Banjo-Kazooie has always been a fan-favorite Nintendo 64 game. Despite being only early 3D hardware, its gameplay still holds up incredibly well and its art direction is still pleasing to the eyes. It should go without saying that the game is still adored, and nothing demonstrates that better than the fan-made Banjo-Kazooie Decompilation Project, which has recently been completed.
The Value of Decompilation
Many classic games have undergone decompilation projects over the past several years, including Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Perfect Dark. Effectively, these projects strive to reverse-engineer the code of these games. In doing so, the outdated and difficult-to-read Assembly Code is converted into more standard C code that can easily be understood. Fans of the games to have received completed decompilation projects have used them for numerous purposes.
Banjo-Kazooie will benefit from this project’s completion if prior projects are anything to go by. Speedrunners will have a better understanding of the game and how best to make use of oddities in the game’s code to optimize their runs, and ROM Hackers will be able to make complex mods with this knowledge. The prominent ROM Hacker Kaze Emannuar suggests several ideas in his video on the subject, such as easily implementing the originally cut Stop N Swop feature into the game.
Banjo-Kazooie May Receive a PC Port
The benefit of decompilations that most people find exciting is taking classic games and porting them to other platforms, most commonly PC. Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Perfect Dark have all received this treatment with stunning results- Each as a direct consequence of the decompilation project. No group has yet stepped forth to develop a PC port of Banjo-Kazooie, but there is a lot of demand for one. If any developer rises to the challenger, we may be in for a treat.
Limitations that come with ROM Hacking would not exist on an open-source PC Port of the game. One of Mario 64’s ports, EX Co-Op, allows the game to easily be played online with multiple players. Ocarina of Time’s PC Port, Ship of Harkinian, contains so many different options to customize your gameplay experience that it is without a doubt the definitive way to play the game. Banjo-Kazooie could benefit in similar ways, and it would not be surprising to see people start playing the game on high-end systems with ray tracing.
Preserving Banjo-Kazooie’s Legacy
Banjo-Kazooie is not a game in immediate danger of being lost forever. The Xbox version of the game is still readily available and includes some improvements over the original release such as a smoother camera and widescreen functionality. It is not without its flaws- There are some issues with audio in cutscenes, albeit fairly minor ones, among other things. The Nintendo Switch version is also readily available to those with the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pass, although this is a simple emulated version of the Nintendo 64 game and may not be available in the future if the license to keep it on the service expires.
Despite this, the decompilation makes it far easier to keep the game available for modern audiences. Having this code enables users to compile the game themselves, provided the assets are extracted from a user-supplied ROM. This will be even simpler if a PC Port comes to be, and such a port would likely become the best way to play the game. To say the least, the future of Banjo-Kazooie is much brighter with this project’s completion.
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