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Did You Know?
Nintendo was the reason for the lack of Stop 'N Swop in Rare's Banjo-Kazooie...
Fans of Rare's critically-acclaimd N64 series in Banjo-Kazooie should without a doubt remember the attention surrounding one of the most mysterious in-game secrets in gaming history, Stop 'N Swop. For those of you who don't, here's a brief history lesson...
It all began at the end of the first game in the series, namely Banjo-Kazooie. The game's ending sequence did more than just close the story, it revealed scenes of Banjo and Kazooie acquiring items such as a key made of ice and a number of colourful eggs - items that players were teased with but never actually collected through the game. These scenes, along with the revelation that there would be a sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, shook the online fanbase of Rare's platformer. Game hackers from abroad tried to unlock the secrets for months.
Eventually, fans came up with the theory that Stop 'N Swop, the alledged name for the event that would unlock these secrets, involved the physical cartridges of both Banjo-Kazooie and its sequel, Banjo-Tooie. Evidently, players would trigger an event in Banjo-Kazooie, take out the cartridge from the N64 system, and insert Banjo-Tooie in order to unlock the secrets.
When Banjo-Tooie was released, fans faced an arguably underwhelming end to the Stop 'N Swop controversy. There was no direct, physical connection between Banjo-Tooie and its predecessor. Instead, a number of the secret items were randomly found in Banjo-Tooie as regular items - ones that barely did anything special. This would be the apparent and disappointing end to a huge mystery.
However, eventually game hackers finally caught on with the code of Banjo-Kazooie and unlocked the secrets themselves. It turns out that entering passwords in Banjo-Kazooie would unlock the secrets. The secrets themselves, however, did nothing special in the first game, and there was no way to transfer them to Banjo-Tooie. Neither Rare or Nintendo would ever make an official comment regarding these new findings.
The truth is, Rare had always planned to make a physical connection between Banjo-Kazooie and its successor. Nintendo, however, was not keen on the idea. Swapping cartridges while the N64 was still powered on did not fare so well with the console's design. Games were just not meant to be swapped that way, and it could possibly damage the system and/or cartidges. Nintendo could not allow for their systems and/or carts to be damaged, and halted operation on Rare's ambitious idea.
Rare still jokes and teases its fans about Stop 'N Swop to this day. In their first game since their depart from Nintendo, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, a mention of the secrets was inserted as a cameo. While ultimately the dream never came to be, the mystery behind Stop 'N Swop's unusually disappointing end was solved.
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// A mysterious character within the Banjo-Kazooie series was meant to star in his own N64 spin-off...
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// Delve into the philosophical world of gaming in this Pikmin 2 special, Buried Treasures
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