Banjo-Kazooie

Development Info Prototype Info Prerelease Info Notes Bugs Unused TextMuch like how many Jiggies there are, this game has a ton of unused text! Stop 'n' SwopA secret 10 years in the making! Version DifferencesTicker wants no bear climbing his tower! Xbox 360 Differences"The game looks different, that's the truth, but to figure out how should take no sleuth!"

Debug Features#

Debug Value Display#

Exclusive to the US 1.0 version of the game is a debug system that can draw arbitrary values to the framebuffer with the CPU. These values can be floats and unsigned shorts (in decimal or hex), can be drawn in 1 of 7 colours, and at any size or position on the screen.

This may have had more extensive use during development, since there are only a few instances (below) left over in the final game. They trigger when the N64's video or audio interface encounters specific conditions, and they stall the CPU for 15 million instructions, to keep the message on-screen long enough to read. Some are known to have been encountered during normal gameplay, especially on older, less accurate emulators.

Code 2000

This is triggered when a specific value is larger than a threshold. It then shows the value and threshold (2500) on-screen.

Code 2001

This is triggered when a specific pointer in RAM is null.

Code 2002

This appears to be triggered when the N64 audio interface is too busy.

Code 2005

This appears to be triggered when a specific OSMesg queue has no valid messages.

The following GameShark codes can be used to force these error codes to trigger.

8024012B 0001

80240287 0001

80240047 0001

80240447 0001

Unused Areas#

Test Map Model#

This simple test map model consists of eight slopes arranged in a circle formation. There is no actual map associated with this model as it was scrubbed before the final build. All of them are too steep for Banjo and Kazooie to walk on in their normal forms, so they'll just slide down, though Banjo can walk up the slopes in any of his transformations. It was presumably used to test walking up steep slopes, both normally and with the Talon Trot. This map model only exists in the US 1.0 version of the game.

The following code replaces Mumbo's Mountain with the test map model. Any objects seen here are from Mumbo's Mountain.

8136ABFA 14D6
8136ABFC 0000

Inside Banjo's Cave 3#

Watch on YouTube

Known as "Inside Banjo's Cave 3" in the files, this is an unused map that was supposed to be seen in the opening cutscene. It shares a similar name with "Inside Banjo's Cave 1" and "Inside Banjo's Cave 2," which are actually used during that cutscene. Interestingly, Banjo's house was a cave in early development, which is why this map is referred to that internally alongside the used ones. When you spawn into the map, you'll have the ability to play as Banjo & Kazooie which is not possible on the other cutscene maps found in the game. This map is the only instance in the game's code where an unused fade in and fade out transition is used as well.

There is a molehill that spawns in the middle of the map that has a cutscene cycle in which it shakes and moves the dirt around. After a few seconds, it will move in a U-shape and then disappear. This map also has the same collision as the playable Banjo's House but the map model is scaled to 1.6666666x. Since no actors are present besides the molehill, you can fall to your doom as you exit the house. You can also see an unused pause menu format where none of the collectibles are present on screen.

Unused Music#

There are four unused songs that can be heard in-game by using one of the below GameShark codes.

8128189A ???? - U V1.0
812806DA ???? - U V1.1
812816BA ???? - E
812806DA ???? - J

General#

Advent#

Value: 0039

There were many fan theories about this track's purpose back when it was first discovered, often centring around some connection with Freezeezy Peak's massive Advent calendar entrance (it's clear this is what the entrance is intended to be, since the map's internal name is "Witch - Flr 2, Area 2 : Spooky/Advent"). Grant Kirkhope later confirmed that this song was composed for a map screen in Project Dream, and that "Advent" is a shortening of the track's full title: Adventure!

Mumbo's Raindance (Rain)#

Value: 004D

An unused song intended to be heard in the cancelled Fantasy Level in Banjo-Kazooie. A similar-sounding song would later appear in Banjo-Tooie for Mumbo's spells (one of which is a Rain Dance spell). Curiously, the Rain Dance in Banjo-Kazooie's Fantasy Level would have functioned exactly the same as it appears in Cloud Cuckooland, serving to build a rainbow bridge to a large Pot of Gold, and allowing planted objects to be watered and grown.

Click Clock Wood#

Early Click Clock Wood #1 (House Summer)#

Value: 0048

An unused variant of the Click Clock Wood theme. The name and the range of seasonal variations suggest that it may have been intended for Click Clock Wood's treehouse, considering it's unbuilt in spring and boarded up in winter. Perhaps Grant Kirkhope composed the level's sub-area themes before the level model had been finished, at which stage it might have been unclear if the treehouse would be split out as its own map or simply remain part of the main level model as it is in the final game (related to this: there are a conspicuous number of unused map setup indices around the range containing CCW's sub-areas, specifically 54h to 59h, and 5Dh). Click Clock Wood was the first finalised level theme Kirkhope completed for the game, which may corroborate this idea.

Early Click Clock Wood #2 (House Autumn)#

Value: 0049

Another unused variant of the Click Clock Wood theme.

Underwater Themes#

The music tracks for several areas of the game contain MIDI channels which are never played. These make up the "aquatic" (underwater harp) versions of the music in several areas where it is impossible to swim underwater. To hear these in-game, use one of the music modifier codes from above, then stand near the entrance to Mumbo's Mountain in Gruntilda's lair.

Freezeezy Peak#

Value: 0003

In-game, it is impossible to swim in the water in Freezeezy Peak because it is too cold (and also very shallow). While the player can become submerged using the walrus transformation, the music does not change.

Wozza's Cave#

Value: 006B

As with its parent level of Freezeezy Peak, the water in Wozza's Cave is too cold to swim in and the music again does not change in the underwater tunnel accessible through the walrus transformation. It seems that at some point in development, this cavern was meant to be swam through instead of using the walrus.

This track can actually be heard during the normal game, albeit through an odd bug: if the Wozza's Cave BGM comes up in a "What level is this music from?" question in the Grunty's Furnace Fun quiz, this version and the regular version will play layered because the game is not told to mute the MIDI channels containing the harp sound.

It can also be heard without glitches by drowning in Wozza's Cave.

Rusty Bucket Bay Engine Room#

Value: 0035

By far the oddest of the lot, as there is absolutely no place for swimmable water to exist in the engine room in Rusty Bucket Bay. According to Gregg Mayles on Twitter, he originally intended to flood the engine room, so this track is presumably a leftover from that.

Unused Fanfares#

Quit#

Value: 005C

A shorter version of the Game Over fanfare (which has the internal name "Last Bit"). It might have been used for the Game Over screen before the cutscene was implemented.

Door Open#

Value: 0037

This resembles the tune played when Mumbo transforms Banjo, albeit with softer instrumentation. It is later used in Banjo-Tooie if the player lets Dingpot replenish their items.

Mystery#

Value: 0019

This jingle is used when a player collects the unused random honeycomb.

Obfuscated Music#

Mumbo's Barbeque#

Value: 0099

This 64-second-long track is used during the celebration cutscene after Grunty's Furnace Fun, however the cutscene only plays it for approximately 40 seconds before cutting to a different piece of music, leaving the second phrase of the track completely unheard.

Unused Graphics#

Firefly#

A firefly that looks similar to the Beehives' bees, even using the same sprite for its wings! It most likely would've appeared in Bubblegloop Swamp, adding extra atmosphere to the level.

2D Button Icons#

2D button icons found near the dialogue font graphics. These were likely meant to appear in the dialogue instead of the button names.

Rusty Bucket Bay Toxic Pool#

Most of the textures for the toxic pool in Rusty Bucket Bay can't be seen in-game normally since the water texture is completely opaque and Banjo can't swim under it.

Christmas Tree#

A small animated graphic of the Christmas tree in Freezeezy Peak. This was presumably used in Freezeezy Peak during the two timed challenges of saving the twinklies and flying through the star. There is unused code that suggests this was a timer, so it must have replaced the final game's standard timer during the Christmas Tree quest. The propeller timer in Rusty Bucket Bay is the only other timer in the game that is different than the standard timer, so it seems there were plans to make more custom timers for each of the levels but the idea ended up being scrapped.

Coconut#

An unused dialogue icon for what appears to be a coconut.

Tree#

An unused 2D tree dating all the way back to the N64 version of Project Dream.

Early Empty Honeycomb#

Early	Final

An early version of the empty honeycomb icon, which looks like an altered copy-paste of the filled honeycomb icon. The final version is redone from scratch and makes the difference between the two more distinct.

Early Hourglass#

Early	Final

An early version of the hourglass icon which has skulls on it.

Lockup's Mouth#

The eye texture for the Lockup enemies in Treasure Trove Cove has a mouth that isn't visible in-game.

Flag Textures#

Unused flag textures. An unused green flag model exists in the ROM.

Furnace Fun Podium#

This texture is used on the other side of Grunty's podium in Furnace Fun. It can't be seen without glitches as there aren't any camera angles that show it and the podium disappears once Furnace Fun is completed. However, exclusively on the Japanese version of the game, Grunty's camera angle is changed in the Furnace Fun credits which allows the player to see the back of the podium.

Unused Models#

Picture#

This was probably intended to show up in one of the rooms in Mad Monster Mansion with all the other pictures.

Debug Tool Control Icons#

These rough 3d models of icons and text appear to be buttons for a debug tool that could record and play back something:

Because music, sound, and camera options are available, these were most likely related to setting up and syncing cutscenes. Usage for the attract mode demos is also possible but seems less likely, since those would only need inputs to be choreographed and recorded, with the level already covering everything else.

Interestingly, there are strings related to a recording/playback function using N64 controls listed in the 1997 64DD dump, although it seems more oriented towards an attract mode demo recorder.

"ON VACATION" Sign#

This was very likely for use in Mumbo's hut in the Winter area of Click Clock Wood. Instead, a Beehive tells Banjo that Mumbo's on vacation.

BK Flag#

A green flag that looks similar to the flags found in Boggy's sled race in Freezeezy Peak which has "BK" on it.

Unused Joints#

Concert Cutscene Banjo-Kazooie - Unused Joints#

The skeleton for Banjo and Kazooie's intro concert cutscene model has three unused joints near Banjo's backpack (highlighted in blue in the picture, visualized by extracting the model data and viewing it in Maya). Based on its position within the model, this joint chain was likely intended to be used for animating the backpack's flap. The cutscene model is missing most of the backpack's polygons, though, so the joints end up being completely unnecessary. These joints are not present within the skeleton for Banjo and Kazooie's gameplay models.

Since the concert model is also missing a number of polygons around Banjo's back and the back of Kazooie's head, it's possible that the backpack was animated at an earlier stage in development but this was lost when some of the model's polygons were trimmed to improve the cutscene's framerate. It could be interesting to check if the backpack joints' positions and rotations are still being animated during the concert cutscene despite having no geometry assigned to them.

Unused Code#

Exit to Witch's Lair#

An unused option for the pause menu was "Exit to Witch's Lair". This option would instantly return the player to Gruntilda's Lair from any level, without having to run back to the start pad. It's featured in a picture in the American and Australian instruction booklets, but absent again in the European one. The following GameShark codes will restore this option to the pause menu:

80383080 0000
8136C4EC 002D
8136C4F0 3DCC
8136C4F2 CCCD
8136C4FC 004B
8036C4FE 0005
8136C500 3E4C
8136C502 CCCD
8136C50C 0069
8136C510 3E99
8136C512 999A
8136C51C 0087

8036C9B8 0000
8036C9B9 005A
8036C9C9 007D
8036C9D9 009C
8036C9BA 0005
813839F2 0100

8036CB0C 0000
8036CB0D 005A
8036CB1D 007D
8036CB2D 009C
8036CB0E 0005
81383B52 0100

Curiously enough, this option was actually restored for the 2026 Evercade port, though now named "Go to Grunty's Lair".

Random Honeycombs#

Present in the game are unused random honeycombs which look exactly like regular ones. Upon collecting one, a short unused jingle will play and the honeycombs on Banjo's health bar will start flashing. After a couple of seconds, it'll stop and the currently lit honeycomb will now be how much health Banjo will have. GameShark code 81366CA4 0054 will re-enable the random honeycombs in the US 1.0 version.

Random honeycombs would later appear in Banjo-Tooie, but have a question mark or exclamation mark to differentiate them from normal honeycombs and also allow players to stop the roulette by pressing A.

Vent#

A global "vent" object is available within the game's code. It is a fully functional hazard that was intended to be used in Clanker's Cavern, as it's called "whale_vent" in the game's source. The vent remains closed until the player is within a certain proximity, at which point it will release steam on a fixed interval that will damage the player. It can't be killed or damaged.

Unused Cutscenes#

To do: There are more unused gameplay demos in the asset files. There's even data associated with an unused one in Boggy's Igloo that might have been used for testing purposes.

Klungo Scene#

Map ID 84 is a partially unused cutscene of Klungo walking up to the console as he does in the lair introduction before disappearing. This cutscene and map is used during the real credits when Klungo is shown (although Klungo is frozen in place). This cutscene in full can be viewed on the Xbox 360 version of the game with a glitch during the enemy credits by skipping Dingpot's screen at a certain time.

Use one of the below GameShark codes to load this cutscene after the N64/Rare logos on the Nintendo 64 versions.

Unused Gameplay Demos#

Present are four unused gameplay demos that can be seen at the title screen in the US 1.0 version by using the below GameShark codes.

Spiral Mountain#

Watch on YouTubeCode:

80371F00 0001

A demo of Banjo running around in Spiral Mountain. Of the four unused demos, this one is the most complete and was probably intended to be used at one point. A Spiral Mountain demo can be seen in prerelease footage here (around 2:15) and here (at 0:16), but Banjo's actions are somewhat different not only from the final demo but between both of the videos, indicating that the footage shows two different earlier iterations of the demo that was left in the final game.

Gruntilda's Lair#

Watch on YouTubeCode:

80371F00 0069

A short demo that takes place in the first room in Grunty's Lair. Banjo starts at the top of the slope near the first Note Door, slides down and walks towards the exit before the demo ends.

Freezeezy Peak#

Watch on YouTubeCode:

80371F00 0027
80371F03 0006

A demo of Banjo attacking a Sir Slush enemy in Freezeezy Peak. This demo desyncs partway through, causing Banjo to slide off the rooftop and run around in the water.

Rusty Bucket Bay#

Watch on YouTubeCode:

80371F00 003F
80371F02 005F

A very short demo that takes place in the Captain's Cabin in Rusty Bucket Bay. In this demo, Banjo attacks an enemy and jumps once before the demo ends.

Oddities#

Inaccessible Level Features#

Out-of-Bounds Level Geometry#

Underneath the maze in King Sandybutt's tomb in Gobi's Valley is a large triangle that is never seen in-game.

Out of Bounds Egg#

Underneath the Lockup enemy next to Nipper the crab in Treasure Trove Cove, there is an egg hidden out of bounds. This egg is collectible without glitches if the player does a precise beak bust to partially clip their hitbox in the ground, collecting this forbidden egg.

Song Name Oddity#

The short fanfare that plays when a player completes Grunty's Furnace Fun is internally named "Note Door", indicating that it was intended to play when the player opens a Note Door at some point during development. In the final game, the Note Door fanfare uses the same fanfare for when the player collects all 10 Jiggies in a world (internally named "Jig 10").

Animation Filenames#

The animations of Banjo and Kazooie firing eggs forwards and backwards are internally named "egg head" and "egg ass" respectively. These filenames would carry over to Banjo-Tooie.

Mumbo Tokens#

There are 116 Mumbo Tokens in the game, but if you aren't careful, only 114 can be collected. This is because of two tokens in Mad Monster Mansion and Click Clock Wood respectively. Inside Mad Monster Mansion, one inside a breakable keg in the wine cellar and the other next to the Jiggy found by flushing down Loggo the toilet, have been assigned the same bit in memory, so collecting one of these causes the other to disappear. Inside Click Clock Wood, one in the bramble in Spring and the other next to Eyrie in Spring, have also been assigned the same bit in memory, so if you collect one and leave the area before collecting the other, it disappears.

There is a way to collect all 116 tokens legitimately: if you enter the cellar without collecting the token, then collect the token in Loggo, the token will still be there in the cellar. If you collect the Eyrie token and Bramble token without dying or leaving the world, they will also be both collectable.

One Life on Death Square#

In Furnace Fun, if you step on a Death Square with exactly one life, Grunty will say:

TRY THIS ONE, BUT DON'T BE LAME, YOU'LL LOSE A LIFE AND LOSE THE GAME!

This is obviously a mistake, because the player Game Overs when they die with 0 lives in Banjo-Kazooie. This text won't be displayed when the player has 0 lives, which is where it should appear.

Gobi's Valley Lobby Framerate Cap#

In the Gobi's Valley themed room in Grunty's Lair, the max framerate is set to 20 FPS (16.7 FPS on European). Banjo-Kazooie normally runs at a max of 30 FPS (25 FPS on European), and this is the only room that forces a framerate cap. It's currently unknown why this is the case, but with all the lighting the room has, it might be locked to prevent a random crash. A side-effect of this odd addition is that the pause menu will also run at 20 FPS, which is never the case as the pause menu is always at 30 FPS since there's little to no lag present when navigating the menu.

On XBLA, this room was changed to run at 30 FPS, making it one of the few gameplay changes seen in XBLA. However, this causes some of the cutscenes located in this room to be longer than the N64 version.

Mr. Vile Dialogue Sprites#

While it's known that Mr. Vile was used as a placeholder dialogue sprite during development, according to the decompilation, there are actually several copies of Mr. Vile in the game's list of dialogue sprites. The first three entries (#1-3) are identical. There is a slightly modified Mr. Vile at #17 with F0 instead of F2, and three (#67-69) that have unique sprites, but their sound samples and values are unchanged from Mr. Vile's. Mr. Vile's sprite asset number is 7E6, before even Banjo who is 7EF, implying that his was the first talk sprite to be added.

Camera Control Move#

In Spiral Mountain, the player can choose to train with Bottles or skip the training. If the player chooses to train with Bottles, they can then go around and learn each of the basic moves individually. The very first molehill after the one outside Banjo's House will teach them how to use the camera controls. However, the player always has the ability to use these controls, so it sets a flag for learning the "move" in which it does nothing since they aren't restricted from using the camera in the first place. It seems like in one point in development the ability to move the camera was restricted and the player needed to learn the move to unlock it in Spiral Mountain. This "move" isn't actually required for the bridge to be built as the game never checks for the flag. Interestingly, once the player speaks to Bottles on top of the Spiral Mountain, he will actually unlock the flag for the move if you never talked to that first molehill. This can be easily skipped if the player saves and quits before climbing the Spiral Mountain, effectively skipping unlocking this useless move, which can still be returned to and learned afterwards.

Double Red Feather in Clanker's Cavern#

Inside an underwater pipe with red feathers in Clanker's Cavern, there are two red feathers placed on the same coordinate, giving you two instead of one.

Obscure Mumbo Jumbo Texture#

There is an odd texture that can't fully be seen in normal gameplay because the Mumbo actor is on top of it. It appears to be a sketch of Mumbo Jumbo, although its purpose for being there is unknown.

Anti-Piracy/Anti-Cheat#

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing. Specifically: Explain the actual detection mechanism. The decompilation may be of help here.

The Nintendo 64 version of the game can detect the presence of backup devices and cheat cartridges since these devices run their own code before loading the game. In code, the game checks if the values that the CRC lockout chip provides are correct compared to its own checksum, and if incorrect, several game features will not work as intended. The CRC check is run in multiple places in the game, including several functions in Spiral Mountain, and upon entering levels. Some GameShark cheats will trigger this response on real N64s.

Losing Moves#

Banjo will randomly lose one of his moves during gameplay (seemingly upon entering a level, or in Spiral Mountain) which can prove to be a hindrance depending on the move. The move isn't permanently lost; the flag is simply flipped back to not being learned, and it can be re-learned by talking to Bottles again.

Broken Bridge#

If you cross the bridge back to Spiral Mountain from Gruntilda's Lair, the bridge will be broken until you shut down and reload the game.

Slippery Sand#

Inside Treasure Trove Cove, if you load a Lockup Chest enemy, the game will change the ground physics to be very slippery, making a humorous display of Banjo & Kazooie sliding uncontrollably.

References#