Apparently no love was lost for some of the original Rare Ltd staffers. the one on the Banjo Kazooie 90s video games. A team of BC veterans, including that series’ artistic and programming chiefs, took to Kickstarter on Friday to launch a game very similar to it, and it took them just 40 minutes to surpass their £175,000 funding goal.
The new game seems Banjo Kazooie in all but name, including a cartoonish duo of a big hero and a little helper (in this case, a lizard-like creature and a bat instead of a bear and a bird), a xylophone-laden score, and a 3D platforming quest with tons of collectibles . Even the new name, Yooka-Layleereflects the musical undertones of the original – ukulele, get it?
The Playtonic Games team consists of a total of six former Rare staffers, led by Chris Sutherland, the lead programmer of Donkey Kong country and both N64 Banjo Kazooie games, and Steve Mayles, the man who created BC‘s original character designs. That team kicked off a promotional blitz earlier this year to get fans excited for one BC “spiritual successor,” and they weren’t shy about stoking nostalgic fires for fans who’ve grown disappointed with Rare games in recent years. “Imagine there’s an alternate timeline where Rare went independent instead of being bought by Microsoft,” Playtonic co-founder and Viva Piñata designer Gavin Price told Edge magazine. ‘What would that company be like? What would it have been?’ (That interview made no mention of the final Microsoft-produced BC follow-up, Nuts bolts.)
According to the Kickstarter page, the game is built in Unity with promises of launches on “Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U,” though those platforms’ release schedules are subject to final funding from the team. . In the meantime, the prototype footage looks fluid and colorful, with Yooka enjoying a quick roll-on-the-ground attack and Laylee contributing a hover. Rare fans will be happy to know that two former music composers from classic Rare games are on board to create new songs for this updated game. The list of touted features is quite staggering, including promises of “classic arcade games” hidden throughout Yooka-Laylee‘s quest; stretch goals include local multiplayer modes.
At the time of writing, total Kickstarter donations have already exceeded $400,000; at this rate, we imagine the game will certainly hit its biggest £1 million target well before the campaign wraps up in mid-June.