Banjo
Banjo is a honey-loving bear and friend of Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, and Conker the Squirrel. Banjo is one of two friends (the other being Conker) that Diddy Kong contacts via Squawks the Parrot in Diddy Kong Racing. He helps Diddy free Timber's Island from the evil Wizpig. In Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo has low acceleration, high top speed and also has below average handling.
After Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo returned to his home and joined up with his friend, Kazooie, with whom he has gone on several adventures with.
Relation to the Mario series
Banjo is related to the Mario series through cameos and references in Rareware games. As previously mentioned, he appeared in Diddy Kong Racing, connecting him to the Donkey Kong games which are part of the Mario series. In Banjo-Tooie, Mario was also mentioned by Kazooie when Loggo the Toilet was blocked. A recreation of the 8-bit Mario sprite from Super Mario Bros. can be seen in one of the first trailers for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts; notably, it gets its head blown off in it [1]in which had to be removed due to controversy. In the Club Nintendo comic Super Mario in Aloha Hawaii Banjo's freind Bottles takes Mario to Hawaii. Banjo also appears in the comic sereis N Gang.
Trivia
- In Diddy Kong Racing DS, Banjo was replaced by Tiny Kong as a playable character.
- While Banjo was not in Diddy Kong Racing DS, if the player listens in the selection screen theme he or she can still hear Banjo and Conker's themes play in the background.
- The game Banjo-Pilot, a Banjo-Kazooie series game, was originally to be Diddy Kong Pilot, the sequel to Diddy Kong Racing.
