A bear-and-bird handheld adventure lost to the sands of time.
At first glance, British developer Rare's platforming franchise Banjo-Kazooie seems to be a fairly simple trilogy, consisting of Banjo-Kazooie (1998), Banjo-Tooie (2000) and the title that was teased as Banjo-Threeie and later turned into Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (2008).
But if you look beyond official re-releases like those part of the Nintendo Classics service or the Rare Replay (2015) collection, you'll find that the titular bear and bird went on more adventures than publishers Microsoft and Nintendo may lead you to believe.
Two protagonists, two development histories
During their tenure as a second-party developer for Nintendo, Rare graced the struggling Nintendo 64 with two of its most memorable titles: Honeybear Banjo and his backpack-inhabiting bird friend Kazooie went on two quests to stop evil witch Grunty, each set two years apart.
However, the defeat, resurrection and repeated defeat depicted in the two games was always supposed to have mid-chapter, with Rare starting development on Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Curse for the Game Boy Color in 1999, itself home to another neglected & forgotten sequel. Set in an alternate universe, the then-side scroller would have seen the witch kidnapping Kazooie and turning her into a monster, with Banjo having to rescue her.
After that project was initially cancelled, the release of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance prompted the team to restart development in 2001, changing the gameplay to be more in line with those of the console entries and reframing the plot to be set two months after Banjo-Kazooie, turning the retitled Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge into a true sequel.
A gem to carry in your backpack
When it finally released in September 2003, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge stood out, as a 3D platformer, especially considering the hardware it was released on. Although the game is sprite-based and played exclusively from a top-down perspective (aside from a few minigames), it manages to replicate the charm and game mechanics of its predecessors.
Grunty's Revenge adds to the world and setting of Banjo-Kazooie not only with new levels, characters and transformations, but also to the lore with its story. After the witch was buried under a boulder in the first game, her henchman Klungo creates a robot body for her spirit to inhabit. She then travels back in time to prevent Banjo and Kazooie from ever meeting, prompting the protagonists to follow her and explore a past version of their island.
Players have to run and jump about, defeating enemies and collecting musical notes and puzzle pieces, while aiding past versions or ancestors of the Banjo-Kazooie cast with their troubles. The game manages to perfectly encapsulate and expand on what makes the franchise so lovable, despite the technically inferior hardware.
Missing puzzle pieces
It is precisely that hardware which enabled development on this sequel to continue in the first place. After Nintendo's competitor Microsoft bought Rare in 2002, most of their other titles in development at the time, such as Donkey Kong Racing, Quest and Conker's Other Bad Day were cancelled, due to Microsoft obviously not wanting to support the game library of Nintendo's competing GameCube system.
The company was, however, not competing in the handheld and mobile market, allowing Rare to continue development. Grunty's Revenge would then be licensed to THQ, who published it from 2003 to 2005 on the Game Boy Advance and Java phones.
Nowadays, however, with Rare and their intellectual properties remaining under the umbrella of Microsoft, THQ being defunct and Nintendo focused on hybrid gaming, there seems to be a lack of interest in Rare's Game Boy Advance efforts – including the franchise's 2005 Spin-Off Banjo-Pilot – with none of them being re-released since.
Soaring to new heights
To be fair, compared to the other games in the franchise, Grunty's Revenge is smaller and scope and is thus a bit lacking in terms of difficulty and replay value. Nonetheless, especially among the most dedicated fans in the community, it is sometimes considered a more worthy successor than the "actual" third entry Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.
— Banjo Kazooie Grunty's Revenge Redone (@bkgrredone) April 7, 2022
Consequently, fan efforts to raise Grunty's Revenge to the same level of quality as the N64 have been in development, with a mod called Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge Redone aiming to replicate its worlds, music, and beta content in the engine of the N64 games. A completely original remake in a new engine called BKGR Reimagined has been in development by user "Facts about BK" since 2024.
If you want to improve the game itself via mods, you're currently out of luck. Romhackers have discovered some unused beta content like a cut two-player-mode which could potentially be restored in the future, but in the meantime, it seems we can only wait. Either for Microsoft to finally allow us to play Grunty's Revenge on more modern hardware, or for fans to do it for them.