Banjo

Banjo the Honey Bear is the protagonist of the Banjo-Kazooie series, in which he and his best friend Kazooie (a red bird) fight the evil witch, Gruntilda. He is also a close friend of Diddy Kong. Banjo made his video game debut in Diddy Kong Racing, alongside Conker, who would also receive his own series of games. Banjo is portrayed as an easy-going and lazy character. He has light-brown fur, a shark-tooth necklace, yellow shorts, and a blue backpack in which Kazooie rides inside in their own series of games.

Banjo's character is property of Rare Ltd., which was once a second-party developer for Nintendo. In 2002, Rare was sold to Microsoft, giving the rights of Banjo and Conker to the company. This caused Nintendo to lose the rights of the Banjo and Conker characters, while Rare lost the rights to the Donkey Kong franchise.

Diddy Kong Racing
Banjo is one of the many friends that Diddy Kong contacts via Squawks the Parrot in Diddy Kong Racing. When the intergalactic traveler, Wizpig, invaded and conquered Timber's Island, Timber called on Diddy Kong for help. In turn, Diddy Kong sent Squawks the Parrot to find Banjo and Conker to request their assistance. The three traveled to the island, where with Timber and four of his friends, they competed in a variety of racing challenges to liberate the island and decide which of them would have the best chance to defeat Wizpig. Eventually, the eight, with or without the help of the unlockable characters (Drumstick and T.T.), managed to drive Wizpig back to his home world: Future Fun Land. Banjo elected not to attend the celebration party, but he quickly returned when Wizpig struck back. He and the others traveled to Future Fun Land, conquered its challenges, and took on Wizpig. In their final race with the villain, Wizpig's rocket malfunctioned and he stranded himself on a deserted planet.

As one of the heavier racers, Banjo has slow acceleration, but he makes up for it with a high top speed. His handling however is below average, although it's better than Krunch's handling skills. For the Nintendo DS remake of the game, Diddy Kong Racing DS, the characters of Conker and Banjo were replaced with Tiny Kong and Dixie Kong. The company chose Tiny Kong for the role of replacing Banjo, making her a heavyweight who could conceivably have the same racing abilities as Banjo. The team elected not to change or remove either character's theme song from the game however; Banjo's signature banjo music can still be heard both in the introduction and on the character selection screen.

"N-Gang vs. Nintendo"
Banjo appeared in the N-Gang comic "N-Gang vs. Nintendo", where he played on the same soccer camp team with Kazooie, Wario, Yoshi, Princess Peach, Donkey Kong, and Lanky Kong. Mario refereed the match.

Trivia

 * In an early version of Donkey Kong 64, Banjo made a cameo appearance. A magnet on Donkey Kong's shower stall in DK's Tree House featured Banjo and Kazooie's faces. However, in the final release of the title, Rareware removed the shower stall and cameo appearance.
 * Artwork of Banjo can be used in Mario Artist: Paint Studio, like some other Diddy Kong Racing characters.