After many gamers finished Banjo-Kazooie in 1998, Rare promised a plethora of secrets to uncover in its sequel, Banjo-Tooie. Mumbo Jumbo showed the best BK players, those who were able to fully complete the game, the secret eggs and ice key they could obtain if they had Banjo-Tooie. This was a faint three years ago, and the whole issue of getting these secrets hasn’t stopped.
Banjo-Tooie launched in November of 2000, and would be the link to the secrets gamers wanted for so long. I know I initially wanted to scope out the game to find any sort of clue or link to Banjo-Kazooie, because I waited over two years just to get this game. However, Banjo-Tooie offered nothing at all in terms of clues on how to access these hidden places in Banjo-Kazooie. Even completing the game completely earned you nothing at all--except dignity. I waited two full years to not know the secrets of the Banjo connection? Whatever Rare was thinking totally warped my mind.
Recently, though, Gameshark hackers revealed how to get all the eggs and the ice key in Banjo-Kazooie. By pounding different phrases in the Sandcastle in Treasure Trove Cove, colored eggs would be revealed at certain spots. This was all fine and dandy, but Rare said that there are events in Tooie that enable you to uncover the secrets in Kazooie and then bring them back to Tooie. Here’s the official statement:
“Basically, there will be events that happen in 'Tooie which will enable you to gain access to the secrets in 'Kazooie. These secrets can then be used in 'Tooie.”
If you use the codes to get the ice key and eggs in Kazooie, you are forever screwed! If you try to erase your game and start a fresh one, you will STILL have all the secrets.
So, what’s my stand on all of this?
I’d like to think that the secrets are still in both games. The connection, titled "Stop ‘N Swop", is the biggest mystery of all. There are so many hints of all these secrets in Tooie, that you’d think it would be easy to find the connection. Captain Blackeye, from Jolly’s Tavern, gives the most obvious hints. He says different lines when you meet him, but the most revealing one is: “I had a dream once…” The ‘dream’ he is referring to is Banjo-Kazooie, originally dubbed “Project Dream.” Is Rare giving us subtle hints to sway us from the truth?
Here’s another quote from Rare, which shows how Rare is using Blackeye as their main secret-revealer:
“Well spotted sir! The evil pirate bloke has a mission and purpose all of his own, but this is neither the time nor place to reveal even the merest hint. You might learn more from a certain tavern in the near future...”
After talking to Blackeye for over 10 minutes, I can say that he doesn’t give the slightest hint of anything! Is this more propaganda from Rare, or is the Captain really the link between the two games?
The main reason Rareware isn’t revealing anything about the two games is that they probably don’t mind torturing us. Any other game developer would have puked their guts out and revealed every little secret about their game. Rare is so anti-normal that they will probably keep the secrets to themselves for a very long time. Or maybe they don’t really know the status of the Stop ‘N Swop extravaganza. Perhaps they actually deleted all the secrets for various reasons. For this to be true, they would have officially announced it, like they did when they took out ‘Perfect Head’ in Perfect Dark. On Rare’s official website, they ran a news article about how they removed the feature from the software. So, we still have hope, but do I?
I’m fed up with the whole issue. Why does Rare have to wait so long?? Nintendo’s Gamecube is launching very soon and Rare is depriving us of a very cool thing.
I honestly think there isn’t a connection anymore. Why? Rare constantly dodges all questions they receive about the issue. This has gone on for so long—release the secrets already! Some people will probably be disappointed with the secret if it’s ever revealed. I know many people who have high hopes for the connection/secrets within the two games, and I hope all of our many desires will be fulfilled.
If I see any Rare members at E3, I will definitely interrogate them. They’ll probably give me a few slaps to the chops, but it’ll be worth it!
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Lost Hope 
