Banjo-Threeie (non-existent sequel to platformer game series; early 2000s)

A fanmade logo.

Status: Non-existent

Banjo-Threeie is a non-existent installment in the Banjo-Kazooie video game franchise by Microsoft subsidiary and former Nintendo partner Rare Ltd. It was once thought to have been in planning for the Nintendo GameCube, and later due to Microsoft's purchase of Rare, the Xbox and Xbox 360. Despite widespread belief, a third mainline Banjo title was never in development, only remakes and spin-offs.

Teaser in Banjo-Tooie

At the end of Banjo-Tooie, released for the Nintendo 64 in 2000, the franchise's antagonist Gruntilda tells the player she will return in Banjo-Threeie. Despite exciting many fans, it was actually intended as a joke, calling back to a similar gag in an earlier Rare game, Snake, Rattle, N' Roll, with the intended humor being derived from the difficulty of pronouncing the word "Threeie" in British English.

Myths and future

At Spaceworld 2000, a Nintendo event, a variety of tech demos for the then-upcoming Nintendo GameCube were shown. Demos for games such as Luigi's Mansion, and Super Smash Bros. Melee were shown there. A tech demo featuring Banjo characters was also shown. In the tech demo, Banjo, Kazooie, and Mumbo Jumbo are pursued by a horde of enemies. However, Gregg Mayles (creative designer at Rare) has stated on Twitter that a Banjo game for the Nintendo GameCube was never planned and that it was just a way of showing off how many N64 models can fit on a GameCube at once.

In 2008, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was released - the game had a long development cycle with many ideas being conceived, including racing; co-op; and a remake of the first game, before settling on a sandbox vehicle-building game, however, none of the proposed concepts were collectathon platformers akin to Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, although the title Banjo-Threeie was considered for use . For a long time speculation circled of Banjo-Threeie not being made due to some kind of interference on Microsoft's end, however, in reality almost every idea of Nuts & Bolts was Rare's choice.

The future of the Banjo franchise is currently dubious, however, it has been stated that a future title - even if it were a collectathon - would likely not have the name "Banjo-Threeie".

Gallery

Images

• 

  The famous fanmade mock-up of the game's box art.

Videos

Banjo-Tooie's ending.

Spaceworld 2000 Banjo tech demo, widely but wrongfully believed to be footage of Banjo-Threeie.

The 2006 trailer.

See Also

Banjo-Kazooie

• Banjo-Karting/Banjo-Kazoomie (lost prototypes of "Banjo-Kazooie" racing games; mid-2000s)
• Banjo-Kazooie (partially found concept art from unproduced animated TV adaptation of game series; 2007)
• Project Dream (lost builds of cancelled Super Nintendo/Nintendo 64 precursor to "Banjo-Kazooie" platformer; 1994-1997)

Rare Ltd.

• Cascade (lost build of cancelled Xbox 360 massive multiplayer online game; 2000-2007)
• Diddy Kong Racing Adventure (found build of cancelled Nintendo GameCube sequel to "Diddy Kong Racing"; 2004)
• Dinosaur Planet (found build of cancelled Nintendo 64 action-adventure game; 1999-2000)
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (lost build of cancelled Virtual Boy port of Super Nintendo sequel platformer; 1996)
• Donkey Kong: Coconut Crackers (lost build of cancelled Game Boy Advance puzzle game; 2002)
• Donkey Kong Racing (lost build of cancelled Nintendo GameCube racing sequel game; 2002)
• GoldenEye 007 (found build of cancelled Xbox Live Arcade remaster of Nintendo 64 first-person shooter; 2007-2008)
• Jet Force Gemini (lost build of cancelled Game Boy Color port of Nintendo 64 third-person shooter; 2000)
• Sabreman Stampede (lost build of cancelled Xbox 360 adventure platformer; 2002-2005)
• Savannah (lost build of cancelled Xbox 360 Kinect prototype; 2006-2007)
• Twelve Tales: Conker 64 (lost build of early version of "Conker's Bad Fur Day" Nintendo 64 platformer; late 1990s)

External links

Reddit: Comprehensive list of reasons why Nuts & Bolts exist