I just finished replaying the original on my N64 for the first time in 20 years, and so I thought that I would give you a short review if you are interested. Note that there might be some possible very light spoilers but I have tried to avoid anything too specific.

The game overall still holds up fairly well. The controls are great and the presence of Kazooie adds a really interesting a new dimension on the platforming introduced in Mario 64. Rare made some nice improvements to the camera struggle that Mario 64 had, although it can still be a problem at times. The soundtrack is really distinctive and catchy: it will get stuck in your head for days afterwards. The final boss fight is the best part of the game, in my opinion. Rare really knew how to nail boss fights, both this game and DK64 go down in my view as some of the best final boss fights in gaming history, in my opinion. My big complaint with the game (compared to Mario 64), though, is the collect-athon aspect. For me, this reached a pinnacle on the last level, you need to collect 100 notes, 10 jiggies, 2 hollow honey combs, 5 jinjos, 15 or so worms, 5+ acorns, Mumbo tokens, Grunty Switch, etc. and much of it needs to be done without dying once (which makes having multiple lives basically a pointless thing). I just thought that Mario 64 struck a bit better balance here. BK, in the later levels, really doesn't lend itself to short play sessions since you will basically have to replay entire levels if you stop short of 100 notes for any reason (assuming that you want to 100% the level). That said, I am sure that this is remedied in the Nintendo Switch Online version with the use of save states.

BK is loaded with humor of the western (and sometimes clearly British) persuasion, which is an interesting change of pace for a Nintendo game in 2022. This is good in that you don't need to put yourself into "anime-mode" and try to see through the lense of a localization team to fully get the jokes since you are playing the game in its original language. That said, while the jokes can be pretty funny at times, some of it is fairly childish now that I am playing it as an adult (lots of "smelly socks" and "booger" stories told about Grunty, which (slight spoiler) you actually need to read AND remember for something in the latter part of the game). I do find that Japanese youth entertainment (eg. Pokemon, Mario, etc.) tends to scale to older audiences a bit better than most western youth entertainment does and sometimes it is easy to take that for granted. You will probably feel a bit awkward at times playing BK as an adult, more so than if you play Mario 64 or Sunshine.

That said, the gameplay, platforming and puzzles can be pretty grueling. I would not classify this as a kids game in terms of the difficulty. It just shows how hardcore games were back in the 90's. It will challenge you as an adult. It took me almost 20 hours to 100% this game on this most recent play-through. That said, the resolutions to a lot of the hardest parts of the game still came back to me even though it has been 20 years. If this was a fresh playthrough of a game that I have never played before, it probably would have taken me at least 25 hours (maybe even 30) and I probably would have needed to check a walkthrough on at least a couple of occasions.

Verdict: Overall, BK is a pretty decent game and worth playing through as a gamer in 2022 (4 out of 5): great controls, outstanding graphics for the N64, great soundtrack, enjoyable and very memorable final boss battle. Downsides are: a bit too much focus on collecting, humor at times can make it not quite as accessible to an adult audience as most of Ninty's other games, camera (while better than in Mario 64) can still make platforming difficult at times.

Evil Microsoft at it again

Yay. Maybe in another month and a half we'll get another one.

Lol, this game does not hold up. The collection shit aged so badly. I liked the game upon release but as the years went by, this is rares most overrated game along with Goldeneye. Again at the time but was quickly outclassed. It's a good nostalgia piece for sure tho. Glad to see it on Switch as those Rare games only feel more at home there.I hope more follow. Like I'd love to see OG KI on SNES NSO. Captain Skyhawk and Wizards & Warriors on NES NSO.

I actually have Captain Skyhawk, the original NES game. One of my favourites of the generation. That game should have been on the classic mini. Some of Rare’s NES games, outside of maybe Battletoads, are super underrated and didn’t deserve to be forgotten.

It’s been a while since I played Banjo Kazooie. I’m not sure, but I might agree with you on that one—I loved the game in the day, but that was compared to the likes of Mario 64 and Sunshine which I wasn’t a fan of—although I respect what SM64 achieved.

I’ve played GE007 more recentl; and while the controls are ass, they’re workable. The level design and overall experience are some of my favourites in the genre to this day. One of the trends I hate with FPSs are the labyrinths that just go on and on and on. Rare with GE007 said, “fuck it” and made a completely different type of shooter that felt like it took place in locations that might actually exist. The design was both tight and full of freedom at the same time. On the other hand, other popular FPS games felt both more labyrinthian and linear at the same time, like there was the illusion of a lot to do, but one hidden key/switch was the one real way to move forward into the next area—rinse, repeat. In GE007, objectives were clear, possibilities were plenty.

One kind of trivial thing about GE007 that I really appreciate were the cool weapons. Usually when you get a really cool weapon the feeling is “Gotta make these count, so I better save it for an emergency.” and 85% of the time that never happens. But GE007 gives that feeling of “I got this cool gun, there’s 6 bullets, gonna make this count! AND I’m gonna use this right now!” - it likely wasn’t until Breath of the Wild that I got that feeling about cool weapons again… Breath of the Wild was a completely different type of game, but weapons were plenty; and I use the cool stuff right away, unless it has some function I’ll need for a certain area—GE007 has that too—but even then, it’s more like “now I’m going to go here and use it!”

I understand why people prefer Perfect Dark better, but it wasn’t for me, the level design became too long for my liking. The GE007-like mechanics are there, the the game isn’t the same. Like films, games are art—a game with mechanics made as as perfect and to the book as possible can still be boring, while a game with outdated mechanics can still be a fantastic experience—Dwarf Fortress comes to mind, Victoria 2 as well. It does depend on the player as well, as quality in the artistic measure is subjective.

One of my favorite games, though I greatly prefer the Xbox version for better framerate. For me it is one of the few games that got collectables right. The collectibles matter. Notes open doors, jiggy's open levels, skulls unlock access to more notes and jiggy pieces. Jinjos are used later in the game. Even remembering what NPCs say is important. Everything in the game is linked, nothing is random. Superb game. I usually play the Xbox version yearly.

Too many modern games have collectables for absolutely no reason other than to make the game bigger than it actually is.  Take Uncharted, there are treasures... and they do what?  Absolutely nothing.  Black Flag had musical notes so you crew could sing a different song....  one of the reasons I like BotW is they went back and made collectables impact.  

Haven't got the 64 expansion for NSO yet, but this is the sort of game that will sway me. I've completed it a few times over the years (on the original N64 cart), and always enjoyed it. The engine room in Rusty Bucket Bay would be getting a save state, that's for sure.

lol, said no one ever.

The only thing out of date with Goldeneye are the graphics, which can be said of many early 3D games, and the use of the c-buttons rather than having a second analog stick. The gameplay is still absolutely killer. If Goldeneye got added to Switch with online deathmatch it would instantly be the most played game on Switch's online service. Goldeneye is a timeless classic that never gets old. Still one of the best deathmatch games available.

I honestly feel the EA The World is Not Enough plays better but it came out later. Turok games also great at the time. I'd even argue that while I have a lot of nostalgia or Killer Instinct, it's not that great. While the reboot in 2013 was genuinely and still a fantastic game.