It plays similarly to the Mario Kart series by Nintendo: the player races one of nine playable characters around tracks, attacking other racers with bullets and collecting power-ups.

However, company politics and Nintendo's concerns about quality delayed Diddy Kong Pilot past its planned release date in March 2002.

THQ, which made a deal with Microsoft to publish Rare's GBA projects, released Banjo-Pilot in January 2005 to mixed reviews.

[1][2] It plays similarly to the Mario Kart series by Nintendo:[3] the player, controlling a character in their vehicle, must race opponents around tracks.

[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.

[7][8] In Grand Prix, players race opponents through a series of four consecutive tracks and earn points based on their finishing position.

One programmer recalled that Nintendo felt the tilt was not working well, that the GBA LCD only functioned as intended when aligned with a light source, and that a racing game with planes was pointless without a 3D world.

[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).

[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.

[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][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.

[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.

[1][3][4] While IGN argued Banjo-Pilot improved upon the kart racing formula because of its new features and believed its planes controlled better than go-karts,[1] VideoGamer.com said the game modes were unfulfilling.

[3] Boss fights received criticism for their inconsistent difficulties and some felt they distracted from the overall experience,[1][3][8] although Cubed3 and GameSpy praised Rare's effort to innovate.

[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.