Banjo: Nuts & Bolts Coming on November 14 for $40

It’s time to jump back into the shoes (if he wore any) of good old Banjo, as he and Kazooie are set for their first adventure since 2000. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts will be available on November 14 for the (strangely) low price of $39.99. I thought that had to be a typo, but Microsoft confirmed to me that the game is indeed going to be priced at $40, just like Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise — that should be a big boon for sales.

Pre-order the game and you’ll get a pretty sweet bonus: a free download code for the original Banjo-Kazooie, which is releasing on Xbox Live Arcade sometime this fall (”a couple weeks after” Nuts & Bolts, which I interpret as the last week of fall). In addition to getting the game for free, you’ll also get to play the game before anyone else, which will let you employ the “Stop N’ Swop” feature, which will unlock additional content. I doubt most people will remember it, but it’s nice that Rare plans on making it up to those of us who looked forward to that feature in the original Banjo and never got to see it used.

I’m extremely excited. Most of Rare’s games in recent years has failed to impress me (Viva Pinata is their saving grace), but the Banjo games were among my absolute favorite games on N64, so I remain hopeful that Nuts & Bolts will be a worthy sequel.