The shiniest video games may be all the rage right now as we stare down the imminent release of Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X, but there will always be a place in our retro-gamer hearts for the classics. And, boy, did that area of our hearts sing out at the news that earlier this week, video game and media composer Grant Kirkhope (who's responsible for the original Banjo-Kazooie soundtrack) posted two seasonally appropriate remixes based on some of his most beloved level themes from the iconic Nintendo 64 game series.
Check out the newest versions of "Grunthilda Returns!" and "Mad Monster Mansion" via Kirkhope's Bandcamp below.
Debuting in 1998, the Banjo-Kazooie franchise was an action platformer centered on a polygonal bear named Banjo and his red-plumed friend named — you guessed it — Kazooie as they attempted to halt the plans of an evil witch named Grunthilda. Three sequels and a racing spin-off followed over the years, but a proper BK title hasn't been released since 2005, so Kirkhope's tracks are a welcome surprise.
More to come soon —
And if that weren't enough pure-hearted news to end out the week, "Clanker" Kirkhope then revealed that he's far from finished with revisiting his Banjo-Kazooie tunes. "Well, I’m going to release a remix album of music from BK, I’m not sure I’ll get to it all," Kirkhope responded when a fan if he intended on tackling the entire soundtrack. While he didn't provide a timeline yet for what's now our most anticipated album of the year, we hope the date is sooner than later. If anything is going to soundtrack our upcoming apocalypse, it should be Banjo-Kazooie, right?
Thankfully, the retro-gaming goodness doesn't have to end with a trip down music memory lane. Titles like The Legend of Banjo-Kazooie: The Jiggies of Time, Mario Odyssey 64 (a port of Nintendo Switch's Super Mario Odyssey), and The Legend of Zelda: The Missing Link are all available with the right emulator know-how and resources.
