B A N J O is V I S I T I N G R U S T Y B U C K E T B A Y Don’t hate me for trying new titles and thumbnails it’s the same content I just want more people to see it. www.patreon.com/any_austin
"Banjo has an obsession with decay and suffering" I don't think that's deliberate commentary though, I think that's just what living in Britain is like
That's all I could think of throughout this video, especially when I saw Spiral Mountain's skybox. "Of course you can't see the sun." (Well, that, and "Why the feck does he have those things in his hair")
I think the “black fading ceiling” skybox (or lack thereof), makes us feel like the area we’re in extends so far up that we can’t see the surface. Like a tall tower or the trees surrounding us are so tall that the forest/swamp is swallowing us. We naturally look for openings in our surroundings and when we can’t find one it makes us feel claustrophobic and enclosed.
I noticed that black ceilings are common in Tomb Raider. Most of the time, Lara is, well, raiding a tomb, so the lack of light makes sense, and the t-rex fight could have happened at night.
It's weirdly suitable for the PS1 Armored Core. I mean, the scale of buildings that let a ~10m tall mech just fall for seconds and seconds at a time seriously makes the megastructures feel like... liminal massiveness.
There was a theory many moons ago about that gate in Rusty Bucket Bay. The asset is reused in Banjo Tooie just outside the Grunty Industries building, so people thought that it would open with Stop N' Swop and you could travel between the two pollution themed worlds. That obviously didn't eventuate, but it still makes the "BANJO IS VISITING RUSTY BUCKET BAY" thing ring a little more true, especially when you learn that Banjo Tooie's worlds are all physical places on an island viewable from Cloud Cuckoo Land.
The Mad Monster Mansion skybox viewed from the top of the church makes me feel a way I can't even articulate. The foggy, yellow moon. The cemetery. That feeling of haunting mystery. But then again, I grew up with a mom that loves Tim Burton and Halloween, so that kind of aesthetic is very emotionally resonant with me.
Really sent me galaxy braining with your description of the levels as "diorama-like." The game is already so postmodern (lots of references to cliches and expectations of structure and narrative and character, direct references in-dialogue to the actual mechanics of the game [hints of the way more hyper self-aware Conker's Bad Fur Day?]) so it makes sense to think of all of it, its settings, its characters, its collectibles especially, as abstractions. You're collecting the literal constitutive parts of the levels you're going to "put together" like a puzzle and then gain access to. What a weird game. What a weird company!
It's kind of subtle but the way Mad Monster Mansion's pale yellow moonlight fades into dark blue on its way towards black is a really beautiful gradient to me. The deep darkness of the moon's seas and the "noisiness" of the clouds (as in, the stark contrast between light and dark areas) also give the sky a kind of haunting quality, especially with the cognitive dissonance of the clouds passing behind the moon. The halloween level standard creepy trees also add a lot of visual noise, maybe they push it over the top for somebody who isn't as much of a goth freak as me, but I love this skybox because it has such an edge to it. Most of the skyboxes in this game shoot for simple beauty and the rough edges like ugly-ass clouds are what give them character, but MMM is all rough edges and uncanniness with just a little bit of whimsy shining through. Like a good horror movie!
12:42 Click Clock Wood has those big trees along the skybox. Those trees actually look like they are the same species than the big tree Banjo is climbing. This implies that it isn't a level contained in itself like the others, it is part of a forest. Banjo is visiting Click Clock Wood
plus in the spring (or summer, maybe both?) you can see a vast sea of tree leaves when you get high enough. it's definitely in the middle of a deep wood that banjo is indeed visiting.
I absolutely adore this channel, your humor, and the love you have for these older games and niche categories! Super soothing and fun after a long day. Keep up the amazing work!
Again dk64... underappreciated for this stuff. That game took atmosphere and stuff like this that's already good in Banjo and just amplified it even more. You can like smell and feel how humid the places are in that game it's that good.
I've also been requesting it in all these videos. It's definitely more of a wall box though. The sky always either ascends up into fogginess or just extends forever in a color gradient. The only thing actually in the sky that I know of is the moon in Creepy Castle and I think also in Fungi Forest.
Totally right, you really can feel a different humidity in different areas of that game. I wonder if it's just the way the game renders things in the distance, and the tropical island vibe contrasted by the icy and dingy water worlds of crystal caves and gloomy galleon. There really is a different air to most all of those levels.
So a literary reason for starting in the green field areas is actually tied to the origin of the 'farm boy' trope which is a subsection of the Hero's Journey. You are presented with a nice, pleasant, safe space that is uncorrupted and easily identifiable as calm and homely and as the game or media progresses the environments become increasingly hostile and alien. By introducing us to a game in the green, pleasant spaces, to use your own example, Twilight Princess, the game allows us to bond with the 'home' of the characters and become accustomed briefly to the peace and status-quo of life for these characters. By making these environments increasingly alien we make the player long for a return to home in their subconscious, which is why often starting areas like Ordon Villiage or Besaid Island or Green Hill Zone feel so nostalgic. Hope that helps.
I’ve never even thought about this but I have almost no idea what a sunrise even looks like. How are y’all up at 6 am and happy about it lmao. The few I can even think of are mornings I was up all night
@@monhi64 i don't really do it as much anymore but when i was a child on summer break i would try to wake up as often as possible to watch the sunrise. it made me so happy to just sit outside in my patio nearly every morning and feel peace.
You nailed it when you pointed out that the lack of a skybox, especially in bubblegloop swamp, gives the impression that Banjo is exploring a diorama in the castle rather than visiting other worlds. I'm not sure how intentional this was by the devs, but it really does leave a massively different impression than other 3D platformers, even just subconsciously
That's a great point about Rusty Bucket Bay since it always felt more real than many of the other levels. I hope you do Banjo-Tooie someday since I've been obsessed with the skybox in Grunty Industries since I was a child for a very similar reason.
The lobby of Mad Monster Mansion out in Gruntilda's Lair features a very nice, slowly rotating skybox. I spent a long time watching the moon along its path.
When he said there was one more skybox at the end of the video that's instantly what I thought of because I loved that it was just one random exit to Gruntilda's lair that was suddenly a spooky graveyard at nighttime while it's daytime in the spiral mountain exit to Gruntilda's lair
2:05 it's because it makes the player feel secure during tutorial areas, blue skies and green pastures in theory feel familiar, therefore calming and safe to a lot of people
The fall skybox for click-clock-wood made me feel the same way you did with frosty peak. the combination of the trees and orange sky that reminds me of a setting sun, and just how tall up you could get just did it for me. it felt like a long stretch of deep forest for kid me back in like, 2003 or so. glad u mentioned the moon in the castle at the entrance to mad monster mansion. i cant ever seem to find it when i searched way back when, but i was always told (by my older sister) that if you stared at the moon long enough it would chase you through the castle. it gave me a weird sense of wonder mixed with fear. this whole video was so nice, it reminded me of a lot of fun times i had as a kid playing games with my sisters. we'd always take turns playing and watching each other, handing the controller off if we died or got stuck somewhere. Thank you for this. :)
Once again your unique approach to gaming has created entertainment where no one thought it would be. I can't remember the last time I truly paid attention to the theming of a game
I love the unique way you interpret details, even after playing this game since i was a kid i never realized the way a Skybox can change an atmosphere, it would be cool if you did Banjo-Tooie as well!
These sky box videos always help me fall asleep. Also I've got to say I've been listening to your one song "Nobody noticed" on repeat since I heard it in your unemployment rate video for majora's mask.
You unintentionally made me realize that in all my days I have never seen a games skybox have a moon during the day (except games set on other planets who might have all sorts of sky oddities like planets/moons) It’s super common in real life but we all just kind of ignore it cuz it’s harder to see and doesn’t really fit the vibe. If anyone knows a game set on earth that has a realistic moon in the sky mid day lmk because now I’m curious (AWW man Austin liked my comment but it made me see a grammar mistake that I edited and now it’s gone 😂😭 I can see why it does that though, I’ve learned my lesson)
@@any_austin the word liminal comes from Latin, the word that means "threshold." But that's not quite what it is, it reminds me of a feeling you've described in another video about some places (like the weird little land nub at the mouth of the river in Hyrule Field for OoT) only existing in games as a function of other places existing, like an emergent space. Castlevania 64 feels like that pretty much start to finish.
old games are comforting because they're unchanging worlds that aren't affected by time. places that you can completely know everything about and come back to and they'll still be the same thing that they were. skyboxes are such passive pleasant depictions of atmosphere that can't be changed or interacted with. comforting / cool pastoral representations of the vibe of a level at its most fundamental
12:22 - 13:33 The autumn skybox truly inspired me when I was a kid. I had only seen it out of curiosity once from a friend's N64 and Banjo Kazooie game, which I had not seen again until over a decade later. Fermented aged within me like wine it has since given me a fond appreciation for my favourite season. And here I thought I was the only one who'd appreciated its beauty.
I LOVE the skyboxes of old N64 games like this. It has a unique charm to it that I don’t quite get from many of the ways skys are portrayed in new games
oh i love how you talk about how the levels feel a bit like a play! i totally agree, gruntilda's lair especially feels like that. clouds painted on the walls of treasure trove cove lol
I remember as a kid being deeply impacted by the skyboxes in the first two Spyro games. It felt like every level had its own unique sky. It would be fun to hear your take on it someday.
i feel the exact same way about most banjo kazooie levels seeming like they are artificial sets made by gruntilda, and i'm obsessed with that feeling! that sort of weird, almost real but not quite sensation. but i had no idea that this was because of the skyboxes but now that you've pointed it out it all makes so much sense, what an incredible revelation! amazing video as always austin, i absolutely love this series and the unremarkable places and unemployment surveys as well
You just made me realize that Freezeezy Peak makes no logical sense; if it’s such a crystal clear night, then where exactly is all the falling snow falling from?
As someone from Alaska let me explain. Snow in and of itself doesn't have to come for clouds like rain does. Instead it can be blown around or still be "falling" even if there isn't a snow storm. However the snow is falling pretty straight down so consider me stumped.
I always felt like Bubblegloop Swamp *did* feel outside, but it felt like it was like such a deep swamp covered in so many huge foreboding trees and vines that the sky isn't even visible and shrouds it in darkness. Also, seeing you doing Banjo content really brings me back to like 2015 (maybe earlier?) when I remember you let's playing it with your friend
I only discovered your channel yesterday, but I love it. You excel at making the inconsequential interesting, whether you want to or not. It’s definitely special!
To answer your inquiry at 1:50, there's a name and explanation for what you're talking about on Tvtropes called the Sorting Algorithm of Threatening Geography.
If I had this game as a kid, I would have spent years trying to glitch past that big door in Rusty Bucket Bay, thinking I could explore the whole planet. I basically thought games were other dimensions.
The Donkey Kong Country series would be great for this (especially DK2 and 3). Not proper skyboxes since it's 2D, but the backgrounds are full of detail and intrigue
I loved that little reminder that we are discussing a childrens video game from 25 years ago when you were getting all poetic about the Freezeezeey Peak skybox. It's incredible how passionate the fans are for Banjo, even decades later when we are all in our 20's and 30's.
Thanks for the eye candy on the 14:20 minute marker Austin. Yes, you're certainly correct! There is a profound dichotomy of a (not so?) very divine fall from grace as Banjo & Kazooie visit the sick, ailing & imprisoned creatures beyond Gruntilda's castle. I vote for Rusty Bucket Bay. Best way to destroy the 4th wall of any theatrical sky box I'd to visit the & interact with us, the die-hard gamers. We relish the prospect of talking to the audience for improv. The gate to Earth opens that convo with the greater world though a connected sky. Great work with the Disney censorship on the naughty words BTW:-) 😄 I was ROFLMAO in all the right ways with this script.
The fact that you cried at the skybox as a little kid made me laugh so hard, because it's so damn relatable. When I was a little girl that one island you couldn't travel to at the top of Super Mario World made me cry so hard because I thought it was lonely. I was 4
Banjo-Kazooie really did have that sense of "attitude" without being too edgy, rude, or zany. It was the perfect balance. Really felt like the devs didn't want to insult me, the player. Anyway, yeah. RBB is a vibe and a half. It almost feels more like something from GoldenEye than a game like Banjo-Kazooie, and I love that about it.
I’m so glad you’re still making videos Austin! It’s crazy I’ve been watching since I was like 11 or 12. I’ve always loved the weird sort of philosophical tangents you would go on in eggbusters episodes and I feel your latest content channels that vibe a lot. Also thanks for putting me on to that spacey orb game exo one because I play it all the time when I’m tryna chill and vibe out
I remember when someone got a banshee out of bounds in the Halo 3 Beta and discovered that the sky actually changes appearance with your elevation, almost like you're ascending through the atmosphere into space.
You should do Nuts and Bolts! I loved that game growing up, and there's so many strange corners of the map I would sit and feel like I'm in my own little world, quiet, relaxed.... Expecially the hub world. Seeing the buildings in the distance, wondering what they were... Such a good atmospheric game... But lots of people hated it...
I am so happy I found this channel man. I'm in my mid thirties now and you literally put into words the way my brain thinks and feels towards these liminal types of environments and it's so cool to see it vocalized.
something you didn't mention is how the outer geometry fades seamlessly into the skybox, a thing i've never seen from another N64 game. notice the outermost hills of spiral mountain. even when the ceiling is pure black, the walls fade into the black in a natural-feeling way
It took me until now to realise that the moon actually shines light on the clouds in Mad Monster Mansion. Also, Mumbo's Mountain's skybox always made me feel uncomfortable because you could see the endless green plains that surround the level.
The skybox in the desert stage is a prerendered image. They basically model a 3D scene, then render it to an image file and then downscale the hell out of it. Same way of doing many of the textures in the game. Also, the entirety of the graphics in the DKC trilogy.
Great video! Two points that I'm kinda surprised you didn't mention though: 1) I totally agree that RBB gives you a sense of "connectedness" with the outside world via its skybox and door. You mentioned the maps you can find inside the ship, but the one on the wall is actually a map of Treasure Trove Cove if you look closely. So I think that also lends a sense of connection to that level as well, a la Mario Sunshine and its connected levels. 2) There is another skybox outside the entrance to Mad Monster Mansion within the graveyard section of Gruntilda's Lair. It is noticeably different (and IMO better) than the one inside MMM. There is a big moon texture with eerie clouds around it that scrolls across the skybox, and when you pay attention it becomes very obvious that it is in fact a big scrolling "sheet" of a texture which gives it this really weird vibe. Would definitely recommend checking that out.
I didn't expect to sit through a 15 minute video on Banjo Kazooie skyboxes yet... Rusty Bucket Bay actually holds up really well compared to a lot of locations. The skybox DOES help a lot in bringing the atmosphere together, since it all feels like it's lit with the same ambience. It also reminds me a bit of the skybox in MGS2 when you're at the bottom of Big Shell helping emma cross the struts. Very scenic. You know what old game has fantastic skyboxes? Morrowind. Just gorgeous skies.
Most of the “starter levels being mellow and green grass blue skies” is because difficulty often scaled with terrain/environment dangers. Desert levels are level 2, lava in 3, frozen in 4, that sorta thing. More danger in each area, the underwater level is always hard, that sorta stuff
It is kind of amazing how they can make Rusty bucket Bay look so dirty with with such low resolution textures. A particular favorite of mine always was the slight rainbow tint the water has.
I had a dream as a kid that was really memorable for it’s dark, cold, distant yet somehow cozy vibe, like I was high up on this snowy ridge at night looking down at lit houses far away, and now I’m thinking it was probably Freezeezy Peak that my mind was pulling from
9:08 Shows how different feelings people can have of the same thing. I absolutely love Halloween, or at least the vibe around that time. It's about being a kid again, joining in on spooky things and just having fun. Somehow, it always makes me forget about adult life for a moment. Probably my second favourite skybox after Freezeezy Peak. 11:13 And tbf, that's just British humour lol 13:47 Not that good? It's amazing for the time. Not everything is about subtle gradients. Some of the dark and cool-looking ones are just as good. When I saw the title "The Mindblowing Skyboxes of Banjo Kazooie," I thought they would get more praise, but instead, it's mostly just two or three of them that get a lot of praise.
Austin: Explains the sleeping perception within us of how we all view our lives, and how we've subtley been influenced since childhood in ways that we couldn't even possibly imagine that no one else on the internet has ever come close to explaining. Austin: "But I don't know anything, I'm just some guy who likes vibes"
awesome video! i love these kinds of videos about game atmosphere and that kind of thing. i think treasure trove cove feels slightly more ''real'' than some of the other worlds due to the fact that it could just be an island in the middle of the ocean, the only thing holding it back is the invisible wall making it feel more enclosed
That is really interesting about the sun in Jolly Roger Bay. However, I gotta dock it some points because they forgot to put a pair of sunglasses and a little smirk on it. I'm sure it was just a matter of time limitations, but those are the kind of details that really give a game its polish.
5:52 when i played this as a kid I always felt like that was intentional. as if it was all out of a storybook. It feels like an environment a kid would create, like in a shoebox or with legos.
Starting off with a blue sky gives you a starting point and subliminal "goal" to work your way back toward. As things get more dangerous and enemies get tougher, you yearn for Level 1-1 where things were sunny and bright.
I think the opening levels are based on the hero's journey starting as a farmer in a field, simple, happy, status quo, ya know. Following that quickly with sonics green Hill zone. It's a classic for a reason. People have emulated this forever. Thank god they didn't follow the chemical zone straight after. Also banjo was one of the first times I saw sunflare in a game. Amazing. Loved this game
Interesting video. I enjoyed the whole thing in its entirety. The detail, humor, information lovingly put into the game and this analysis of the skyboxes. It makes you think and appreciate just how much love Rare puts into their games. But most importantly, i learned that Banjo is visiting Rusty Bucket Bay.
It's nice to take a break from true crime and drama videos to just look at the sky, even if that's just looking back at a nostalgic, digital sky. Thanks.
That thread of depression and sadness and abuse that re-occur throughout the game isn’t actually any of those things its just the game developers coming from England
Wow. I've been playing this game since I was 12 when it came out. I never thought to even think to look at the sky and about how the worlds are like a mureal or vinette themed. This has always been one of my favorite games ever! I love your channel and content man - coming from a pretty new subscriber.
So the mention not only of 'England' but of 'Twycross, England' made me curious, so after a little googling it turns out that Rare were based in Twycross, which makes it a really adorable easter egg as well as revelational as to the fact that Banjo visited Rusty Bucket Bay, caught a ride on a derelict ship back to Twycross, and told the devs at Rare about his various trials and tribulations and demanded that his life's works were recorded, that they may be known
I cannot tell you how much I felt the whole thing about the Freezeezy skybox. For me I think it would have to be one of the hub worlds in Spyro 2. Summer forest, autumn plains, and winter tundra gave me such intense feelings for some reason
When you got to Click Clock Wood, I was like, "Wait, what about that mini hub area in between the four doors?" only for you to sneak it in at the very end.
B A N J O
is V I S I T I N G
R U S T Y B U C K E T B A Y
Don’t hate me for trying new titles and thumbnails it’s the same content I just want more people to see it.
www.patreon.com/any_austin
Hell yeah do whatever works and gets more views man, I love all your content regardless of titles.
Hi Auston
the map in the captain's quarters of RBB is of treasure trove cove
@@pirate4460 oh dang this throws a real spanner in the works
Honestly? It worked on me.
"Banjo has an obsession with decay and suffering" I don't think that's deliberate commentary though, I think that's just what living in Britain is like
100%
Im always surprised that people outside of the UK don’t realise how British them games are, and the rest of rare’s catalogue.
The fuck you talking about?@@darudesandstrom1067
That's all I could think of throughout this video, especially when I saw Spiral Mountain's skybox. "Of course you can't see the sun."
(Well, that, and "Why the feck does he have those things in his hair")
That's exactly what living in Britain is like.
For 24 years I thought that Bubblegloop Swamp felt like it was in doors and you finally made me realize why I feel that way. Thank you
It reminds me of one of those themed indoor mini golf places.
Also the entrance is in a building
I’ve always felt that way too but couldn’t say why omg
It's like the sound stages they filmed the swamp sections of Empire Strikes Back in.
Not only did i too think this was the case for about 20 years, i didnt even _knew_ that i knew it! Such a weird and amazing shared feeling
Guys this is absolutely mindblowing. I think banjo is visiting rusty bucket bay
Almost as crazy as "it floats down"
@@FumblingBoolI just got it !!! i loled preety hard
I don't think you fully grasp the gravity of the situation.. Banjo.. is VISITING Rusty Bucket Bay.
Think about that for a minute.
Trevor is VISITING Los Santos.
I mean- Banjo is VISITING Rusty Bucket Bay
I think the “black fading ceiling” skybox (or lack thereof), makes us feel like the area we’re in extends so far up that we can’t see the surface.
Like a tall tower or the trees surrounding us are so tall that the forest/swamp is swallowing us. We naturally look for openings in our surroundings and when we can’t find one it makes us feel claustrophobic and enclosed.
This is also a good perspective on it
The blackness just looks like a black ceiling, can't unsee.
I always interpreted it as either nighttime or just such dense foliage above that light doesn't penetrate through
I noticed that black ceilings are common in Tomb Raider. Most of the time, Lara is, well, raiding a tomb, so the lack of light makes sense, and the t-rex fight could have happened at night.
It's weirdly suitable for the PS1 Armored Core. I mean, the scale of buildings that let a ~10m tall mech just fall for seconds and seconds at a time seriously makes the megastructures feel like... liminal massiveness.
There was a theory many moons ago about that gate in Rusty Bucket Bay. The asset is reused in Banjo Tooie just outside the Grunty Industries building, so people thought that it would open with Stop N' Swop and you could travel between the two pollution themed worlds.
That obviously didn't eventuate, but it still makes the "BANJO IS VISITING RUSTY BUCKET BAY" thing ring a little more true, especially when you learn that Banjo Tooie's worlds are all physical places on an island viewable from Cloud Cuckoo Land.
The Mad Monster Mansion skybox viewed from the top of the church makes me feel a way I can't even articulate. The foggy, yellow moon. The cemetery. That feeling of haunting mystery.
But then again, I grew up with a mom that loves Tim Burton and Halloween, so that kind of aesthetic is very emotionally resonant with me.
Always fascinating to see how our life experiences shape our perspective on things
Really sent me galaxy braining with your description of the levels as "diorama-like." The game is already so postmodern (lots of references to cliches and expectations of structure and narrative and character, direct references in-dialogue to the actual mechanics of the game [hints of the way more hyper self-aware Conker's Bad Fur Day?]) so it makes sense to think of all of it, its settings, its characters, its collectibles especially, as abstractions. You're collecting the literal constitutive parts of the levels you're going to "put together" like a puzzle and then gain access to. What a weird game. What a weird company!
It's kind of subtle but the way Mad Monster Mansion's pale yellow moonlight fades into dark blue on its way towards black is a really beautiful gradient to me. The deep darkness of the moon's seas and the "noisiness" of the clouds (as in, the stark contrast between light and dark areas) also give the sky a kind of haunting quality, especially with the cognitive dissonance of the clouds passing behind the moon. The halloween level standard creepy trees also add a lot of visual noise, maybe they push it over the top for somebody who isn't as much of a goth freak as me, but I love this skybox because it has such an edge to it.
Most of the skyboxes in this game shoot for simple beauty and the rough edges like ugly-ass clouds are what give them character, but MMM is all rough edges and uncanniness with just a little bit of whimsy shining through. Like a good horror movie!
This is poetry. Perfect description.
@@ZiggyPalffyLA i disagree
12:42 Click Clock Wood has those big trees along the skybox. Those trees actually look like they are the same species than the big tree Banjo is climbing. This implies that it isn't a level contained in itself like the others, it is part of a forest. Banjo is visiting Click Clock Wood
plus in the spring (or summer, maybe both?) you can see a vast sea of tree leaves when you get high enough. it's definitely in the middle of a deep wood that banjo is indeed visiting.
I absolutely adore this channel, your humor, and the love you have for these older games and niche categories! Super soothing and fun after a long day. Keep up the amazing work!
Again dk64... underappreciated for this stuff. That game took atmosphere and stuff like this that's already good in Banjo and just amplified it even more. You can like smell and feel how humid the places are in that game it's that good.
I've also been requesting it in all these videos. It's definitely more of a wall box though. The sky always either ascends up into fogginess or just extends forever in a color gradient. The only thing actually in the sky that I know of is the moon in Creepy Castle and I think also in Fungi Forest.
Totally right, you really can feel a different humidity in different areas of that game. I wonder if it's just the way the game renders things in the distance, and the tropical island vibe contrasted by the icy and dingy water worlds of crystal caves and gloomy galleon. There really is a different air to most all of those levels.
So a literary reason for starting in the green field areas is actually tied to the origin of the 'farm boy' trope which is a subsection of the Hero's Journey. You are presented with a nice, pleasant, safe space that is uncorrupted and easily identifiable as calm and homely and as the game or media progresses the environments become increasingly hostile and alien. By introducing us to a game in the green, pleasant spaces, to use your own example, Twilight Princess, the game allows us to bond with the 'home' of the characters and become accustomed briefly to the peace and status-quo of life for these characters. By making these environments increasingly alien we make the player long for a return to home in their subconscious, which is why often starting areas like Ordon Villiage or Besaid Island or Green Hill Zone feel so nostalgic.
Hope that helps.
4:05 Austin's dry delivery on these kinds of jokes never fails to put me in stiches. Reminds me a lot of flight of the Conchords
I was looking for smn else who appreciated this joke lmao
@@Junebilation7900 the only piece of advice I can give to any young man is that you have to be careful with your jizz.
I didnt even realize this was a joke, it completely flew over my head.
Now I'm also in stitches
An excellent man once said "Every episode is someone's first episode", I dare say you've stayed true to that to till this day.
so happy to see someone else who prefers sunrises to sunsets. the pale blues and yellows give me such a happiness i can't describe very well
I’ve never even thought about this but I have almost no idea what a sunrise even looks like. How are y’all up at 6 am and happy about it lmao. The few I can even think of are mornings I was up all night
@@monhi64 i don't really do it as much anymore but when i was a child on summer break i would try to wake up as often as possible to watch the sunrise. it made me so happy to just sit outside in my patio nearly every morning and feel peace.
You nailed it when you pointed out that the lack of a skybox, especially in bubblegloop swamp, gives the impression that Banjo is exploring a diorama in the castle rather than visiting other worlds. I'm not sure how intentional this was by the devs, but it really does leave a massively different impression than other 3D platformers, even just subconsciously
10:15 Not just England, but Twycross, England, a small village where most of the early Rare games were developed (in barns) :)
That's a great point about Rusty Bucket Bay since it always felt more real than many of the other levels. I hope you do Banjo-Tooie someday since I've been obsessed with the skybox in Grunty Industries since I was a child for a very similar reason.
The lobby of Mad Monster Mansion out in Gruntilda's Lair features a very nice, slowly rotating skybox. I spent a long time watching the moon along its path.
When he said there was one more skybox at the end of the video that's instantly what I thought of because I loved that it was just one random exit to Gruntilda's lair that was suddenly a spooky graveyard at nighttime while it's daytime in the spiral mountain exit to Gruntilda's lair
You make mundanity entertaining. I love this channel.
Same
This is the channel.
2:05 it's because it makes the player feel secure during tutorial areas, blue skies and green pastures in theory feel familiar, therefore calming and safe to a lot of people
*first eight seconds in * I've never had such a strong emotional connection with what someone has said before
The fall skybox for click-clock-wood made me feel the same way you did with frosty peak. the combination of the trees and orange sky that reminds me of a setting sun, and just how tall up you could get just did it for me. it felt like a long stretch of deep forest for kid me back in like, 2003 or so.
glad u mentioned the moon in the castle at the entrance to mad monster mansion. i cant ever seem to find it when i searched way back when, but i was always told (by my older sister) that if you stared at the moon long enough it would chase you through the castle. it gave me a weird sense of wonder mixed with fear.
this whole video was so nice, it reminded me of a lot of fun times i had as a kid playing games with my sisters. we'd always take turns playing and watching each other, handing the controller off if we died or got stuck somewhere. Thank you for this. :)
Once again your unique approach to gaming has created entertainment where no one thought it would be. I can't remember the last time I truly paid attention to the theming of a game
I love the unique way you interpret details, even after playing this game since i was a kid i never realized the way a Skybox can change an atmosphere, it would be cool if you did Banjo-Tooie as well!
These sky box videos always help me fall asleep. Also I've got to say I've been listening to your one song "Nobody noticed" on repeat since I heard it in your unemployment rate video for majora's mask.
The skybox videos are very intentionally made to be fallen asleep to. Thank you very much.
Austin needs an appreciation month.
You unintentionally made me realize that in all my days I have never seen a games skybox have a moon during the day (except games set on other planets who might have all sorts of sky oddities like planets/moons) It’s super common in real life but we all just kind of ignore it cuz it’s harder to see and doesn’t really fit the vibe. If anyone knows a game set on earth that has a realistic moon in the sky mid day lmk because now I’m curious
(AWW man Austin liked my comment but it made me see a grammar mistake that I edited and now it’s gone 😂😭 I can see why it does that though, I’ve learned my lesson)
Talk about Castlevania 64, the whole game feels like an accidental interliminal space.
interliminal is such a crazy word to make up I love it
@@any_austin the word liminal comes from Latin, the word that means "threshold." But that's not quite what it is, it reminds me of a feeling you've described in another video about some places (like the weird little land nub at the mouth of the river in Hyrule Field for OoT) only existing in games as a function of other places existing, like an emergent space. Castlevania 64 feels like that pretty much start to finish.
10:13 Fun fact, Twycross in England is where Rare's headquarters is located.
old games are comforting because they're unchanging worlds that aren't affected by time. places that you can completely know everything about and come back to and they'll still be the same thing that they were. skyboxes are such passive pleasant depictions of atmosphere that can't be changed or interacted with. comforting / cool pastoral representations of the vibe of a level at its most fundamental
Picturing you weeping while the freezeezy peak music plays is hilarious
12:22 - 13:33 The autumn skybox truly inspired me when I was a kid. I had only seen it out of curiosity once from a friend's N64 and Banjo Kazooie game, which I had not seen again until over a decade later. Fermented aged within me like wine it has since given me a fond appreciation for my favourite season.
And here I thought I was the only one who'd appreciated its beauty.
I LOVE the skyboxes of old N64 games like this. It has a unique charm to it that I don’t quite get from many of the ways skys are portrayed in new games
oh i love how you talk about how the levels feel a bit like a play! i totally agree, gruntilda's lair especially feels like that. clouds painted on the walls of treasure trove cove lol
I always thought it was interesting in FFXII how the first area outside the first city was a desert and not "grassy plains".
I remember as a kid being deeply impacted by the skyboxes in the first two Spyro games. It felt like every level had its own unique sky. It would be fun to hear your take on it someday.
i feel the exact same way about most banjo kazooie levels seeming like they are artificial sets made by gruntilda, and i'm obsessed with that feeling! that sort of weird, almost real but not quite sensation. but i had no idea that this was because of the skyboxes but now that you've pointed it out it all makes so much sense, what an incredible revelation! amazing video as always austin, i absolutely love this series and the unremarkable places and unemployment surveys as well
At 15:00 “you can fall asleep to them they’re really good for that” I legit felt that cause that’s what I’m doing 😂
You just made me realize that Freezeezy Peak makes no logical sense; if it’s such a crystal clear night, then where exactly is all the falling snow falling from?
As someone from Alaska let me explain. Snow in and of itself doesn't have to come for clouds like rain does. Instead it can be blown around or still be "falling" even if there isn't a snow storm. However the snow is falling pretty straight down so consider me stumped.
It's actually the snowman's dandruff.
😂
Yes! I've been waiting so long for an episode on Banjo! I hope you consider doing the Sonic Adventure games soon!
There's alot to look out for in them, specially SA 1.
9:55 Mad Monster Mansion also has a gate like that. When you first spawn into the level, turn around!
I always felt like Bubblegloop Swamp *did* feel outside, but it felt like it was like such a deep swamp covered in so many huge foreboding trees and vines that the sky isn't even visible and shrouds it in darkness.
Also, seeing you doing Banjo content really brings me back to like 2015 (maybe earlier?) when I remember you let's playing it with your friend
I only discovered your channel yesterday, but I love it. You excel at making the inconsequential interesting, whether you want to or not.
It’s definitely special!
To answer your inquiry at 1:50, there's a name and explanation for what you're talking about on Tvtropes called the Sorting Algorithm of Threatening Geography.
Idk why but watching these vids and listening to your commentary makes me forget about life for just the moment and it’s such a nice feeling tbh
Freezeey Peak is one of the few levels in videogames where the skybox elevates it, and just in time for the holidays!
If I had this game as a kid, I would have spent years trying to glitch past that big door in Rusty Bucket Bay, thinking I could explore the whole planet. I basically thought games were other dimensions.
The skybox of the swamp level in Spyro A Hero's Tail is one of the most beautiful sky boxes I remember seeing while growing up. 🥺
The Donkey Kong Country series would be great for this (especially DK2 and 3). Not proper skyboxes since it's 2D, but the backgrounds are full of detail and intrigue
At 1:24 I hear Spirit by Ghost for less then one second. Great video!
1:17 Shoutouts to Super Mario Odyssey for being brave enough to scare us with the moon right away (and then do the blue skies after)
You have a beautiful soul
Some would call your childhood feeling looking at the Freezeezy Peak skybox a "peak experience"
I've been waiting for this! Thank you. Goby's Valley, Mad Monster Mansion, and Freezeezy Peak were my favourites when I was a kid.
I loved that little reminder that we are discussing a childrens video game from 25 years ago when you were getting all poetic about the Freezeezeey Peak skybox.
It's incredible how passionate the fans are for Banjo, even decades later when we are all in our 20's and 30's.
the Grunty boss battle skybox is the aesthetic culmination of western civilization
Thanks for the eye candy on the 14:20 minute marker Austin.
Yes, you're certainly correct! There is a profound dichotomy of a (not so?) very divine fall from grace as Banjo & Kazooie visit the sick, ailing & imprisoned creatures beyond Gruntilda's castle.
I vote for Rusty Bucket Bay. Best way to destroy the 4th wall of any theatrical sky box I'd to visit the & interact with us, the die-hard gamers.
We relish the prospect of talking to the audience for improv. The gate to Earth opens that convo with the greater world though a connected sky.
Great work with the Disney censorship on the naughty words BTW:-)
😄
I was ROFLMAO in all the right ways with this script.
The fact that you cried at the skybox as a little kid made me laugh so hard, because it's so damn relatable. When I was a little girl that one island you couldn't travel to at the top of Super Mario World made me cry so hard because I thought it was lonely. I was 4
10:13 Rusty Bucket Bay is explicitly located in Twycross, which is really friggin' cool.
Banjo-Kazooie really did have that sense of "attitude" without being too edgy, rude, or zany. It was the perfect balance. Really felt like the devs didn't want to insult me, the player.
Anyway, yeah. RBB is a vibe and a half. It almost feels more like something from GoldenEye than a game like Banjo-Kazooie, and I love that about it.
"people are constantly bickering and calling each other fat" tbf, that is literally just the uk
I’m so glad you’re still making videos Austin! It’s crazy I’ve been watching since I was like 11 or 12. I’ve always loved the weird sort of philosophical tangents you would go on in eggbusters episodes and I feel your latest content channels that vibe a lot. Also thanks for putting me on to that spacey orb game exo one because I play it all the time when I’m tryna chill and vibe out
I remember when someone got a banshee out of bounds in the Halo 3 Beta and discovered that the sky actually changes appearance with your elevation, almost like you're ascending through the atmosphere into space.
You should do Nuts and Bolts! I loved that game growing up, and there's so many strange corners of the map I would sit and feel like I'm in my own little world, quiet, relaxed.... Expecially the hub world. Seeing the buildings in the distance, wondering what they were... Such a good atmospheric game... But lots of people hated it...
I am so happy I found this channel man. I'm in my mid thirties now and you literally put into words the way my brain thinks and feels towards these liminal types of environments and it's so cool to see it vocalized.
something you didn't mention is how the outer geometry fades seamlessly into the skybox, a thing i've never seen from another N64 game. notice the outermost hills of spiral mountain. even when the ceiling is pure black, the walls fade into the black in a natural-feeling way
It took me until now to realise that the moon actually shines light on the clouds in Mad Monster Mansion.
Also, Mumbo's Mountain's skybox always made me feel uncomfortable because you could see the endless green plains that surround the level.
The skybox in the desert stage is a prerendered image. They basically model a 3D scene, then render it to an image file and then downscale the hell out of it. Same way of doing many of the textures in the game. Also, the entirety of the graphics in the DKC trilogy.
your rusty bucket bay rant was my childhood
and then came tooie validating
Great video! Two points that I'm kinda surprised you didn't mention though:
1) I totally agree that RBB gives you a sense of "connectedness" with the outside world via its skybox and door. You mentioned the maps you can find inside the ship, but the one on the wall is actually a map of Treasure Trove Cove if you look closely. So I think that also lends a sense of connection to that level as well, a la Mario Sunshine and its connected levels.
2) There is another skybox outside the entrance to Mad Monster Mansion within the graveyard section of Gruntilda's Lair. It is noticeably different (and IMO better) than the one inside MMM. There is a big moon texture with eerie clouds around it that scrolls across the skybox, and when you pay attention it becomes very obvious that it is in fact a big scrolling "sheet" of a texture which gives it this really weird vibe. Would definitely recommend checking that out.
I didn't expect to sit through a 15 minute video on Banjo Kazooie skyboxes yet...
Rusty Bucket Bay actually holds up really well compared to a lot of locations. The skybox DOES help a lot in bringing the atmosphere together, since it all feels like it's lit with the same ambience.
It also reminds me a bit of the skybox in MGS2 when you're at the bottom of Big Shell helping emma cross the struts. Very scenic.
You know what old game has fantastic skyboxes? Morrowind. Just gorgeous skies.
Most of the “starter levels being mellow and green grass blue skies” is because difficulty often scaled with terrain/environment dangers. Desert levels are level 2, lava in 3, frozen in 4, that sorta thing. More danger in each area, the underwater level is always hard, that sorta stuff
It is kind of amazing how they can make Rusty bucket Bay look so dirty with with such low resolution textures.
A particular favorite of mine always was the slight rainbow tint the water has.
I had a dream as a kid that was really memorable for it’s dark, cold, distant yet somehow cozy vibe, like I was high up on this snowy ridge at night looking down at lit houses far away, and now I’m thinking it was probably Freezeezy Peak that my mind was pulling from
9:08 Shows how different feelings people can have of the same thing. I absolutely love Halloween, or at least the vibe around that time. It's about being a kid again, joining in on spooky things and just having fun. Somehow, it always makes me forget about adult life for a moment. Probably my second favourite skybox after Freezeezy Peak.
11:13 And tbf, that's just British humour lol
13:47 Not that good? It's amazing for the time. Not everything is about subtle gradients. Some of the dark and cool-looking ones are just as good. When I saw the title "The Mindblowing Skyboxes of Banjo Kazooie," I thought they would get more praise, but instead, it's mostly just two or three of them that get a lot of praise.
"Those *banjo guhuh noise" clouds" had me
3:43-3:54 I've never noticed the lack of a sun in a skybox before but now that you pointed it out my mind is blown. That empty blue sky hits way dif
Austin: Explains the sleeping perception within us of how we all view our lives, and how we've subtley been influenced since childhood in ways that we couldn't even possibly imagine that no one else on the internet has ever come close to explaining.
Austin: "But I don't know anything, I'm just some guy who likes vibes"
I just want to say thank you for that tangent at 11:34, I feel the exact same way about those "negative aura, supernatural video game" videos.
The part about bubblegloop swamp feeling like a warehouse makes me really want you to cover kingdom hearts bc I get similar vibes from that
I like how the moon in Freezeasy Peak and Mad Monster Mansion is different. The MMM one has like creepy man in the moon look.
awesome video! i love these kinds of videos about game atmosphere and that kind of thing. i think treasure trove cove feels slightly more ''real'' than some of the other worlds due to the fact that it could just be an island in the middle of the ocean, the only thing holding it back is the invisible wall making it feel more enclosed
i would buy a "rusty bucket bay changed my life" t-shirt
Three t shirt ideas have come to me from this video
That is really interesting about the sun in Jolly Roger Bay. However, I gotta dock it some points because they forgot to put a pair of sunglasses and a little smirk on it. I'm sure it was just a matter of time limitations, but those are the kind of details that really give a game its polish.
Does anyone else see banjo's head in the treasure trove cove clouds at like 03:09?
5:52 when i played this as a kid I always felt like that was intentional. as if it was all out of a storybook. It feels like an environment a kid would create, like in a shoebox or with legos.
Starting off with a blue sky gives you a starting point and subliminal "goal" to work your way back toward. As things get more dangerous and enemies get tougher, you yearn for Level 1-1 where things were sunny and bright.
I think the opening levels are based on the hero's journey starting as a farmer in a field, simple, happy, status quo, ya know. Following that quickly with sonics green Hill zone. It's a classic for a reason. People have emulated this forever. Thank god they didn't follow the chemical zone straight after. Also banjo was one of the first times I saw sunflare in a game. Amazing. Loved this game
There are places, far out in the desert, that are so quite, you feel like you're inside. It's ominous. You should consider exploring such places irl.
Interesting video. I enjoyed the whole thing in its entirety. The detail, humor, information lovingly put into the game and this analysis of the skyboxes. It makes you think and appreciate just how much love Rare puts into their games. But most importantly, i learned that Banjo is visiting Rusty Bucket Bay.
It's nice to take a break from true crime and drama videos to just look at the sky, even if that's just looking back at a nostalgic, digital sky. Thanks.
1:23 I perked right up from bed and shouted “HOLY SHIT, IT’S SPIRIT BY GHOST”
I will always appreciate Banjo + Kazooie content. One of the best n64 games by far. This was my childhood. *screams in ‘92*
That thread of depression and sadness and abuse that re-occur throughout the game isn’t actually any of those things its just the game developers coming from England
Recur*
Wow. I've been playing this game since I was 12 when it came out. I never thought to even think to look at the sky and about how the worlds are like a mureal or vinette themed. This has always been one of my favorite games ever! I love your channel and content man - coming from a pretty new subscriber.
So the mention not only of 'England' but of 'Twycross, England' made me curious, so after a little googling it turns out that Rare were based in Twycross, which makes it a really adorable easter egg as well as revelational as to the fact that Banjo visited Rusty Bucket Bay, caught a ride on a derelict ship back to Twycross, and told the devs at Rare about his various trials and tribulations and demanded that his life's works were recorded, that they may be known
This video is great, really explains why some of these levels have that oddly contained feel. I hope you keep making videos like these!
I cannot tell you how much I felt the whole thing about the Freezeezy skybox. For me I think it would have to be one of the hub worlds in Spyro 2. Summer forest, autumn plains, and winter tundra gave me such intense feelings for some reason
When you got to Click Clock Wood, I was like, "Wait, what about that mini hub area in between the four doors?" only for you to sneak it in at the very end.