Banjo
Template:LLQuote Template:Character-infobox Banjo the Honey Bear is the lazy yet well-meaning protagonist of the Banjo-Kazooie series, in which he and his best friends Kazooie and Mumbo Jumbo fight the evil witch, Gruntilda Winkybunion. He is also a friend of Diddy Kong and Donkey Kong, and first appeared in Diddy Kong Racing.
History
Diddy Kong Racing
Banjo is one of the 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 chance to defeat Wizpig. Eventually, the eight, with or without the help of the 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, conquered 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.
As one of the heavier racers, Banjo has slow acceleration, but he makes up for it with a high top speed. His handling however is below average, although it's better than Krunch's handling skills.
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo next apperance is in his main game. Banjo-Kazooie is set on Spiral Mountain, where the evil witch Gruntilda has set up her mountain lair. With the help of her henchman Klungo, Gruntilda creates a machine, which they plan to transfer a person's level of beauty to another.[10] However, she learns from her cauldron Dingpot that the most beautiful girl of all is a bear named Tooty.[11] Gruntilda flies off to Banjo's house with her broomstick and abducts Tooty.[12] Kazooie wakes Banjo up in response to the kidnapping.[13] Banjo and Kazooie learn from Bottles the mole that Tooty was taken to the lair and suggests that they need training to get up to the lair.[14] After collecting items, Banjo and Kazooie enter the lair. At the top of the tower, Gruntilda intends to use the machine to swap her level of beauty with Tooty.[15] After Banjo and Kazooie collect the first Jiggy, they are told that they must fill in the picture's missing spaces with the Jiggys to open nine worlds.[16] In each world, they can collect up to ten jigsaw pieces, or "Jiggys", which can be used to unlock more worlds. The two also collects musical note, when they are told that if they collect the required notes out of 100 on each world, they can open the note doors to progress deeper into the lair.[17] They also collect small creatures named Jinjos, who state if they are to collect all the Jinjos (five in each world), they reward the two with a Jiggy.[18] By the time most of the musical notes and Jiggies are gathered, Banjo and Kazooie face Gruntilda in a trivia game show named "Grunty's Furnace Fun". The game presents questions and challenges related to certain aspects of the game. After going through several game boards, the two win the game and Gruntilda flees.[19] Reunited with Tooty, Banjo and Kazooie return home and celebrate with their friends with a barbecue. However, Tooty reminds everyone that Gruntilda has fled and tells Banjo and Kazooie to defeat her.[20] Banjo and Kazooie return to Gruntilda's lair and use Dingpot to get to the top of the tower, where they confront the witch. Gruntilda attacks Banjo and Kazooie with her broom and energy blasts, but they summon five giant Jinjos and destroys Gruntilda's broom. Banjo and Kazooie use a giant Jinjo robot called the Jinjonator to send Gruntilda to her demise.[21] Banjo and Kazooie return to their home and visit a beach with their friends, anticipating their next game. The game ends with Gruntilda swearing revenge against Banjo and Kazooie while Klungo tries to move the boulder covering her.[22]
Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge
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. 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.
Banjo-Tooie
Following from where Banjo-Kazooie left off, Banjo and Kazooie defeat Gruntilda and escape Gruntilda's lair after they rescue Banjo's sister, Tooty, from her clutches in the previous game.[2] Gruntilda is then sent hurtling towards Spiral Mountain and is buried alive under a boulder. Two years have passed since Gruntilda's assumed defeat. Banjo and Kazooie are playing poker with their friends Mumbo Jumbo and Bottles, Gruntilda's sisters Mingella and Blobbelda arrive in a large digging machine, the Hag 1. They destroy the boulder and free Gruntilda, her time spent underground having rotted her flesh away and reduced her to a skeleton. Seeking revenge, Gruntilda destroys Banjo's house before fleeing with her sisters. Banjo, Kazooie and Mumbo all escape in time, but Bottles is caught in the magical blast and killed. The three remaining friends decide to put an end to Gruntilda's plans. Following the witches' trail, Banjo and Kazooie arrive at Jinjo Village in the Isle o' Hags, where King Jingaling, king of the Jinjos, explains that his subjects were frightened away by the Hag 1 and scattered throughout the island, and gives the two their first Jiggy to help find them. Meanwhile, Gruntilda's sisters introduce her a cannon called the Big-O-Blaster (B.O.B.) that will restore her body by sucking the life force from any given target. They test B.O.B. on King Jingaling, who is turned into a zombie. Gruntilda plans to charge B.O.B. long enough to blast the entire island. The witch's most loyal minion Klungo is sent out to hinder Banjo and Kazooie in their progress by fighting them. After taking many beatings from Gruntilda as punishment for losing, Klungo eventually gives up and abandons her. Finally reaching Gruntilda's fortress at Cauldron Keep, Banjo and Kazooie confront Gruntilda and her sisters in another trivia game in which the losers will be flattened under one-ton weights. The two dispatch Mingella and Blobbelda while Gruntilda escapes once more. They then reverse the effects of B.O.B., bringing both King Jingaling and Bottles back to life. The two enter the top of the fortress and defeat Gruntilda, destroying most of her body and breaking the Hag 1 apart. Banjo and Kazooie return to Bottles' house with their friends to find that everyone else has celebrated without them. The game ends with everyone playing kickball with Gruntilda's head, who swears to have her revenge.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
Banjos last main game is Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.The game takes place following the conclusion of Banjo-Tooie, in which Gruntilda's body is destroyed by Banjo and Kazooie. Eight years have passed since Gruntilda's defeat. While Banjo and Kazooie are eating pizza, playing video games and listening to the radio,[11] they discover Gruntilda's detached head returning to Spiral Mountain. They are about to fight when they are stopped by Lord of Games (L.O.G.). He attempts to settle the conflict between the two by devising a series of worlds and challenges. He uses his powers to give Gruntilda an artificial body and to restore the duo's physical fitness, but not their moves from previous games. L.O.G. transports the other characters to Showdown Town, his headquarters, and starts the contest. The winner would be set to own Spiral Mountain; the loser must endure eternal hardship at L.O.G.'s video game factory. While Banjo and Kazooie seek to win by completing the challenges, Gruntilda uses her powers and abilities to try to stop the duo. An army of mechanical Gruntbots also assist the witch in her goal. The game ends with Gruntilda and Banjo attempting to face a final duel when L.O.G. once again comes in to stop them. After L.O.G. sends Gruntilda off to toil away at his video game factory, he rewards Banjo and Kazooie by restoring their moves and giving them the deeds to Spiral Mountain. Gruntilda vows that bringing her to the factory was a mistake and that she will make her own video game.
N-Gang
"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.
Appearance
Banjo is portrayed as an easy-going character. He virtually has an unchanged physical appearance since Diddy Kong Racing. He has light-brown fur, a shark-tooth necklace, yellow shorts, and a blue backpack.
Game Appearances
| Title | Description | Release Date | System/Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diddy Kong Racing | Playable Character | 1997 | Nintendo 64 |
| Mario Artist: Paint Studio | His artwork from Diddy Kong Racing appears | 1999 | Nintendo 64DD |
Gallery
- Banjowithflag.png
Diddy Kong Racing
- BanjoDKR.png
Diddy Kong Racing
Diddy Kong Racing
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 Treehouse featured Banjo and Kazooie's faces. However, in the final release of the title, removed the shower stall and cameo appearance.
- 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 due to Rare moving to Microsoft. 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.
