The Spiritual Successor Dilemma | Yooka-Laylee Retrospective

Today we examine Yooka-Laylee and the spiritual successor dilemma in this retrospective analysis. When Playtonic Games, a company comprised of former Rare developers, announced a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie in their new game Yooka-Laylee, fans were ecstatic. Once it released, however, critical and fan reception was very mixed. Two years after it launched, Playtonic released a 2D platforming sequel Impossible Lair, and this time, they produced what seemed to be a satisfying title. What went wrong with Yooka-Laylee, and how did Playtonic learn from their mistakes to make something of quality? That's what we're talking about today. #YookaLaylee #ImpossibleLair #Playtonic
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TIMECODES
00:00 - INTRO
YOOKA-LAYLEE
01:13 - DEVELOPMENT
03:53 - GAMEPLAY
07:52 - AESTHETICS
11:01 - LEVEL DESIGN
13:44 - LEVEL ANALYSIS
17:11 - COPYING THE BANJO FORMULA
YOOKA-LAYLEE AND THE IMPOSSIBLE LAIR
21:32 - DEVELOPMENT
23:08 - GAMEPLAY AND LEVEL DESIGN
27:31 - AESTHETICS
29:38 - IMPROVEMENTS
32:59 - CONCLUSION
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SOURCES / RECOMMENDED READING:
Playtonic Games: Why Hello There (bit.ly/3i6CP5g)
Kickstarter: Yooka-Laylee (bit.ly/3yWI9ie)
IGN: Former Rare Developers Working on Banjo Kazooie Spiritual Successor (bit.ly/3xDl0RW)
GamesRadar: Banjo-Kazooie devs' Yooka-Laylee funded in 38 minutes (bit.ly/3wAXzqV)
Gamerant:'Yooka-Laylee' is Fastest Game to $1 Million on Kickstarter (bit.ly/3r8f1Sq)
Gamereactor: Yooka-Laylee: Talking to Playtonic (bit.ly/3wC6jNx)
Playtonic Games: Seeing the wood for the trees (bit.ly/36zIFqq)
Polygon: Yooka-Laylee isn't going to be a Banjo-Kazooie copy (bit.ly/3hAuCqX)
Playtonic Games: The Man Behind Yooka and Laylee (bit.ly/3eg3jAc)
Playtonic Games: The Voice (bit.ly/3hCSGt9
MCV UK: Team17 will publish Yooka-Laylee and eyes retail release (bit.ly/36AAyKg)
Redbull Games: Yooka-Laylee: Playtonic interview (win.gs/3wK7b2U)
GamesRadar: Yooka-Laylee: Why are critics so wildly divided by 2017's most love-hate game? (bit.ly/3i5y9MR)
Gamesindustry.biz: Yooka-Laylee: The backers' view (bit.ly/36zIL1g)
Twitter: Playtonic Games Celebrates 1 Million Players (bit.ly/2UOgPE0)
Playtonic Games: NEW GAME: Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (bit.ly/2UOgQb2)
Gamesindustry.biz: Playtonic: “We are never using the term spiritual successor again” (bit.ly/3i4UNVL)
Playtonic Games: Introducing Playtonic Friends & FAQs (bit.ly/3wyx5GJ)
Video Games Chronicles: Why wasn't Everwild at E3? It's been 'completely rebooted' | VGC (bit.ly/3B0JQgB)

[@CloudConnection]

Want to make a quick correction here: Grant Kirkhope was NOT the sole composer on Yooka-Laylee, as David Wise and Steve Burke also composed songs for the soundtrack. Apologies on messing that up, and thanks to Diego Calderon for bringing that to my attention!

[@MakkusuOtaku]

Your comment isn't pinned.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@MakkusuOtaku I think the main problem with Yooka-Laylee is that Greg Mayles wasn't involved at all. Who was responsible for the bear and Bird.

[@JonathanTash]

I can't believe you don't like the overworld in Impossible Lair! I was always so excited to solve the next puzzle and find more secrets. I honestly felt a little disappointed when I had to play an actual level instead of solving more overworld puzzles.

[@MrCodyWarner]

Same here. The one overworld takes the impossible lair from a VERY solid 2D platformer to one of my favorite games of all time.

[@irvyne6111]

Yeah, I was going to say exactly this. The overworld was possibly my favourite part! 😂

[@joaovictor3312]

Yeah I also liked it a lot, its just so fun uncovering the map and finding rewards

[@glen46823]

I actually loved the overworld of Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair. You stated in this video it felt too restricting to you, but I was ok with it. It felt like a Game Boy Color Zelda overworld, which I have fond memories of. The restrictions just add to that type of feel, making this Donkey Kong style platforming, mixed with an overworld that feels classic Zelda, making it close to a perfect game to me. And finding things to manipulate in the world to play the modified side scrolling levels was always fun. You seemed to like the Impossible Lair, but I absolutely love it, and feel its one of closest games to Nintendo Quality a low budget indie team has ever done. I would actually put it on my list of top 50 games ever, and I have played thousands of games. I have no intention of ever playing the first Yooka Laylee again though.

[@dizzydee4889]

I agree about the overworld. It felt like the best parts of what made exploring BK worlds fun distilled into a fun little puzzle box full of silly characters. Also a good pace change from the main levels.

[@Wolfkaosaun]

I liked Yooka-Laylee more than most people when it first released. Glad you're giving this game a look years later cause it definitely deserves another look

[@megamasher3]

I love Yooka Laylee so maybe I’m biased, but I actually disagree with the mindset of expanding worlds from the get go. I find the game is much more fun (to me) when I complete the levels as-is, then return to each of them and expand once I’ve visited the last world. They’re far easier to explore in their final forms once all moves have been obtained, and this leads to less backtracking over-all as I don’t come back until I have every single move. This helps the levels feel less confusing to me, and I almost feel like this was the intent in the design stage (even though the game obviously gives you freedom to do it how you want)

[@CloudConnection]

That's an interesting point. Personally I'm always of the mindset of "get everything you can on your first go" and since I always had enough Pagies to expand each world after Tribalstack Tropics, I felt no need to come back to the worlds later. But that method obviously worked for you, and that's great!

[@orangeslash1667]

@@CloudConnection I think the main problem with Yooka-Laylee is that Greg Mayles wasn't involved at all. Who was responsible for the bear and Bird.

[@fawn8347]

Yeah, I feel as if the game was kinda developed with the intent that players wouldn't be getting everything their first go, and would play it without the "completionist on the first visit" mindset. I spent much longer than I'd like to admit combing through the first level trying to find everything and getting frustrated, to the point I was hopping around the level geometry trying to find *something* that I missed, then I leave the world and I'm told I can expand the world then.

[@saithvenomdrone]

Yooka-Laylee has such charming style. I hope they take what they've learned and make a number 2.

[@ryanroussel5374]

There is a second one lol

[@Talinka85]

I personally really loved Yookah-Laylee. The only real problem I had was the size of the worlds. Because of my non existing sense of orientation I found it really difficult to know where to go. So the only thing I wished for this game was some type of map so I could get around easier.

[@fernando98322]

I played Yooka-Laylee a few years after release on Switch. It's an enjoyable game, but many aspects drive me crazy like the minecart levels and the Arcade minigames lol

[@antenna_prolly]

Oh yeah, the minecarts baffled me because I was expecting (and hoping for) DK 64-style, not Country-style.

[@TP3200]

I mostly enjoyed the minecarts (not amazing, but a fun enough simple concept), but those arcade machines were almost the death of my attempt for a Platinum Trophy. Half of them felt so clunky and punishing for the wrong reasons. But I persevered because I did indeed enjoy most of this game.

[@SchmergDergen]

@@antenna_prolly but Country’s minecart stages were way better…

[@antenna_prolly]

I started replaying _Y-L_ recently and I can see many more problems than when I first tried (and Platinumed) it, but I don't think "the genre is dead" or they can't pull it off, but of they were to try again with lessons learned....

[@strain42]

Yooka-Laylee was a game I definitely tried to convince myself I was liking more than I actually did. I still don't hate it or anything, but yeah, trying to sit down and play it, there's just a certain touch of magic that's missing and it's really tough to ignore. I'm glad they learned some lessons with The Impossible Lair, but I really hope Playtonic doesn't take "Ah, so the 3D was the problem!" as their big takeaway.

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

That's a real problem, I was enamoured by DK64 as a experimentation but Nintendo thinks DK should stay 2d and 2.5d due to the low reception of DK64

[@YesterdaysMoose]

The Yooka-Laylee series to one I enjoy a lot. I've 100%'d both and replay them from time to time. I even bought Y-L twice for reasons to silly to explain: digitally on Switch and physically on Xbox, although I ended up selling that copy. I'd really love to see a follow up and wouldn't be opposed to another collect-a-thon.

[@diegocalderon5190]

Just a little correction the whole soundtrack is composed by not only Grant Kirkhope but also by David Wise and Steve Burke, all ex-Rare composers. Even the minecart theme you showed was done by Wise not Kirkhope.

[@CloudConnection]

You're right! Not sure how that slipped by me lol, it's easy enough to verify that

[@meaninglez100]

I really would like to see them take another shot at a 3D collectathon. I know the genre has more to offer, and can still be fun to play when designed with care. If they simply don't have the ambition or drive to do so anymore, that's perfectly fine. Like you said, I'd rather they work on projects they feel creatively fulfilling. But I really feel like the failings of Yooka Laylee could be improved upon without having to abandon the genre. Fore example, compact worlds with more distinct areas of interest would help a ton, I feel

[@FunkyKiddy]

Yooka Laylee is fast food, good but is incredibly mixed amongst most people Impossible lair is a five-star restaurant with excellent service and astonishing food

[@Kaptain_Scout]

it's only mixed because everyone in the review community decided that this game is a disappointment literally everyone was extremely unfair with this game kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4iZm6J8mtWHkKM

[@DetournementArc]

If Yooka Laylee ever returns to 3D, I think it would serve them well to crib the Sonic Adventure 1 play structure: a few hubs resembling orthodox collect-a-thon worlds that branch into linear Action Stages that take advantage of Yooka's high mobility AND feel like the 2D stages

[@Deadforge]

I may be among the minority but I loved Yooka Laylee amd it was everything I wanted from a spiritual successor and more. I still need to get the impossible lair.

[@Gameboy-Unboxings]

Why couldn't they make it using banjo?

[@Deadforge]

@@Gameboy-Unboxings Because Rare and Xbox own the IP for Banjo Kazooie. That's why the people who went on to found platonic left rare.

[@heyIntel]

Same reason why Bloodstained is not Castlevania nor does it have any Belmonts btw

[@RyguyAlpha]

My only major complaint about Yooka Laylee was really the camera. It sometimes felt like I was fighting it to get a better angle to see things. But otherwise I had a good time with it and recently went back to play it on my Steam Deck and have been having a blast.

[@smintili]

Interesting that you recommend expanding the worlds right away, I watched a Yooka-Laylee review by Snoman Gaming and he recommended to play the levels in their base state first and expand them later as not to get overwhelmed by the large environments.

[@garretteverett2613]

My four year old is super into BK and so we've started going through Yooka Laylee together. As we only play in small chunks before bedtime once or twice a week, we're finding it hard to get our bearings in the large worlds. Maybe we'll try this method going forward and see if it helps!

[@orangeslash1667]

@@garretteverett2613 I think the main problem with Yooka-Laylee is that Greg Mayles wasn't involved at all. Who was responsible for the bear and Bird.

[@xscythe67]

I've always considered Banjo and Yooka taking place in the same universe, but just on different islands/continents

[@Nathan35077]

I liked it for what it is. No it’ll never match the feel of banjo kazooie. But… I don’t think that’s even possible. Even if we actually got a banjo kazooie sequel that was just like the original 2? It wouldn’t do well. I’m sure of it. I do wish levels were smaller and there were more levels instead.

[@panchowfran2165]

I like this game. It’s not perfect but definitely feels like a spiritual successor of Banjo Kazooie. I would love more variety of worlds instead of massive ones.

[@stianberg5645]

My ex who never tried banjo kazooie or any similar game fell in love with Yooka Laylee... it was all she played for a good while. I think though, that the game tried too hard to be like banjo kazooie, forgetting what worked in banjo tooie and like you say, didn't do much to bring the formula up to a new 'modern' level. Though to its defense, I'm not too sure if Mario Oddyssey did anything but just incrementally improving on what has worked before. Yooka Laylee has to catch up quite a bit. A dream scenario would be if Microsoft let them use the Banjo Kazooie IP, but also Nintendo advising.

[@joshuavallotton8801]

I fell in love with this game at launch. I felt like a kid booting up my N64 all over again. It’s not the best game out there but Yuka laylee captured the essence of banjo so well.

[@FlackNCoke]

I agree with a lot of your criticisms of the first game, but I disagree with your sentiment that nobody should try to bring the collectathon or Banjo back. Really if anything I think Yooka-Laylee’s biggest failing was that from the outset it was never going to live up to Banjo’s charm and personality and yet it tried so hard that it became a pale imitation. I recently replayed through Kazooie and Tooie, and it made me realize they aren’t memorable for just being “colorful platformers with a contrasting duo and a cheeky glib sense of humor” but because THOSE specific characters are so strong. Banjo and Kazooie work because they’re extremely well formed as characters. You understand who Banjo is from the getgo - this lovable, good natured himbo who just wants to get his sister back. Then you get Kazooie who is his best friend, loves her bear buddy, but is also way more cynical, sarcastic, and even mean-spirited. They’re the perfect pair and the rounded soft design of Banjo with his shorts and backpack contrasts Kazooies sharper, more fiery red design. She LOOKS like the mean one, he LOOKS like the gentle giant. It’s just very very well done character design, and this follows through in the other characters too. Bottles is this shy, timid mole, but he’s also very smart and while Kazooie gives him a hard time for being an annoying knowitall, he’s not afraid to throw it back at her, leaving Banjo to try to make peace between them. Mumbo is a shaman who has a few screws loose. He wants to help the bear and bird but sometimes his transformations seem designed to mess with them rather than actually help - his first thoughts upon turning them into a pumpkin is how good soup they’d make, for example. This all culminates with Gruntilda who is the perfect antagonist because she’s a threatening, unabashedly evil witch - the perfect foil for goody-two-shoes Banjo - but is also eccentric, disgusting, speaks in rhymes, and always ready with an insult - which bounces nicely off of Kazooie. Then Tooie continues this with characters like Klungo (in the first game but much more prominent in Tooie), Jamjars, Humba Wumba, etc. They’re all charming, unique, and most importantly bounce off of our main duo in funny and entertaining ways. Compare that to Yooka-Laylee. Yooka tries to take the goody-two-shoes role but ends up just feeling boring. He has none of the personality of Banjo, never really gets all that annoyed at Laylee for being a jerk, never goes out of his way to do good things or help people, and the main quest - retrieve… a book… - is just not as personal as Banjo going to get his sister. Laylee tries to be the cheekier Kazooie side of the pair but is never mean enough or cynical enough so, again, she doesn’t really stand out, especially when you place them next to someone like Trowzer. Besides being a crude pun, Trowzer takes sort of the Bottles or JamJars role, and honestly he works better than basically any other character in the game simply because he takes on this slimey used car salesman persona that’s amusing, unique, and actually fits his role as the guy who sells moves. The problem is he has so much personality that he only highlights how flat Yooka and Laylee are by comparison. From there it just gets worse. I couldn’t even tell you the name of the scientist lady that takes the Mumbo transformation role. She’s so boring and uninspired that it feels like the devs went “Who else could transform them besides a magic user? Oh a scientist” and stopped there. Then Rextro again is just a punny name (Retro but he’s a T-Rex who likes old games, ha) with basically no memorable personality traits. Carto is… a minecart. Who does minecart challenges. Cool. Capital B fairs better because he has an actual personality. He’s amusing, egotistical, and I actually like Hivory Towers as an overworked because it works similarly to Grunty’s lair in showing the excess and ego of the main villain. His design is solid, an evil businessman is always a classic villain archetype and adds some nice satire considering the Playtonic team largely consists of ex Microsoft employees, I’m going to go out on a limb and say he had potential to be almost as memorable as Grunty… but is ultimately let down, again, by the flat protagonists and weak overall story. Stealing books just isn’t that compelling, even if it’s a metaphor for companies snatching up IPs and doing nothing with them, and then Yooka and Laylee just don’t act as interesting foils for all the reasons mentioned above. A great villain needs a great hero to fight them and sadly Capital B is saddled with generic brand Banjo and Kazooie - all the duo-based gameplay with none of the flavor.

[@scottmccurdy6493]

I have to say I find it ironic that so many people consider "collect-a-thon" platformers to be antiquated because there was a brief period where they were oversaturated almost thirty years ago, but many people still flock to FPSs and open-world games, which at this point have been oversaturated for years (decades, in the case of FPSs) and rarely do anything new.

[@canontheory]

The main problem is the size of the worlds with too much empty space. If they were half the size and had 5 more levels with more condensed areas then the game would be pretty much top tier

[@Moonstrider]

We need a Yooka-Threeie! In case a Banjo-Threeie isnt coming tho😄

[@voodooopaque6357]

I enjoyed Yooka Laylee, it wasn’t perfect but It was a new collect o thon game and thats all I needed, I love that genre so much, its what I grew up with

[@scottmccurdy6493]

The overworld in Impossible Lair was fun. Like a top-down Zelda as a hub in a 2D Platformer. It was great.

[@mynameisreza1]

Banjo Kazooie still holds up, and games like Mario Odyssey and A Hat in Time demonstrate that the collectethon platforming genre is still alive. It annoys me when people say this game is a good example of why the genre died out, when in reality it was just unpolished and a bit uninspired.

[@MayorHairBear]

I don't know what it is about this series, I think it may be the games presentations but they keep urging me to give the games a crack! I've owned both titles on steam for some time now and I've just been conflicted on whether I should finally give them a go. I left this video still uncertain of that fact mainly in regards to the original, the sequel looks like great fun but still really enjoyed the depth of this retrospective. Great work mate!

[@CloudConnection]

I say go for it if you're interested! Set your expectations accordingly for the first game (don't expect something amazing), but Impossible Lair is absolutely a good time.

[@niemand7811]

Given the fact that these Banjo games never had my inner child bound to them, this Yooka Laylee title was indeed pretty interesting and kept me entertaint enough to justify its existence.

[@Pupppeteer]

I learned to love the first yooka laylee game but haven't played the 2nd yet so will be avoiding the second half of the video as that game is on my desktop lol.

[@NeshieTheKingSlayer]

9:22 Oh you too? Bunch of Rare songs actually just always playing in my head.

[@miguelpadilla5899]

I haven't played the first one. But I did played The Impossible Lair, and that game is FUN. One of my favorite games of 2019, if you haven't played it, seriously, do it. It's pure 2D platforming goodness.

[@xxProjectJxx]

Even as someone who grew up in the 90s, I never really liked Banjo Kazooie or especially Tooie. When the interest in that series had a resurgence in the 2010s, I remember thinking, "Really? The Banjo series? Next, we'll be asking for Gex back." When Yooka Laylee failed to hit the mark, I remember feeling pretty vindicated, lol. The problem with Banjo was that it focused more on the collecting than it did on the tight level design that made that collecting fun, like Mario 64 and Spyro had done. The same problem was repeated in Yooka Laylee, but even more pronounced. That said, I didn't know the sequel was a DKC inspired 2D platformer. That, I might be more interested in.

[@jonathantracy2767]

I watch these videos at work. Love the depth that you put so much effort into these videos!

[@terabitez3374]

Yooka laylee is not nearly as bad as I remember the sequel impossible lair is just great it felt like despite changing gameplay they still learned a lot from the first yooka laylee and I’ll say it was worth it because not only is impossible lair a great 2D platformer I’d say it tops tropical freeze with it’s only big problem being the bosses

[@dmerkaGU10]

I love colectathons, and I ended up playing yookalaylee before I played banjo. On the first playthrough yookalaylee is by miles more fun, while banjo is way more fun on 2nd playthroughs. I tried a few times to get into banjo 2iee, but having to come through every level with 4 different forms as well as stuff you are not able to do your first time in a level really kills my enjoyment and I end up dropping it after a few hours.

[@MatthewCampbell765]

33:10 In fairness, I don't think "caving into fan demands" is precisely accurate. Playtonic themselves probably had the same feelings. At the time of the game's release, there was a genuine frustration that a Banjo-Kazooie sequel hadn't come out in a long while, and that games like it were also pretty uncommon. It seems that many people at Rare had a similar frustration of wanting to make a Banjo-Kazooie sequel but not being able to. Yooka-Laylee is essentially born from this mutual frustration.

[@orange_turtle3412]

Collectathon platformers are one of my absolute favorite kinds of games, and its saddening that the genre all but forgotten. Sure, we still have mario. And modern mario collectathons like odyssey are really good games. But these games are few and far between in comparison to the collectathons of old.

[@scottmccurdy6493]

The mine kart music tracks were great. Though I think those were by David "I can do no wrong" Wise.

[@sporeolegy]

From someone who did not grow up playing games like banjo Kazooie I think where this game went wrong, and for me one of banjo most charming features were it’s low poly environment and simplistic textures it’s art style as a whole is superior to that of this game.

[@AngeVNs]

I literally did not know Impossible Lair existed, thanks for letting me know! My thoughts on Yooka 1 are teh same as yours except I rage quit on World 2 for the reasons you stated. I also didn't like the 'buy moves at a store' thing.

[@jordonthecookie]

I honestly prefer the choice to expand the world after you beat them all on your first go, since your moveset is heavily expanded by that point and some challenges might be easier with that method.

[@Chlocean]

10:30 it's worth noting that Grant Kirkhope didn't make this music; the man behind DKC's soundtracks, David Wise, helped with minecart levels.

[@internallyscreaming90]

I will forever hold out hope we’ll get Banjo Threeie haha. Though I will say, even though it was a mod, Jiggies of Time gave me some satisfaction in possibly never getting a true Threeie game (I’m not counting Nuts and Bolts, though my opinion has softened a bit).

[@TheBeird]

I liked the game for what it was. But can't remember anything about it. Impossible Lair was top tier tho

[@DanBottiglieri]

I was surprised how much I enjoyed Yooka-Laylee, as I haven't really enjoyed the format since... well, Banjo Tooie. It definitely isn't as good but I had a really good time with it regardless.

[@BrochachoTheBro]

Personally, I feel like Yooka Laylee was to collectathon platformers as Rise of the Triad 2013 was to boomer shooters: an imperfect revival of a specific genre, yet made an impact that spawned more revivals in the following years

[@vincentlorusso689]

Great video! I think Impossible Lair is better and more engrossing but I bought both and I really like the franchise.

[@scottmccurdy6493]

Impossible Lair's soundtrack is great. But it isn't a patch on Tropical Freeze (Returns, sure. Since that was mostly remixes from the first DKC, which weren't as good as the originals). DKCTF is a top 5 all-timer in soundtracks.

[@FuryousD]

i disagree with your opinion of Gruntilda's lair, it is perfect, if u do the levels in the order that u are supposed to do them then there is no need to backtrack at all hell even if u dont do them in order the lair isn't that big so it's not that bad at all to do some backtracking here and there, my only gripe is when returning to the game it starts u back at the entrance to the lair and u have to go all the way back to the level u were doing. Yooka-Laylee's hub world however suffers from the same thing as Banjo-Tooie's does in that it is way too big to traverse although i can put up with it in Banjo-Tooie because the levels are way more fun to play in despite being too big.

[@Parker--]

I don't see why the next Banjo would have to be a collectathon. If they made a Conker-style, story-based adventure and then added extra collectibles as a secondary mechanic for replay purposes, I think people would be happy with the results.

[@GalaxyPolar]

10:45 Ehhh, I mean that's not entirely true. As Grant Kirkhope was able to get the B&K musical atmosphere down pretty good using real instruments in the Nuts & Bolts soundtrack, and you even agreed on that in your N&B retrospective. People, say what you want about how messy that game was, but you must admit, the OST to N&B is amazing. Not as classic as the originals, and not as much of a beautiful masterpiece like Viva Piñata's (which I will argue to the grave is the best Rare OST ever composed, easily Grant Kirkhope's best work ever) but it's still arguably up there, and it still captures that quirky Rareware oomph that the N64 era had. But on top of N&B, Kirkhope also did a phenomenal job composing the Spiral Mountain theme in Smash Bros. Both prove it can be done. It’s not the synthetic N64 instruments that capture the Rareware magic, it's how the music is written, composed, and specifically for the most part what kind of vibe the music is trying to go for. Banjo music, in each game from the current trilogy, used a mix & match of wacky & whimsical instruments. Xylophones, Kazoos, Banjos, trumpets, flutes, tubas. Serious action packed moments would call for very LOUD and abrasive uses of the louder instruments. Musical themes of places would change depending on where you are in the world. Take Hailfire Peaks or the Isle O' Hags themes for good examples. Only one Banjo world was able to get away with straying from the norm, and that's Logbox 720 in N&B. But they made the music very unique and just as wacky as normal Banjo music to make up for that, which actually worked surprisingly. Yooka Laylee's tracks don't have that special uniqueness that makes them stand out like Banjo's did. They feel very generic at times, and the tropical theming of the music is probably why. I get that the music should reflect on their names being very tropical Hawaii esk instruments, but the tropical stuff doesn't really feel as grand and adventurous as their predecessor. I don't feel like I'm going on a quirky, snarky, self aware humored Banjo-Kazooie style adventure here. I feel like I'm playing a generic children's 2010s game. The bashful whimsical music of Banjo-Kazooie just as a very distinctive touch that other soundtracks just can't do as good. Treasure Trove Cove & Nutty Acres get away with the tropical theme yes, but that's because both world's music incorporated the classic Banjo musical details and elements into their tropical bongo theming, like flutes are still present in both.

[@tastymango007]

Broooo don't put the endboss randomly in the background gameplay. I was still playing the game and just wanted to see if anyone has the same thoughts on it. Pro TIp: Use only Gameplay from the first half of the game you currently review.

[@georgie9303]

Have you thought about doing videos on any of RARE’s other games? Like Kameo or Viva pinatas? Liked your Conker video a lot

[@spartankongcountry6799]

This!

[@georgie9303]

@@spartankongcountry6799 there’s not a lot of reviews/retrospectives on post-2002 Rare games. His Conker blew up so it can be good

[@spartankongcountry6799]

@@georgie9303 Were you a fan of Kameo? I've heard people say it's pretty good but I still haven't played it even though I have Rare Replay.

[@georgie9303]

@@spartankongcountry6799 Yeah I liked it a lot. It’s a solid 8/10 for me. You should definitely try it out. Really wished It gets a sequel/reboot alongside Viva piñata and Banjo.

[@CloudConnection]

I may get to Kameo and Viva Pinata one day! Kameo I've only played a small demo of and I haven't touched Viva Pinata at all, so I'm interested in checking them out. I've still got a bunch of N64 Rare titles to get to (GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini, Diddy Kong Racing, etc.) that'll probably all happen before I tackle Rare's post-Nintendo titles, but you never know!

[@Pupppeteer]

How is it possible that a team of 6 people that 3 of them have "Steve" in their name haha. That name is as common as vowels apparently.

[@CloudConnection]

I just assume that everybody in England is named Steve

[@themascotwizard5267]

Is it as common as the Chrises in the world of Hollywood? You know, Chris Evans, Hemsworth, etc.?

[@ImaFnT-Rex]

29:25 close calls there .. Good thing no lame hit boxes

[@llamasarus1]

I thought Yooka Laylee was a lot of fun. I just wish it had like 2 more worlds, it would've felt more complete.

[@MrCodyWarner]

I think a big thing none of us want to acknowledge is Banjo came out when we were kids. Yooka LayLee didn’t.

[@Scrubber89]

Impossible Lair is WAY better than you're making out but I pretty much agree with everything said about the first game.

[@tylerwalters2205]

Nah both are classics

[@GabrielShakkori]

Damn I didn't even know they made a sequel

[@panampace]

All they had to do was fine tune the controls and make the levels way smaller, and Yooka Laylee would have been a success

[@franzpattison]

Why the frame around the footage?

[@leon-el9614]

Love your videos and I'm really happy for this one. Keep up the good work P.D: would you make a bloodstained video????

[@CloudConnection]

Maybe one day! I've only played Curse of the Moon as of now but I'm really itching to dig into Ritual of the Night

[@leon-el9614]

@@CloudConnection Please do. Your work is amazing!!!!

[@orangeslash1667]

@@leon-el9614 I think the main problem with Yooka-Laylee is that Greg Mayles wasn't involved at all. Who was responsible for the bear and Bird.

[@raydaypinball]

As someone who plays banjo kazooie and banjo Tooie very regularly I was soooo happy to get essentially a third banjo game. Yooka-Laylee delivered exactly that and I’ll never understood why people seem to not like it... it was the first video game in a long time that I’d come home after work and want to keep playing, the characters are so much fun, music is good, the satisfaction of collecting all the “Jinjos”, saving the pagies, kicking capital Bee butt... I just love it all!

[@xCheckMate]

For me, it boils down to one thing: level design The level design wasn’t as tight and top notch in Yooka as a Banjo game. It just felt haphazard or like an AI generated map to me, whereas Banjo worlds contain so many distinct set pieces and well-thought out landscapes that don’t make it a slog to traverse through. That’s how I feel anyway, as someone who also loves Banjo but am indifferent to the first Yooka

[@AlexLoeding]

KAZE and the Wild Masks!

[@jiggylookback]

I’m actually making a video defending this game. I hear a lot of negative sentiment and upon replaying…can’t say I agree with a lot of it. P.S. Tribalstock Tropics is a banger of a song!

[@-Down-D-Stairs-]

Loved both games

[@VideojugadorIrritado]

People say that the Impossible Lair is much better that Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Maybe because David Wise make the sound most enjoyable, making DK's Country vibes more often.

[@Frilleon]

I hated tropical freeze, but I’m in a small minority

[@rmtsapphire0]

I stopped playing yooka laylee during the first level. It just didnt give me the same charm, wonder and character that banjo did. I do love impossible lair though. That game is amazing. I think one of my biggest issues is a dont get as much personality from yooka or laylee as banjo, kazooie or even DK and co. I cant tell you how theyd react to a situation.

[@Gruntilda-Winkybunion]

i 100% the game once and i know that i will never touch it again. nice video! i am still hoping for a Banjo Redooie or a Banjo Threeie

[@96miffy]

I think the best idea to bring banjo back, is deveplors who grown up with the games.

[@ToonNoah]

unironically love your vids. so happy i saw this in my subbox just now!

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

Yooka laylee 3 when?

[@bruxtle]

I love banjo but I've never played yooka It just looks weird to me

[@Turretguy]

That ice castle portion made me stop playing the game lmao I hated it so much. Was disappointed with how the game turned out, but still happy I backed it during the kickstarter

[@elfiebranford9330]

In my honest opinion, my main issue with Yooka-Laylee stems from just how much of an identity crisis it seems to have. No joke, upon first seeing the game, while initially hyped, I thought to myself "This looks like one of those parody games you'd see in shows like The Simpsons." The whole game looks great on a visual level, but like, it just tries so hard to emulate the Banjo-Kazooie aesthetic that it becomes almost obnoxious. To make matters worse, and ironically enough, many of the side characters look entirely differently, leading to them clashing; it's like a mix of art styles and directions without a proper vision or focus. That said, as a game, it is pretty darn fun. I didn't have a super big connection to BK growing up, so I can put aside biases and appreciate it for what it tries to do on its own. I don't think it deserves to be as divisive as a number of people would say, and on the whole, I have to give it credit for trying to bring back the long-neglected collectathon genre. I really hope more indie developers can follow in the footsteps of Playtonic, but at the same time, I want them to do so with their own vision. Maybe I'm asking too much, but I'm keeping an optimistic yet realistic approach. Anyways, long ramble out of the way, excellent video as always~!! ^w^

[@garretteverett2613]

I'm not very far into Y-L but I am getting very much the same feeling. It's like a Faberge egg - exquisitely polished and detailed, but hollow on the inside, and it cribs wayyyyy too heavily from the lightning in a bottle that was B-K. It's 2017, hire some voice talent instead of the (admittedly charming) gobbledygook and update the platforming controls and camera. Push platforming into a new dimension, like the original games did. My first red flag was the N64 graphics cheat, which is kind of neat I guess but is NOT one of the things that people are nostalgic for about the system's games.

[@garretteverett2613]

And oddly enough, lightning in a Bottle was the plot of Banjo-Tooie! Thank you, I'll be here all week, tip your servers.

[@rgm4646]

Great dive into Yooka Laylee. I often have to remind myself that every game that is released isn't necessarily targeting me. Classic example Mario. I had my Nintendo back in the 80s and loved every moment. And I have had and finished every game since then. The last mario (platform) game that I can honestly say i enjoyed was Super Mario Sunshine. The galaxy games were ok, and I stopped playing Odyssey a few levels in. The old games I prefer more nowadays, So its not the designer most of the time when a game just doesnt feel right ,its me.

[@Choom89]

I did not like the gimmicks of odyssey either, passed on it.

[@basicoptimalmouse]

Watch out KingK, Cloud connection coming for that retrospective crown.

[@breadordecide]

You know what caused me to stop playing? The limp sound effect for picking up quills. I was like nope. You’d think that would be the easiest little dopamine hit. Like when mario picks up coins, those sounds are addictive. Yooka laylee dropped the ball so hard on the smallest bits.

[@ABGABGABG1]

I would say phsyconauts 2 is the ultimate modern 3d platformer, they did everything right, especially with it be a sequel to a game that came out on the original Xbox. I played and beat the original when it came out and it was superb, to not only replicate but completely enhance the experience was something that must be acknowledged and gives hope for the future. Btw I completely agree with your retrospective, however the first left such a bad taste I never even gave impossible lair a shot. Guess I will now, cheers.

[@Umbrella2]

I love Psychonaughts 2 and it is MUCH more creative and fun than Yooka-Laylee, the first game is better though imo.

[@BeanbonVG]

Honestly, I think the levels are my biggest problem with yooka laylee. I played banjo kazooie and tooie for the first time only maybe a year ago, and I enjoyed them both tons. Yooka laylee doesn’t fail because it doesn’t try to be more than banjo. It fails because it lacks the same quality, and emphasizes the wrong things about those original games. The example using the quizzes was very apt: they included them because they were in the originals, without considering why they were there, when they took place, or whether they should be brought back at all. A clean cut reboot style game would have been a great start, but yooka laylee doesn’t match its predecessor, and as a result, now has more catching up to do

[@flyingvct7214]

Of course the music was bad ass David Wise is a gaming music god Rock Solid is an amazing song

[@shiroka1371]

I was also one of those people who backed the Kickstarter years ago. My Experience was the same as you told in the video and i fully agree to it. The Game in its entirety was fun trying to get every major Items for the Completion, but i felt that they exaggerated heavily with "emulating" the old games. In the end, i thought that it was more of a Mod which just switched Banjo and Kazooie for new Chars and Worlds, rather than displaying something on its own. What it was lacking was a true "Soul" but instead tried to copy the old games to its Core. Only problem was that there was no difference in the End... This was also the same for another Kickstarter Game i backed: "Torment: Tides of Numenera" Same premise to be a spiritual Successor to "Planescape: Torment". It got everything what the original had but never really expanded beyond for something new other than the turn based combat system (Planescape was Real Time).

[@rapmetaldemon09]

So what you're saying is we're never getting a Banjo Threeie, there will never be a Halo as good as 2 and 3 again, and we're never getting virtual console releases for the GBA and DS Pokémon gam😭 I hate it here

[@shaunnys1973]

This game is do much better than banjo I dont disgree with the review this why i take no notice of reviewers

[@1un4cy]

In short, it was a pretty meh banjo-kazooie game, but a pretty great donkey-kong game

[@ZeldaWarz]

9:36 little sus bro

[@sgamer1770]

Can you review the new rachet clank ?

[@CloudConnection]

I don't know if I'll be able to get to it anytime soon (I'd rather cover earlier games in the series first) but Rift Apart is pretty dope. Second-favorite game of 2021, just edged out by Metroid Dread

[@sgamer1770]

@@CloudConnection i enjoyed rift apart so much so coming to Yooka yalee after that felt a bit of a let down. it's open world but the objectives have a lot of structure so you don't feel overwhelmed i feel.

[@jackcottle8144]

The Game was a perfect Banjo 3 I loved it

[@feartheoldblood7222]

People- "Nuts and Bolts was so different from original Banjo that's why we hated it" Also, people -"Yooka Laylee was just like Banjo Kazooie and not different so it's bad" It's not perfect by any means and I still prefer Banjo Kazooie but damn people can never be satisfied. Ever. The levels were to big and empty though. Valid point

[@handeggchan1057]

Keep these videos up, they are absolutely amazing!

[@jishservedcold3536]

Hey. I'm just now seeing your content. You're honestly smaller than you deserve to be. The work put into these videos is great. I'm also slightly biased towards you because you might be the only content creator who also played Banjo-Tooie long before Kazooie

[@MultiCool55]

I played up to the marsh level before I couldn't bring myself to continue playing Yooka laylee, the game just felt hollow, not to mention those god forsaken minecart and arcade minigames lol, go play A hat in time instead for a good collect-a-thon. That said, impossible lair was a massive improvement and is honestly one of my personal favorite games.

[@Nathan35077]

One franchise that deserves a remaster, like BK, is GEX! Nobody ever talks about those games, but they were fantastic imo.

[@MgaMan-mr9pw]

I never played Yooka Laylee, because when it came out I was still too young to purchase games on my own dime. When I got old enough to be making my own money, I looked into the game because I was a huge fan of Banjo and Tooie. I saw some amount of gameplay, and was immediately turned off by the sizes of the worlds and their emptiness. I know you don't like Terrydactyl Land, but i really liked that stage as a kid, and still have fond memories of it. I feel like Yooka Laylee's biggest problem is how empty every world is, although now that i'm seeing this video, I would have also been infuriated with the camera. I really want to like the game, but i can't bring myself to buy it.

[@j-cat5315]

Personally as a platforming fan I really enjoyed Yooka Laylee. All the worlds were great fun to play, the overworld was awesome and only towards the very end of the final world did I feel they lost focus. I never played Banjo though so perhaps that's the issue. Interestingly, I don't care much for the impossible lair. The overworld stuff really drags, it's not a part of the game I enjoy and it takes up most of the game. It's like playing Crash 1 but most of the game takes place on the island. The levels are great but accessing them is such pain I gave up. I wish they made a version with the overworld removed and you could just play the levels.

[@keithridley6719]

I liked Yooka-Laylee since it was like Banjo-Kazooie and while I like the donkey kong games that is why I like The impossible Lair A little less since it doesn't follow the banjo style.