Banjo-Pilot

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Banjo-Pilot
multiplayer

Banjo-Pilot is a 2005

time attack and item hunts. Unlike other kart racing games, characters control airplanes instead of go-karts
.

Rare and Nintendo announced Banjo-Pilot at

E3 2001 under the title Diddy Kong Pilot. At this point, it was the sequel to Rare's Diddy Kong Racing (1997), and featured characters from Nintendo's Donkey Kong and Mario series. However, company politics and Nintendo's concerns about quality delayed Diddy Kong Pilot past its planned release date in March 2002. After Microsoft
acquired Rare in September 2002, it lost the rights to the Nintendo characters and replaced them with characters from its Banjo series.

THQ, which made a deal with Microsoft to publish Rare's GBA projects, released Banjo-Pilot in January 2005 to mixed reviews. Although critics praised its visuals, they felt it lacked originality and labelled it an inferior clone of Mario Kart.

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot showing the player character, Banjo the bear, racing in one of the playable tracks

Banjo-Pilot is a

music notes, an element from the Banjo platformers, are scattered around tracks as well.[2] Banjo-Pilot is distinguished from other kart racing games because the player controls airplanes instead of go-karts,[1] allowing them to move up and down.[4] However, the planes do exhibit behaviours normally associated with karts, such as slowing down over rough ground.[5] The planes are equipped with bullets that can be shot at other players; they can also do a barrel roll to avoid attacks from others.[5] The game features a total of nine player characters;[4] Banjo, Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo, and a purple Jinjo are initially available, while Humba Wumba, Gruntilda, Klungo, Bottles, and Jolly Roger can be unlocked through gameplay.[6]

The game features 16 tracks accessible through four different

anthropomorphic book Cheato in exchange for various bonuses, such as new game modes and characters.[2]

Development

Promotional artwork for Diddy Kong Pilot

second-party developer for Nintendo and was known for creating games in Nintendo's long-running Donkey Kong franchise.[10] As such, the game was originally titled Diddy Kong Pilot, a sequel to Rare's 1997 game Diddy Kong Racing,[11] and would feature characters from Nintendo's Donkey Kong and Mario franchises.[11] While it could be played using the GBA D-pad, Diddy Kong Pilot allowed players to control the characters by tilting the system, as the cartridge contained the same accelerometer technology used in Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble (2000).[12] Rare chose to focus on planes rather than cars because it wanted the game to stand out against other GBA racers.[13] Nintendo and Rare announced the game at E3 in May 2001,[12][14] and presented demos to attendees there and at Nintendo Space World in August.[12][15] Journalists reacted positively to the demos, with particular praise for the visuals.[12][14][15]

Nintendo aimed to release Diddy Kong Pilot on 4 March 2002,

micro-managing us into different directions, disregarding any hardware or cartridge space limitations".[17] By September 2002 the game was still unreleased and Nintendo rival Microsoft acquired Rare.[18][19] As Microsoft did not compete in the handheld market, the buyout did not affect Rare's plans to produce GBA games,[20] but it lost access to Nintendo's Mario and Donkey Kong intellectual property (IP).[11]

After developing the GBA

Donkey Kong Country 2,[13] Rare staff were told they needed to finish Diddy Kong Pilot, but would have to retool it using elements from the Banjo series.[11] Banjo was one of the IPs Rare retained after the Microsoft buyout,[18] so the project was retitled Banjo-Pilot.[11] The IP change came to light in July 2003 when Microsoft trademarked the Banjo-Pilot title.[21] Rare's Paul Rahme said the retooling took five months.[11] The game underwent "radical changes" during the transition; the graphics and presentation were altered, and different racetracks were added. Rare also removed the tilt controls as they were unable to improve them.[22] The soundtrack, composed by Robin Beanland and Jamie Hughes,[23] was unaltered as Rare was unable to implement new music.[11] Staff who developed the Nintendo 64 (N64) Banjo games had little involvement, but the lead designer supervised to make sure the content was in line with the N64 games.[13] Both the Diddy Kong Pilot prototypes and the final game use a Mode 7-style game engine, but at one point Rare switched to one that rendered environments using voxels.[1][24] Rare quickly discarded the voxel engine due to frame rate problems that arose when characters and weapons were added.[13]

On 11 August 2003, Microsoft announced it would collaborate with THQ to publish Rare's GBA projects, including Banjo-Pilot, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge (2003), Sabre Wulf (2004), and It's Mr. Pants (2005).[25] THQ released Banjo-Pilot in North America on 11 January 2005[26] and in Europe on 18 February.[27] A prototype of Diddy Kong Pilot leaked online in 2011.[17]

Reception

According to Metacritic, a video game review aggregator, Banjo-Pilot received "mixed or average reviews".[28] Many reviewers thought the game lacked originality and believed placing the characters in planes was not enough to set it apart from other kart racing games on the GBA.[1][4][8] GameSpy and Nintendo World Report (NWR) noted the planes still had behaviours traditionally associated with go-karts, such as slowing down when not on the track.[2][5] NWR also argued the manoeuvres the planes could do were worthless and did not add anything to the experience.[5] Eurogamer thought the planes made the game feel more 3D but reduced it to favouring luck over skill.[3] Additionally, NWR believed Banjo-Pilot lacked what made Rare's prior racing games R.C. Pro-Am (1988) and Diddy Kong Racing great,[5] while VideoGamer.com wrote that removing Nintendo characters and the tilt controls prevented the game from bringing innovation to the kart racing genre.[8]

The game was often labelled a clone of Nintendo's Mario Kart games.[3][8] While critics generally felt Banjo-Pilot was one of the better Mario Kart clones—Cubed3 and IGN both called it the second-best GBA racer after Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001)[1][9]—they wrote that players would be better off playing a game from that series.[2][3] Eurogamer thought players should try Banjo-Pilot before deciding to buy it,[3] and GameSpy and VideoGamer.com said there was no reason to have it when better games like Mario Kart and Konami Krazy Racers (2001) were already available on the GBA.[2][8] IGN, on the other hand, argued that the similarities to Mario Kart were not necessarily a bad thing as it allowed for balanced game design,[1] and GameSpot called the game entertaining and favorably compared it to the original Super Mario Kart (1992).[4] Eurogamer and VideoGamer.com also questioned how appealing the game would be to players, noting characters such as Banjo were relatively obscure and would likely only be recognised by those who played the N64 Banjo games.[3][8]

Reviewers said that Banjo-Pilot, as a Mario Kart clone, was fine gameplay-wise, but disagreed over whether this was enough to make it a successful game.

AI enraged VideoGamer.com.[8]

Critics were more generous towards the presentation; many praised the amount of detail in the visuals and animations.

pop-up that occurred when weapons were picked up.[1] Visual perception was an area many reviewers faulted, as they noted sometimes other racers would block their line of sight.[1][4][9] VideoGamer.com and GameZone both praised the audio, which they called one of the bearable aspects of the game and humorous.[8][29] IGN felt the music was well-composed and fit the Banjo theme, although they did note similarities the tracks bore to those from other games and films like Aladdin.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harris, Craig (20 January 2005). "Banjo-Pilot". IGN. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Theobald, Phil (31 January 2005). "GameSpy: Banjo-Pilot". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Reed, Kristan (25 February 2005). "Banjo Pilot". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Navarro, Alex (31 January 2005). "Banjo Pilot Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Metts, Jonathan (15 January 2005). "Banjo Pilot". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  6. ^ Rare (2005). Banjo-Pilot (instruction manual). THQ. pp. 12–13.
  7. ^ a b Rare (2005). Banjo-Pilot (instruction manual). THQ. p. 5.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Carvell, Steven (22 March 2005). "Banjo Pilot Review". VideoGamer.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Riley, Adam (3 September 2005). "Banjo Pilot (Game Boy Advance) Review". Cubed3. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  10. ISSN 1350-1593
    .
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Sanchez, David (4 May 2012). "Canceled Diddy Kong Racing Sequel Surfaces". GameZone. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  12. ^ a b c d Harris, Craig (19 May 2001). "E3: Hands on: Diddy Kong Pilot". IGN. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  13. ^ a b c d NWR staff (3 February 2005). "Banjo Pilot / It's Mr. Pants Interview". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  14. ^ a b Metts, Jonathan (13 August 2001). "Diddy Kong Pilot Preview". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  15. ^ a b Satterfield, Shane (24 August 2001). "Space World 2001: Hands-on: Diddy Kong Pilot". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  16. ^ Metts, Jonathan (9 October 2001). "Nintendo's New Release Dates". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  17. ^
    GameSetWatch. Archived
    from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  18. ^ a b Bramwell, Tom (24 September 2002). "Nintendo Working on New Donkey Kong". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  19. ^ "Microsoft Acquires Video Game Powerhouse Rare Ltd". Microsoft. 26 September 2002. Archived from the original on 21 February 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  20. ^ McLaughlin, Rus (28 July 2008). "IGN Presents: The History of Rare". IGN. Archived from the original on 8 December 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  21. ^ Bramwell, Tom (25 July 2003). "Microsoft Planning Diddy Kong Pilot IP Switch?". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  22. ^ Harris, Craig (18 September 2003). "Rare Interview". IGN. Archived from the original on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  23. ^ Rare (12 January 2005). Banjo Pilot. THQ. Level/area: Credits roll.
  24. ^ Harris, Craig (21 April 2004). "Banjo-Pilot". IGN. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  25. ^ "Rare Line-up Revealed". IGN. 11 August 2003. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  26. ^ "THQ | Investor Relations | News Releases". 25 October 2007. Archived from the original on 25 October 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  27. ^ "What's New?". Eurogamer.net. 18 February 2005. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  28. ^ a b "Banjo-Pilot for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  29. ^ a b c d e f "Banjo Pilot Review". GameZone. 4 May 2012. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
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