Banjo demo confirmed, Stop 'N' Swop explained

Rare has confirmed to Eurogamer that a demo of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts will be released before the game reaches the shelves in November, and outlined just how the Stop 'N' Swop component that links Nuts & Bolts to the release of Banjo-Kazooie XBLA will work.

"A Marketplace demo? Yes," said lead programmer Salvatore Fileccia. "We've got various different ideas. I think all the leads on the team all have their own idea what the demo should be, and it obviously makes sense for the demo to happen before the game ships. We all feel that it's essential because the game is so different."

On the Stop 'N' Swap idea, Fileccia said: "The way Stop 'N' Swop was meant to work originally was that there's parts in the original Banjo that weren't unlocked until the original Banjo realised you'd been playing the sequel, which we had to change because of the evolution of the hardware of the N64. It would've worked on early N64s but not the later ones.

"So that's why we never actually released it. It was my job to actually finish it off, so you can't imagine how many fans hate me because of that! So what we're doing now is literally the same thing, so there is unlockables in both games that are accessible once both games realise you've been playing the other one," he added.

Full thing through the link.

By Mike Bowden