Banjo-Tooie's Design would've been PERFECT for Nuts & Bolt

[CaptainBlackeye]

This isn't a rant about Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts or a rant about Banjo-Tooie. Both are wonderful games that I enjoyed playing, even more so than Kazooie. But both have strengths over the other and one similarity: they're not as tightly designed as Banjo-Kazooie.

While Tooie's worlds are gigantic and fun to explore, they're way too big for Banjo & Kazooie's movements. They're slow movements were mean't for precision not speed. But on the other shoe is Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts where the worlds are big, but Banjo-Kazooie can build anything to traverse it in a moment but they're not that fun to explore. Outside of Showdown Town, none of the worlds have any exploration, any sort of exploring is completely ruined by the mini-map as well as the giant holographic heads over quests and jinjos.

I was thinking with Tooie's game design and BKNB's vehicular gameplay I think Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts would have been the strongest entry in the Banjo-Kazooie series. At least from a gameplay standpoint, it'd probably would have been just as divisive as it is now.

So let's start combining the games:

• Two worlds I think would have been best translated to Nuts & Bolts vehicular gameplay would be Terrydactyland and Jolly Roger's Lagoon. Terrydactyland's world design was built strictly for the Adult T-Rex, thus it's already extremely big, but big enough for vehicle gameplay as it is tall as it is wide. The multi-layered world is perfect for vehicular gameplay. Now instead of Jiggy missions we'll use the missions in Terrydactyland, for this example let's use the Terry Egg quest. You know the one where you need to hatch all of Terry's eggs and then bring them up to Terry. So why not just make a vehicle that can hold things, pick up the eggs with the Mumbo Wrench and try to make your way up without damaging the egg(s). There you go, a complete quest that takes forethought and some creativity without it being shoehorned into a random timed mission.
  
  
• Now to Jolly Roger's Lagoon, I'll use the Submarine Banjo as an example. The submarine Banjo replaced with your hand made submarine allows the player to explore the depths while making sure they have the right vehicle parts to swim deep underwater. A good chunk of the quests given good be fulfilled with the submarine Banjo, so why not just do the same with a handcrafted submarine? The worlds are large enough to support this idea.
  
  
• Replace Humba Wumba's Wigwam with her Shop, you purchase vehicle parts that you might need specifically for this world.
  
  
• Same happens to Mumbo Jumbo where his Hut is replaced with his Garage.
  
  
• Other than Musical Notes, the other collectibles such as Glowbo, Jamjar's Silos, the Shoes, and Cheato pages being replaced with Mumbo Crates. You still have to take them to Mumbo's Garage, but you have the added challenge of collecting them in bits or collecting them in one big goal.
  
  
• Jinjos would become collectibles again, but this time to ensure they're adding to the game, every Jinjo is basically a glorified passenger, you need to have passenger seats added to your vehicle and then take them back to the World's Entrance.
  
  
• Transformations might get an equal vehicle part. Some transformations don't even need parts: like the Snowball being based on weight, make a heavy vehicle. Detonator just make a vehicle with explosives, Van Banjo... it's already a van.
  
  
• Literally all the quests that require Banjo to use Taxi Pack are basically replaced with carrying missions.
  
  
• It's important for players to explore the world and learn their layout and make their own answers to things. Does a guy go around collecting jinjos first and then goes and does quests? Does someone collect all the Mumbo Crates in Mayahem Temple before going down to fight Targitzan?

When you have mission structures like Nuts & Bolts they get too same-y. Instead of being intellectually challenged you're railroaded into "make the fastest car" or "make a vehicle with too many guns" because it's what the mission told you to do. But if you're given an open world where everything can be done simultaneously it makes you rethink your thought process. "How can I carry all these jinjos, all these eggs and fly up to Terry without getting damaged?", "how do I make a vehicle that can play football better in the Kickball tournament?" these are things that you have to openly think about. Basically if every world was as tightly made as Showdown Town, the game would be Ace.


Here's a few images to just help visualize how big Tooie's worlds are:


Terrydactyland:
Large world both vertically and horizontally. It was made too big because of the Big T-Rex transformation. With some adjustments to the smaller cave like areas, vehicles getting through can be a breeze.



Cloud Cuckooland:
very large flying world. Instead of racing Canary Mary by mashing A, you have a standard flying race against her around the mountain.




Jolly Roger's Lagoon
A very water intensive world, another way to test players is by giving them a whole new terrain. Creating complex submarines to help Chris P. Bacon, defeat Lord Woo Fak Fak and to hatch Tiptup's son you just cook his egg somehow until he pops out.



Mayahem Temple
Destroy the doors with your own explosives instead of relying on a giant gold statue. Maybe Targitzan has a curse that forces the player to use the first person driving mode whenever they enter his domain? Sneak by the caveman by having both a silent vehicle and something to hold the idol with.
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...and just to add, yes there would be adjustments to worlds. Grunty Industries would have to resize itself a little bit. But I think for the most part, other than transformations the game would stay relatively intact. Just vehicle-customization-platformer hybrid instead of just platforming.And that's all I can really think of to write at the moment. I hope you guys enjoyed my little write up. If you guys have your own ideas to add or just want to send me a hateful reply, that's good too! I just been thinking for a while on why Nuts & Bolts despite being my favorite game and being very much a Banjo game why it felt odd to playthrough recently. If you guys like this kind of stuff, I do post memes on my twitter account @Oakieland. Can't wait to hear your thoughts!

[Mr. Airplane]

This kind of Tooie Critical content is why I pay my $4.99 per month for Rare Witch Project Premium.

Good thoughts, well made.

[qwertykins76]

Yo this is a lovely post 'n' all, but oh my goodness you can't possibly think Terrydactyland would be good for a Nuts and Bolts level?!? It isn't "big" in a way that coheres to vehicular gameplay, it's doughnut-shaped. It'd be a hindrance. There's no room to move or drive around with a car when your level is a gently curved straight line.

If anything I think it could, somehow, wind up being an even worse level than it was when it was in Tooie. D:

[Itxi]

Nuts and bolts should have been the Blast Corps sequel

[qwertykins76]

Live orchestra rendition of Simian Acres when? (Fun fact, that is the song that made Rare decide to start putting banjo music in more of their games. Banjo the bear probably wouldn't be a thing if this music hadn't been made.)

[CaptainBlackeye]

Originally Posted by Q-76

Yo this is a lovely post 'n' all, but oh my goodness you can't possibly think Terrydactyland would be good for a Nuts and Bolts level?!? It isn't "big" in a way that coheres to vehicular gameplay, it's doughnut-shaped. It'd be a hindrance. There's no room to move or drive around with a car when your level is a gently curved straight line.

If anything I think it could, somehow, wind up being an even worse level than it was when it was in Tooie. D:

It's extremely vertical but that doesn't mean it can't be adjusted. It's not any worst than Terrarium of Terror or LOGBOX 720 in Nuts & Bolts.

[CaptainBlackeye]

Originally Posted by Itxi

Nuts and bolts should have been the Blast Corps sequel

I wonder if it'd been well received. Sometimes I dream of an alternate reality with Banjo-X and Blast Corp Nuts & Bolts.

[Mr/Sir Norris]

Oof I had such a tough time with LOGBox 720, so busy and angular for me. I really like the idea and reimagining toooe world's for N&B. My first thought were the ways witchyworld would translate, tho having the path loop around the big top is a good start at least.