Banjo-Tooie, the classic Nintendo 64 game that’s nearly 24 years old now, is finally going to be playable on the Nintendo Switch later this month. Nintendo announced this week that it’s adding Banjo-Tooie to the Nintendo 64 collection of games included in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion subscriptions and that the game will make its debut there on October 25th. Outside modern Xbox consoles, the Nintendo Switch will be the only other current platform you can play Banjo-Tooie on outside of the original Nintendo 64.
Nintendo loves its Thursday announcements for Nintendo Switch Online games which sometimes include ones that are available right away, but Banjo-Tooie fans will have to wait just a while longer to play it. Banjo-Tooie was originally released for the Nintendo 64 back in November 2000, so it’s been a long time coming now to finally see it playable again on modern Nintendo platforms. The game that came before it, Banjo-Kazooie, was added to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion subscription service back in January 2022.
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“Banjo-Tooie is now coming to the Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Switch Online collection of games! It’s the bear-bird duo Banjo and Kazooie to the rescue!” Nintendo said about its plans for Banjo-Tooie. “Magical minigames, perplexing puzzles, and freaky foes await them in the stages ahead—through ancient ruins, underwater realms, and even an amusement park of sorts.”
Of course, you could have been playing Banjo-Tooie on the Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S platforms, too, assuming you have Xbox Game Pass. Banjo-Tooie released for the Xbox 360 back in 2009 which was several years after Microsoft acquired Rare, the developer of Banjo-Tooie and other games in the series. Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, and Banjo-Tooie: Nuts n Bolts are all available via Xbox Game Pass, though all three of those games were all also included in the Rare Replay collection which released for the Xbox One and included tons of different games from Rare.
Finding modern ways to play older games like these is always important to those who remember them fondly, but for games like the Banjo-Kazooie series, it’s also significant because these are the only games in the series that they can play. A new Banjo-Kazooie game hasn’t been released in years much to the chagrin of fans who’d prefer Rare and Microsoft does something new with the series similar to how other classics like Crash Bandicoot have been revitalized in one way or another.
By the time that Banjo-Tooie is added to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion collection, the catalog will include over 35 games that are available in North America. Most of the Nintendo 64 games included in the subscription are parts of Nintendo’s staple franchises like The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Mario, and more, but some of them are callbacks to classic Nintendo 64 games like Harvest Moon as well.
Banjo-Tooie will be added to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion subscription service on October 25th.
