Stop n Grow Stops Nail Biting Deterrent 7.5ml, Pack of 1

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Q12: I was wondering since you announced the existence of Banjo-Tooie in the ending of B-K, and several aspects of the sequel existed in the first game (the ice key, sharkfood island, etc.), has your freedom of development been limited by these stones already set in place in any way, or was the game already well underway at that point? (DasPoot@aol)

Banjo-Tooie‘s release was met with strong fanfare in 2000 – it had managed to take everything players had loved about the original Banjo title and expanded on it – bigger worlds, badder bosses, more characters – it was all there, and it played brilliantly! However, there was still the matter of how Stop ’N’ Swop would make use of the Ice Key and Secret Eggs all the way from Banjo-Kazooie, and ironically the solution provided managed to raise even more questions about the feature… They may be somewhat the same but beyond any regional differences, they can also mean something different. A: Heh… heh… heh… keep on guessing… ho… ho… ho… all will be revealed… hee… hee… heee… Sorry about that, the simple answer is yes. Interest has also surrounded environments and locations that had been removed during development, but could still be found buried in the games memory – the logic followed that if Stop ’N’ Swop had its own designated location to share the Mystery Eggs and Ice Key between both titles, it would make sense that this area would have been removed once the ‘Game Pak’ solution was presented, yet remnants of the original plan could have remained in the code just waiting to be found.

Score for STOP

Released in 2003 as their first title under Microsoft, haunted house romp Grabbed by the Ghoulies was largely comprised of the same team that had previously worked on Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. This would become fairly obvious when exploring Ghoulhaven Hall, as there were nearly 100 unique references that paid tribute to the Bear and Bird with cameo appearances from the principal and secondary cast in portraits, products and clothing found throughout. On April 10th, 2020, Rare Gamer had the opportunity to discuss the development of Stop ‘N’ Swop with Paul Machacek. In addition to learning how Stop ‘N’ Swop was devised and accomplished on a technical level, Mr. Machacek also revealed that the scope for Stop ‘N’ Swop would have involved more than the Banjo-Kazooie series and Donkey Kong 64, encompassing a total of six Rare titles with a plan to have the Ice Key as the final reward:

On the other hand, many thought that the Cyan Egg was itself a clever bait and switch as the wine barrel containing it had been marked with an X to indicate that it was ‘crossed off’, and not meant to be collected. It was very easy to get caught up in the conspiracy, and every potential selection seemed to have its own list of valid reasons for being, only to have it dismissed by the next theorist to come along. After collecting the secret items from the ‘Banjo-Kazooie Game Paks’, players would be tasked with traveling to Heggy’s Egg Shed in Wooded Hollow, near the entrance to the first level in Banjo-Tooie. Here they would discover that both the Pink and Blue Mystery Eggs could be hatched by the eponymous hen, along with a new Yellow Stop ’N’ Swop Egg that could be hatched solo with Kazooie. Complicating matters was the fact that only three of the six Eggs had their own secret locations, leaving many to speculate that the Blue, Pink and Cyan Eggs were ‘real’, and the others that had managed to appear in familiar locations were ‘fake’. Due to the removal of Stop ‘N’ Swop occurring so late in Donkey Kong 64’s development, the publication of the strategy guide from Nintendo of Europe references the original map for Crystal Caves (left) where an extra chamber can be seen to the north of the room, which the map from Nintendo of America has removed entirely (right).Sliding down the coconut tree, Mumbo would reveal the name of the sequel, Banjo-Tooie and begin to show Banjo, and by extension the player, his collection of moving photographs: Given Banjo-Tooie‘s size and scope, initial efforts to explore the games code proved to be quite an undertaking, and development on this front began as a slow process. It wasn’t long however, that these fledgling efforts would lead to some of the most promising discoveries and speculation towards Stop ’N’ Swop’s intended application. Now that players had found a way to all of the areas that had been previously rendered inaccessible and collected all seven Stop ’N’ Swop items, the menu that had originally been discovered with the Ice Key was now wholly complete. With Banjo-Kazooie spent of its secrets, all eyes turned towards Banjo-Tooie to find any remnants of a feasible connection between the two… Fortunately, this would only pose a minor obstacle, as Chunky Kong’s ‘Primate Punch’ ability was enough to shatter the ice and allow progress beyond. Inside the area, players could find three Yellow Banana Coins and a Yellow Banana Balloon for Donkey Kong, as well as a few Green Bananas and a ‘Gorilla Gone’ pad for Chunky Kong. Stepping on the Gorilla Gone pad and activating the ability to become invisible will immediately surrender a Golden Banana just a few feet away; a bit of an oddity considering the more loftier challenges in Crystal Caves.

So, which of Rare’s Nintendo 64 titles were intended to be involved in the Stop ‘N’ Swop process? Once again, Paul Machacek has graciously provided us with an answer: A number of diagrams had been drawn next to the assignment that added further intrigue, including four Mystery Eggs coupled with a three-pronged Ice Key and three potential maps seen from overhead that had X’s marked on each of them. It’s assumed therefore, that players would have originally ventured into Chunky’s area after destroying the first glazed wall, only to arrive at a second impassable wall where a secret item could be glimpsed in a chamber just beyond. Unable to collect this item, players would have drawn inevitable comparisons to the Ice Key from Freezeezy Peak in Banjo-Kazooie.While Silo 8 and Silo 9 may have existed as placeholders, the Ridiculously Secret Area 1, (shortened to RSA for convenience by the community) was far too alluring to allow the same designation, and for many, the thought of it acting as the principal area to exchange the Mystery Eggs and Key became the obvious conclusion.