Miss Banjo-Kazooie? Support Yooka-Laylee
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been starved for a new 3D platformer for a long time. Except for the heavy hitters like Mario and Sonic, consoles appear to have abandoned family genres entirely in favor of dudebro shooters.
You have have gotten word that the original developers of Banjo-Kazooie (who unsurprisingly no longer work for Rare) want to make their own spiritual sequel, a new B-K in all but name. Now their newly-formed team, Playtonic Games, has officially announced the project, and they need your support to make it as big as possible. Previously known as Project Ukulele, the team of Brits have unveiled…Yooka-Laylee (say it out loud).
Yooka is a chameleon, and Laylee is the bat attached to him. They were created by character artist Steve Mayles, who also designed Banjo and Kazooie as well as the Rare-ified Donkey Kong that Nintendo has used ever since.
The best way to support Yooka-Laylee is to go find a giant pad with Yooka and Laylee’s face on it, stand there and press Z and the C-Up button at once. Okay, not really. The actual best way is to contribute to their Kickstarter, which launches tomorrow.
Says Playtonic, “When we first discussed this project, the reaction was immense. You flocked to our shop doors like eager amiibo scalpers, and your mouths were full of requests. You told us you wanted Yooka-Laylee (or whatever it was called back then) to be the best game it could possibly be. You said you wanted sprawling, gorgeous worlds to explore, tons of smartarse characters to meet and inventive moves to learn… and you wanted to do it all on your gaming platform of choice. When we launch our Kickstarter in less than 24 hours, you can help us tick all of those boxes and more. Together you can help our team create the game they’ve dreamed of making – and you might pick yourself up some cool swag in the process.”
You can contribute to the Kickstarter until June 16. The game will be released simultaneously on Windows, Mac, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U, but only at the same time if they raise a million dollars (as of this writing, it is already halfway there).