Project Dream

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Banjo-Kazooie.

Conception#

After finishing Donkey Kong Country 2 in the autumn of 1995, the team behind it was split in two. One set went on to develop Donkey Kong Country 3 with a new team, while the remaining ten people, led by Rare co-founder Tim Stamper, began looking to explore new ideas with the tech they had created for Donkey Kong Country.¹²³ Many on the team were fans of adventure games, such as Nintendo's Zelda and LucasArts' point-and-click titles, and so were eager to try their own take on the genre.

The resulting concept was codenamed Project Dream (alternatively Dream: Land of Giants) to symbolize both the game's fairytale atmosphere and its status as the team's "dream game".⁴ Shrouded in secrecy, Dream was to be Rare's SNES magnum opus, one that would take the "Advanced Computer Modelling" (read: prerendering) techniques of DKC "to the next level".

SNES Version#

Coverage of Project Dream in this section is "pre-release" biased — it focuses on analysing currently available documentation. For an in-depth analysis of the available SNES build of Project Dream including unused content, please check its dedicated article.

Indeed, those who worked on it or were lucky enough to see it in action could attest to its visual fidelity (Rare media/PR writer Leigh Loveday joked in retrospect that it had "sprites the size of small countries").Scribes - Rareware.com, Oct. 24th, 2006

So secret was Dream that nothing of its original SNES incarnation was known to the general public until 2006, when it was offhandedly mentioned on Rare's Scribes (letters) page;⁵ it was only with the release of Rare Replay in 2015 that footage of it was finally shown off.

The SNES Dream was described as an isometric title, though it contained many sidescrolling elements as well. Its camera system was similar to that of Pandemonium! or NiGHTS into Dreams..., in that protagonist Edson was not viewed 100% on the side, but would run into or away from the screen depending on the angle of the pathway. Unlike with Pandemonium or NiGHTS, which were 3D, this was accomplished purely with character sprites; the camera itself panned from side to side in a manner reminiscent of DKC.

The build shown off in the Rare Replay videos appears to have been in a fairly basic state. Only a few areas were implemented: a jungle map, an autumn forest, a swamp area with pipes, and a forested path with mushrooms. Edson could walk, sprint, and attack with his sword. His canine companion Dinger functioned as an AI-controlled sidekick that could do various things he couldn't, such as dig for hidden objects. However, the team found he was almost too versatile relative to Edson, at one point feeling a need to "fold all the abilities back onto one character". One of the last elements implemented was a giant dinosaur foot that would crush Edson, something of a precursor to Banjo-Tooie's Stomponadon.

A raw recording of the introduction for this build would be uploaded online on April 1st 2025.

Being a "dream game" as it was, Stamper and DKC designer Gregg Mayles were very specific about which direction the game should take, especially in regards to the audio. Both were described as "sticklers" for music that players could "listen to for hours on end and not get sick of".⁶ Stamper in particular even pushed for voice acting, which for an SNES title was almost unheard of. He was also adamant that Dream's musical direction revolve around character themes or leitmotifs that would signal a particular character's presence in a scene. This was an idea picked up from films such as Star Wars, one the duo felt had yet to be attempted in video games. It was for this reason that they took an interest in recent hire Grant Kirkhope, who, at the time in 1996, had taken over musician duty on GoldenEye 007 from Graeme Norgate (who was busy with Blast Corps):

"I used to be in what was called the chicken shed at Rare (it was a room next to the canteen that used to be where they kept the chickens when it was a Manor House) as there was no room for me in the music block. One day two people turned up and asked to listen to my stuff from GoldenEye, I sort of recognized Tim Stamper but the other guy [Mayles] I’d never seen before. Tim sat on the floor and this other guy sat in the chair, I was thinking how come the boss gets the floor, this guy must be super important. They didn’t say anything, just listened and said next, then when I’d played everything I had so far Tim just said we’d like you to come and work on our game it’s called Dream, I said I hadn't finished GoldenEye yet, he said he'd fix it and off they went."

- Grant Kirkhope⁷

Kirkhope's ability to work many variations out of a single melody (as he had done with the Bond theme in GoldenEye) made him an ideal choice for the theme-based nature of Dream.⁸ Similarly to what LucasArts had done with its iMUSE system, Stamper also wanted the music to fade into different mixes depending on location - a feature that would make it through to the Banjo games - and provided Kirkhope with various LucasArts games to use as a reference.

Nintendo 64 Version#

Only a few months into the project, it was decided that Dream was too ambitious for the SNES. The upcoming Nintendo 64 stood to make ACM obsolete, and so development shifted to the new platform, targeting the 64DD add-on (then still under the working name of "Bulky Drive") to take advantage of the extra storage space and memory.⁹

The N64 incarnation of Dream played a bit differently from its predecessor. Gone was the side-on view in favor of an overhead perspective; Edson could still walk and sprint, but could now also fire balls of light as an attack. The areas shown off are completely different from those of the SNES build-- a beach, a town, and an airier, more open jungle. The jungle in particular appears to suffer from heavy amounts of fog and pop-in. Various objects litter these maps, such as treasure chests, pirate skeletons, signposts, and obelisks. During this phase, the fairytale whimsy of the SNES version was gradually traded in for a darker, more rugged pirate theme that the team felt was less "childish" (and thus more accessible to a wider audience) yet still appealed to themselves as well. With it came a new set of antagonists-- a band of pirates led by the nefarious Captain Blackeye.

Dream in this state was described as "big and sprawling"-- perhaps too sprawling, as problems began to mount. The team was still getting accustomed to N64 development, and some of the software implementations they had come up with were less than ideal.¹² For instance, a proprietary "mesh system", considered by Mayles to be "a precursor to a proper polygonal engine", could create models by stretching out polygons into any shape imaginable. To create level geometry, floor meshes would be stretched out to make elaborate landscapes that (according to Kirkhope) were unseen at the time. However, it proved too demanding for the N64 hardware, which struggled to run the game at a reasonable framerate. But what was perhaps the biggest demotivator of all wasn't even a technical hurdle: it was the progress of fellow Rare title Conker's Quest (which, ironically, would itself receive a retool in late 1998 following complaints that it was just another Banjo-Kazooie):

"The Killer Instinct team had started Conker and it looked and played fantastically [...] [They] had gone more the tried and trusted route as used in Mario 64 and had left us behind. I remember Tim trooping us all across the courtyard to look at Conker and our hearts all sank as Conker was really good."

- Grant Kirkhope

Afterward, they restructured the game to play more like Conker, which (according to Kirkhope) went a way towards ameliorating the issues.¹³ This was still not enough for Stamper, who now felt Edson was becoming increasingly out of place in the game's setting and wanted an animal protagonist instead. Their first attempt, courtesy of artist Ed Bryan, was a rabbit that (according to Mayles) looked like "a man in a suit" and lasted for "about three days" before getting thrown out (much to Bryan's chagrin).¹⁴ Fellow artist Steve Mayles (brother of Gregg) then hit upon the idea of a "tough-looking" bear that wore a backpack to keep adventuring items in.¹⁵ The rest of the team immediately took a liking to the bear, and so Edson was summarily retired.

Even with a new face, however, it eventually became clear that Dream was simply too ambitious for its time. The sheer size and scope of the project, as well as the technical approaches they had taken early on, had resulted in a game that was both poorly optimized and poorly focused. Had the team continued at the rate they were going, Dream would have taken several more years to complete-- and even then, they weren't sure how they were going to.

"[We] wrote a lot of editors [and] put a lot of trees down, but we couldn't quite get a hook of a game."

- Paul Machacek

In the end, Stamper and Mayles decided it was best to scrap the RPG altogether and focus on a new game starring the bear character.

Plot and Characters#

All that is known about Dream's storyline is that it involved Edson becoming tangled up in the affairs of an inept band of pirates, who were in search of a rare substance called "Floaty" (possibly the inspiration for Banjo-Tooie's Floater creatures) that would allow them to build a flying ship (and thus better conquer other lands). Due to the shift in tone from fairytales/giants to pirates during development, it's unclear whether any elements of this plot (as well as certain characters) existed in the original SNES concept, or if they were exclusive to the N64 version. Thus, this section will be treated as an amalgamation of both.

As mentioned above, Dream's soundtrack was heavily tied to its cast of characters, with each having their own distinct theme. These themes have been included in their entries, with commentary by Kirkhope (pulled from his old website) where applicable.

Dream Script - Revision 22 - May 8th 1996#

On September 12th, 2026, Rare designer Gregg Mayles shared three pages of the Dream V2 script, which detailed the opening sequence and credits of the game, as well as a segment where Edson's boarding of Captain Blackeye's ship, The Mudplugger, sees the hero cast into a cell on Shark's Mouth Hideout prompting an "escape" gameplay sequence. On September 15th, 2026, Gregg Mayles shared four further pages of the script which detailed Edson's encounters with characters that would eventually appear in Banjo-Kazooie under different roles, namely Gruntilda, Klungo, Jolly Roger and Canary Mary.

Transcripts of the script text can be found on each of the respective file pages for the images below.

World Map#

On July 15th, 2015, Rare designer Gregg Mayles shared the overworld map for Dream on his Twitter/X account. The collated map above has shifted the islands from the original document so that the confirmed direction between each would be as it appeared in the final game.

From this map, we can understand how travel between each island/progression would have been accomplished on Dream:

Island 1 is where players would start their adventure, presumably at "Banjo's House" on the western side. Players could find a rope bridge to the north that would allow them to reach Island 2/3.

Island 2/3 serves as the 'central' island that links everything together, with four exits leading to other shores. Your first port of calling will be to the volcano to where using the rising heat to float up and travel via 'Balloon Crossing' to arrive at Island 4.

Island 4 features a lone spire on an isolated island, once you've finished with the oasis, desert and temple, you would ride the balloon back to Island 2/3

Viewing Island 5 from "Cockeye's Lookout" on the eastern shores of Island 2/3, you'll need to hitch a ride on a helpful Dolphin that will swim you to its shores. When you're finished with Island 5, you can swim back to Island 2/3 with your Dolphin friend...

Given the proximity, it's likely that Island 6 has a blocked path requiring something from Island 5 to gain access. Once you've done that, you'll brave the frozen challenges and then travel West to Island 7/8

Island 7/8 is made accessible by a bridge that runs from Island 2/3. It's likely blocked by a 'Bully' character that you'll have to defeat. It's implied that the Dream music "Bully" might have been played here. Once you complete Island 7/8, you're ready to face Captain Blackeye.

Returning to your roots on Island 1 will allow passage south to Island 9/10. Conquer the volcano on Island 9 to find Mr. Catapult, who will launch you up to Captain Blackeye's Base where you'll have your final showdown.

Areas#

Aside from Edson's unnamed home village, only four locations are known to date: the Troll-occupied Glitter Gulch Mine, the snowy Prickly Pear Island, the perilous Mount Fire Eye¹⁶ and the pirate-filled Hammerhead Beach.¹⁷ The Glitter Gulch Mine name would be repurposed for a mine world in Kazooie, which was eventually pushed back to Tooie due to time and/or cartridge space constraints. "Hammerhead Beach" would also be reused as the name of a beach world that, in the end, didn't make the cut (though one source suggests it simply became Treasure Trove Cove instead).¹⁸

Kingfisher Cove: Edson's home village that sets the stage for his adventure. The village features the homes of several characters, including Big Bob, Cave In Collins, Jelly Jake and Big Bad Baxter as well as a beach, and an old mine where Edson lost his father.

• Glitter Gulch Mine: Edson discovers this mine when chasing a butterfly through a meadow at the start of the game. Edson subsequently meets Dinger the Dog as he barks within the mine, and the two are set upon by a pair of Trolls. Edson and Dinger must escape them using the nearby minecart, which inspires the "Chase" theme.

Prickly Pear Island: An island where Edson would meet with a character named Cave In Collins, who became trapped in the Tin Mine.

The Elven Forest: An enchanted area that features a deep well home to a supposed 'monster'. The Elven King tasks Edson with ridding the monster so that his people may retrieve the water from within the well without fear. Edson discovers that the 'monster' is only Dinger, having been tossed into the well by a group of Trolls. The Elven Forest also hosts the End of Area boss fight with two trolls named Klungo and Boyla.

• The Elven Tavern: Edson's sleep here is interrupted by the growling 'monster' in the well, which turns out to be a howling Dinger, crying for escape.

Parrotsmouth: Alluding to the English city, Portsmouth, the Dream location Parrotsmouth would have featured a Blacksmith Shop run by the Trolls, Klungo and Boyla.

Black Sands Beach: Little is known about this area, apart from it's where Edson would meet with 'a really fat troll' named Gruntilda.

BubbleGloop Marsh: A swampy area home to a frog named Skipper, who returns here after stealing Blackeye's map. Blackeye and Edson would then presumably explore BubbleGloop Marsh to retrieve it.

The Pink Trollope Club: A low-rent club with ugly decor that plays host to the Miss Pink Trollope Beauty Competition.

Smuggler's Worlde: Something of a tourist trap that has seen its popularity dwindle in recent years. Smuggler's Worlde hosts the Jolly Roger Inn, Treasure Trove Tours, Parrot Paradise, Bob's Boats and Golden Galleon Gifts - all experiencing a state of doldrums.

• Jolly Roger Inn: The lone hotel found in Smuggler's Worlde, run by Mrs. Jolly Roger. Edson and Dinger spend the night here on their first visit.

• Treasure Trove Tours: A derelict travel agency that's been boarded up. Edson can climb some barrels at the rear of the building to reach an open window. Inside, he'll find maps of the surrounding area.

• Parrot Paradise: A parrot shop run by a pretty, young girl with multi-colored hair. Edson will need to bring Cockeye's injured parrot here to patch him up.

• Golden Galleon Gifts: A nautical gift shop with piratical themes.

• Bob's Boats: A Boat hire managed by Big Bob and Black Bob, whose home is on Kingfisher Cove.

• Dolphin Rental Shack: A shop that rents friendly dolphins that provide transport to other islands and areas. One Dolphin Rental Shack is intended to be discovered on each island, much like Funky's Flights in the Donkey Kong Country series.

• Shark's Mouth Hideout: After a confrontation with Blackeye that sees Edson knocked unconscious, he awakens in a cell inside Shark's Mouth Hideout awaiting questioning. With the help of a friendly Spider, Edson would need to escape his captors with a pirate prison break.

Storyboards#

To do: Could probably be laid out a bit more neatly.

The introduction of Dream on the Nintendo 64 was boarded on a single page and displayed in the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum during the ""Rare: From 8-bit to Xbox One" exhibition. The page showcases the same introduction that would be captured by Tim Stamper intended for a private Nintendo viewing during Shoshinkai show in 1996.

Panel 1: Screen starts black. Big drums etc.

Panel 2: Jungly leafy scene slowly fades in.

Panel 3: Camera closes in on leaves

Panel 4: Successive layers of leaves part until they suddenly reveal...

Panel 5: Close up of Blackeye's face (startling) Blackeye: "Ahoy there, y' scurvy dogs.. what might this be?"

Panel 6: Pull back to see Blacky eyeing the chest against a beach background. B. Eye: "Well, well, landlubbers.. It be a fine treasure chest."

Panel 7: Blacky boots it open. B. Eye: "Let's see what she's got in 'er... Ol' Blackeye's gonna be rich.... RICH!!"

Panel 8: Big flash. Blacky knocked backwards. B. Eye: "Shiver me timbers!" Arrrrrg.... (painful)"

Panel 9: Big column of light from chest. Stuff flies up!

Panel 10: Camera moves up to focus on spinning N64 logo and tracks it.... B. Eye: "What's all this?"

Panel 11: Camera slows down and waits for Rare logo to come on from bottom + tracks it.... B. Eye: "Blistering Barnacles"

Panel 12: Camera slows again until Dream logo appears and tracks it. B. Eye: "Arrr.. A... Harr? (inquisitive)

Panel 13: Camera returns down to Blackeye who has got up (all blackened) B. Eye: "Arrr... so it's true.. the legendary Nintendo 64 treasure does exist after all..." A.. Haa.. Arr... Harr Harr etc.

Panel 14: Intentionally left blank.

A few storyboards were shown off in the Rare Replay video, as well as a 2015 eBay charity auction set up by former Rare programmer Will Bryan. They mostly relate to the sequence where Edson finds Dinger. (Images are not necessarily in narrative order. Spelling and grammar errors have been retained in the transcriptions.)

7
"Yikes...... Lets get outta here!"
Ed & Dinger look at each other turn and start to run

Edson#

The game's protagonist, an "average kid" wielding a sword (actually made of wood, despite the silvery look it has in the renders).Scribes - Rareware.com, Mar. 11th, 2005

Scribes - Rareware.com, Feb. 28th, 2007

Contrary to popular belief, his name was never "Edison", though he is mistakenly referred to as such in the subtitles of Rare Replay's "making of" video.¹⁹ Like Banjo and Kazooie, he would have been voiced by Chris Sutherland.

While the Dream version of his theme (known as "Boy") Scribes - Rareware.com, May 9th, 2008

has never been released, part of it can be heard in "Chase" below. It was eventually reworked into "Time Flies" in Viva Pinata.

Captain Blackeye#

The main antagonist (of the N64 version) and captain of the Mudplugger, with a less-than-stellar reputation among even his own crewmembers. Within the V2 Script, Captain Blackeye's chief motivation appears to be piecing together fragments of an illusive treasure map; a quest also shared by Edson and Madeleine. One of the few Dream characters to survive the transition to Banjo, he would make minor cameos in Kazooie, Tooie, and Nuts & Bolts.

In addition to the above theme, Blackeye was intended to have an introductory "villain song" in which he (as portrayed by artist Lee Ray, backed by a "pirates' chorus" of other team members) would boast about his feats of piracy. The lyrics sheet was posted on Gregg Mayles' Twitter on March 15th 2017, and is transcribed on the images' file page.²¹

Blackeye's Crew#

• Big Belly: A portly, gluttonous pirate who operates "Big Belly's Brewery", a sponsor of the Miss Pink Trollope Beauty Competition.
• Flintlock Jock: A Scottish pirate wielding a blunderbuss. "Flinty" was meant to make the deep sea dive off the Mud Plugger in the introduction of the game, and is later seen as a "replacement judge" during the Miss Pink Trollope Beauty Competition.
• Grim Jim: A rather lanky pirate.
• Ripper: Blackeye's pet dog.²² He may have served as an evil foil to Dinger. He was briefly repurposed as an enemy in Kazoo before being dropped entirely. In the final Banjo-Kazooie, "Ripper" is one of three possible choices given for the name of Gruntilda's pet dog, as well as the name of the gravestone baddies found in Mad Monster Mansion.
• Slack Jack: A pirate who may or may not have actually been aligned with Blackeye. Little is known about him, as he was only mentioned in passing by Bryan on Twitter.
• Pit Prop Pete: Another pirate mentioned in passing, this time from Steve Mayles. Pete's inclusion was halted as the team had stopped working on Dream and had pivoted to Banjo-Kazooie around this time.
• Dead Eye Dick: According to Grant Kirkhope, Dead Eye Dick was a character whose model was used by Steve Mayles as a template for other members of Blackeye's pirate crew. The character has become shorthand for an in-joke on social media between Grant Kirkhope and artist Steve Mayles when they accuse each other of rehashing their work. ²³²⁴²⁵
• Rear Admiral Brown-Eye: A pirate that "always takes a feat from behind"-- in other words, a walking anal sex joke. Naturally, this makes him one of Kirkhope's favorite characters.²⁶

The theme for "Big Belly" was sampled for the Jameleon Romance Dance in Viva Piñata, where Grant Kirkhope would use a snippet of this track, as well as quick samples from Mayahem Temple in Banjo-Tooie and the Rock Remix in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts to inform the nature of the constantly shifting Piñata.

Madeleine#

Edson's plucky girlfriend referred to as "Madelaine" or "Maddie" in the Dream Script. She finds herself involved with Edson's quest against Captain Blackeye. Within the script, players are reunited with Maddie in Smuggler's Worlde, after she spends the night in the Jolly Roger Inn and Dinger discovers her discarded dress.

Madeleine also appears as the first contestant in the "Miss Pink Trollope Beauty Competition on page 102, but given that her 'pose' has her "twisting on the spot with her hands behind her back", it's possible that she's being held captive. Despite her conventionally attractive looks, Madeleine doesn't fare well in the contest, only receiving sparse applause from the crowd of Ogres, Trolls and Goblins, who prefer the other, more hideous contestants.

Captain Cockeye#

A friendly pirate, who possibly served as something of a good counterpart to Blackeye. Like Blackeye, he would also survive Dream's cancellation, but, like Ripper, only made it as far as Kazoo before being dropped. According to the overworld map, Captain Cockeye would have operated a large house-mounted telescope called "Cockeye's Lookout" on the eastern shores of the second island in Dream.

Cockeye's creator, Ed Bryan, would reuse the captain's outfit for Pawno the Pawn Shop Owner in Banjo-Tooie. ²⁹

Reimagined Characters#

Several characters that were created for Dream would go on to appear in Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. Their original incarnation, and their finalized role in the Banjo series are listed below.

• Banjo: Not much is known about Banjo's Dream incarnation, other than that he was named after Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi's grandson³¹ and did not (yet) play the banjo.³²³³ His backpack in particular (not shown in the concept art below) was inspired by Japanese randoseru, after the team had visited Japan to attend a show and saw many school-aged children wearing them as a fashion statement.³⁴ Despite the presence of a sword in the concept art, Steve Mayles claims he never actually used one in-game; he was also said to have had a slightly less cartoony build than his final Banjo-Kazooie model (more along the lines of how he would be portrayed in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate).³⁵³⁶

• Gruntilda: Gruntilda appears as "Princess Gruntilda" in Dream, a 'really fat troll' that appears on Black Sands Beach and later as a contestant in the Miss Pink Trollope Beauty Competition where her hideousness is applauded by the crowd. Grunty would later go on to appear as the main antagonist in Banjo-Kazooie as the evil witch that kidnaps Banjo's sister.

• Klungo: A dim-witted Ogre foe encountered in the Elven Forest who subsequently runs the Blacksmith's in Parrotshead, with his Ogress partner, Boyla. Klungo would go onto appear in Banjo-Kazooie as Gruntilda's loyal minion, retaining the slooooow speeeeaking cadence that was established in his Dream counterpart.

• Canary Mary: Envisioned as a 'seemingly mad old woman', Edson could find "Canary Mary" in the mine area, shuffling around aimlessly, wearing a yellow grubby shawl and coughing incessantly. She reveals that she was sent down into the mine to check for poisonous gasses, just like the canaries that share her namesake. Canary Mary would later appear in Banjo-Tooie, as species of tall humanoid bird. First encountered in Glitter Gulch Mine, Banjo could free Canary Mary from her cage and then race her along the minecart tracks, and later in the skies at Cloud Cuckooland for a pair of Jiggies and Cheato Pages.

• Tiptup: Like Blackeye, Tiptup was originally created for Dream and then transplanted into Banjo.³⁷ His name was later given to one of the main characters of Diddy Kong Racing, who was in need of one and just happened to also be a turtle.³⁸

Other Characters#

To do: Is there any more info out there on the Giant? (Specifically, anything connecting him to Dream?) Tee-Hee heads (N64 trolls) and Temple Test/Grunty's Lair door knockers (SNES trolls)

• Bully: A secondary character, possibly of the troll persuasion, that would antagonize Edson.
• Dinger: A dog that becomes Edson's loyal companion after he's rescued in Glitter Gulch Mine at the start of the game. After escaping from a group of Trolls in a minecart chase, Edson is able to make his escape, but Dinger is captured and thrown down a nearby well in the Elven Forest where his howls are interpreted as growls from a monster by the nearby Elves and Villagers. Edson rescues Dinger from the well, hoisting him up in the bucket after a brief conflict with a pair of Ogre blacksmiths, Klungo and Boyla. Dinger also discovers Madeline's discarded dress in Smuggler's Worlde. His original name was "Scratt", a variant of which would make it into Tooie as the name of a Styracosaurus NPC.³⁹
• The Giant: The presumed antagonist of the SNES version. The team has confirmed that a giant was the main villain of Banjo before Gruntilda was conceived,Scribes - Rareware.com, Sep. 3rd, 2001

  ⁴⁰ but the "Land of Giants" subtitle and the music track "Giant" imply that at least one would have played a large role in Dream as well.

• Boyla: An overweight Ogress foe that Edson encounters in the Elven Forest. Boyla runs the Blacksmith's in Parrotshead with her Ogre partner, Klungo, and is one of the contestants on the Miss Pink Trollope Beauty Competition.
• Skipper: A frog that lives in BubbleGloop Marsh (which would later appear in Banjo-Kazooie as BubbleGloop Swamp). Skipper appears on page 39 of the Dream Script, evading capture on Blackeye's ship, The Mud Plugger. Skipper manages to grab a segment of an elusive map before hopping across causeway rocks to his home in BubbleGloop Marsh, where Blackeye threatens revenge.
• The Spider: Edson encounters "the Spider" whilst imprisoned in Shark's Mouth Hideout, imprisoned beneath an upturned cup. The spider, grateful for the rescue, might have helped Edson with escaping his cell.

Music#

These tracks are specifically denoted as having been composed for Dream; for others possibly belonging to either Dream or Banjo, see the development page.

Title Theme / To Be a Pirate#

Title Theme

By "evokes memories of classic 80s cinema", they mean obviously and shamelessly based on the opening anthem of Top Gun (1986).

To Be a Pirate

Notably, the first track was already implemented in the SNES build that was shown in Rare Replay.

"Level 1"#

Watch on YouTubeThe other track implemented into the SNES prototype, probably used in the sole demo area.

Unlike the tracks below, these were written by David Wise (though Kirkhope did provide the live guitar for the title theme).⁴²

Main Theme#

The Viva Pinata version of this track is "Oven-Fresh Day".

Shanty#

Unlike alot of other songs for Banjo Kazooie this song was made using Uncompressed samples. ⁴⁵

Chase#

The second half of this theme (from 0:51 onward) would be reused for "Nutty Acres Action" in Nuts & Bolts.

High Tides, Swift Sails#

Originally titled "Mudplugger", this would later be reused for Gloomy Galleon in Donkey Kong 64. The segment from 1:55 to 2:15 (and 2:34 to 2:53) was replaced with a different melody in the DK64 version, but it can still be heard in the variant used for the level's racing minigame.

Prickly Pear Island#

Prickly Pear Island is referenced in the Dream V2 script as having a Tin Mine where Edson could discover the missing character "Cave In Collins" who lives on Kingfisher Cove. According to Steve Mayles, no art had been done for the area before Dream was canceled, so this music track is all that exists of it.⁴⁸

The theme to Prickly Pear Island was included as an unused unlockable track in the Evercade release of Banjo-Kazooie called "Wintry Walk"

Troll#

Voyage#

Voyage2#

A downtempo version of "Voyage", which would eventually be repurposed for the Atlantis section of Jolly Roger's Lagoon in Banjo-Tooie.⁵¹ This early incarnation is slightly faster than than the Tooie version, and includes a segment at 1:40 that was removed from the final track.

The theme to Voyage2 was included as an unused unlockable track in the Evercade release of Banjo-Kazooie called "Atlantis (Unused)"

Babe/Beach#

Not even Kirkhope is sure where this track would have gone. The title implies it might have been for a female character, but who exactly is anybody's guess.

The theme to Babe was included as an unused unlockable track in the Evercade release of Banjo-Kazooie called "Beach (Dream) (Unused)"

Adventure!#

A theme that according to Grant Kirkhope would've played on the map screen of Dream. The song is still in the final game using the name Advent and having a hex value of 0039.

Elvking#

A theme intended for the Elven King in Dream, who tasks Edson with dispatching a 'monster' at the bottom of the well in the Elven Forest so that his people may fetch water. Unbeknownst to the Elven King, the feared 'monster' is an innocent Dinger, who was thrown into the well by a group of Trolls and is howling to get out. The middle section would be touched up slightly and re-used for the credits in Kazooie.

Ogres#

A fight theme that intertwines parts of "Boy" and "Giant", indicating a showdown between Edson and the aforementioned Giant character (or some ogres, judging by the title).

References#