Hello everyone and welcome to a new GBAtemp Series by yours truly, the GBATEMP FIGHT CLUB!
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Here's how Fight Club throws down tempers and temptresses. I'm going to take either two franchises, 2 characters, 2 specific games, or 2 of SOMETHING gaming related, and I'm going to pit them against each other for your enjoyment. But how do we declare a victor you may ask? That's where you come in!

The way this will work is I will give a brief synopsis of the two rivaling entities, and leave it up to all of you to vote and debate which one is the better being, and why that is. A combination of the poll votes, and the arguments made in this thread, will determine the victor! I will take poll votes into account for the most part, but the supporting arguments will also heavily decide who the victor will truly be.

This will be an attempted weekly act every Monday, where a victor will be chosen and a new round will begin, so you will have one week to argue and determine who or what the better of the two is. So without further ado, let's get to our competitors this week:

SUPER MARIO 64 VS. BANJO KAZOOIE

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Two of the most iconic collectathon adventure games of all time on the Nintendo 64. If you haven't played the one, you probably played the other, or even played both as a kid, but both are the most beloved of their genre.

Super Mario 64 pioneered the 3D adventure genre with superb gameplay, an enormous ammount of content, a memorable world with unforgettable environments, and the establishment of gaming mechanics utilized to this day.

We can thank Super Mario 64 for the use of 360 degree analog control, dynamic cameras, and a sense of real gaming freedom we hadn't experienced before. We can also thank it for giving us an unforgettable gaming experience that is regarded as the greatest adventure game of all time.

So what of the competition?

Banjo Kazooie took what made Super Mario 64 a juggernaut, and expanded upon it. It took colorful and expansive environments, and enhanced and improved them. It took level design and exploration and broadened its horizons even farther. Boasting wonderful textures, solid frame-rate, and fantastic sound design, critics then referred to it as the biggest competitor and successor to SM64.

With these sentiments in mind, let's begin the arguments! Which one deserves to be called the better of the two? Can you make a solid case for why one is better than the other? It's all up to you!

If you have a suggestion for what the next fight should be, leave a post on my profile page!

 

[HaloEffect17]

Because of that I've always attached a mysterious sense of awkwardness to Mario 64. Its still a great game, but I never quite got over that strange and slightly uncomfortable feeling.

But isn't that the point of Super Mario 64? That the limits are boundless and that the sheer sense of pure exploration and discovery that comes seldom with a platformer back in the day.

 

[EMP Knightmare]

I picked Banjo, why because RARE that's why

 

[DS1]

Mario 64, because the Banjo manual smelled strange, end of story.

In all seriousness though, while Banjo had elements ranging from interesting (move upgrades) to amazing (climbing the overworld, reminiscent of the SNES DKC games), Mario 64 is just pure fun through and through. While Mario 64 had its share of obnoxious levels, nearly every Banjo level was annoying to me. While Mario's levels felt free, I always felt 'stuck' in an annoying or ugly Banjo level, struggling to complete tasks just so I could unlock another boring stage. The Mario stages begged to be explored, I just wanted to jump/fly around and cover every corner of a level before I even bothered nabbing stars. Collecting stuff in Banjo felt like a chore, Mario's tasks always felt like an extension of all the skills I'd gained while exploring.

Or maybe it was childhood trauma from the smell of that manual. Like, I've played Mario 64 several times in the past decade, but I didn't really touch Banjo after the first year I had it (I STILL have it, but in the case I break out my 64, I usually play Goemon, hahaha).

 

[orcid]

Mario 64 was such a revolution and mind blowing for every gamer who played it at release. This 3D platforming, the 'open world' and the polished gameplay was just unbelieveable. I already owned a PSX at this time and was used to 3D gaming, but the first tries of 3D platformers were very poor compared to the old 2D platformers. Mario 64 was breathtaking and really proved 'this 3D thing' is not only about graphics or good for other genres like racing. Published and developed at the same time Banjo would maybe get my vote, but two years later there is no big surprise that they improved on Mario 64 (a little bit). Looking at the difference of quality between titles released at console launch and later in the lifespans of other consoles Mario 64 seems to be even more outstanding compared to Banjo.

 

[Ericzander]

I'm not going to read replies because I don't want to be influenced.

Banjo Kazooie master race!

 

[DarkCoffe64]

Haven't played much of Banjo, so since I'm more familiar with Mario 64...
Heh, give me vote to Mario.

About an argument? Ehhh...
You could play as Luigi in the remake?

 

[Reecey]

I cant see how you can compare SM64 to BK. SM64 all the way this game has had so much reply value and its been hacked and god knows what done to it and people still talk about wanting a SM64 remake today!

 

[FAST6191]

I cant see how you can compare SM64 to BK. SM64 all the way this game has had so much reply value and its been hacked and god knows what done to it and people still talk about wanting a SM64 remake today!

Replay value will be down to the person playing it. I do not think it is a stretch to call Banjo replayable though.

Hacked.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/banjos-backpack-v1-0-1-banjo-kazooie-n64-level-editor.357846/
Rather nice level editor there.

Remake
The N64 Banjo games got rather nice remakes on the 360, and have since seen inclusion in that Rare collection.

 

[Reecey]

Replay value will be down to the person playing it. I do not think it is a stretch to call Banjo replayable though.

Hacked.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/banjos-backpack-v1-0-1-banjo-kazooie-n64-level-editor.357846/
Rather nice level editor there.

Remake
The N64 Banjo games got rather nice remakes on the 360, and have since seen inclusion in that Rare collection.

Agreed but we're talking about the mighty mighty Super Mario 64 here from the N64, need I say more! There can't be any judgement in my opinion on this, its a closed case.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Agreed but we're talking about the mighty mighty Super Mario 64 here from the N64, need I say more! There can't be any judgement in my opinion on this, its a closed case.

Wrong, we're talking about the almighty Rare and their masterpiece Banjo Kazooie

 

[Reecey]

Wrong, we're talking about the almighty Rare and their masterpiece Banjo Kazooie

Sorry I have to disagree on this with you! Actually the reason why I feel quite strong about this "battle" as well as being a bit emotionally attached to me is because Super Mario 64 is my favorite game of all time and has fantastic memory's of my childhood days so it means quite a lot to me this thread to win!. As far as I go on this matter Super Mario 64 on the N64 was and I stress, is still the best game ever made in my opinion and always will be in my heart so it holds that title and the game should win no questions asked, hands down!!!.

 

[Blaze163]

While I can certainly appreciate Banjo Kazooie as a truly incredible game, it'll never have that 'wow' factor of SM64. Mario 64 basically changted the gaming world. While it's certainly been improved upon since, I personally feel like I have to give props to the initial leap forward. It's not really a fair contest though. Mario had the ability to be viewed as such a huge upgrade over its previous iterations and wow the long-term fans, whereas with Banjo Kazooie being a new IP it didn't have that established fanbase with minds to blow.

 

[Hyperstar96]

They're both great games, but I'm going with Mario 64.

 

[FAST6191]

whereas with Banjo Kazooie being a new IP it didn't have that established fanbase with minds to blow.

Because being Rare in 1998 was an easy act to follow? Granted it is probably not as bad as being Rare in 2002 would have been but still.

 

[Philip3ds]

Super Mario 64 kills Banjo Kazooie. The End!

 

[Blaze163]

Because being Rare in 1998 was an easy act to follow? Granted it is probably not as bad as being Rare in 2002 would have been but still.

Don't get me wrong, Rare were a dominating force back then. Goldeneye alone pretty much owned all multiplayer outside of Smash Bros and Mario Kart, made modern gaming what it is today, and Rare had a tidal wave of great games. But Mario was the face of video games, and arguably still is today. He was a league above everyone, and to see him revolutionize gaming like that was mind-blowing on such an entirely different level. A lot of people knew that Rare were incredible and they were no doubt blown away by Banjo Kazooie, but EVERYBODY will always know who Mario is. They're both great games in their own right but I just feel the wider impact of Mario 64 gives it a slight edge.

 

[FAST6191]

I would disagree with your assessment of Goldeneye, if only because Quake had dropped the year before, and I reckon that has a far bigger legacy in terms of games as a whole. Goldeneye did well for a console game, even if I reckon Perfect Dark ultimately made it look like a beta, but this is probably not the thread for that one (again).

All that said I have really never been one for "legacy" and much prefer to ask whether it holds up today. I have similar feelings about Lord of the Rings -- the book was amazing for the time and still not bad today but the decades that followed brought so much more to the table, ultimately left me somewhat underwhelmed by the films.

 

[Deboog]

Nope. I can't do it. I refuse to vote.

 

[Walker D]

Mario 64 for me mainly cause I like to play the game more. The controls are super tight, and as so, it's a really good "3d platformer". And on that point, Mario 64 beats Banjo for sure (imo).


Also, there's no Banjo without Mario 64. The Rare devs have said before that after seeing Mario 64 they went back to the drawing board completely. Banjo was a totally different game before that (Project Dream).

 

[kehkou]

Did Rare use custom microcode for either BK and/or BT?