With the recent hype for Yooka-Laylee, I've decided to revisit the games on which it is based. What do you think they did right, and what do you think they could learn from? In order of release...
Banjo-Kazooie: This is, hands down, my favorite of the bunch. Everything feels completely spot on, from the controls, progression, pacing (nothing really outstays its welcome), sound design, level variety, etc. Every single bit of praise this game gets is well deserved. Even though I only rented it, it left a bigger lasting impression than any of the others.
Donkey Kong 64: Another solid entry, with much of the same strengths as Banjo. Played the hell out of it when I was young, but never beat it (why did they make beating the arcade Donkey Kong mandatory?) and still like it well enough. Unlike a lot of other people, I don't even mind that there are far too many items to collect. It's the fact that a lot of missions aren't very creative to begin with. The vast majority of Gold Bananas are just hitting a switch to open a gate that it's hidden behind, or hitting a switch to unlock a barrel that takes you to the same minigame as last world.
Banjo-Tooie: My second favorite. Not much to say that hadn't been said about the first game. Could have been on par or better than Banjo-Kazooie, if they hadn't changed certain aspects. Levels are larger, but not as thought out as the prequel. The FPS segments probably weren't necessary. While still a great game, less is more in this case.
Conker's Bad Fur Day: Honestly, I do not like this game. It changes genres at various points for the sole purpose of parodying pop culture. The genre implementations are inferior to Rareware's own outings... the shooting sections are worse than Jet Force Gemini and platforming isn't even close to Banjo-Kazooie, for instance. There are very, very few skills to learn, and the overall progression is painfully linear. The comedic adult presentation is pretty well done, however.