Typically when I write about something unforgettable in a video game, I usually talk about something small that stuck with me.  A particularly memorable cut scene, an extra epic segment of gameplay.  Today, however, I am discussing an entire world.  It was after my recent playthrough of Rayman 2 that I decided next to revisit another favorite of mine, Banjo-Kazooie.  And as I made my way through the game’s final world, I couldn’t help but stop for a moment to really appreciate a level I usually take for granted.

Click Clock Wood is the ninth and final world of Banjo-Kazooie, and I must say, this might be the single best world in any 3D platformer I have ever had the joy of exploring.  The world centers around a huge tree in the middle of a forest, and you visit the place four times, one for each season.  You start in spring, and you must find a button to open the door to summer, and so on and so forth.  There are several characters you meet in this world, namely Eyrie the eagle, whom you hatch from an egg in spring, and Nabnut the squirrel, who can be seen wolfing down his acorns without any concern for having enough by winter.  You complete little quests with these respective characters as the seasons go by, and eventually Eyrie grows into an adult (sniff, they grow up so fast) and Nabnut is saved from his acorn-woes (even though I can’t say he deserves it, the lazy rodent) just in time for winter.

Video from Youtube User: ZorZelda

Aside from helping characters, the scenery also greatly changes from season to season, in all the obvious ways, plus the platforms being built up around the tree change, as well, including a tree house that is just being started in spring and is completely finished by winter.  And despite having played through this world many times throughout the years, I never get over how clever it is.  Every other world in the game feels stagnant in comparison.  In those worlds, there is no change.  There is no real story for the various characters.  In Click Clock Wood, on the other hand, you get to follow the lives of these characters through the year-long span of time you visit them, and I felt a far more personal connection to this place as a result.  It is amazing, really, considering 3D platformers started in 1996 with Super Mario 64, with Banjo-Kazooie’s release coming two years later.  In all that time, from 1998 to the present day, I can’t think of any other world that has been done as well.  Rareware, you truly are the master of platformers.

What about you guys?  What is your favorite world in a platformer?  What’s your favorite in the Banjo-Kazooie series?  Let me know in the comments?

Click Cluck Duck