It's taken years, but Banjo-Kazooie fans have finally finished decompiling the code of Rare's classic 3D platformer, paving the way for new community experiences

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But where will the community go from here?

Banjo and Kazooie in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
(Image credit: Nintendo)

It's been a long time coming, but fans have managed to fully decompile all of Banjo-Kazooie's code, meaning that it's now possible for unofficial PC ports to be developed, not to mention many, many more mods for Rare's classic 3D platformer. 

Video game decompilation can sound pretty complicated, but what it boils down to is reverse engineering the game to end up with usable code (not the original source code, mind you). Once that's obtained, the doors are blown wide open for mods, ports, and all sorts of community projects – we've seen this before with the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and the original Paper Mario was similarly decompiled last year.

In Banjo-Kazooie's case, the 3D platformer's decompilation project has been in the works for quite some time. If you scroll through the GitLab page's history, you can see that it was first made in early 2021 before its first actual activity was recorded in July 2022. Progress has been trackable with handy percentages shared on the page, showcasing the completion of the overall project as well as individual sections of it, such as cutscenes. Right now, as highlighted in a tweet from @BringBackBanjoK, we're looking at clean 100%s across the board. 

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But what now? Well, this could mean everything, or it could mean little, depending on what fans decide to do with the decompilation. The code itself is essentially a tool to allow for the likes of native PC ports and mods, but it's all up to talented fans to produce those things themselves. Regardless, there's no doubt that this must be a triumphant moment for everyone who's been working on it for so long – it'll be interesting to see where the community goes from here.

For more games like Banjo-Kazooie, be sure to check out our list of the best platformers of all time. 

Catherine Lewis
Catherine Lewis
Deputy News Editor

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.