curiousities - BKPC and BKPC 2

er, less of a curiousity, more of a forgotten relic of a time long gone.

i remember back in 2002, back when i first got internet, i used to participate pretty dang heavily in the Banjo-Kazooie community for quite some years. while places like Banjo-Fella's Breegull Aviary and Da-Breegster's Breegull Feather Data Base are now lost to the winds of time, i do have a little memento from that period here today.

there were a countless amount of Banjo-Kazooie fangames back in the early 00's. while most of these were fairly ambitious projects that never made it past the demo phase, there did exist a few finished fangames featuring the friendly furry and his feathered friend.

er, poetic nonsense and alliteration aside, we're going to be talking about one of the more well-known Banjo fangames from that time. because i'm a nostalgic dork. and yes, there will be download links.

BKPC was developed by Yumblie and Bhlaab some time around 2000 or so, during the peak of the Banjo community. while i'm not 100% sure if it was the very first Banjo fangame, it was definitely one of the most popular ones at the time, if not the most popular.

so that being said, this is probably a pretty big game, right? er... well, you need to take things into perspective. the game was made in Clickteam's The Games Factory in 2000 or so. expecting a fangame that's as grand a scale as the original Banjo-Kazooie is kind of stretching it, don't you think?

that being said, the best way to sum up this game is a lite version of BK. the plot is essentially the same: save your sister Tooty from the wicked witch Gruntilda. as for the gameplay, it's a bit like the old 2d Legend of Zelda games; roam around, kill baddies, and solve puzzles. even that is kind of a weird way to accurately describe it, though.

the majority of the worlds take up one screen, so there's not much space to walk around. the main goal in each world is to collect all the jinjos and collect a jigsaw piece to progress. collecting notes is optional, but you'll get a little bonus at the end of the game if you collect all of them. while most jinjos are out in the open for most of the levels, some will only show up if you do a task such as solving a small puzzle or killing all the baddies in the world.

are Bottles' moves in the game? well, while flight is out of the question, there are a small selection of moves from the original N64 game in BKPC. the beak barge attack (also really glitchy, and the manual makes note of this), shooting eggs at baddies and switches, a speedy talon trot, and the wonderwing shield are in the game.


as far as worlds are concerned, the first several such as Ticker's Field and Cat Tail Quag seem to be parallels to levels in Banjo-Kazooie, but BKPC does have some new levels such as Mine Over Matter and Starship Winaprize. heck, in BKPC there's a level that's basically Click Clock Wood but with holidays. there's also some secret levels in the game accessible via passwords, which i've included in the game ZIP for your convenience.

honestly, if you want to see what sorts of levels the game has, the passwords are kind of necessary. unless if you are really really good at games.

yes, surprisingly, the game is incredibly difficult. while the first couple of levels are fairly easy, the difficulty starts to climb up at the third stage of the game. mostly it comes from timed puzzles, obstacles, and homing/moving baddies, plus the fact that the collision detection isn't the best since it's an old game engine. well, also that there are one-hit deaths and a set amount of lives, so it's going to require a lot of trial and error or skill or such if you want to master the game.

there's also a challenge mode if you're particularly masochistic. yep, you guessed it: harder levels and no visible life counter.

if it's any consolation, there are a pinch of levels (mostly secret ones) that allow for an infinite amount of lives. elsewise... i think you're better off typing 'lives' at the title screen for a bit of an extra boost.

despite the difficulty and glitchy game engine, BKPC is a bit of an interesting romp through fangame past. i've never been able to legitimately beat it because of the aforementioned things, but the secret levels are pretty fun to roam through, if pretty tricky to beat. the sound and graphics aren't the best, but what can you expect from a fangame that's well over a decade old?

if you're a fan of the classic Banjo-Kazooie games, you'll probably get a kick out of BKPC, if mostly for the nostalgia value more than anything else. the dated engine and iffy difficulty might turn some people down, especially for a Banjo fangame, but the password system does allow for you to explore through all the levels. if you actually manage to beat the entire game... er... gold star for you, i guess?

the game can be downloaded in this handy little .zip package via mediafire. the zip includes the installer, the password list, and the .dll file required to run the game. just stick the .dll in the place where you install the game, and you're good to--

oh shoot, yeah. BKPC 2. er, getting to that...

BKPC 2: Jam Jar's Jinx was released a year after the first BKPC. development shots of the game were hinted in the first game via a special password, and boasted things such as massive new worlds, Mumbo and Gruntilda as playable characters, boss battles, and quite a bit more.

and boy did they deliver those and quite a bit more.

oh yeah, and that title screen up there? depending on what month you boot up the game, it'll show a different background and title jingle. starting it in October gives you a lovely spooky background and a MIDI rendition of "This is Halloween", for example.

despite being a sequel to BKPC, the plot and worlds surprisingly doesn't copy off Banjo-Tooie's, instead having it's own plot and levels. fed up with Kazooie's fowl foul remarks, Bottles leaves Spiral Mountain, only to get kidnapped. while naturally the duo would assume it's Grunty's work, the witch says that her relative Captain Blackeye Backeye is to blame for the molenapping. despite a bit of reluctance on Kazooie's end, the group team up and head for the Backeye Islands to rescue the mole.

so uh... yeah, i guess the only similarity between BKPC2 and Banjo Tooie's plot is that Bottles gets into trouble. poor guy doesn't catch a break, doesn't he?

unlike its predecessor a year back, BKPC2's gameplay is closer to that of the N64 Banjo games. there are nine main worlds, each with five jiggies and fifty notes to collect in each. the jiggies are used to unlock doors in the hub world and access new worlds, much like Banjo-Kazooie. as for notes, i'll just keep that a little secret.

the worlds in BKPC2 are very much more expansive than in the previous game. while killing enemies and solving puzzles make up some of the tasks in the game, there's also a much bigger focus on exploration; some of the jiggies (and jinjos, of course) can be found by searching about the world.

oh yeah, i mentioned Grunty and Mumbo were playable characters in this game, right? there's four playable characters in the game, each with their own abilities: Banjo can attack and jump, Gruntilda can burn down objects and turn on floor switches, Mumbo can freeze obstacles and activate magic pads, and Kazooie can freely fly in the air and is safe from ground-roaming baddies. you can turn into each of these characters by walking on their character pad and pressing the spacebar, and each of their abilities can be useful for certain puzzles and such.

the game might be more complex than the first BKPC, but it's certainly a lot easier. instead of one-hit deaths, there's a life bar, and dying just results in you just having to redo the level again. the only thing iffy about this is that the collision detection is still really buggy, so don't collide into any foes, or you'll probably have a fraction of your health down. you can regain health from killing enemies and beehives, thankfully.

that and the difficulty isn't nearly as cheap as the first BKPC was.

there's also an actual save function. instead of passwords, there's save pads in the hub world that you can use to save your progress. there's only one save file but hey, better than nothing.

while the graphics aren't too heavy of an improvement over the first game, there is quite a bit of detail in the worlds. characters from the N64 Banjo games relax at parlors, fish jump out of ponds, little picture frames here and there... honestly, i don't think my description does it any justice, but there are a lot of nods to both the Banjo games and the old YBK website here and there, amongst other things.

aside from the usual collectathon gameplay, there's also secrets. yes, as in the Stop'n'Swop sort. doing certain things in the worlds will activate paths secret items in BKPC. yes, as in the first game. collecting these items in BKPC will allow them to be used in BKPC2. just what are these items used for? well, i'll just keep that a secret. though probably a not-very-well-kept one, seeing as that the .zip i have this game in has a text file with the secrets.

by the way, you can download it here (a couple of Mr. Pants fangames are bundled in as well since they're required to unlock a few secrets).

overall, BKPC2 is definitely better than it's previous installment, and Banjo fans will probably very much enjoy it, both as a nostalgia trip and as a lovely fangame despite its age. while it still runs on Clickteam's old TGF engine and there are a few problems and glitches here and there, it's nowhere near as difficult as BKPC; from what i can recall, i've beaten BKPC2 twice. if you're a Banjo fan, i seriously would recommend checking it out. it's one heck of a trip.

sad as it is, with how the Banjo franchise and Rare as a whole are going since the Microsoft buyout, i doubt the series is going to see the high it used to have back then. while i personally enjoyed Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts&Bolts, a lot of Banjo fans didn't, and quite a lot are worried at how the next game in the series is going to fare, if we get one at all. honestly, with rumors surfacing about a possible new Banjo game in the works, there's a chance we might get a classic collectathon Banjo game after so long. 'course, with all rumors, such must be taken with a grain of salt.

even if the newer Banjo games aren't your thing, there's still the classic Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie on N64 (or Xbox360 since they're available on the Live Arcade). as far as Banjo fangames are concerned, quite a few projects have sprung up since the last several years or so, though many of them either haven't gone past the demo or development stage, or haven't even gone past the conception stage at all. not really surprised, considering the past had more than their fair share of unfinished fangames, both Banjo-related and of other series.

over the recent years, more and more gamedev utilities like Unity and RPGMaker and others have became more easily available for aspiring fangame devs. heck, modding the levels in the original Banjo-Kazooie ROM is entirely viable now. with the amount of dev options available now, maybe someday we'll see a Banjo fangame or mod with new worlds to explore and new faces to meet (and possibly punch), but with the whole track record of these sorts of projects being cancelled early in development and the like and such, i really wouldn't hold my breath on it.

kind of a shame, but at least we can still enjoy the original N64 classics that brought the bear and bird to fame. and these fangames. none of which i take credit for. i'm just trying to keep the tapes in circulation.

as a bit of a final note, i have yet another old Banjo fangame for you all, this time by Mike of the defunct BTHive and Koopa Village websites. released in 2003, Banjo Fair is a fun little collection of Banjo-inspired minigames. not a whole lot else i can say about it, but it might be of interest to some people.

anyhow, gen ichida, signing off. tell your friends, tell your friends' friends, and so on. and to Banjo-Fella or DaBreegster or Yumblie or any other BK bloke from 2000 or so who happens upon this: hope you guys are doing well, wherever life takes you. stay rad. c:

special hat tip goes to Bottles98 on the Rare Witch Project forums for finding the BKPC games and compiling the passwords and secrets.