If you’ve read my previous articles or ever heard me talk about the N64 at an event, then you’ll know how much I love Banjo-Kazooie. They’re two of the best characters not just on the N64 but in any game ever made, and it’s lucky for me that one dedicated developer is working hard to keep their escapades alive for nostalgic gamers.
If you’re into your ROM hacks, then you’ll no doubt have heard the name Kurko Mods. We interviewed Mark Kurko about his work with the Bear and Bird duo, his love of Zelda, and all things ROM hacking recently as part of our ‘Let’s Talk Retro’ series, and Mark has shared his latest project with us – ‘Banjo-Kazooie: The Bear Waker Deluxe’ for fans to sink their talons into!
Mark first released The Bear Waker back in 2019 and sent gamers wild with the combo of the N64 stalwarts with a GameCube classic world. Writing on the official listing for the game, Mark says ‘I’ve taken a few weeks off from Nostalgia 64 development because some ideas were a bit stuck and I needed to clear my mind, so I thought I’d take advantage of that time to rework my Bear Waker Mod, which turned 5 years old this month’.
The creative mind is constantly working, and there were clearly so many other things Mark wanted to include in his mod that he’s now had time to implement into the Deluxe version. It’s always a joy to play one of these mods – Kazooie made me laugh instantly by saying to Banjo that ‘Title says ‘Deluxe’ but everything seems the same. Let’s get out of here, Banjo, I don’t want to play the same old thing again’.
Well, Kazooie, there are a lot of new features for players to delve into, with bugs being fixed, new maps arriving, and extra songs to listen to. Not only that, but there are more Mumbo Tokens to find, 10 more Jiggies, and lots more surprises to uncover while playing through the game.
I’ve spent a few hours playing through the game this morning after speaking to Mark and have been thoroughly blown away by it all over again. Seeing Banjo running past Link’s house and chatting with the King of Red Lions fuses two of my greatest gaming loves together in the perfect way, and while Banjo and Kazooie looked great running around Hyrule in Jiggies of Time, I feel like they fit into this cel-shaded world really well.
Playing this game on Delta is a doddle too; the controls are perfect, and everything plays the same as Jiggies of Time and Gruntilda’s Mask. It doesn’t matter whether you played the original back in 2019 or are coming to this for the first time, The Bear Waker Deluxe is a stroke of genius that, while not a long as Jiggies of Time, is well worth playing through (multiple times if you take me as an example).
So, how to get hold of The Bear Waker? Well, Early Access to the game goes live on July 31st for Kurko Mods Patrons to get hold of. Public Release goes live on the 7th of August, and Mark hopes that however you choose to sign up, this Deluxe update will tide you over until Banjo-Kazooie Nostalgia 64 drops. I’m currently working through Mark’s back catalog for a full Kurko Mods review, so look out for that dropping soon too!
