Banjo-Kazooie was a Nintendo 64 game developed by Rare. A platformer with gameplay centered around the titular characters Banjo and Kazooie, the game amassed a large and nostalgic fanbase. One of the exciting features of the game was its 9 worlds full of collectibles for players to explore. While the original game is still playable on various platforms such as Xbox Game Pass, players have been hoping for a way to see these classic worlds with HD textures and improved lighting.
For a while now, a dedicated Banjo-Kazooie fan has been working to bring back some of these classic worlds from the Nintendo 64 game in better detail. Known as Project Dream (a codename related to the development of Banjo-Kazooie) on YouTube, the creator has been releasing a series of videos showcasing remastered worlds from the game in cinematic trailers. Some of the locations included in the remaster project are Rusty Bucket Bay, Clanker’s Cavern, and Gobi’s Valley. The creator has been working on remastering worlds from the sequel Banjo-Tooie as well. Recently, Project Dream announced their newest remaster, the memorable Spiral Mountain.
In a video posted to YouTube earlier today, Project Dream revealed a look at a remastered Spiral Mountain. The starting world from Banjo-Kazooie, this fan remaster showed off many impressive features, including a new and improved design for Banjo’s house, complete with a high-res model of Banjo inside. In addition, the video showed the iconic Spiral Mountain and the outside of Gruntilda’s Lair. Some other impressive highlights of the remaster included realistic grass swaying in the wind, along with improved lighting. There was also a new music track created for the cinematic trailer composed by Dark-Grunt.
This remastered version of Spiral Mountain created by Project Dream has piqued the interest of many Banjo-Kazooie players. Fans were impressed with the level of detail on display in the recreation of the world with some noting the quality of the out-of-bounds scenery. In addition to Spiral Mountain, many wanted the creator to make the inside of Gruntilda’s Lair. Others wished that Microsoft would release a remaster of the game, allowing players to jump into these visually enhanced worlds.
Besides this new cinematic trailer for a remastered Spiral Mountain, fans recently learned that the original Banjo-Kazooie is coming to the Switch. During a Nintendo Direct from September, Nintendo revealed that many classic Nintendo 64 games were arriving on the hybrid console in the coming days. As part of a more expensive subscription for the Nintendo Switch Online service, Nintendo fans will receive access to many of these games for the first time on the console.