Banjo is a character whom is the protagonist of the Rareware Banjo-Kazooie series, along with Kazooie. He has minor relevance to the Mario games.
Characteristics
Banjo and Kazooie, just havin' a good time.
Banjo is a brown bear. If you are wondering why his name is Banjo, it is because he plays a banjo in the Banjo-Kazooie series. He has a pair of yellow shorts with a black belt holding them up. He does not wear a shirt, but instead has a shark tooth necklace. Banjo also sports a blue backpack, which holds Kazooie, his red-bird friend. Kazooie is not present in Diddy Kong Racing. She makes her first appearance in Banjo-Kazooie. But, anyways, Banjo is just amazing. That's the most important part to remember.
Games
Diddy Kong Racing
Banjo first appears in Diddy Kong Racing as one of the characters whom are playable in the game.
In the game's events, Banjo had been called by Timber to help save his island from the evil galactic invader, Wizpig whom had been trying to rule the area. They then all wanted to be the big hero in the game by wanting to be the one whom has stopped Wizpig in his trails of invading the area. He, along with his pals, manage to defeat Wizpig in a race twice and send him onto a deserted planet in space where he demands revenge. Then, Timber's Island has a party with every resident and playable character being in it.
Banjo lacks high acceleration, but has high speed and average handling skills.
Banjo-Kazooie Series
After his debut in Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo starred in his own series of games, starting with Banjo-Kazooie in 1998 for the N64. Two years later, Banjo Tooie came out on the N64 again. An 8 year long period went on with just two spin-off games, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge and Banjo Pilot, for the Game Boy Advance. Finally, in 2008, the official sequel to Banjo-Tooie came out, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. In all of the games, an evil witch named Grunty plots against the welfare of Spiral Mountain of Isle O' Hags, which is near Mushroom Kingdom. The series was praised for its 3D Platformer Experience.
Donkey Kong 64
Banjo, along with Kazooie, have their faces displayed on a shower in the treehouse in the beta version of Donkey Kong 64. This cameo had later been removed, along with the entire stall itself.
Mario Artist: Paint Studio
Banjo, along with many other characters from Diddy Kong Racing, have their artwork make a cameo appearance in Mario Artist: Paint Studio.
Trivia
- Along with Conker, they both do not reappear in the remake, Diddy Kong Racing DS, due to copyright issues concerning that the characters belong to Rare. Strangely, Tiptup is a Rare-licensed character, but reappears in the DS remake. His theme, along with Conker's, can still be heard in the background music though.
- In Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, a character named L.O.G. makes a remark about an "Italian Plumber", refering to Mario.
- After Rareware was sold to Microsoft, Banjo could no longer make appearances on Nintendo consoles, excluding Banjo-Pilot.