Banjo Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge

In 1998, a bear and a bird became overnight stars on the Nintendo 64 scene. In 2001, they repeated their success with a super sequel. Now, Banjo and Kazooie have made the big leap onto the small screen in a brand new Game Boy Advance-exclusive adventure. The plot of Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge cleverly slots in between the events of the original Banjo-Kazooie and its sequel Banjo-Tooie. After the defeat of Gruntilda the witch (or Grunty to her friends) at the climax of the original game, Banjo and his breegull pal are taking a well-deserved rest. But they didn't count on Grunty's henchman Klungo constructing a mechanised witch suit for Grunty's spirit to occupy. Suffice to say that the resurrected mecha-witch is a tad teed off with her untimely death, so promptly kidnaps Kazooie and flings her back in time. Fortunately, the ever-helpful witch doctor Mumbo Jumbo whips up a spell to send Banjo back too. And so the adventure begins. The first thing you notice about Banjo-Kazooie on Game Boy Advance is how close it looks to the Nintendo 64 versions. Viewed from a fixed 3D perspective, Banjo can run, jump and roll just like before. Banjo begins the adventure alone, so must rely on swinging his empty backpack as a weapon. But once your feathery friend is rescued, she can help you jump higher with her wide wings, run quicker with her long legs and fire eggs from her beak. The gameplay will be instantly familiar to fans of the original. Banjo and Kazooie must collect jigsaw pieces (called Jiggys) scattered about the levels, in order to access new areas. But these pieces are often obtained only by completing certain tasks. Be it rounding up a mother hen's lost chicks, to fishing for sheep (don't ask), each is unique. Some are also hidden away where neither bird nor bear can access them. Thankfully, Mumbo Jumbo comes to the rescue with his transformation spells. Banjo can morph into a mouse, able to crawl through small holes; a candle, to light up dark areas; an octopus, for deep sea exploration; and even a tank, for some heavy duty blasting. Weirdly, each transformation comes complete with Banjo's trademark yellow shorts! The main adventure will take you many an afternoon to get through, and when you've beaten it, you'll unlock a bunch of minigames to play, based on some of the jigsaw-collection quests. Then you'll finally find out what sheep-fishing is all about...