Godot
November 29th, 2007, 12:42 AM
Hello, everyone. I am here today to tell you about one of the many video game mysteries of the world, the infamous Stop N Swap from the days of the Banjo-Kazooie series.
The Game
The company Rareware, along with Nintendo, developed an adventure game known as Banjo-Kazooie, featuring a lovable bear, Banjo and his not-so-lovable teammate, the bird Kazooie, trying to save Banjo's sister Tooty from the witch Gruntilda (Grunty). Along the way the duo collected Jigsaw pieces (jiggies) and were assisted by Bottles the Mole who taught them techniques, and Mumbo Jumbo, who transformed them into various creatures.
The Items
OK, so let me get more to the point. At one point in the game in a region known as Freezeezy Peak, you could see a key of ice on a platform behind a wall you could not go through. Another "taunt" like this was Sharkfood Island, a tiny island just beyond your reach in the ocean. A final taunt was an unbreakable door in the Gobi's Valley area.
After a player obtained all one hundred jigsaw pieces, they were shown a cutscene of pictures being shown to Banjo and Kazooie. These pictures showed:
-Banjo entering the area where the Ice Key was kept and viewing it
-Banjo entering a raised Sharkfood Island, climbing a giant rock platform and viewing a Pink Egg
-Banjo opening the unbreakable door in Gobi's valley and viewing a Blue Egg inside a Sarcophagus
After viewing the cutscene players were told they could use the said items in Banjo-Tooie, the sequel to the game.
The Cheat Codes
Many wondered how they would get access to these said items, when finally, after many hours of work, a group of people discovered Cheat Codes to gain access to the items. The player would have to enter the codes in Treasure Trove Cove's Sandcastle to gain access to these items. Players finally obtained these items, which were shown on a new screen in the Totals menu, entitled: Stop N Swap. Soon after, the same people discovered three more item codes, which revealed FOUR MORE EGGS! Players now could discover a Cyan Egg, a Yellow Egg, a Green Egg, and a Red Egg, all shown on that same Stop N Swap menu.
What really was Stop N Swap?
Stop N Swap was originally intended to be a way to transfer items over from Banjo-Kazooie to Banjo-Tooie for use in Tooie. It was dropped for this reason:
The original way for Stop N Swap to work was for the player to start Banjo-Kazooie, pause, then pull Banjo-Kazooie out of the Nintendo 64 and insert Tooie without turning the 64 off. This was known as "Hot-Swapping" the Game Paks. The news got to Nintendo, who did not approve as players could damage their console or Game Paks by doing this. Thus, Stop N Swap was not included in Tooie. The only remnants of Stop N Swap seen in Tooie were the Ice Key and red, yellow and blue eggs, found in Banjo-Kazooie Game Paks which the duo could smash and obtain the items. The items only unlocked special rewards which are not needed to complete the game:
-Homing Eggs (which allowed Kazooie's eggs to home in on an enemy)
-A Jinjo(one of the characters the duo had to save) as a multiplayer character
-A new move for the duo
-Dragon Kazooie (changing Kazooie into a dragon)
The players receive the rewards, but this was not the intended use for the objects...
Final Thoughts
Many have tried to find the REAL use for Stop N Swap, through GameSharks and even ROM-Hacking. Many have their own theories about the feature, what the items would have been used for, and how they would have been obtained. But one thing is for sure, Stop N Swap was, is, and may always be, a mystery.
To learn more about this mysterious feature, you can always search Google, or check out www.spiralmountain.co.uk, a very informative site about the Banjo-Kazooie series and Stop N Swap.
Thank you for reading this tale, and goodnight.
The Game
The company Rareware, along with Nintendo, developed an adventure game known as Banjo-Kazooie, featuring a lovable bear, Banjo and his not-so-lovable teammate, the bird Kazooie, trying to save Banjo's sister Tooty from the witch Gruntilda (Grunty). Along the way the duo collected Jigsaw pieces (jiggies) and were assisted by Bottles the Mole who taught them techniques, and Mumbo Jumbo, who transformed them into various creatures.
The Items
OK, so let me get more to the point. At one point in the game in a region known as Freezeezy Peak, you could see a key of ice on a platform behind a wall you could not go through. Another "taunt" like this was Sharkfood Island, a tiny island just beyond your reach in the ocean. A final taunt was an unbreakable door in the Gobi's Valley area.
After a player obtained all one hundred jigsaw pieces, they were shown a cutscene of pictures being shown to Banjo and Kazooie. These pictures showed:
-Banjo entering the area where the Ice Key was kept and viewing it
-Banjo entering a raised Sharkfood Island, climbing a giant rock platform and viewing a Pink Egg
-Banjo opening the unbreakable door in Gobi's valley and viewing a Blue Egg inside a Sarcophagus
After viewing the cutscene players were told they could use the said items in Banjo-Tooie, the sequel to the game.
The Cheat Codes
Many wondered how they would get access to these said items, when finally, after many hours of work, a group of people discovered Cheat Codes to gain access to the items. The player would have to enter the codes in Treasure Trove Cove's Sandcastle to gain access to these items. Players finally obtained these items, which were shown on a new screen in the Totals menu, entitled: Stop N Swap. Soon after, the same people discovered three more item codes, which revealed FOUR MORE EGGS! Players now could discover a Cyan Egg, a Yellow Egg, a Green Egg, and a Red Egg, all shown on that same Stop N Swap menu.
What really was Stop N Swap?
Stop N Swap was originally intended to be a way to transfer items over from Banjo-Kazooie to Banjo-Tooie for use in Tooie. It was dropped for this reason:
The original way for Stop N Swap to work was for the player to start Banjo-Kazooie, pause, then pull Banjo-Kazooie out of the Nintendo 64 and insert Tooie without turning the 64 off. This was known as "Hot-Swapping" the Game Paks. The news got to Nintendo, who did not approve as players could damage their console or Game Paks by doing this. Thus, Stop N Swap was not included in Tooie. The only remnants of Stop N Swap seen in Tooie were the Ice Key and red, yellow and blue eggs, found in Banjo-Kazooie Game Paks which the duo could smash and obtain the items. The items only unlocked special rewards which are not needed to complete the game:
-Homing Eggs (which allowed Kazooie's eggs to home in on an enemy)
-A Jinjo(one of the characters the duo had to save) as a multiplayer character
-A new move for the duo
-Dragon Kazooie (changing Kazooie into a dragon)
The players receive the rewards, but this was not the intended use for the objects...
Final Thoughts
Many have tried to find the REAL use for Stop N Swap, through GameSharks and even ROM-Hacking. Many have their own theories about the feature, what the items would have been used for, and how they would have been obtained. But one thing is for sure, Stop N Swap was, is, and may always be, a mystery.
To learn more about this mysterious feature, you can always search Google, or check out www.spiralmountain.co.uk, a very informative site about the Banjo-Kazooie series and Stop N Swap.
Thank you for reading this tale, and goodnight.