Sometimes…gamers need to take things into their own hands to ensure that stuff gets done. It might sound like that’s putting a lot of pressure on gamers, but they welcome that challenge more times than not. For example, there are plenty of classic video game titles that aren’t playable on current platforms or even last-gen platforms. As such, many fan groups come together to try to “decompile” the code for certain games so that it can be converted into code that can make ports for things like PC. Over on GitLab, a team did just that with Banjo-Kazooie, and their work is now complete!
What does this mean? Well, it means that Banjo-Kazooie could be ported to the PC in the near future. Lately, there has been a movement to try and get numerous titles from the N64 over to PC via a special compiling program, and while this movement didn’t use that service, the result is still the same. Just as important, because they have the code in its raw form now, they can improve it for the PC port! That means they could do things like fix glitches or improve the framerate, adjust controls as they so desire, and so on.
Before you ask, “Is this legal?” it depends on how it’s used. Because of how they did it, that in and of itself is not illegal. The programs that are used to play the game CAN be illegal, but there are certain ways to ensure that it’s not. We know for a fact that Nintendo is very wary of the ROM market and will take down all sorts of programs that are used online to “illegally distribute” its games, and it’s brought the hammer down hard on many in the past.
Whether this will be the next victim of that remains to be seen, but it’s not a guarantee.
What’s more important here is that this could, once again, stir up interest in the Banjo-Kazooie franchise, which hasn’t gotten proper treatment ever since Xbox bought Rare. Yes, they made a “third game” in the series, but there’s a reason it’s not discussed with the same reverence as the N64 games. Heck, the team behind those games actually made a “spiritual successor” later on, which should tell you a lot.
The characters are beloved, and many want to see them return, especially in this age of remasters, remakes, and reboots. But, if the developer/publisher won’t do it, then fans will do it themselves.
