Rare Discusses Banjo Kazooie XBLA Legality

With Microsoft and Rare teaming up to bring the N64 platforming epic Banjo Kazooie to the XBLA download service, the developer has commented on possible legal issues.

During E3 2008 the British developer announced plans to port the original Nintendo 64 game onto Microsoft's Xbox 360 as a downloadable title, complete with Nintendo branding.

Speaking with CVG in a recent interview, it seems that there's some uncertainty within the company as to how and why it's happened.

Where did the decision to put old Banjo Kazooie on Xbox Live come from?

Neill Harrison, Lead Artist, Rare: Don't know. To be honest, I don't know where the idea came from, whether it came from within Microsoft or within Rare. But we're quite happy about it because it just hopefully regenerates the franchise somewhat.

There are still a lot of people who want to play the old game. It is ten years old but it dates quite well, actually. If you play it, it's now in HD and actually runs at a decent frame rate [laughs] so on an HD telly it looks pretty bloody good. But where the decision came from, I'm not entirely sure.

And the new Stop 'N Swap was a hark back to the old fans. It's bit of a joke, really. If one game detects the other on your hard drive, it'll unlock some stuff.

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Last time we saw it, it was still branded up with Nintendo logos and stuff. Is that still in there?

NH: In the old game, branded up as Nintendo? I don't know to be honest.

I can't really comment on the legal issues but Banjo is our IP and I think if it was in the old game, then I think we're okay to use it. But we've certainly got the legal people to go through it. They've taken out things that we're not allowed to keep. We just do what we're told [laughs]

The latest chapter in the Banjo Kazooie story sees the duo tinkering with vehicles and exploring a gorgeous new world and a refreshed visual style on the Xbox 360.

For more, be sure to check out CVG's interview with Rare.