Banjo-Kazooie returns to Nintendo after over a decade away through Nintendo Switch Online this week

News
By
published

Revisit the iconic Rare game, starting tomorrow

Banjo-Kazooie
(Image credit: Rare)

Banjo-Kazooie will be available to play on the Nintendo Switch from tomorrow, Nintendo has revealed. 

Announced in a Tweet from Nintendo, Banjo-Kazooie will be joining the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64 when it gets added to the Nintendo Switch Online expansion pack - which allows members to play classic Nintendo 64 games on the current-gen console - on January 20, 2022. 

A clear fan favorite, Banjo-Kazooie was announced to be joining the online service on December 10, 2021. The Nintendo Switch Online expansion pack however has been live and kicking on several member’s Nintendo Switch consoles since October 2021. Not only are subscribers able to revisit their favorite N64 games, but also NES, SNES, and Sega Megadrive games - which are also available as part of the package. 

The original Banjo-Kazooie game was released on Nintendo  64 back in 1998 and was developed by Rare. The successful 3D platformer went on to spawn two sequels, Banjo-Tooie back in 2000, and later, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in 2008. Not forgetting the two Game Boy Advance spin-off games, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge and Banjo-Pilot. 

In more recent years, you can find both Banjo and Kazooie in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate after they were implemented into the game as part of Fighter Pass Challenger Pack 3 back in 2019. Not only do players get to fight as Banjo and Kazooie, but they also get an exclusive stage Spiral Mountain and a number of musical themes.

Want to know what else you can look forward to playing this year? Take a look at our list of upcoming Switch games.

See more Nintendo Switch News
Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at 12DOVE before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.  

Read more
Donkey Kong 94
Forget Pokemon Red and Blue, Nintendo's finally brought the secret best Game Boy game to Switch: an expanded version of Donkey Kong with 2425% more levels
Sutte Hakkun
The obscure SNES puzzler Nintendo originally distributed via satellite broadcast has just been released outside of Japan for the first time on Nintendo Switch Online
Mario racing on a desert track during the Switch 2 reveal trailer.
Nintendo Switch 2 backwards compatability was "almost unavoidable" because players have a total catalogue of 1billion+ games they still want to play
Upcoming Switch 2 games: Mario Kart running on Nintendo Switch 2
Upcoming Switch 2 games: Rumored games to release on the new Nintendo console
Mario
Nintendo Switch Online drops a game from its lineup for the first time ever, and the "concerning" move has fans worried: "This sets an upsetting precedent"
Upcoming Switch games header image featuring Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, Hello Kitty Island Adventure, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Upcoming Switch games for 2025 and beyond
Latest in Adventure
Screenshot of Herdling, showing the weird yaks heading toward a sunset horizon.
With 18,000 glowing Steam reviews on their lovely debut game, this indie team's game about leading cute fantasy yaks up a mountain is instantly one to watch
The two characters in Split Fiction holding their hands up in surrender in a futuristic city
Split Fiction, the new game from the It Takes Two devs, launches to Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam and is the highest rated game on Metacritic this year
Exploring and fighting in Blades of Fire
Blades of Fire plays like a lost Xbox 360-era mashup between God of War and Soulslikes, and it's coming from the studio behind Metroid Dread
Pokemon Legends: Z-A screenshot
Pokemon Legends: Z-A looks to finally bring my anime-inspired dreams of truly active combat to life
Zoomed in art of the Sudowoodo illustration rare card in Pokemon TCG Pocket.
Pokemon's literal god of the universe is almost unstoppable in TCG Pocket – the only thing that can save us is a smiley tree and a concussed dinosaur
Charizard in the Pokemon anime.
Pokemon fans prove they'll buy anything as a Cheeto shaped like a Charizard sells for almost $90k
Latest in News
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip
More about adventure
Screenshot of Herdling, showing the weird yaks heading toward a sunset horizon.

With 18,000 glowing Steam reviews on their lovely debut game, this indie team's game about leading cute fantasy yaks up a mountain is instantly one to watch
Exploring and fighting in Blades of Fire

Blades of Fire plays like a lost Xbox 360-era mashup between God of War and Soulslikes, and it's coming from the studio behind Metroid Dread
Balatro

Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
See more latest
Most Popular
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip
A misty, forested mountainside in Prologue: Go Wayback!
PUBG creator's wilderness survival game actually draws inspiration from an unexpected place - a whole raft of zombie games like DayZ, Project Zomboid, and Left 4 Dead
The Blood of Dawnwalker: A screenshot of the vampire Brencis holding up a crown during the trailer for the upcoming game.
The Witcher 3 devs created a Jekyll & Hyde-style character for their new vampire RPG "because nobody yet has done that"
Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock in Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil fans are wondering if Born Again season 2 will set up a darker comic book arc for Matt Murdock
Theo James as Hal in Osgood Perkins' The Monkey
It might only be March, but Stephen King adaptation The Monkey is now the highest grossing horror movie of 2025