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Home / News / Yooka-Laylee, spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, smashes Kickstarter goal in minutes

Yooka-Laylee, spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, smashes Kickstarter goal in minutes

Classic platform action is coming back, and it’s headed to all sorts of gaming devices

Banjo-Kazooie remains neck-and-neck with Super Mario 64 in the hearts of Nintendo 64 platform fans, but original developer Rare has been pointing its talents elsewhere in recent years. So some former employees are finally doing something about it.

No, it’s not actually a sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, but Yooka-Laylee has plenty in common with that 64-bit classic beyond the hyphenated, instrument-inspired name. Both have a two-character design, with vivid, cartoonish worlds and gameplay that puts both of the heroes’ unique talents to use. And it’s coming next year, thanks to an already-funded Kickstarter campaign.

Yes, it has already succeeded, with several stretch goals notched as of this writing, as well. Playtonic Games, the team of Rare expats assembled for this cause, sought £175,000 to fund the project. That sum was reached in about 40 minutes earlier today, and now the total has soared past £600,000.

Yooka-Laylee is slated to hit PC, Mac, Linux, Wii U, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, with the computer releases coming first. If the campaign exceeds £1,000,000 in funding – which seems extremely likely at this point – then all six versions will release at the same time. The estimated delivery date for the game is October 2016, although it’s unclear if adding day-one console releases will mean a longer wait for all.

If you’re interested, you’ve got 46 whole days left to throw down a pledge; Yooka-Laylee is already funded, but you can still get the game and some neat trinkets, as well as push the campaign past those higher stretch goals.

Just £10 will get you a Steam code, £15 will earn you a console code, and then the levels stretch on from there. You can even get an N64 cartridge with a 64GB flash drive within housing the game – for £340. Twenty backers have already jumped on that one: that’s how excited people are about seeing this game come to life.

[Source: Kickstarter]

Profile image of Andrew Hayward Andrew Hayward Freelance Writer

About

Andrew writes features, news stories, reviews, and other pieces, often when the UK home team is off-duty or asleep. I'm based in Chicago with my lovely wife, amazing son, and silly cats, and my writing about games, gadgets, esports, apps, and plenty more has appeared in more than 75 publications since 2006.

Areas of expertise

Video games, gadgets, apps, smart home

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