Banjo

Banjo the Honey Bear is the lazy yet well-meaning protagonist of the Banjo series, in which he and his best friend Kazooie fight the evil witch Gruntilda. He is also a friend of Diddy Kong and Donkey Kong, and first appeared in Diddy Kong Racing.

History

Diddy Kong Racing

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Banjo in his car.

Banjo is one of many friends that Diddy Kong contacts via Squawks the Parrot in Diddy Kong Racing. When the intergalactic traveler, Wizpig, invaded and conquered Timber's island, Timber called on Diddy Kong for help. In turn, Diddy Kong sent Squawks the Parrot to find Banjo and Conker to request their assistance. The three traveled to the island, where with Timber and four of his friends, they competed in a variety of racing challenges to liberate the island and decide which of them would have the best change to defeat Wizpig. As one of the heavier racers, Banjo had slow acceleration but ultimately a higher top speed. His handing was below average. Eventually, the eight, with or without the help of unlockable characters Drumstick and T.T., managed to drive Wizpig back to his home world: Future Fun Land. Banjo elected not to attend the celebration party, but he quickly returned when Wizpig struck back. He and the others traveled to Future Fun Land, concurred its challenges, and took on Wizpig. In their final race with the villain, Wizpig's rocket malfunctioned and he stranded himself on a deserted planet.

Banjo series

Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo got his own adventure in Banjo-Kazooie. In this game he is shown to have a house in Spiral Mountain, a sister named Tooty, a friend who lives in his backpack called Kazooie, and a neighbor named Bottles. Gruntilda the Witch, who lives in another part of Banjo's world, is jealous of Tooty because she is "The Fairest Of All", so she swoops in on her Broomstick and kidnaps her. Banjo and Kazooie head off to rescue her, making Tooty the "damsel-in-distress" of the game. Eventually, Banjo and Kazooie are able to save Tooty, with the help of numerous friends they met along the way. They push Gruntilda off the mountain, and she falls to the ground creating a Grunty shaped hole. A rock then falls in the hole, supposedly sealing her in forever.

Banjo-Kazooie: Gruntys Revenge

Banjo is called into action once again Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, a game which takes place after Banjo-Kazooie, but before Banjo-Tooie. After Kazooie is kidnapped by a time-travelling Klungo and Gruntilda, whose soul now inhabits a robotic body ("Mecha-Grunty"), Banjo has to chase the duo back through time to get his pal back and stop Grunty from mucking around with history.

In the end Grunty is defeated once again when her robotic body gets disassembled and forced back underground. After beating their archenemy once again, Banjo and Kazooie went home for some relaxation.

Banjo-Tooie

In the beginning of Banjo-Tooie, Banjo is playing cards with Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo, and Bottles. Unknown to them, Gruntilda's sisters had arrived and had revived his archenemy. Gruntilda is quick to take her revenge, destroying Banjo's house and killing Bottles. Banjo and Kazooie set out to avenge him, and meet King Jingaling, who tells them that he will help them defeat the witch. He shows them the way to Jiggywiggy's Temple, but is turned into a zombie by the witches for this deed. Meanwhile, Banjo and Kazooie reach, the temple and talk to Jiggywiggy. He tells them that if they bring him Jiggys, he can activate the power of the Crystal Jiggy, and open pathways for them. Thus the duo start out on a quest to collect Jiggys. Eventually Banjo collects enough to reach Gruntilda's castle, and make their way to the top. He takes control of the witches' Big 'O' Blaster (or B.O.B.), and restores true life to Bottles and the King Jingaling. He then preceded to the roof for the final stand-off with Gruntilda. She is defeated yet again, and Banjo returns to Bottles’ House to celebrate with his friends.

During the adventure, Banjo learns the ability Split-Up, allowing him to go away from Kazooie. In his lone form he can learn the ability Pack-Whack, but cannot glide or shoot eggs.

Banjo-Pilot

Banjo gets his own racing title, Banjo-Pilot, a game originally called Diddy Kong Pilot. Banjo is the main character and default racer of this game.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

Banjo returned in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. This game is set long after the events of Banjo-Tooie, and since then he and Kazooie have gotten fat and out of shape. One day while sitting outside with Kazooie (who now is so fat she cannot even leave Banjo's backpack), Gruntilda's decapitated head appears and challenges Banjo to a fight. Just as the fight begins, the game pauses with both Banjo and Grunty in mid-air. The two have been paused by the Lord of Games. He tells Banjo and Grunty that they are second-rate video game characters who havn't been in nearly as many games as Mario. The Lord of Games then offers Banjo and Gruntilda the oppurtunity to settle things once and for all. Banjo simply has to go on another quest to collect Jiggies in the game worlds in Showdown Town. During this adventure, Banjo learns to build and drive various vehicles, and eventually defeats Gruntilda at Spiral Mountain.

N-Gang series

"N-Gang vs. Nintendo"

Banjo appeared in the N-Gang comic "N-Gang vs. Nintendo", where he played on the same soccer camp team with Kazooie, Wario, Yoshi, Peach, Donkey Kong, and Lanky Kong. Mario refereed the match.

Physical Appearance

Banjo has had a virtually unchanged appearance since Diddy Kong Racing. He has light-brown fur, yellow shorts and a blue backpack. Oddly, he always keeps the shorts and backpack, even when he is transformed into one of Mumbo Jumbo's or Humba Wumba's special forms.

Personality

Banjo is usually portrayed as an easy-going character. He is much more polite than his side-kick Kazooie.

Trivia

• In the beta version of Donkey Kong 64, Banjo made a cameo appearance. A magnet on Donkey Kong's shower stall in Donkey Kong's tree house featured Banjo and Kazooie's faces. However, in the final release of the title, Rareware opted to remove shower stall and cameo appearance.
• In the beginning of the games Conker's Bad Fur Day and Conker: Live & Reloaded Banjo's severed and stuffed head can be seen mounted over a fireplace.
• In the Nintendo DS remake of Diddy Kong Racing, Diddy Kong Racing DS, Rare, Ltd. elected to replace Banjo with Tiny Kong and Conker with Dixie Kong. The company chose Tiny Kong for the role, making her a heavyweight who could conceivably have the same racing abilities as Banjo. However, the team elected not to change or remove either character's theme song: Banjo's signature banjo music can still be heard both in the introduction and on the character selection screen.
• Artwork of Banjo can be used in Mario Artist: Paint Studio, like some other Diddy Kong Racing characters.

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Rare's 2007 Christmas Card.

• Banjo appeared in Rare's 2007 Christmas Card, alongside Kazooie and several characters from Viva Pinata.