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Banjo-Tooie isn’t the most beloved adventure in the bear and bird’s series, but it has its fair share of fans. One of which happens to be Nintendo’s very own Shigeru Miyamoto, which former Rare designer and director Gregg Mayles revealed on social media.
Sharing a fax from the legendary game creator and director (thanks, Time Extension!), Mayles says “Nice of him that compliment (in my mind anyway)” before explaining just what a fax is — to those youngsters online, of course.
The fax itself is a written notice of approval of the final rom of Banjo-Tooie, the sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, with an additional note hand-written by Miyamoto in English which says “splendid game” with a little thumbs up and smiley face.
Here is the fax from Miyamoto-san approving Banjo-Tooie for release in Japan. Nice of him that compliment (in my mind anyway). Faxes were like emails before emails existed, which came very slowly out of a printer pic.twitter.com/28df4psryz— Gregg Mayles (@Ghoulyboy) November 30, 2025
It’s a cute little piece of history, and the timing is pretty perfect too — the game just celebrated its 25th birthday a few weeks ago, and we too (read: this writer) have fond memories of the follow-up, which takes a bit of a darker, bigger turn.
Mayles left Rare earlier this year following a number of layoffs at Microsoft and the cancellation of Everwild. Back in October, the developer shared a poem on his final day at the studio.
Are you a Banjo-Tooie fan? Do you agree with Miyamoto’s thoughts on the game? Let us know in the comments.
[source x.com, via timeextension.com]
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Alana has been with Nintendo Life since 2022, and while RPGs are her first love, Nintendo is a close second. She enjoys nothing more than overthinking battle strategies, characters, and stories. She also wishes she was a Sega air pirate.