Another classic Rare Nintendo 64 game is coming to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Banjo-Tooie, the sequel to Banjo Kazooie (of course), is being added to the service on October 25, Nintendo announced on Friday.
The company announced the addition in a new trailer, which you can watch above. You won’t see anything you haven’t seen before if you’ve played the game. This appears to be a nearly straight port to to Switch Online, although it will have a new widescreen mode, so you can see more of the game on your bigger TV.
Nintendo Switch Online already has Banjo Kazooie, which came out two years prior. While the first game in the series is arguably better known, there’s a lot to like about Banjo-Tooie. It has more puzzles, better graphics, large game worlds (comparatively speaking), and multiplayer modes.
It also marked the last game that Rare would make with Nintendo before being acquired by Microsoft in 2002. Previously, Nintendo invested a lot into Rare, which led to some iconic N64 releases, including GoldenEye 007. Both GoldenEye 007 and Banjo Kazooie were added to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack in 2023 and 2022, respectively, so it was about time Banjo-Tooie got the same treatment.
Other N64 games that you can access through the Expansion Pack tier of the membership include Mario Kart 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, multiple Mario Party titles, and others. There are also Super NES, Game Boy, NES, Game Boy Advance, and Sega Genesis games on the service, if you’ve been on the fence of picking it up. While the base Nintendo Switch Online tier costs just $20 per year, the Expansion Pack, well, expansion costs $50 per year
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Imagine tapping a Zelda icon on your iPhone and jumping straight into Hyrule. A new open-source project called nxnative makes that possible by repackaging Switch games you’ve bought into apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no emulator in the middle.
Why does this run so well on Apple devices?