If we think of the success that characters like Banjo – Kazooie and Conker’s Bad Fur Day have had it is strange to know that their sequels, and not only that, now that they have become “retrogaming”, have been a misstep. How? Well, we just have to find out
In the first part of this special we have seen how some of the greatest immortal icons of eighties video games and Ninety, like The Legend of Zelda and MediEvil, have been able to entertain many players, but they also pissed them off due to sequels and remakes not up to the historical chapters. What can you do, sometimes things go like this, you think it’s enough place a nice 2 or an equally high-sounding 3D, or Reloaded, to appreciate a sequel to a historical title. Don’t worry, retrogaming is full of disappointments, ed two other icons such as Banjo – Kazooie and Conker unfortunately they can testify!
The Banjo plays in mourning
After the initial landing on Diddy Kong Racing, the cute bear and the annoying bird have known the splendor on first two chapters for Nintendo 64 confirming itself as some of the most interesting creations of Rare house thanks also to the music of Grant Kirkhope. But some notes seem to have definitely ended up off the staff. After the two exceptional chapters for the Nintendone the bear and feather duo landed on Game Boy Advance with Grunty’s Revenge (2003) e Pilot (2005).
The biggest problem, however, remained thepurchase of Rare by Microsoft. The final result? Nuts & Bolts (translated by us as Screws and bolts) per Xbox 360 which has definitely desecrated the saga of the bear and the bird in one of the most blasphemous ways ever. And no, the improved graphics didn’t save this title from the anger of the fans.
Back to the Future Part II (& III) – Retrogaming: da Banjo a Conker
If the first Back to the Future videogame experiment for NES, MSX, Commodore 64 and the like (1985 – 1986 – 1989) was a fiasco because it seemed to play anything but a title based on the adventures of Marty McFly e Doc Emmett Brown; the things then they did not go better with the attempt to make up for the other two parts of the trilogy in video game version. Between 1990 and 1991, therefore, the 16-bit card with console type il was attempted SEGA Mega Drive, but the result was the same if not more disastrous.
Despite trying to put puzzle and other parts on the hoverboard, it was simply absurd to see good Marty McFly punching punks and street bullies who seemed to have come out of Double Dragon or from Ken the Warrior. Basically the conversion failed miserably!
Street Fighter: The Movie – Retrogaming: da Banjo a Conker
You know those video game-based movies that, with the plot and characters seen on consoles, have little or nothing to do with it? It would be enough to think of the films, or the aforementioned ones, based on Super Mario Bros. or Postal to get an idea. Here, the same thing happened with one of the most famous fighting series ever, that is the famous Street Fighter II much mentioned even on Hi Score Girl. Obviously, if a product of this kind is successful, you plan to make a film of it, so the fans will go and see it, and this is precisely the case.
Directed by Steven E. de Souza, with a cast that even included Jean-Claude Van Damme e Kylie Minogue, the film, strangely, managed to gross about 100 million dollars distorting the history of the game and still receiving several negative reviews.
The tie – in of this film therefore landed both on cabin cruiser for arcade and for Now Saturn and for the first PlayStation, but apparently bugs, woody mechanics and bad graphic reworking decreed itshate on the part of fans of the saga. If you meet him on the street throw a Hadoken at him without hesitation!
Metal Slug 3D – Retrogaming: da Banjo a Conker
Surely all of us, or some people we know, have thought that games “confined” to Japan only they are certainly better than those produced in the rest of the world and have nothing to do with the versions released for the western market. Well, with Metal Slug 3D you can rest assured that this is not the case at all! You will surely have understood how, even in this case, the three dimensions have failed to do justice to one of the most loved games by Italians and beyond!
The long tradition of cabin cruisers has therefore disintegrated on this one 2006 PlayStation 2 title which turned out to be a real disaster. Critics then literally tore it apart by highlighting elements like poor graphics, sterile environments, uncomfortable controls and the boring gameplay (yes boring, and we’re talking about Metal Slug!). In short, a failure across the board that fortunately remained within the Land of the Rising Sun.
Donkey Kong Jr. Math – Retrogaming: da Banjo a Conker
Published together with Donkey Kong Jr., this title simply limited itself to bringing the game mechanics of the early 1980s into educational version. Our primate, this time, had to sway between one vine and another to resolve some rather basic mathematical operations. Needless to say, the educational intent meant that the title was branded as one of the biggest blunders ever seen on Nintendo Entertainment System. It seems that it was the little ones, to whom it was addressed, that the elderly found it really boring and repetitive.
The criticism then destroyed him without any hesitation. It was defined as a title: “too expensive even if it was free” while. Affirmation which was also accompanied by a: “no – Brain Age”. Fortunately, the saga of primates has found some successes not just given the chapters on SNES such as the Donkey Kong Country series. A brand that has on its shoulders forty years now, but which is not celebrated as often as those of Mario and Link.
And let’s close the curtain with Conker
Bad Fur Day it was fun, splatter, cartoonish, irreverent, still very playable today and really addicting. Well, thought Microsoft, why not bring the squirrel to Xbox too? The final result was Live & Reloaded per Xbox del 2005 which, more than a sequel, was a sort of remake which, however, had cut almost all of the most vulgar and bloody parts, and therefore also the funniest ones that made this title unique, to focus on the war against the Tediz (the bears).
On the other hand, one was used graphics more in step with the times and added the multiplayer mode, but in the moment in which contents and game modes are less, the graphics are made very little. The nice thing is that, initially, another sequel called Other Bad Day was planned where our chipmunk would be arrested for pocketing money destined for his kingdom.
This project of Chris Seavorunfortunately, it was abandoned and never heard of again. After the release of Live & Reloaded they began to think of a spin off called Getting Medieval, but even in this case nothing. In any case, the “small consolation” came with the collection Rare Replay del 2015 per Xbox One which included an HD remaster of the perverse adventures of the squirrel along with a couple of adventures of the musician bear and titles like Battletoads, Perfect Dark, Grabbed by the Ghoulies and so on.
Piccolo Post Scriptum, again there was an attempt to bring the game back to the handheld console with Pocket Tales del 1999 per Game Boy, but even here the title was dismantled by critics and players because it was light years away from the atmospheres and mechanics that had already appeared on the historic chapter for the dear old Nintendone.
In conclusion, retrogaming lovers can enjoy the adventures of Banjo – Kazooie, e Tooie, on Nintendo Switch while it seems that there will be from wait a little longer for Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Anyway, have you tried these sequels yet? Have you heard of them before?
Whatever your answer do yourself a favor and recover the “right chapters”. And, by the way, how about brushing up your memory by going to them recover at the right price or other similar games? In that case we invite you to click here, while, to be constantly updated on the great world of video games of yesterday and today we are always waiting for you here on TechGameWorld.com!