In Nintendo’s excellent E3 Nintendo Direct conference, the publisher revealed a wide range of epic announcements including a new Legend of Zelda title, but perhaps the most hoped for (and the most shocking) was the reveal that the legendary pair Banjo Kazooie are coming to Super Smash Bros Ultimate this Fall. Following that however, a listing was spotted for something Nintendo didn’t announce, but is even more surprising: a Banjo Kazooie Switch game may be in development.
The listing appeared on Amazon Germany, and can still be seen at the time of writing, but was spotted by user Lady Bow on ResetEra. The listing is in German of course, but it translates as “Banjo-Kazooie (Working Title)” with the platform listed as Nintendo Switch only, and a presumably temporary release date of December 31 2019. Not only did Nintendo fail to mention a Nintendo Switch exclusive Banjo-Kazooie game at E3, part of the reason the Smash Ultimate character reveal was so shocking was that the characters are owned by Microsoft, despite the original games appearing on Nintendo 64.
As such, the idea that this listing is for a brand new Banjo-Kazooie title exclusive to Nintendo Switch is exciting, but probably unlikely. If it’s a game, the most likely idea is that it’s a re-release or remaster of the original Nintendo 64 games, and even then it’ll be odd that it’s not coming to Xbox One too. Therefore, the real most likely suggestion is that the listing is for the Smash Bros Amiibo figure. As every character in the game has received an Amiibo, even characters not owned by Nintendo such as Snake, this would seem most probable… even if, admittedly, the least exciting prospect.
The other possibility is that it’s just a mistake on Amazon Germany’s part and they jumped the gun when they saw Banjo and Kazooie on the Nintendo E3 Direct. If so, we certainly can’t blame them for getting a little over-excited.