Last year in March, there was a circulating story about Rare's most famous bear and bird from the 1998 Nintendo 64 game Banjo-Kazooie named after the grandson and son of former Nintendo president, Hiroshi Yamauchi.
History has suggested that Banjo's name is derived from a musical instrument with the same name, and Kazooie's name was inspired by the kazoo. Both of these characters even play instruments they call the name of the game.
At the time, Gregg Mayles, who worked as a game designer and is still in Rare to this day, confirmed that the "Banjo part" was true but he wasn't so sure about Kazooie. Now almost a year later, writer and former Playtonic composer Andy Robinson "finally" managed to write it:
When I went through the Yooka-Laylee series, which would be spiritually successful in Rare & # 39; s Banjo-Kazooie games, they would show up naturally, because I worked on it. And in the midst of such a conversation, a revelation is revealed. As the blog section of this site launches, I've been able to keep you posted.
Former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi has a grandson named – interesting enough – Banjo Yamauchi. His son is called Katsuhito Yamauchi, or & # 39; Katsuhi & # 39; shorts. When you combine these words you end up with & # 39; Banjo-Katsuhi & # 39; I know, because the developers of the first game confirmed it.
Popular video game designer Grant Kirkhope, who also worked at Banjo-Kazooie back in the day, even took him to Twitter to announce the news:
So, there you have it – the case is closed. Another interesting fact shared by the VGC is how Banjo and Katshuito both acquired Nintendo's Hiroshi Yamauchi stock when he died in 2013. They ended up being major shareholders of the company and were eventually re-sold for more than $ 1bn.
