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HyperMegaTech Super Pocket handheld Rare Edition launched this month, giving fans of the legendary British developer another way in which to experience 14 of the studio's classic titles, including Banjo Kazooie.
But what you might not know is that it actually comes with a pretty incredible extra for fans of the Banjo Kazooie series that wasn't advertised ahead of launch — a secret music player featuring "more than 20 unused music tracks" (thanks VGC!)
The discovery was shared on Twitter/X by the Banjo-Kazooie Series Speedrunner and Glitch Hunter TSR Stormed, who has been ripping the music to a YouTube playlist.
As he states, the music player appears "when you unlock one of the Stop n Swop items after beating the game," and has "a TON of unheard beta tracks" — most of them early level themes for worlds in Banjo-Tooie.
Among the tracks included are early versions of the music for Mumbo Mountain, Freezeezy Peak, and Treasure Trove Cove, as well as music for several unused areas, such as a Funfair (likely the inspiration for Banjo Tooie's Witchyworld), a scrapped Lava World (Banjo Tooie would later have a lava section in Hailfire Peaks), and Atlantis (a setting which appears in Jolly Roger's Lagoon in Tooie).
Asked by a fan whether the discovery is legit, the game's original composer, Grant Kirkhope, stated, "I think it is," but couldn't offer a ton of insight prior to the list of tracks being made available, stating, "I don’t think I can remember what’s there." That, of course, is pretty reasonable given the game was released all the way back in 1998, almost 28 years ago.
As VGC highlights, this hidden music player isn't the only change introduced to the platforming classic, with the handheld version also introducing a button for tiptoeing due to the lack of an analogue stick and replacing the Game Boy in the opening menu with a Super Pocket.
You can read our review of the HyperMegaTech Super Pocket handheld Rare Edition here. In our write-up, we ended up giving it a 9/10, describing it as a "a solid option" for anyone "who wants to take the famous bear and bird on the road."