July 17th, 2008 by Daniel Duncan

Today marks the 10 year anniversary for Banjo-Kazooie in the UK. To celebrate this special occasion, Computer&Videogames has the opportunity to speak with Rare’s Mark Betteridge and Rich Cousins about the anniversary, Banjo Arcade, Gregg Mayles wearing Banjo shorts, Nuts & Bolts, and the future of the franchise. This is the complete interview as well as a small portion of it below…

First of all, congratulations on reaching Banjo-Kazooie’s 10th Birthday. How does it feel to reach that milestone?

Mark Betteridge It’s great. I suppose ten years is a long time with anything in the entertainment business. We’ve taken Banjo in a slightly different direction in Nuts ‘N Bolts which we’re able to do because of the increased performance of the 360. It’s given us a platform in terms of gameplay that we can built up on, give longevity to and take forward.

We think the time is right for Banjo to be a mascot character for the 360, that’s the key point. The price of the box is less than it was at launch, there are more casual customers buying consoles, so I think there’s now a really good opportunity there. It’s a unique game in the 360 line-up, it’s a game that the 360 needs.

Is that the objective then? To make Banjo the Mario of Xbox?

Betteridge: Yeah. Certainly as a mascot character Mario is fantastic and that would be wonderful to have Banjo mention in the same breath as 360 in way that Mario is with Nintendo. That would be wonderful. That’s certainly an aim.