![]() ![]() ![]() Super Mario 64, which had debuted in North America less than a year earlier, was one of the most acclaimed and momentous games of all time, a title that the same magazine - granted, not an unbiased source - had proclaimed “nothing less than a revolution” and “the new gold standard in video games.” Labeling Banjo as a platformer that performed like Mario 64 was akin to comparing a Ball brother to Steph Curry before the kid’s first professional field goal. It was simultaneously one of the most encouraging comparisons that the publication could have made, and one of the most intimidating. ![]() “The first thing you have to know about this game is that it behaves a lot like Super Mario 64,” Nintendo Power told its hungry readers in August 1997, in the magazine’s first hands-on preview of Banjo-Kazooie. Our series continues today with Banjo-Kazooie, the beloved platformer from renowned game developer Rare that built on Mario’s model for 3-D design and, in retrospect, helped set the stage for the long-neglected genre’s recent resurgence. Throughout the year, The Ringer ’s gaming enthusiasts will be paying tribute to the legendary titles turning 20 in 2018 by replaying them for the umpteenth time or playing them for the first time, talking to the people who made them, and analyzing both what made them great and how they made later games greater. Art may largely be a matter of taste, but one conclusion is close to inarguable: 1998 was the best year ever for video games, producing an unparalleled lineup of revolutionary releases that left indelible legacies and spawned series and subcultures that persist today. ![]()
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