Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Kazooie
Also known as: Banjo to Kazooie no Daibouken (JP) Developers: Rare (N64), 4J Studios (360) Publishers: Nintendo (N64), Microsoft Game Studios (360) Platforms: Nintendo 64, Xbox 360 Released internationally: December 3, 2008 (360) Released in JP: December 6, 1998 (N64) Released in US: June 30, 1998 (N64) Released in EU: July 17, 1998 (N64) Released in AU: 1998 (N64) This game has unused areas. This game has unused code. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused cinematics. This game has unused items. This game has unused music. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has anti-piracy features. This game has a development article This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article This game has a notes page This game has a bugs page This game has a Data Crystal page

In Banjo-Kazooie, Mario fell into a nuclear power plant and mutated into a strange bear, while Yoshi became a bird stuck to his back. The same fallout transformed all the Power Stars and Red Coins into Jiggies and Jinjos.

Or in other words, it's a Super Mario 64-esque 3D platformer starring a friendly bear and his cranky, backpack-dwelling bird friend.

To do: RAM Dumps of a Banjo-Kazooie Debug Disk build dating to November of 1997 were found and contain unused stuff galore like an earlier revision of Treasure Trove Cove when the lighthouse was apart of the map. Look into this: https://64dd.org/games.html

Sub-Pages

Development Info

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Notes

Bugs

Unused Text Much like how many Jiggies there are, this game has a ton of unused text!

Stop N Swop A secret 10 years in the making!

Version Differences Ticker wants no bear climbing his tower!

Xbox 360 Differences "The game looks different, that's the truth, but to figure out how should take no sleuth!"

Debug Features

Debug Value Display

Exclusive to the US 1.0 version of the game is a debug system that can draw arbitrary values to the framebuffer with the CPU. These values can be floats and unsigned shorts (in decimal or hex), can be drawn in 1 of 7 colours, and at any size or position on the screen.

This may have had more extensive use during development, since there are only a few instances (below) left over in the final game. They trigger when the N64's video or audio interface encounters specific conditions, and they stall the CPU for 15 million instructions, to keep the message on-screen long enough to read. Some are known to have been encountered during normal gameplay.

Some custom values (non-vanilla) printed using the debug system. It includes auto-flowing to the next column, different colours, sizes, and value types.

Code 2000

This is triggered when a specific value is larger than a threshold. It then shows the value and threshold (2500) on-screen.

Code 2001

This is triggered when a specific pointer in RAM is null.

Code 2002

This appears to be triggered when the N64 audio interface is too busy.

Code 2005

This appears to be triggered when a specific OSMesg queue has no valid messages.

The following GameShark codes can be used to force these error codes to trigger.

Code 2000	Code 2001	Code 2002	Code 2005
8024012B 0001	80240287 0001	80240047 0001	80240447 0001

(Source: Wedarobi)

Unused Area

Test Map

This simple test map consists of eight slopes arranged in a circle formation. All of them are too steep for Banjo and Kazooie to walk on in their normal forms, so they'll just slide down, though Banjo can walk up the slopes in any of his transformations. It was presumably used to test walking up steep slopes, both normally and with the Talon Trot. This map only exists in the US 1.0 version of the game.

The following code replaces Mumbo's Mountain with the test map. Any objects seen here are from Mumbo's Mountain.

8136ABFA 14D6
8136ABFC 0000

Unused Music

There are four unused songs that can be heard in-game by using one of the below GameShark codes.

8128189A ???? - U V1.0
812806DA ???? - U V1.1
812816BA ???? - E
812806DA ???? - J

(Source: Ferrox (GameShark codes), Banjordan's BK Lair, USF Central)

General

Advent

Value: 0039

There were many fan theories about this track's purpose back when it was first discovered, often centring around some connection with Freezeezy Peak's massive Advent calendar entrance (it's clear this is what the entrance is intended to be, since the map's internal name is "Witch - Flr 2, Area 2 : Spooky/Advent"). Grant Kirkhope later confirmed that this song was composed for a map screen in Project Dream, and that "Advent" is a shortening of the track's full title: Adventure!

(Source: "I think ‘Advent’ was a tune that was supposed to be played on a map page in Dream but never got used in Banjo." Rareware.co.uk Musician Tepid Seat (archived))

Mumbo's Raindance (Rain)

Value: 004D

An unused song for Mumbo. A similar-sounding song would later appear in Banjo-Tooie for Mumbo's spells, suggesting that feature may have been intended for Banjo-Kazooie.

Click Clock Wood

Early Click Clock Wood #1 (House Summer)

Value: 0048

An unused variant of the Click Clock Wood theme. The name and the range of seasonal variations suggest that it may have been intended for Click Clock Wood's treehouse, considering it's unbuilt in spring and boarded up in winter. Perhaps Grant Kirkhope composed the level's sub-area themes before the level model had been finished, at which stage it might have been unclear if the treehouse would be split out as its own map or simply remain part of the main level model as it is in the final game (related to this: there are a conspicuous number of unused map setup indices around the range containing CCW's sub-areas, specifically 54h to 59h, and 5Dh). Click Clock Wood was the first finalised level theme Kirkhope completed for the game, which may corroborate this idea.

(Source: "The first piece I wrote for "Banjo" was "Click Clock Woods", the spring version actually." Grant Kirkhope's website (archived))

Early Click Clock Wood #2 (House Autumn)

Value: 0049

Another unused variant of the Click Clock Wood theme.

Underwater Themes

The music tracks for several areas of the game contain MIDI channels which are never played. These make up the "aquatic" (underwater harp) versions of the music in several areas where it is impossible to swim underwater. To hear these in-game, use one of the music modifier codes from above, then stand near the entrance to Mumbo's Mountain in Gruntilda's lair.

Freezeezy Peak

Value: 0003

In-game, it is impossible to swim in the water in Freezeezy Peak because it is too cold (and also very shallow). While the player can become submerged using the walrus transformation, the music does not change.

Wozza's Cave

Value: 006B

As with its parent level of Freezeezy Peak, the water in Wozza's Cave is too cold to swim in and the music again does not change in the underwater tunnel accessible through the walrus transformation. It seems that at some point in development, this cavern was meant to be swam through instead of using the walrus.

This track can actually be heard during the normal game, albeit through an odd bug: if the Wozza's Cave BGM comes up in a "What level is this music from?" question in the Grunty's Furnace Fun quiz, this version and the regular version will play layered because the game is not told to mute the MIDI channels containing the harp sound.

It can also be heard without glitches by drowning in Wozza's Cave.

Rusty Bucket Bay Engine Room

Value: 0035

By far the oddest of the lot, as there is absolutely no place for swimmable water to exist in the engine room in Rusty Bucket Bay. According to Gregg Mayles on Twitter, he originally intended to flood the engine room, so this track is presumably a leftover from that.

(Source: Gregg Mayles on Twitter)

Unused Fanfares

Quit

Value: 005C

A shorter version of the Game Over fanfare (which has the internal name "Last Bit"). It might have been used for the Game Over screen before the cutscene was implemented.

Door Open

Value: 0037

This resembles the tune played when Mumbo transforms Banjo, albeit with softer instrumentation. It is later used in Banjo-Tooie if the player lets Dingpot replenish their items.

Mystery

Value: 0019

This jingle is used when a player collects the unused random honeycomb.

Obfuscated Music

Mumbo's Barbeque

Value: 0099

This 64-second-long track is used during the celebration cutscene after Grunty's Furnace Fun, however the cutscene only plays it for approximately 40 seconds before cutting to a different piece of music, leaving the second phrase of the track completely unheard.

Unused Graphics

Firefly

A firefly that looks similar to the Beehives' bees, even using the same sprite for its wings! It most likely would've appeared in Bubblegloop Swamp, adding extra atmosphere to the level.

2D Button Icons

2D button icons found near the dialogue font graphics. These were likely meant to appear in the dialogue instead of the button names.

Rusty Bucket Bay Toxic Pool

Most of the textures for the toxic pool in Rusty Bucket Bay can't be seen in-game normally since the water texture is completely opaque and Banjo can't swim under it.

Christmas Tree

A small graphic of the Christmas tree in Freezeezy Peak.

Coconut

An unused dialogue icon for what appears to be a coconut.

Tree

An unused 2D tree dating all the way back to the N64 version of Project Dream.

Early Empty Honeycomb

Early	Final

An early version of the empty honeycomb icon, which looks like an altered copy-paste of the filled honeycomb icon. The final version is redone from scratch and makes the difference between the two more distinct.

Early Hourglass

Early	Final

An early version of the hourglass icon which has skulls on it.

Lockup's Mouth

The eye texture for the Lockup enemies in Treasure Trove Cove has a mouth that isn't visible in-game.

Flag Textures

Unused flag textures. An unused green flag model exists in the ROM.

Furnace Fun Podium

This texture is used on the other side of Grunty's podium in Furnace Fun. It can't be seen without glitches as there aren't any camera angles that show it and the podium disappears once Furnace Fun is completed. However, exclusively on the Japanese version of the game, Grunty's camera angle is changed in the Furnace Fun credits which allows the player to see the back of the podium.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Models

Picture

This was probably intended to show up in one of the rooms in Mad Monster Mansion with all the other pictures.

Debug Stuff

These look like icons and text which would be used in a debug mode. No idea how they were used, though.

"ON VACATION" Sign

This was very likely for use in Mumbo's hut in the Winter area of Click Clock Wood. Instead, a Beehive tells Banjo that Mumbo's on vacation.

BK Flag

A green flag that looks similar to the flags found in Boggy's sled race in Freezeezy Peak which has "BK" on it.

Unused Joints

Concert Cutscene Banjo-Kazooie - Unused Joints

The skeleton for Banjo and Kazooie's intro concert cutscene model has three unused joints near Banjo's backpack (highlighted in blue in the picture, visualized by extracting the model data and viewing it in Maya). Based on its position within the model, this joint chain was likely intended to be used for animating the backpack's flap. The cutscene model is missing most of the backpack's polygons, though, so the joints end up being completely unnecessary. These joints are not present within the skeleton for Banjo and Kazooie's gameplay models.

Since the concert model is also missing a number of polygons around Banjo's back and the back of Kazooie's head, it's possible that the backpack was animated at an earlier stage in development but this was lost when some of the model's polygons were trimmed to improve the cutscene's framerate. It could be interesting to check if the backpack joints' positions and rotations are still being animated during the concert cutscene despite having no geometry assigned to them.

Unused Code

Exit to Witch's Lair

An unused option for the pause menu was "Exit to Witch's Lair". This option would instantly return the player to Gruntilda's Lair from any level, without having to run back to the start pad. It's featured in a picture in the American and Australian instruction booklets, but absent again in the European one. The following GameShark codes will restore this option to the pause menu:

US v1.0	Europe	Japan
80383080 0000 8136C4EC 002D 8136C4F0 3DCC 8136C4F2 CCCD 8136C4FC 004B 8036C4FE 0005 8136C500 3E4C 8136C502 CCCD 8136C50C 0069 8136C510 3E99 8136C512 999A 8136C51C 0087	8036C9B8 0000 8036C9B9 005A 8036C9C9 007D 8036C9D9 009C 8036C9BA 0005 813839F2 0100	8036CB0C 0000 8036CB0D 005A 8036CB1D 007D 8036CB2D 009C 8036CB0E 0005 81383B52 0100

Random Honeycombs

Present in the game are unused random honeycombs which look exactly like regular ones. Upon collecting one, a short unused jingle will play and the honeycombs on Banjo's health bar will start flashing. After a couple of seconds, it'll stop and the currently lit honeycomb will now be how much health Banjo will have. GameShark code 81366CA4 0054 will re-enable the random honeycombs in the US 1.0 version.

Random honeycombs would later appear in Banjo-Tooie, but have a question mark or exclamation mark to differentiate them from normal honeycombs and also allow players to stop the roulette by pressing A.

Vent

A global "vent" object is available within the game's code. It is a fully functional hazard that matches the aesthetics of Rusty Bucket Bay, and was likely used in that level as well as in place of the Grille Chompas outside of it. The vent remains closed until the player is within a certain proximity, at which point it will release steam on a fixed interval that will damage the player. It can't be killed or damaged.

Unused Cutscenes

Klungo Scene

Map ID 84 is a partially unused cutscene of Klungo walking up to the console as he does in the lair introduction before disappearing. This cutscene and map is used during the real credits when Klungo is shown (although Klungo is frozen in place). This cutscene in full can be viewed on the Xbox 360 version of the game with a glitch during the enemy credits by skipping Dingpot's screen at a certain time.

Use one of the below GameShark codes to load this cutscene after the N64/Rare logos on the Nintendo 64 versions.

Version	GameShark code
USA	8037E8F5 0084
USA (Rev 1)
Europe	8037F2C5 0084
Japan	8037F405 0084

(Source: Ferrox & TSRStormed)

Unused Gameplay Demos

Present are four unused gameplay demos that can be seen at the title screen in the US 1.0 version by using the below GameShark codes.

(Source: Runehero123)

Spiral Mountain

Code:

80371F00 0001

A demo of Banjo running around in Spiral Mountain. Of the four unused demos, this one is the most complete and was probably intended to be used at one point.

Gruntilda's Lair

Code:

80371F00 0069

A short demo that takes place in the first room in Grunty's Lair. Banjo starts at the top of the slope near the first Note Door, slides down and walks towards the exit before the demo ends.

Freezeezy Peak

Code:

80371F00 0027
80371F03 0006

A demo of Banjo attacking a Sir Slush enemy in Freezeezy Peak. This demo desyncs partway through, causing Banjo to slide off the rooftop and run around in the water.

Rusty Bucket Bay

Code:

80371F00 003F
80371F02 005F

A very short demo that takes place in the Captain's Cabin in Rusty Bucket Bay. In this demo, Banjo attacks an enemy and jumps once before the demo ends.

Oddities

Out-of-Bounds Level Geometry

Underneath the maze in King Sandybutt's tomb in Gobi's Valley is a large triangle that is never seen in-game.

(Source: Ferrox)

Song Name Oddity

The short fanfare that plays when a player completes Grunty's Furnace Fun is internally named "Note Door", indicating that it was intended to play when the player opens a Note Door at some point during development. In the final game, the Note Door fanfare uses the same fanfare for when the player collects all 10 Jiggies in a world (internally named "Jig 10").

Animation Filenames

The animations of Banjo and Kazooie firing eggs forwards and backwards are internally named "egg head" and "egg ass" respectively. These filenames would carry over to Banjo-Tooie.

(Source: Ferrox)

Mumbo Tokens

There are 116 Mumbo Tokens in the game, but if you aren't careful, only 114 can be collected. This is because of two tokens in Mad Monster Mansion and Click Clock Wood respectively. Inside Mad Monster Mansion, one inside a breakable keg in the wine cellar and the other next to the Jiggy found by flushing down Loggo the toilet, have been assigned the same bit in memory, so collecting one of these causes the other to disappear. Inside Click Clock Wood, one in the bramble in Spring and the other next to Eyrie in Spring, have also been assigned the same bit in memory, so if you collect one and leave the area before collecting the other, it disappears.

There is a way to collect all 116 tokens legitimately: if you enter the cellar without collecting the token, then collect the token in Loggo, the token will still be there in the cellar. If you collect the Eyrie token and Bramble token without dying or leaving the world, they will also be both collectable.

Conga's Early Name

GRRAAR…THIS CONGO'S TREE! ME HIT TERMITE WITH ORANGES!

Approaching Conga while using the termite transformation will result in him saying this bit of dialogue where he calls himself Congo. Congo was his original name, so it appears that this line wasn't updated.

GRRAAR…THIS CONGA'S TREE! ME HIT TERMITE WITH ORANGES!

In the European, US v1.1, and XBLA versions of the game, this text was changed to replace "Congo's" with "Conga's" to fix this typo.

One Life on Death Square

In Furnace Fun, if you step on a Death Square with exactly one life, Grunty will say:

TRY THIS ONE, BUT DON'T BE LAME, YOU'LL LOSE A LIFE AND LOSE THE GAME!

This is obviously a mistake, because the player Game Overs when they die with 0 lives in Banjo-Kazooie. This text won't be displayed when the player has 0 lives, which is where it should appear.

(Source: TSR Stormed on Twitter)

Gobi's Valley Lobby Framerate Cap

In the Gobi's Valley themed room in Grunty's Lair, the max framerate is set to 20 FPS (16.7 FPS on European). Banjo-Kazooie normally runs at a max of 30 FPS (25 FPS on European), and this is the only room that forces a framerate cap. It's currently unknown why this is the case, but with all the lighting the room has, it might be locked to prevent a random crash. A side-effect of this odd addition is that the pause menu will also run at 20 FPS, which is never the case as the pause menu is always at 30 FPS since there's little to no lag present when navigating the menu.

On XBLA, this room was changed to run at 30 FPS, making it one of the few gameplay changes seen in XBLA. However, this causes some of the cutscenes located in this room to be longer than the N64 version. It wouldn't be a 4J Studios port without a side-effect to an already established code base!

Out of Bounds Egg

Underneath the Lockup enemy next to Nipper the crab in Treasure Trove Cove, there is an egg hidden out of bounds. This egg is collectible without glitches if the player does a precise beak bust to partially clip their hitbox in the ground, collecting this forbidden egg.

Anti-Piracy/Anti-Cheat

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing. Specifically: Explain the actual detection mechanism

The Nintendo 64 version of the game can detect the presence of backup devices and cheat cartridges since these devices run their own code before loading the game.

Losing Moves

A feature will activate where Banjo will randomly lose one of his moves during gameplay which can prove to be a hindrance depending on the move. The move isn't permanently lost as it can be re-learned by talking to Bottles.

Broken Bridge

If you cross the bridge back to Spiral Mountain from Gruntilda's Lair with a cheat device attached, the bridge will be broken permanently until you shut down and reload the game.

Slippery Sand

Inside Treasure Trove Cove if you load a Lockup Chest enemy, the game will change the ground physics to be very slippery, making a humorous display of Banjo & Kazooie sliding uncontrollably.

(Source: TSR Stormed on Twitter)