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!

 

[keven3477]

Don't know much about banjo so I guess I am choosing Mario. At least he is still appearing in games.

 

[BadJuju]

Bruh. Banjo-Kazooie wins hands down. Rare dominated the N64.

 

[VinsCool]

Super Mario 64 established the base in 3d platforming.

Banjo Kazooie took it, and made it better.

By assumption, Banjo Kazooie automatically wins

 

[endoverend]

And his name is JOHN CENA!

Srsly tho, Mario 64 by ten million miles. This one just comes down to what kind of nostalgia goggles you're wearing.

 

[LunaWofl]

Banjo Kazooie

You said it yourself, Banjo Kazooie expanded on the formula in multiple aspects.
The only means someone would select Mario 64 is if they should either
Firstly; argue that the expansion of formula was poorly executed
or
Secondly; succumb to admission of nostalgia
or
Thirdly; revel in ignorant bliss over having not played it.

 

[BLsquared]

I liked SM64 quite a bit years ago, and have not played Banjo.
But from watching videos and researching, the data tells me that, as you said, Banjo improved upon Mario 64.
Logically, Banjo-Kazooie wins.

 

[endoverend]

There's no "logic" to decide which is better. You can't say that just because one game is the logical successor to another that it is objectively better. The same argument could be made that New Super Mario Bros. U could be objectively better than Super Mario Bros. for the NES but in that case it's not necessarily true.

 

[BLsquared]

There's no "logic" to decide which is better. You can't say that just because one game is the logical successor to another that it is objectively better. The same argument could be made that New Super Mario Bros. U could be objectively better than Super Mario Bros. for the NES but in that case it's not necessarily true.

Fair point. It is really all opinion, then.
I apologize for trying to sound smart.

 

[Chary]

Both games have aged pretty well, and they're the pinnacle of platforming, as far as the N64 goes. But Banjo is superior for reasons already stated, and come on, no one can deny the greatness of Grant Kirkhope's compositions.

 

[bowser]

Arrggghh...I can't choose! Both were equally freaking incredible.

 

[gudenau]

I say SM64 because it was "free", and I never played the other one. Plus, I find SM64 speedruns quite fun, there are some neat glitches in it.

Edit:
First page, wow!

 

[Foxi4]

Mario 64. I never liked Banjo all that much.

 

[[^Blark^]]

Mario 64

I liked the world design and it had a better OST in my opinion.

Jolly Roger bay (my favorite)

 

[Monado_III]

SM64, because it did more. Banjo may be the better game, but take away the SM64 formula and design and you have a 'meh' game. People today still point to SM64 when talking about how to make good 3d platformers and more or less good 3rd person games as a whole. Banjo doesn't have anything close to that kind of legacy, it set the standard for... collectathons, which is a tiny fraction of the games made today.

 

[Wellington2k]

Banjo-Kazooie for the win! XD

Reason:
The game itself feels very polished. I love the story, it has more memorable characters than Mario 64, and... Grant Kirkhope.
Plus, I've Skyped with the developers before, and they are some of the coolest guys I know.

 

[ShonenJump]

Sm64 came first. Then rare took a look at sm64 and put more things on it. SM64 had a huge impact for the time. So i choose the freedom 3d adventure game: SM64

 

[ShadowOne333]

Banjo is more of a cult classic.
SM64 is a classic in the entirety of the word, if not even a legend on 3D gaming.

SM64 for all the innovations it brought and to show us how delightful and entertaining the 3D world would be from there onwards.

 

[Adeka]

Mario 64. My second favorite mario game

 

[linkofhyrule1]

Geez, both were so excellent.
But Mario 64 lacked one exciting feature...