Let’s go back to 1998. The year was bustling with games that would go on to become iconic within the field. Ocarina Of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo and Half-Life strutted their stuff all over the industry, daring anyone else to try and steal a piece of their thrown. While the gunwielding hard men shied away, waiting for a quieter time to invade, it was a bird and a bear that ignored the plethora of titles and happily awaited gamers on the Nintendo 64.

Since the dawn of time Nintendo had boasted the best platformers around, meaning Banjo-Kazooie already had a tremendous amount to live up to. Amazingly, it achieved such success some even went as far as to proclaim it better than Mario 64. Such folk were wrong, but the fact there was a comparison said a lot about the quality of the game.

To celebrate the release of a new Banjo title, Microsoft and Rare got together to unleash the duo onto the world of Xbox Live Arcade. From the moment Banjo makes his stupid drawl it’s hard not to feel a nostalgic warmth as you begin to explore Spiral Mountain. If there’s one genre the 360 is short of it’s platformers, and Banjo-Kazooie is still one of the finest within it. Some of the level design is still particularly impressive and the balancing between the hardcore and the casual is especially well-handled; you can become as engrossed as you fancy, right down to collecting the ridiculous amounts of Jiggy pieces and musical notes. Rare’s signature humour is stamped all over it and it’s impossible not to be taken in by the game’s charm and personality.

However, it’s also a struggle to ignore the many control and camera issues that have become apparent in Banjo’s decade absence. The modern gaming template has come so far recently the N64’s one-control-stick designs feel dated and is certainly not as easy to use as we once thought. It also doesn’t help that the camera has the continuous potential to flip out at any given moment. When you’re desperately trying to figure out a slightly awkward section, the last thing you want and need is for your vision to be completely destroyed by a wayward camera. There’s also something to be said for this supposed upgrade. While textures are smoother, the differences between the two aren’t as great as we had hoped – the same can be said for the fluidity of proceedings. Always at risk to experience a slight hitch, it becomes a wee bit annoying as you’re traversing a particularly tight walkway before Banjo suddenly develops motion Tourette’s. Naturally, it’s not ideal! Still, for a younger audience and those who have a love for platformers, Microsoft couldn’t have chosen a better title to resurrect.