-FAQ- Banjo Kazooie Nostalgia 64 (Patreon)

-What is BK Nostalgia 64 and how did the project start?

Banjo Kazooie Nostalgia 64 is a mod of Banjo Kazooie for N64, where you can explore some of most emblematic worlds of other N64 games like Super Mario 64, DK64, Goldeneye, Bomberman, Conker and more. This project started last year with the Covid-19 crisis, but was called "Banjo Kazooie Stay At Home" then. At that time my idea was just to release a new world every few weeks, so that people would have something to play during the lockdown, but little by little the project grew and at the beginning of this year I made the decision to transform it in a full game to play, ading a Hub World to explore and a few more extra areas.

-When will it be published?

Honestly, I don't know. I hope early 2022, but whenever I have a date in mind I have not been able to meet it for one or another reason, so I don't want to give a new date until I am sure I can meet it.

-Will it be playable on real N64 with an Everdrive?

We are working to make it compatible. If there are no last minute issues that make it impossible, you will be able to play in real N64 using Everdrive.

-What's the difference in the approach to this right now as opposed to when Nostalgia 64 was announced early this year?

When I announced BK Nostalgia 64 in March, my idea was to just add a small Hub World, a couple of extra areas and that's it. Then I met a great guy who knows programming, so the possibilities of modifying the game in many more ways multiplied, so we had more and more ideas and the project grew.

-How many levels will there be?

There are 9 main worlds, 1 small world with 6 honeycombs (The ones from Spiral Mountain), 3 extra small worlds with 6 Jiggies each, and the Hub World (with no Jiggies but with 8 Mumbo Tokens)

-How many Collectables will there be?

-90 Jiggies

-900 Notes

-24 Honeycombs

-80 Mumbo tokens

...and some extra secrets.

-Will there be any difference in the levels that were already in BK Stay At Home?

Mumbo tokens have been increased and reorganized so that each level includes 8 of them. On the other hand, there are a few of new special collectables have been added, and there will be one hidden in each level. A few necessary minor fixes have also been made on some levels, but nothing major.

-Why to use Banjo Kazooie and not Banjo Tooie?

There are no tools to modify Banjo Tooie yet.

-How many N64 games would you say are represented by a world in the hack and how much adding the 2D sub-areas?

-There are a total of 10 different N64 games represented with playable levels, and other games referenced by music and Easter eggs. As for sub-areas inspired by retro games there are 9.

-How do you decide which worlds to add to the game?

I just include levels that I would like to play and I think that fit with BK gameplay. I actually discarded some levels (one from Spyro 2 when the project was "BK Stay at Home" and wasn't 100% focused on N64, and one from Kirby 64 because I didn't like how it worked in BK).

-What do you plan to do after this, Banjo related or not?

When I'm done with this project I’m going to start with another BK Mod that I promised last year, in which the levels will be designed by the winners of some contests that I ran on my Twitch channel. I really want to start with that project. On the other hand maybe I will make a small mod for this Christmas too, but I'm still in the testing phase on that.

-Is there any chance, that you can change your hobby into a professional job doing more BK mods, or maybe making a game of your own?

I can't sell any of this because I'm using an IP that doesn't belong to me, and of course all these projects will always be published for free. These are games from a huge BK fan for other BK fans, that's it. However, I can receive support from the community in the same way that people who play video games on YouTube or make metal covers of video game songs receive support (to give just two examples). Of course I would love to be able to make a living from this one day, although my end purpose has always been to create my own game, I don't want to be the guy who does BK mods all my life. But for now I think I need to grow up more to more people know my work and trust me in case I need to do a Kickstarter or something.

If you have any other question that has not been answered in the FAQ, you can leave it in the comments, maybe I will update it with new info if I see it appropriate.

Thanks so much you all for your patience.

Mark Kurko