If you’re a Rare nut (like me) who loved the living jiggy out of Banjo-Kazooie and its ultra-ambitious sequel, Banjo-Tooie, get ready to do a happy dance. 1up is reporting that the delightfully upgraded game (complete with HD graphics and full stop n’ swap features) will arrive on XBLA in April 2009.

Wondering what Stop n’ Swap means?

I was so inspired by putting together the list of worst Christmas games ever, that I thought I’d do a flipside list of the best Christmas-y games of all time. Call it the Christmas spirit, or rose-tinted nostalgia, if you like. And there’s one caveat – I’m including Christmas-y levels in otherwise un-Christmas-y games.

The release of Rare’s latest Banjo-Kazooie game, Nuts & Bolts, has managed to surprise many individuals.

Most of that surprise has come from the fact that the game has been received reasonably well, at least by the reviewers, as most of them have had cause to praise the game’s efforts rather than criticize them.

However, while the game was held in reasonably high regard by critics, all of them agreed on a singular problem exhibited by the game: its unusually minuscule text, shrunken down to the point where most players would deem it unreadable unless…

I just read a lovely piece over at Destructoid about the absolute awesomeness of the original Banjo-Kazooie, and I just had to put my virtual 2 cents in. Writer Chad Concelmo described his trepidation over the new Xbox 360 BK, citing the perfection (yes, he goes there) of the original game, and lists the reasons why Banjo was a better overall game than Super Mario 64.

If you missed my previous post about how Nintendo 64 classic Banjo-Kazooie is due out on Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) on November 26, you may not care much for the adventure starring a goofy bear and a sassy bird. Well, you’re crazy, because the game looks amazing – CVG reported that the already gorgeous N64 graphics have been upgraded, so the game is reportedly running beautifully in high resolution. Plus, it features a “stop n’ swap” – famous for its underutilization in the game’s sequel, Banjo-Tooie – as a means of opening secrets in the upcoming Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts on the Xbox 360.

I can not get over how cool Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts sounds and looks. Banjo and the witch Gruntilda (Grunty) have been fighting for years over Spiral Mountain, and the Lord of the Games has finally had it with both of them. So he’s set up some challenges for ownership of the mountain. If Banjo can complete the challenges, Spiral Mountain is his. If Grunty is able to keep him from completing them, then it’s hers.

The game gets good once you start looking at how challenges are completed. Each one will have a goal, but you can get there however you like. Players can create practically any vehicle they can think of to assist Banjo in his challenges. There are over 100 different contraption components which can be combined in Mumbo’s Motors workshop. If you don’t feel like thinking up custom creations, there will be completed creations available in the game. There will also be multiplayer versus and co-op options.