Banjo

Banjo is an honey loving bear and friend of Diddy Kong. He has also gone on numerous adventures with his friend, Kazooie.

Helping Diddy
Banjo is one of many friends that Diddy Kong contacts via Squawks the Parrot in Diddy Kong Racing. He helps Diddy free Timber Island from the evil Wizpig. In Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo has low acceleration and high top speed. Banjo also has below average handling.

Banjo and Kazooie
Banjo got his own adventure in Banjo-Kazooie. In this game he is shown to have a house in Spiral Mountain, a sister named Tooty, and a friend who lives in his backpack called Kazooie, and a neighbor named Bottles. Gruntilda the Witch, who lives in another part of Banjo's world, is jealous of Tooty because she is "The Fairest Of All", so she swoops in on her Broomstick and kidnaps her. Banjo and Kazooie head off to rescue her, making Tooty the Damsel in Distress of the game. Eventually, Banjo and Kazooie are able to save Tooty, with the help of numerous friends they met along the way. They push Gruntilda off the mountain, and she falls to the ground creating a Grunty shaped hole. A rock then falls in the hole, supposedly sealing her in forever.

Time Travel Trouble
Banjo is called into action once again Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, a game which takes place after Banjo-Kazooie, but before Banjo-Tooie. After Kazooie is kidnapped by a time-travelling Klungo and Gruntilda, whose soul now inhabits a robotic body ("Mecha-Grunty"), Banjo has to chase the duo back through time to get his pal back and stop Grunty from mucking around with history.

In the end Grunty is defeated once again when her robotic body gets disassembled and forced back underground. After beating they're archenemy once again, Banjo and Kazooie went home for some relaxation.

Grunty's Return
In the beggining of Banjo Tooie, Banjo is playing cards with Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo, and Bottles. Unknown to them, Gruntilda's Sisters had arrived and had revived his arch-enemy. Gruntilda is quick to take her Revenge, destroying Banjo's house and killing Bottles. Banjo and Kazooie set out to avenge him, and meet the King Jingaling, who tells them that he will help them defeat the witch. He shows them the way to Jiggywiggy's Temple, but is turned into a zombie by the witches for this deed. Meanwhile, Banjo and Kazooie reach, the temple and talk to Jiggywiggy. He tells them that if they bring him Jiggys, he can activate the power of the Crystal Jiggy, and open pathways for them. Thus the duo start out on a quest to collect Jiggy's. Eventually Banjo collects enough to reach Gruntilda's castle, and make their way to the top. He takes control of the witches' Big 'O' Blaster (or BOB), and restore true life to Bottles and the Jinjo King. He then preceded to the roof for the final stand-off with Gruntilda. She is defeated yet again, and Banjo returns to Bottles House to celebrate with his friends.

During the adventure, Banjo learns the ability Split-Up allowing him to go away from Kazooie. In his lone form he can learn the ability Pack-Whack, but cannot glide or shoot eggs.

Racing Again
Banjo gets his own racing title, Banjo Pilot, a game originally called Diddy Kong Pilot. Banjo is the main character and default racer of this game.

Future Appearances
Banjo is set to be the main character in the upcoming Banjo-Kazooie 3. Because of his ownership by Microsoft, Banjo will not be playable in the upcoming Diddy Kong Racing DS. He is also one of the most wanted character for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Physical Appearance
Banjo has had a virtually unchanged appearance since Diddy Kong Racing. He has light-Brown fur, Yellow shorts and a Blue Backpack. Oddly, he always keeps the shorts and backpack, even when he is transformed into one of Mumbo Jumbo or Humba Wumba's forms.

Personality
Banjo is usually portrayed as an easy-going character. He is much more polite then his side-kick, Kazooie, and looks forward much less to an adventure.

Trivia

 * Early beta-screenshots of Donkey Kong 64 showed that there was originally going to be a shower stall in Donkey Kong's Treehouse with a poster of Banjo and Kazooie on it.


 * In the beggining of the games Conker's Bad Fur Day and Conker: Live & Reloaded Banjo's severed and stuffed head can be seen mounted over a fireplace.


 * In the game Viva Piñata, a mountain with Banjo and Kazooie's faces can be seen. Also, a statue of Banjo and even Banjo's backpack can be purchased in the game.


 * A large amount of memorabilia depicting Banjo and several other Banjo-Kazooie series characters can be found in the game Grabbed by the Ghoulies. This memorabilia includes action figures, a Banjo-Kazooie game box and an XBox box with depicting Banjo-Tooie can be found, even Banjo's pet fish, Roysten can be found in the game.


 * While Banjo was not in Diddy Kong Racing DS, if you listen in the selection screen theme you can still hear Banjo and Conker's themes play in the background.