecting all the Jinjos in a world will earn Banjo a Jiggy.

Several of Banjo and Kazooie's moves from the previous games are retained, such as the Talon Trot and Bill Drill, while one new move is introduced, the Battery Eggs. New moves can be acquired from Bozzeye, one of Bottles' relatives, in exchange for Musical Notes, up to 100 of which can be found in each world. Returning character Mumbo Jumbo can also transform Banjo into one of several new forms, giving him access to previously unreachable areas; unlike past games, specific transformations are not exclusive to each world and can be used in any world once unlocked. Additionally, Banjo can also collect up to two Hollow Honeycombs per world and exchange them with Honey B for extensions to Banjo's energy meter.

Plot

The game begins two months after Banjo-Kazooie, with the witch Gruntilda trapped beneath a boulder as a result of her first confrontation with Banjo and Kazooie. After failing to move the boulder, Gruntilda's minion Klungo builds a mechanical body for Gruntilda which she possesses with her spirit, allowing her to have her revenge on the duo. Mecha-Grunty kidnaps Kazooie and travels twenty years back in time to keep the duo from ever meeting, which would prevent her defeat. Mumbo Jumbo uses his magic to send Banjo back in time and stop her.

Upon his arrival in the past version of Spiral Mountain, Banjo is greeted by Bottles' relative Bozzeye, who received a note from Mumbo prior to Banjo's arrival asking for his assistance. With the aid of Bozzeye and a younger incarnation of Mumbo, Banjo quickly reunites with Kazooie, and together they battle Mecha-Grunty and Klungo multiple times before eventually arriving in Gruntilda's Castle, which is still being constructed. The two defeat her, dismantling her robotic body and sending her spirit back to the future and into her real body underground. Returning to the present, Banjo has Kazooie invite Mumbo and Bottles over for a card game to celebrate, while Gruntilda sends Klungo to request assistance from her sisters, foreshadowing the events of Banjo-Tooie.

Development

The game originally began development in 1999 for the Game Boy Color under the name Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Curse, featuring a different story and additional worlds and game mechanics, before shifting to the Game Boy Advance. Before the game was released, several early screenshots depicted Banjo and Kazooie flying and another featuring an unnamed industrial world of some sort. In Scribes, Leigh Loveday said that the ability for Banjo and Kazooie to fly was removed because it just would not have worked out in the game.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 72.70% Metacritic 72/100 Review scores Publication Score AllGame Edge 4/10 Eurogamer 6/10 Game Informer 5.25/10 GameSpot 6.8/10 GameSpy GameZone 8.2/10 IGN 8/10 NGC Magazine 90% Nintendo Life Nintendo Power 3.6/5

Most reviews were generally positive. However, GameSpot gave the game a 6.8 out of 10, criticizing the better aspects of the game being overshadowed by its focus on item collecting and "the rather short nature of the overall quest". The game has an average score of 72.70% from GameRankings and 72 out of 100 from Metacritic.

External links

• Official website at the Internet Archive
• Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge at MobyGames