Ranking the Worlds of Banjo-Tooie

I’ve already ranked the wonderful worlds of Banjo-Kazooie, so now it’s time to discuss the much larger worlds of the sequel, Banjo-Tooie.  When placing these worlds in order of my least to most favorite, my criteria was largely based on how fun the levels are and how well they’re themed, though I will also be…

Ranking the Banjo-Kazooie Mumbo Transformations

After my most recent playthrough of one of my favorite games of all time, Banjo-Kazooie, I thought it would be fun to do a handful of ranking posts.  I’ve already ranked all of the game’s 9 delightful worlds, and now I’d like to rank all of the transformations.  Although Mumbo’s magic in Banjo-Kazooie isn’t quite…

An Overdue Banjo-Kazooie World Ranking

With my Nintendo 64 currently packed up, I finally decided to give in and purchase that Expansion Pack for Nintendo Switch Online so I could revisit some of my all-time favorite games.  We’ve actually discussed the Banjo-Kazooie franchise many times over the years, but I can’t believe I never ranked these sprawling and colorful worlds…

Top 10 Most Aggravating Levels from Donkey Kong Country 3

Being my least favorite Donkey Kong Country game in the original trilogy, I could still admit in my previous list that this game has plenty of fun and memorable levels.  It also has plenty of evil ones that I despise to varying degrees of white-hot hatred.  Whether it’s dealing with a level that doesn’t even…

Do You Really Have to Oxygenate the Water in Jolly Roger’s Lagoon?

I’ve played Banjo-Tooie countless times over the years.  And so it’s hard to make one of my favorite games of all time feel fresh.  Partly, this is because I tend to do the same thing every single time.  For example, I always head left upon entering Terrydactyland and climb the vine behind the waterfall.  This…

Top 10 Levels from Donkey Kong Country 3

I’ll be honest, the third Donkey Kong Country isn’t exactly my favorite.  It’s a bit too cutesy, a bit too gimmicky, and…Kiddy exists.  With that said, this is still a pretty fun game if you don’t compare it to its predecessors.  As I recently replayed it for the purposes of research, I accumulated a nice,…

Unforgettable: Mingy Jongo, the Crafty Shaman Impersonator

When I first played Banjo-Tooie, I had never played the first game (and Youtube Let’s Plays were not a thing), so all the characters were new to me.  Bottles’ death was surprising, but didn’t mean anything.  I didn’t know Mumbo’s role from the first game used to be Humba’s role now.  I didn’t even know…

Ranking the Bosses from Donkey Kong Country 3

Donkey Kong Country 2 already had some perfectly memorable boss fights.  But the third game’s penchant for gimmicks meant the bosses tended to vary even more in their mechanics, from a snowball fight with a nightmarish snowman to feeding bugs to a giant sentient barrel until he burps himself off the stage.  Frankly, I found…

Alisa: Demo Review

Making modern games in a retro style has become rather common practice lately.  A major trend I’ve noticed lately are PS1-style horror games.  Perhaps those grainy graphics just lend well to a spooky atmosphere in the same fashion as creepy VHS-style videos.  Wanting to try one of these games for myself, I was pleased to…

Ranking the Bosses from Donkey Kong Country 2

When you really think about it, the original Donkey Kong Country was fairly basic, especially when the bosses were concerned.  I mean, there are two battles against a giant beaver that basically just jumps back and forth across the stage and two more skirmishes against an oversized vulture that somehow spits nuts at you.  (Considering…