taken place several years after the events of Banjo-Kazooie. In the story of Grunty's Curse, Gruntilda curses Bottles the mole and Mumbo Jumbo, and kidnaps Kazooie and turns her into a monster; to save them, Banjo must find several magic ingredients. As he has not adventured in a long time, Banjo sets out to be retrained by Bottles' grandfather Grampa Mole (who became Bozzeye in the final version). The original plot is referenced as an in-joke in the final game; when Banjo finds Kazooie, he says he is surprised Gruntilda did not turn her into a monster. Originally conceived as a side-scrolling platformer, Grunty's Curse was to feature more levels and power-ups than Grunty's Revenge. Rare was working on the game's sprites when production halted in late 1999. Production restarted after Nintendo released the GBA. Rare retitled the game Grunty's Revenge and changed the plot so it would fit better in the series' universe. It was announced and showcased along with Rare's other GBA games they were working on at the time at E3 2001. Development continued even after Rare was acquired by Nintendo's rival Microsoft, who currently does not make handheld game consoles, in 2002. Grunty's Revenge was nearly complete at the time, but Rare chose to continue to fine-tune it during their transition to a first-party developer. It also gave them time to implement 3D computer graphics. A multiplayer mode using the GBA's Game Link Cable was planned but cut. In 2003, Microsoft was collaborating with THQ to publish Rare's GBA projects, including Grunty's Revenge, a remake of Sabre Wulf (2004), Banjo spinoff Banjo-Pilot (2005), and It's Mr. Pants (2005). The game was released in North America on 12 September 2003 and in Europe on 24 October. It was Rare's first game after the Microsoft buyout and their first game in over 10 years that they or Nintendo did not publish. In June 2005, French company In-Fusio released a port of the game for mobile phones, alongside another mobile game comprising the minigames, Grunty's Revenge Missions. Reception According to Metacritic, a video game review aggregator, Grunty's Revenge received "mixed or average reviews". Some reviewers, such as those from IGN, GameZone, GameSpy, ONM, and retrospectively Nintendo Life, applauded it as a splendid effort to bring Banjo-Kazooie to a handheld device. Nintendo Life and Official Nintendo Magazine (ONM) highlighted its high amount of similarities to the originals, although a lack