Great to hear from CurtDogg again! :) I loved Banjo-Kazooie. Such a great looking and playing game for the time. I remember being less fond of Banjo-Tooie. I never beat it unlike the first game.

The absolute nadir of the collectathon for me was Donkey Kong 64. Alas, I tend to be a completionist and I remember getting everything except for one minigame. It was one where you chase the beavers into a hole. I must have spent an hour or more trying to beat that mini-game and then gave up, thinking it's not worth it. While I had fun with DK 64, throughout the game, I always had the impression it should be better than what it was. I never had that feeling with Banjo-Kazooie.

Yeah, DK64 definitely could have been made into a better game, I enjoyed my time with it mostly though.

Some of those beaver games where you had to heard them around had a bit of a trick to them I think. If you mashed the button fast it made it harder I seem to recall.

Banjo games were definitely less tedious though.

I loved the snowy mountainous level and the haunted house level. I would enter first-person mode and just gaze at the moon, Christmas lights, the pumpkins, harvest moon, etc. Banjo-Kazooie just invited a closer look back then. Starting with Banjo-Kazooie and then Ocarina of Time (especially at Lon Lon Ranch), I'll still gaze/zoom in on the Moon in a game if it looks good, atmospheric, etc.