Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge is the third installment in the Banjo-Kazooie series and the second in chronological order. Developed by Rareware and published by THQ, it was the first Rare game released after being purchased by Microsoft from Nintendo. Ironically, it was for the portable Game Boy Advance (a Nintendo handheld). The game used an overhead platform design similiar to Conker's Pocket Tales to replicate the 3-D feel of the console entries in the series but on a smaller scale.
The storyline for the game went under several revisions over the course of its development. Originally, it wasn't supposed to take place in normal Banjo-Kazooie continuity, but rather in an alternate reality where the Nintendo 64 sequel Banjo-Tooie never took place. Eventually, this idea was abandoned in favor of placing it between the two previous entries (two months after Banjo-Kazooie). In the game, Gruntilda Winkybunion the witch is still trapped under the giant boulder that fell on her in Banjo-Kazooie. After several weeks of trying to push the boulder off, her loyal henchman Klungo decides that a different plan of action is required. He builds a mechanical robot, Mecha-Grunty , and tells Gruntilda to transport her soul into it. While her body would still be stuck underground, she could now initiate a revenge scheme against Banjo and Kazooie. Kidnapping Kazooie, she goes back in time two decades with the plan to prevent the bear and bird duo from ever meeting, therefore erasing her prior defeat from history. Springing into action, Mumbo Jumbo used his own powers to send Banjo back to the same time to put a stop to Gruntilda's time-space continuum altering desires.
With a lack of promotion from THQ, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge was a relatively low-profile release and therefore didn't make as big of a splash as its N64 counterparts. Regardless, most reviews were good and fans generally felt it lived up as a scaled-back version of the N64 adventures.
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