Pre-Order Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and receive a free code for the original Banjo-Kazoie Xbox Live Arcade remake that allows you to download the game before it releases to the public.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts will be released on November 18th in North America at the cheap price of $40 (out on November 14th in Europe), with the original version of Banjo available for download that day to those who pre-order! For those counting, this will give pre-orderers a two-week head start on getting to play the remake before everyone else (though the exact date for the remake hasn’t yet been determined).
The biggest reason you will want to play the original Banjo-Kazooie (outside of course because of how awesome it is) is due to the addition of the “Stop ‘N’ Swap” feature. Stop N Swop was supposed to allow connectivity between Banjo Kazooie and it’s sequel, Banjo Tooie, in order to unlock special features in the original game by collecting colored eggs to unlock hidden areas and entering a code into a “Stop & Swop” menu, but the feature was never fully realized when Banjo Tooie continued on without the feature.
Now Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts will complete the legendary infamous Stop & Swop by allowing connectivity with the Xbox Live Arcade remake of Banjo Kazooie! By linking the two titles, it will “reward players’ accomplishments in the new game with extra content and features in the Xbox LIVE Arcade game.”
Additionally, Rare also revealed that the Nuts & Bolts game world formally known as “World of Sports” has been renamed Jiggoseum, and will feature Olympics-inspired challenges (one example being to transport a torch across a large body of water to light the Olympic Cauldron).
I don’t know about you, but I’m very intrigued by Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and was a huge fan of the original. So I’m definitely looking forward to buying both of them and finally getting to complete the Stop & Swop! In my opinion Banjo-Kazooie is one of the best platformers ever made, and I hope this is only the beginning of much more classic Rare N64 games to come!
Here is an interview from E3 2008 explaining more about the game and how the vehicle-building works.
UPDATE: Participating countries and retailers so far…
UK: Amazon, Play.com, Game and Gamestation.
USA: Amazon, EBGames, GameStop, GameCrazy and Best Buy.
CANADA: EB Games and Toys R Us.
FRANCE: Micromania and Game.
SPAIN: Game.
ITALY: GameStop.
NEW ZEALAND: EB Games and GamePlanet.
Other countries known to be running the promotion but with no specific retailer info as yet: JAPAN, IRELAND, GERMANY, AUSTRIA, BENELUX, SWITZERLAND, AUSTRALIA.
SCANDINAVIA: Game and GameStop.