If you were to ask me what the best platformer is on Nintendo 64, I’d probably say Banjo-Kazooie. Yes, sure, Super Mario 64 was groundbreaking, and Donkey Kong 64 and Conker’s Bad Fur Day had their strengths, but it was this Rare-made treasure of a game that, performance issues aside, took the crown.
Which is why the completion of a fan-made decompilation project of Banjo-Kazooie, which comes hot on the heels of fellow N64 classic Perfect Dark getting reverse-engineered, has plenty of us here at PC Gamer very excited, as it opens the door to a true PC port of the game and a continuation of the PC becoming the place to play classic console games.
The decompilation project’s completion, which was spotted by Twitter account BringBackBanjoK, is one of a growing trend in PC gaming right now. We’ve noted the release of Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask on PC in just the last few years. Our gaming platform of choice is now increasingly boasting the very best versions of not just modern console games, but classic ones, too.
Now, if you’re currently saying, ‘hang on, I’ve been playing classic console games on PC through emulators for decades’, then you’d be right, you have. But the key thing here is that these games are being fully decompiled in these projects, with their source code converted to work seamlessly with modern architectures, and that means that unlike emulation these ports can not only offer unmatched performance and customisation in terms of introducing new features, but they don’t suffer from unwanted emulation-based glitches and defects either.
For example, in the recent Zelda PC port its maker was able to add widescreen, native controller support, input mapping, autosaving, and even gyro aiming, while thanks to the decompilation process, ray tracing, mod support, and even dual analog support with camera controls are also possible. Basically, if a game can be decompiled and then recompiled to work with modern systems in this way, then the ultimate version of that game can be made for PC. Huzzah!
I’m now dreaming of entering legendary Banjo-Kazooie levels like Click Clock Wood in 4K, with an ultra-widescreen aspect ratio, a supremely stable framerate of over 120fps, upscaled textures and a raft of modern lighting effects in play. Just imagine the ray traced beams of light glinting and reflecting off those Jiggys!
While that sounds incredible, I am taking the project’s completion in my stride. This is because while the multiple years-long effort to successfully decompile the game has now been completed, the work on actually creating the port will now have to begin, and that could take months or even years. Still, exciting news for fans of excellent platformers. Well, providing they’re playing on PC, that is.
