There’s a reason that the Banjo-Kazooie franchise, not to mention the characters, are still remembered, treasured, and desired back to this day. Rare made an incredible set of platforming titles on the Nintendo 64 that built upon all they had made previously, including games featuring Donkey Kong. However, once Microsoft got hold of the series and Rare, things took a downturn. In fact, that downturn continues to this day, as Rare got hit with layoffs recently. In fact, one of the original team leaders, Gregg Mayles, was one of the people hit by the layoffs.
If you don’t know, he was the one who helped make so many of Rare’s best titles, including the Battletoads, the Donkey Kong Country franchise, and yes, Banjo-Kazooie. While going through some of his files, he found something from Shigeru Miyamoto that will bring a smile to people’s faces. As you’ll see in the tweet below, the famed Nintendo creator sent a fax during the final testing of Banjo-Tooie, and gave a huge compliment to the Rare team through it:
Here is the fax from Miyamoto-san approving Banjo-Tooie for release in Japan. Nice of him that compliment (in my mind anyway). Faxes were like emails before emails existed, which came very slowly out of a printer pic.twitter.com/28df4psryz
— Gregg Mayles (@Ghoulyboy) November 30, 2025
Did Shigeru Miyamoto have to do that? No, he didn’t, and that makes it all the kinder that he called the sequel a “Splendid Game,” which many would agree with. As noted before, MANY want Banjo and Kazooie back on their gaming consoles, and Nintendo seems like the publisher to make it happen…if they can get the team away from Microsoft and get them “back on track…”
Source: Twitter
