Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge
Box art
Developer(s)	Rare
Publisher(s)	THQ
Series	Banjo-Kazooie
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Release date(s)	NA September 12, 2003 EU October 24, 2003
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	64-megabit cartridge

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge is a 2003 handheld action-adventure video game for the Game Boy Advance developed by Rare and published by THQ. It 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.

Grunty's Revenge is an interquel, taking place after Banjo-Kazooie and before Banjo-Tooie. It also contains a time travel plot; its story actually takes place before the events of Banjo-Kazooie. The game 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.

It was the first Rare game 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.

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. Gruntilda 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.

Mecha-Grunty, the main antagonist in the game.

Just like his previous adventures, Banjo must collect 10 Jiggies from each world to advance to new worlds, eventually leading to Gruntilda's castle. Aiding him is Mumbo, who turns him into different forms, and Bozzeye, one of Bottles' relatives who teaches him new moves. Banjo quickly reunites with Kazooie, and they arrive in Gruntilda's castle and defeat her, dismantling her robotic body and sending her spirit back into her real body underground. Gruntilda sends Klungo for assistance from her sisters, while Banjo has Kazooie invite Mumbo and Bottles over for a card game, setting up the events of Banjo-Tooie.

There are several cameos of different characters in the Banjo-Kazooie series present throughout the game including the statue head of King Jingaling in Spiral Mountain, and a seaside beach house named the Tip Tup Suite named after the turtle Tip Tup in Spillar's Harbor.

Development

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.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 72.70%[1] Metacritic 72/100[2] Review scores Publication Score Allgame [3] Edge 4/10[4] Eurogamer 6/10[5] Game Informer 5.25/10[6] GameSpot 6.8/10[7] GameSpy [8] GameZone 8.2/10[9] IGN 8/10[10] NGC Magazine 90%[11] NintendoLife [12] Nintendo Power 3.6/5[13]

With a lack of promotion from THQ, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge was a relatively low-profile release and therefore didn't have as much popularity as the Nintendo 64 games that came before it.^{[citation needed]} Regardless, 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".^[7] The game has an average score of 72.70% from GameRankings^[1] and 72 out of 100 from Metacritic.^[2]

References

External links

• Official Rare Website
• Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge at IGN
• Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge at MobyGames