Most fans of The Legend of Zelda series got their start with Nintendo 64’s Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. Another series that was popular from that era, Rare’s Banjo-Kazooie, and it’s sequel Banjo-Tooie.
Of course we should also mention at this time it was hard to play a Nintendo 64 title that wasn’t made by Rare, as their games paired with the N64 were a lot of fun and bestsellers!
As time marched on, Rare parted ways with Nintendo taking most of their titles (Donkey Kong is still owned by Nintendo), namely Perfect Dark and Banjo-Kazooie. The XBox360 Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts doesn’t exist to many gamers, and for good reason. It’s terrible.
Enter the new company Playtonic Games, which is a lot of former Rare employees that banded together and decided to make fun games.
Yooka-Laylee looks to be a spiritual predecessor to to Banjo-Kazooie, utilizing a main brawler character (Banjo/Yooka) and a character that can attack and enable flight (Kazooie/Laylee).
Looking to be available for PC, Wii U, Xbox One, and PS4, Yooka-Laylee has a Kickstarter campaign going on where if you pledge at least $15, you’ll get the Steam Digital Edition of the game. Console download codes start at about $24.
Based on teased video footage alone with a nostalgic soundtrack being created by longtime Rare composer Grant Kirkhope, Yooka-Laylee looks to bring back the fun and adventure that have been missing in a 3D platforming game.
To back the project, visit their Kickstarter page here.
On a personal note, Banjo-Kazooie and The Legend of Zelda are two of my favorite gaming franchises, so to see something like this come about, I am absolutely on board to support this.
What do you think of this idea, fans? Did you support the project? Tell us in the comments below!
