each one able to perform unique abilities that they would not otherwise be able to while joined. When Rare became a first-party developer for Microsoft's Xbox, character trademarks such as Banjo and Kazooie were retained by Rare. When redesigning the characters of Banjo and Kazooie for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Mayles and Bryan initially designed high-resolution characters for the protagonists, but Bryan recalled that they lacked "the charm" the original game held. Later during development, Bryan suggested that the characters in the game should appear cuboid, and thus finalized the designs with smooth edges, whilst retaining the two characters' original appearances. Banjo-Kazooie lead programmer Chris Sutherland has voiced both characters in all of their appearances. Appearances Banjo is depicted as an affable male honey bear from the Spiral Mountain region of the Isle O' Hags. He is constantly accompanied by his best friend, Kazooie, a foul-tempered female bird of the fictional "Red-Crested Breegull" species who lives in his backpack. The pair first appeared together as the protagonists of 1998's Banjo-Kazooie, in which they worked together to rescue Banjo's younger sister Tooty from the evil witch Gruntilda. Banjo and Kazooie returned in Banjo-Tooie, working to prevent Gruntilda from draining the life force from the Isle O' Hags and get revenge for the death of their friend Bottles. In Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, set between Kazooie and Tooie, Banjo and Kazooie travel back in time to stop Gruntilda when she attempts to prevent the two from ever meeting. Both Banjo and Kazooie appear as individual playable characters in the racing game Banjo-Pilot. In Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Banjo and Kazooie must compete with Gruntilda for ownership of Spiral Mountain in a contest organized by the Lord of Games. Outside of Banjo-Kazooie series, Banjo was included as a playable racer in Diddy Kong Racing, prior to the release of Banjo-Kazooie. Banjo and Kazooie also appear as a playable racer in the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. Developer Sumo Digital collaborated with Rare for the character's inclusion, with Rare giving Sumo access to their asset library as well as designing and modeling Banjo and Kazooie's in-game vehicle. A character skin based on Banjo is available as downloadable content in various versions of Minecraft. Banjo and Kazooie made an appearance in an arm-waving SXSW crowd game in 2015. Banjo and Kazooie also appear as a single playable fighter via downloadable content in