Banjo turns up in ASR box art
Ryan Bloom | November 29, 2009
Placeholder art, or something more?
So you may remember the little news story from a few months ago concerning a certain document leak between Sony and Sega, where both companies discussed their plans for their future. In the document was a little bit of a tease – Sega prodding Sony about the fact they could introduce Playstation-centric characters as exclusive PS3 downloadable content for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. As an example of what characters would be acceptable, Sega mentioned the “Rare or Fable universes”, an obvious reference to Xbox 360 exclusive games.
With that in mind, UK visual designer Chris Lewis (in charge with creating marketing assets for All-Stars Racing) has recently posted on his portfolio website a work-in-progress version of the Xbox 360 ASR box art.
Sharp-eyed readers will quickly notice that among the artwork on the back of the box is Rare’s very own Banjo and Kazooie. Now, obviously, the fastest and easiest conclusion one could come to is that Banjo is only on the back of the box because this is, as the website says, a “Work-in-Progress”. It’s not done yet. Banjo could simply exist as placeholder artwork, to be replaced with text (or pretty much anything else) at a later point in time.
But when viewed in the light of the leaked Sony memo, artwork of this nature only throws fuel on the fire that we may yet see a certain Bear-and-bird duo as Xbox 360 exclusive racers. Given that last year’s Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts featured drivable vehicles as a focal point, the pair would make a perfect fit for the All-Stars Racing roster.
Only time will tell.
Filed Under Microsoft, Rumor Alert, Sega, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
knew it
Interesting indeed.
Looks fake to me, I mean it’s the same art of Banjo that was used for his game Nuts and Bolt’s, don’t you think that Sega would have their own art for him if he was in their game? Yeah, I don’t believe this one.
It’s odd that if this is only placeholder artwork, why Banjo and Kazooie were used instead of any other easily obtainable image. Plus the image seems to have been purposely altered to match the artwork of the box art. If assuming the source of this box art is reliable and that it came from an official source of sorts, I’d say it’s way more likely that Banjo and crew will join in as downloadable content rather than this being just a mistake or a temporary placeholder image.
I had a feeling.
At the same time, why the fuck would they use Banjo and Kazooie as placeholder art?
I like them, would be some more characters I can recognize in the bunch. So many new SEGA faces for me… hope they will be somewhere in the game. I think that would be awesome.
The back looks fake but the front looks real
i’m a recent Sonic fan, since the Sonic X era, I loved Sonic The Hedgehog for the Xbox360º , Sonic Unleashed was the best plataformer/adventure/action game I’d ever played, SONIC IS THE BEST, I want Sonic & Sega All-StarsRacing so bad!!!
Amazing box-art simple the best!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the the CGI work on the front before, so unless someone can point me to some pre-existing version of it, it’s most definitely real. It would also confirm the notion that Banjo might be in the games. It’s true what TSSZ says: I highly doubt that’s the final art on the back. But it would most certainly NOT make any bit of sense to include Banjo on the back without the character having something to do with the game to begin with….like being included, for example. I mean, this WAS mentioned in the leaked Sony document that TSSZ among other sites reported so….this seems pretty believable to me.
…. Oh my….
Do you know what this means?
Mario is most likely going to be in the Wii version.
@Greg: Forget Mario, GIVE US CAPT. FALCON!
@Edwin Shy:
Uh… Yeah… Have we even seen the ENTIRE cover yet? Amazingly enough, it seems SEGA has Banjo on the current box art, suggesting a rather strange…… WAIT.
Banjo… in a Mario Kart style game….. for the second time in his gaming career? Anyone thinking Diddy Kong Racing right about now?
“not Klonoa = Moto GP no may” “Banjo – off! sonic” hehehe….
*tries to access portfolio website*
Seems Sega weren’t all too happy that this box art had been leaked.
To me, it just seems to be a mock up design. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them keep the layout and the design of the backside of this case intact (which looks pretty badass), but actually have the correct pictures and information. The use of Banjo could either have the artist’s mistake for putting in something way too early or, more likely, used an old Banjo art in order to show how he wants to layout the photos when it comes time to use the game’s actual character art. Confirming Banjo because of this is highly unlikely but not exactly far from the truth, given what we heard about the DLC possibility and the use of crossovers.
wait…BANJO?!?! how the fuck did they put him in?!
Greg : I know right I remember Banjo was in DKR 64 Man I miss that game
That just seems… random. Too random, really. As much as I love B-K, this springs more likely to be filler until the actual art is completed.
Now, if they were actually -featured- in this game, that would be… … I don’t even know how to put that.
Odd?
Weird?
Again, random?
A bear and bird duo from a company of Rareware, being placed in a game made by a completely different company, the two of which whom had never interacted in any form before now? Doesn’t that seem like a bit of a long shot?
On the other hand, it would probably be neat if they -were- in this game, it’s just… dang, what a long shot. Oh well, time will tell, I suppose.
Well, Banjo & Kazooie fit in with the whole anthropomorphic animal crowd, and they do belong to the Rare universe. Seems like a simple conclusion: OMG MARIO’S IN THE WII VERSION OH NOES!!!
If they did throw Mario or other Nintendo properties in the Wii/DS version, more star power for the game itself for including some more recognizeable characters, albeit a bit jarring given that the game is supposed to be about SEGA All-Stars. It would also go to show a trend of obsolescence of the Sonic vs. Mario console wars as belonging to a bygone era. I know people would consider Sonic to have also been bygone in terms of quality and brand management, but let’s just see whether or not this game is fun in the end. Chances are it won’t be quite as awesome as most would hope for, but that’s just me blabbering.
I thought this was suppose to be SEGA all-stars.
WHAT THE FUCK?! 0_o
The front cover looks pretty legit if you ask me but the back just looks a bit too dodgy for my liking. The screen shots look too blurry and the Banjo pic just looks out of place. We’ll see though. If it is true however i won’t be downloading it for the simple fact that i don’t like the Banjo games but hey, that’s just me.
awsome conver
I want to play as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles so BAD 
Banjo Kazooie – Xbox 360
Ratchet Clank – PS3
Diddy Kong – DS
Mario – Wii
Who wants to bet?
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FORGET mario man! I 100%prefer another character like Metal Sonic / Silver / Blaze / some character from Shenmue or from Taxi Driver to that dumb charater mario man…
This is Sonic & SEGA!
(sorry mario fans)
COOL!!!
I claim this is automatically fake due to Sonic Team’s logo on the back and not Sumo Digital’s.
Back looks fake to me, but the front looks real.
@Greg The Cat: Dude you are RIGHT!!! Sonic was in Brawl. SEGA can return the favor.
Heh, it’s a hoax. As if Sega would feature a character that isn’t a SEGA character. This is Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing, not Sonic & RARE All Stars Racing.
@Jrc1120: I must say that you are right. This is OBVIOUSLY fake. Why would they not credit Sumo Digital on the box art????
Besides, even Lycett said it was not real. He said that he and Sumo Digital have never seen that box art.
Ugh, I wish Nintendo and Rare would piss off. Give Sega what is Sega’s and God what is God’s. We still don’t know if NiGHTS will be there and Banjo ends up on the box? Suss.
I’ll give it this much, Banjo’s car does look cool. Where is Kazooie?
Which is the best version to get?
“Where is Kazooie?”
@daylengamer17:
Are you blind?
http://i45.tinypic.com/vo94qd.jpg
@NinMicroSEGA: You’re the one who is immature. What I post is my business! STAY OUT OF IT!
Besides, this arguing will get us nowhere. We can end this now. Why do you keep insulting me?
I NEEEED RATCHET AND CLANK FOR PS3!!!!
@Tommy: You can say that again! I want Mario on Yoshi for Wii
There will be no R&C for SASR. Remember the Sony/Sega conference, there could be Sony characters as DLC but not R&C.
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