Rare Says No to Banjo-Kazooie Pitches; Handheld Hope Lives On

Rare has been saying no to Banjo-Kazooie revivals for so long that composer Grant Kirkhope now measures hope in fractions. He tells FRVR that roughly three companies have pitched Microsoft or Rare on a new entry, and “Rare just typically say no to everything.” For handheld players, that’s not just boardroom frustration: Nintendo 64 collect-a-thons are natural pocket-session material, and that design language has been locked behind Rare’s refusal for a quarter of a century.

Kirkhope’s shift from “zero chance” to “a slight chance” lands as the 3D platformer market enjoys a revival and Spyro gets a new game. But nobody has gotten through the door yet, so portable players are left preserving the N64 originals on Switch Online while a one-more-Jiggy franchise stays in limbo.

Rare’s Wall of No Has a Handheld Cost

Kirkhope says outside interest is real: three pitches went to Microsoft or Rare, and none landed. He also puts the blame on Rare’s internal posture, saying the studio is too busy to make Banjo itself and has turned down concepts like cartoons over the years. That pattern points less at market demand and more at an internal culture that treats dormant IP as a locked door.

What handheld players lose with every rejection is a chance to see Banjo’s level design work at a modern, sleep-friendly pace. Spyro: A Realm Beyond is the useful contrast here: a mascot platformer revival can still get a full release, and that genre remains one of the most natural fits for short portable sessions. Rare is saying no to a format that would slide straight onto Steam Deck, Switch, and whatever comes next—if a pitch ever gets past the front office.

Switch Online and the Super Pocket Are Keeping the Bear Alive

The originals haven’t stayed alive because of corporate enthusiasm; they’ve stayed alive through Switch Online rereleases and even a Banjo-Kazooie Super Pocket handheld that reportedly hides Kirkhope tracks. That’s the tell: the demand is concentrated in the same spaces where handheld play thrives. A Jiggy can be collected in two minutes, levels work in bite-sized chunks, and Kirkhope’s melodies greet you instantly after a week away. Those are exactly the traits that make a game easy to poke at during a commute and hard to put down on a plane.

If Rare ever says yes, the smartest version of the pitch targets suspend, resume, and short-burst design—the standards that Steam Deck, Switch, and successor hardware have already set. The gameplay isn’t the obstacle. It never was. The first big bad has always been the green light on Rare’s desk.