The third phase of development of the game which would later get released as Banjo-Kazooie, Kazoo now stars Banjo instead of Edson, but the gameplay would still be in a top-down view, now as a 2.5D adventure platformer, with a grid-based movement system. Banjo would wear sports clothing as means of power-ups.

The game was later reworked into a collect-a-thon 3D platformer, abandoning the sports motif in favor of a fantasy and comedy setting, when it was released as Banjo-Kazooie.