Banjo-Pilot: Weaponry and Power-Ups Guide

Although the available arsenal in Banjo-Pilot might not be as extensive as it was in Diddy Kong Racing, there are still a fair few weapons ready for you to use against unsuspecting opponents. The main difference here is that you can’t upgrade your weaponry by picking up the same item more than once in a row. Instead, item pickups are simplified to the system used in Mario Kart – drive through an item box, in Banjo’s case a mystery honeycomb, then wait for the roulette to stop on a specific item before blasting it off at your enemies with the B Button.

Below is a list of all the weaponry pickups available in Banjo-Pilot, as well as some tips on avoiding being hit by them or using them to their fullest effect.

Standard Weapon:
If you haven’t picked up a powerup from a mystery honeycomb, then you’ll be able to press the B Button to fire from your plane’s in-built gun. Don’t bother using this attack against opponents in a race – instead, use it to hit the Glowbos on the track (if any) and activate their boost zippers.

In a champion challenge or battle mode, you can use this weapon to fire at your opponent and damage them slightly. Be careful to avoid their fire by circling around the screen when they’re behind you, though.

Single Red Fire Egg:
Blasts forward and homes in on the nearest opponent, settling them on fire.

Fire Eggs are the red shells of Banjo Pilot, and are very useful for taking down opposing pilots who manage to sneak their noses in front of yours. If an opponent uses a fire egg against you, you can avoid it by spitting out an ice egg behind you or by using a loop-de-loop maneuver by holding R and pressing down on the control pad.

Triple Red Fire Eggs:
As above, but three eggs are added to your arsenal.

There are two ways to use these if you collect them. The first is to fire them one by one and take out opponents one after another. However, if your opponents know how to maneuver their plane right or have an ice egg on hand, then you can use several of these in a row to make sure they go down for good.

Single Blue Ice Egg:
Dropped behind your plane like a mine, it remains on the track to cause mayhem for careless rivals.

Best ways to use an ice egg include placing it just after going through a boost zipper, or holding onto it incase an opponent uses a fire egg or Mumbo Head against you. To get rid of ice eggs lying around on the track, fire a fire egg at them. Or run into them, although this isn’t advised…

Triple Blue Ice Egg:
As above, but three eggs are added to your arsenal.

There isn’t much more you can use triple ice eggs for, other than having an extra safety net in case some of your opponents start sending multiple fire eggs your way. Set up a barricade with them if you like by swerving over the track to place all three within close range of each other.

Golden Feather:
A shield of protective feathers which blocks the effects of all weapons.

This is basically Banjo-Pilots answer to the star of Mario Kart, with the exception being that the gold feather doesn’t give you much of a speed boost. If you’re in front, hold onto this until opponents boost out infront of you, or until somebody decides to throw some fire eggs your way. Use the item from behind and ram into others to cause them to crash.

There isn’t much you can do about other players with gold feathers, other than avoiding them. Of course, using a gold feather against a gold feather will protect you, and you can use a Mumbo Head to get rid of someone’s gold feather before they use it, although the latter is unlikely since you can’t see what items other players are holding.

Mumbo’s Head:
Disables all other racers for a few seconds.

The manual lists this item as a Mumbo Head, but the reason for this is unknown since the picture actually displays the evil cybotic shaman impersonator, Mingy Jongo from Banjo-Tooie.

That aside, the ‘Mumbo’s Head’ acts in a similar way as a lightning bolt would in Mario Kart. Use it to create other players to crash and drop their items. Use a star, I mean, Golden Feather to avoid being hit.

Turbo Trainers:
Gives the player a temporary top speed increase.

A temporary speed boost item, like a mushroom. Not much more to be said.

Saucer of Peril:
Takes down the race leader!

The Saucer of Peril takes the place of Mario Kart’s blue shell in Banjo-Pilot, however there are a few differences here. The Saucer of Peril will appear far more often than a blue shell, but it is easy to avoid on its own – just treat it as you would a fire egg. If you use a loop-de-loop to avoid it at the right time (just before being hit), you’ll even get a temporary speed boost.

If you’re hit with a Saucer of Peril, not only will you crash, but your plane will get a bit wobbly in its handling and lose some speed for a few seconds afterwards. Best to avoid them, if possible.