Released in North America in late June 1998 and in Europe the following month, Banjo-Kazooie sold over three million copies, making it one of the bestselling Nintendo 64 games.

Banjo-Kazooie received numerous year-end accolades, including two from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences: "Console Action Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics".

[1] Banjo-Kazooie is a single-player platform game where the player controls the titular protagonists, an easy-going brown honey bear named Banjo and a troublemaking female red-crested "Breegull" Kazooie, from a third-person perspective.

[6] Each world is composed of a number of challenges that involve solving puzzles, jumping over obstacles, racing, playing a bonus game, gathering objects, and defeating opponents.

The Turbo Trainer shoes provide a speed burst used to reach a destination on time, while Wellington boots allows Kazooie to run on otherwise harmful ground, such as the piranha-filled waters in Bubblegloop Swamp and shifting sands in Gobi's Valley.

[13] By finding a spell book called Cheato in the game's overworld, the player may also unlock secret codes that increase the capacity of Banjo and Kazooie's item inventory, such as the red feathers from 50 to 100 and the blue eggs from 100 to 200.

[18] Two months into its 2.5D phase, Rare was presented by Nintendo with a "really, really early" version of Super Mario 64 (1996), which exposed them to the perceived future direction it would take the video games market.

[19] The genre was changed accordingly, a new 3D engine was built, and the aesthetic became focused on cuteness, requiring an alteration in Banjo's proportions (such as an increased head shape) and less tight shorts to match it.

[16] However, Super Mario 64's 3D aspect was referenced heavily, as it was the only game similar to Banjo-Kazooie that had been released, and Rare intended to combine it with the look of Donkey Kong Country.

[29] One scrapped feature, "Stop 'N' Swop", would have allowed Banjo-Kazooie to interact with Donkey Kong 64 (1999), Jet Force Gemini (1999), Banjo-Tooie, Perfect Dark (2000), and Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001).

[33][31] Specifically, Nintendo 64 models produced after Banjo-Kazooie's release reduced the amount of time the console retained flash memory, making Stop 'N' Swop nearly impossible to activate as intended.

[19] Mayles looks back fondly on the method, elaborating that an unintentional consequence was that they focused on hiding objects, which created mystery and intrigue, incentivizing the player to explore the environment to find them.

[42] At one point when the developers were nearly done with the game, Chris Stamper decided that he didn't like the first two level tunes for Mumbo's Mountain and Treasure Trove Cove, so Kirkhope had to change them quickly.

[43] Banjo-Kazooie is significant for its introduction of vertical remixing to video games; various sound layers of the same composition fade in and out depending on which area the player has moved to, such as going from above ground to under water.

[56][7][36] The gaming community was also mystified by some of its concepts, such as the usage of a bird-bear duo for a Super Mario 64-esque genre, fart sound effects for speech, and Kazooie pooping out eggs as an attack.

[27] Eurogamer called Diddy Kong Racing "something of a testing ground for Rare's [Nintendo 64]-era heroes", as it included Banjo and Conker as playable characters prior to featuring in their own games.

[62][63] Banjo-Kazooie was released on 29 June 1998 in North America,[64] 17 July 1998 in Europe,[65] Australia in August 1998,[66] and 6 December 1998 in Japan as Banjo and Kazooie's Big Adventure (バンジョーとカズーイの大冒険).

[d] Critics noted the game's similarities to Super Mario 64 in its controls, cute character design, level themes like water, haunted house and snow, the incorporation of an overworld that connects stages, and movements like the butt stomp and back jump.

[5][92] Hyper's Cam Shea also reported the controls as intuitive, as well as responsive, and enthusiastically wrote the incoporation of several abilities resulted in a variety of challenges and puzzles, making for an "action packed" experience.

"[5] Harding found the overall experience "wonderfully addictive and a great challenge," but argued that the puzzles and bosses, although "very intelligent and creative," were not as impressive or "ingeniously fun" as Super Mario 64's.

[87] The game was highlighted for its effects, such as lighting, water ripples, transparency, sun ray diffraction, and leaves falling, and textures, such as lava, grass, stone, cobwebs, and rust on the pipes; critics claimed players would notice them before entering the actual levels.

[82][2][9] Any graphical issues were reported as trivial, including slight frame rate drops as a result of an overwhelming amount of assets, objects not appearing at distances when on camera, and a few moments of clipping.

[8][4][92] N64 Magazine called Rusty Bucket Bay the level with the best visuals, although lauded the "superb atmosphere" of Mad Monster Mansion, citing its enemies and "dusky lighting effects.

"[4] They also lauded the haunted world's ability to "bustles with action and colour" in spite of its darkness, and praised Click Clock Wood as "beautifully worked out and one of the most ambitious parts of the whole game.

[56] IGN was astonished by the attention to detail to all aspects of the experience, such as the interface of the save file options, which consists of Banjo and Kazooie performing different actions, such as playing a Game Boy.

[134] As Mark Beaumont jested, "A bear with a bird rucksack runs around a 3D platform jungle making some of the most annoying noises this side of the guy from Interpol singing – and somehow this made for one of the most engrossing games of a generation.

[131][137][138][143] Positives have been commonly cited toward its British sarcastic humour, which has been suggested to distinguish it from other games of its kind released in the same generation, as well as its graphics, controls, soundtrack, challenge, variety, likeable characters, and atmosphere, scope and design of its levels.

[136] GameSpot's Darryn Bonthuys wrote it "was nearly perfect, a game that hit the Goldilocks zone of size, fun, and challenge with its design, while also offering a soundtrack that would make you tap holes in your floor.

[l] Banjo-Kazooie has also been cited as part of a 1990s golden age of Rare entries that showed a frequency and strong devotion to quality in the platform and shooter genres, which began with Donkey Kong Country and mostly encompassed the Nintendo 64.

Meghan Watt of Official Xbox Magazine argued players had less tolerance for limited lives and "endless hint-free puzzles", while IGN suggested, "Most gamers have had their fill of simple fetch and hop games and like a bit more action and drama on their consoles.