Stop 'n' Swop

Artwork depicting Banjo and Kazooie holding the pink mystery egg and the Ice Key.

Of all the secrets and mysteries in the Banjo-Kazooie series, none are more tantalizing or more talked about than Stop 'n' Swop. More rumors have circulated about it than about the large doors at the top of Gruntilda's Lair, and although most of them - both the silly and the sensible - are false, there are some truths in the clutter. The mystery involves six brightly colored "Mystery Eggs" and a large key made of ice found in Banjo-Kazooie, and their alleged use in its sequel, Banjo-Tooie. It had also been revealed by the Rare team at E3 2008 that the version of Banjo-Kazooie released on the Xbox live arcade would implement the Stop 'n' Swop feature as it was originally intended; however, it would be used in correspondence to Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. As a player collects the Stop 'n' Swop items in the arcade version, they unlock rare vehicle parts in Nuts & Bolts, for example: the Ice Key gives you flags that have the Union Jack on them. The crates are hidden around Showdown Town but will appear by a drawing of that certain item on a wall or roof. Another item lets you put Roysten and his fishbowl on your vehicle (needed for the LOG Banjo).

On January 2009, it was announced on the official Banjo-Kazooie website that the "original plan" of including Stop 'N' Swop would also be implemented in the Xbox Live Arcade release of Banjo-Tooie, which was released in April 2009.

Banjo-Kazooie

At the end of Banjo-Kazooie, if all 100 Jiggies have been collected, Mumbo Jumbo will show the player three animated photographs which reveal the locations of two Mystery Eggs and the Ice Key, in locations that players may have noticed previously to be inaccessable. However, after waiting until Banjo Tooie's release, fans felt like the solution offered in Tooie was a copout. Members of The Rare Witch Project set to work hacking the game, and made a shocking discovery. There are in fact codes within the game that can be entered on the Sandcastle floor in Treasure Trove Cove that will allow anyone to reach these treasures, as well as another four eggs not mentioned by Mumbo. Once the items are collected, a menu appears on the pause menu if you move to the very end past Click Clock Wood. It has never since been discovered what this menu is for, and indeed what it does.

Also, if you have Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts, once you beat grunty in Spiral Mountain (again), all Stop 'n' Swop items will be available without using the cheats.

Be Aware: If using these codes on the Xbox Live Arcade version of Banjo-Kazooie, Bottles will confirm if you want to use the Cheat. If you Press A, all saving will be stopped and your score will not be posted on the Leaderboards anymore.

Cyan Mystery Egg

The Cyan Mystery Egg is found in the cellar of Mad Monster Mansion, in a barrel marked "1881"; it is a reference to Atic Atac, one of Rare's first games. Before entering the code one should note that the barrel is sealed with an "X".

The code "CHEAT DONT YOU GO AND TELL HER ABOUT THE SECRET IN HER CELLAR"

Pink Mystery Egg

The Pink Mystery Egg is found in Sharkfood Island, a small mark of land in Treasure Trove Cove that, upon entering the code, rises to turn out to be a cave. (Mumbo reveals it after 100 Jiggies)

The code: "CHEAT OUT OF THE SEA IT RISES TO REVEAL MORE SECRET PRIZES"

Blue Mystery Egg

The Blue Mystery Egg is found in Gobi's Valley, behind an unopenable door which Gobi sits by before leaving the desert. The egg can be found inside a sarcophagus in the proceeding room. (Mumbo reveals it after getting 100 Jiggies)

The code: "CHEAT A DESERT DOOR OPENS WIDE ANCIENT SECRETS WAIT INSIDE" opens the tomb door

Green Mystery Egg

The Green Mystery Egg is the second egg to be found in Mad Monster Mansion; there seems to be no discernable reason for this, though. The egg is found in the bathroom, on top of Loggo

The code: "CHEAT AMIDST THE HAUNTED GLOOM A SECRET IN THE BATHROOM"

Red Mystery Egg

The Red Mystery Egg is found in the captain's quarters in Rusty Bucket Bay, accessed via breaking one of the windows.

The code: "CHEAT THIS SECRET YOULL BE GRABBIN IN THE CAPTAINS CABIN"

Yellow Mystery Egg

The Yellow Mystery Egg is found in Click Clock Wood in Nabnut's house in the winter season, where you must get in through the window.

The code: "CHEAT NOW BANJO WILL BE ABLE TO SEE IT ON NABNUTS TABLE"

Ice Key

Ice Key

The Ice Key is perhaps the most mysterious Stop 'n' Swop item, predominantly because it is the only item that can be seen during normal play. It is found in Wozza's cave, in a small alcove; if the player uses first person mode, they can see through the ice to see the key twirling, but there is no way to get in. However, typing in the following code removes the unbreakable ice wall. (Mumbo shows you it after getting 100 Jiggies)

The code: "CHEAT NOW YOU CAN SEE A NICE ICE KEY WHICH YOU CAN HAVE FOR FREE"

Banjo-Tooie

Even though Rare dropped the Stop 'n' Swop idea, they decided to add three of the Mystery Eggs and the Ice Key to Banjo-Tooie. Each of these items unlocked a secret in the game.

Ice Key

In Banjo-Tooie, the Ice Key could be found in a cave around the sandy area of Jinjo Village. It unlocks a large Ice Vault that holds the Mega-Glowbo. The Mega-Glowbo can be used in Humba Wumba's wigwam at the entrance of Witchyworld to transform Kazooie into a Dragon.

Pink Mystery Egg

The egg is in Spiral Mountain, in front of the mountain. If you go to Heggy in Wooded Hollow she gives Banjo a new move.

Blue Mystery Egg

It's behind the waterfall in Spiral Mountain. it unlocks the homing eggs cheat in the code chamber at Mayahem Temple

Yellow Mystery Egg

Found in Heggy's House, however must be hatched by Kazooie. It unlocks the Jinjo in Squackmatch multiplayer

Banjo-Tooie (XBLA)

Unlike the original Banjo-Tooie the Stop 'n' Swop items are not available in the game unless they were collected in Banjo-Kazooie (XBLA) in which case the player starts with the items already collected. (The SnS items will be available in Banjo-Kazooie once you have a save file in Banjo-Tooie or Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts. This includes the Nuts and Bolts Demo.) Heggy will hatch all the eggs which will unlock the three awards from the original (Breegull Bash, Jinjo as a multiplayer character and Homing Eggs) along with a gamer pic, a Xbox theme and Stop 'n' Swop II. The Ice Key is still used to access the Mega-Glowbo.

Upon completion of Stop 'n' Swop new blueprints will become available in Nuts & Bolts if the player has L.O.G.'s Lost Challenges.

Trivia

• In Grabbed by the Ghoulies, there is a chalkboard that reads "Collect Ice Key. Collect 4 eggs. Open Secret Level." This has been presumed no more than a way to mock fans, but it is unknown whether it's fake.
• It should be noted that, although only 3 mystery eggs and the ice key were used in Tooie, the Stop 'n' Swop fanfare is played when collecting all 6 eggs along with the key. This could suggest that all 6 eggs were originally planned for use as part of the process.
• Stop 'n' Swop has been mentioned various times in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Bottles pretends to offer the secret of Stop 'n' Swop for 6000 notes (despite the fact that there aren't 6000 notes in the game), but steals your notes and doesn't tell you anything, claiming that he'd have to kill you. Trophy Thomas accuses you of cheating using Stop 'n' swop at one of his challenges. A few mystery eggs and a fake ice key are in Banjoland. Lord of Games asks a question about Stop 'n' Swop during the trivia, asking what failed connection from Banjo-Kazooie to Banjo-Tooie that some fans still won't shut up about was. Paintings of the eggs and an imprint of the Ice Key around Showdown Town and Boggy's Gym could also be found. These will give parts when the eggs are collected in Banjo-Kazooie on the XBOX Live Arcade. (Beacon, Goldfish, Mole-on-a-Pole, Googly Eyes, Fluffy Dice, Flag (2x), & Disco Ball)
• There is an ice key in Banjo's dumpster in Spiral Mountain. (along with Fergy the Fudgehog from Viva Pinata, and some Grabbed by the Ghoulies baddies.
• To to use Stop 'n' Swop items, you would have needed to own both Banjo-Kazooie AND Banjo-Tooie. You had to collect the eggs in Banjo-Kazooie, then switch the game off and insert Banjo-Tooie. Originally, the player would have had ten seconds to swap game cartridges, but due to revisions in the Nintendo 64 hardware, this time was reduced to only one second, and therefore, became impractical.
• Stop 'n' Swop was also mentioned in Banjo-Pilot, as a reward from Cheato. Upon attempt to receive it, he says, "Why don't you STOP annoying me and SWOP this game for a nice book or something?"

thumb|right|300px|A theory of why Stop 'n' Swop was removed.

References

Stop 'n' Swop