Banjo

Banjo
Artwork of Banjo in Banjo-Tooie.
Series	Banjo-Kazooie
First Appearance	Diddy Kong Racing Banjo-Kazooie (home series)
Species	Honey Bear
Year Created	1997 1998 (home series)
Created by	Rare
Voiced by	Chris Sutherland

Banjo is an anthropomorphic brown honey bear and one of the stars of Rare's Banjo-Kazooie series alongside Kazooie. He lives in Spiral Mountain on the Isle of Hags with his sister Tooty best friend Kazooie, and companions Bottles and Mumbo Jumbo (though Tooty disappears from the series with no explanation after the first game).

Banjo had appeared in three games on Nintendo systems before the company that owns the rights to him, Rare, was bought by Microsoft, after which two more Nintendo-licensed games were released, until the series went on hiatus after a disappointing Xbox 360 exclusive game came out.

Appearance

Banjo wears a blue backpack, which his friend, Kazooie, lives in, a shark-tooth necklace, a black belt with a gold buckle, and a pair of tight yellow shorts with no shirt or shoes.

Games

Diddy Kong Racing

Banjo's first appearance was in the Donkey Kong spinoff Diddy Kong Racing as one of the eight playable characters. He has bad acceleration, but still has high speed. He and Conker were replaced by Dixie Kong and Tiny Kong in the remake Diddy Kong Racing DS, due to Rare moving to Microsoft, which as a result meant Nintendo no longer had the rights to use the Banjo-Kazooie or Conker characters.

Banjo-Kazooie series

Following the success of Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo went on to appear in his own successful series known as Banjo-Kazooie, whose Nintendo games are Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, and Banjo-Pilot. There is also a fifth game in the series, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, which is a non-Nintendo game created for the Xbox 360. His games typically involve him going on adventures with Kazooie and learning new abilities to defeat Gruntilda's evil schemes, as well as collecting puzzle pieces called Jiggies, eggs for Kazooie to shoot at foes, and red and gold feathers for flight and invulnerability. Banjo usually earns the Jiggies by completing different tasks for other characters, defeating bosses, or completing mini-games, or by finding them by chance.

Banjo originally lacked most of his own moves in Banjo-Kazooie, so in Banjo-Tooie, he was given his own variety of abilities when separated from Kazooie, such as swinging his backpack as a weapon, hopping inside to cross hazardous terrain, sleeping inside to restore health, and carrying other characters or items inside.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

At E3 2019, Banjo and Kazooie were announced to be playable DLC fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, along with the Heroes from the Dragon Quest series. Using their Nintendo 64-era designs, this marks their first appearance on a Nintendo console since Banjo-Pilot for the Game Boy Advance, which was released in 2005, and their return in any game since Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in 2008. They were eventually released on September 4th, 2019, the same day as the Nintendo Direct that announced said release date.

External links

• Banjo-Kazooie Wiki: Banjo
• Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I67pPXS96UI includes Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and King K. Rool.

Diddy Kong Racing (DS)
Playable characters
Diddy Kong • Bumper • Drumstick • Krunch • Pipsy • Timber • Tiptup T.T. • Banjo (N64) • Conker (N64) • Dixie Kong (DS) • Tiny Kong (DS) • Taj (DS) • Wizpig (DS)
Bosses
Tricky • Bluey • Bubbler • Smokey • Wizpig
Worlds/Tracks
Dino Domain	Ancient Lake • Fossil Canyon • Jungle Falls • Hot Top Volcano
Snowflake Mountain	Everfrost Peak • Walrus Cove • Snowball Valley • Frosty Village
Sherbet Island	Whale Bay • Crescent Island • Pirate Lagoon • Treasure Caves
Dragon Forest	Windmill Plains • Greenwood Village • Boulder Canyon • Haunted Woods
Future Fun Land	Spacedust Alley • Darkmoon Caverns • Spaceport Alpha • Star City