Crocodile Form

The Crocodile can move through Bubblegloop Swamp’s shallow water without taking the piranha damage that threatens Banjo and Kazooie. That protection changes how the lower parts of the world can be explored: the water between the islands becomes a usable route, and the player can search beneath the raised huts without the time limit of Wading Boots. Notes, Mumbo Tokens and the purple Jinjo in the low-water area are easier to collect this way. The small body also fits through the gap in the fence near Mumbo’s maze, providing a shortcut between his home and the rest of the swamp. The giant crocodile can be entered through either nostril, leading to its interior collection of Notes, a token and Mr. Vile’s arena. The form’s bite supplies its other important ability. Use the attack button to snap its jaws at nearby enemies or edible objects; on Nintendo 64 the attack is B. Buzzbombs and ordinary frogs can be defeated this way, and most normal enemies killed by the bite release two health honeycombs rather than the usual single drop. This can help replenish health before attempting the eating competition. The attack and water resistance still have limits: ordinary enemies can hurt the Crocodile, and Mr. Vile’s punishment remains dangerous. Like Mumbo’s other standard forms, it avoids fall damage, but it does not retain the pair’s full selection of jumps, egg attacks and ground pounds. Tasks such as feeding the Croctuses with eggs, operating Beak Buster switches or reaching the high rafters in Mumbo’s Skull should therefore be handled in the normal form. The bite cannot replace every kind of attack on an obstacle, which becomes particularly important at the ice barrier outside Cheato’s passage. Treat the transformation as a way to search the swamp floor and enter its smaller spaces, then return to Mumbo when a remaining objective needs Kazooie’s abilities.

Mr. Vile waits inside the giant crocodile and addresses the transformed Banjo as Greeny. His competition uses the bite to collect creatures emerging from holes across the arena floor, with separate scores shown for the green and red crocodiles. Each of the three main rounds lasts sixty seconds, and Banjo must finish with a strictly higher score: a tie counts as a loss. The first round contains red Yumblies, so the task is to eat more of them than Mr. Vile before time runs out. The second introduces yellow Grumblies among the reds. Continue collecting Yumblies while avoiding the yellows, since biting a Grumbly causes a disabling reaction that gives the opponent time to gather more food. In the third round both types remain, but the permitted food changes according to the picture at the top of the screen. Watch that indicator as well as the floor; a group of creatures that was correct a moment earlier can become the wrong target after it changes. Eating the wrong type costs time instead of helping the score, making hurried, indiscriminate biting a poor way to recover from falling behind. Move toward clusters of the allowed food and try to take nearby targets before Mr. Vile reaches them, while leaving room to change direction when the indicator switches. Winning the three rounds earns the Jiggy. Losing gives Mr. Vile an opportunity to chase and bite Banjo for two health units, although escaping through a nostril before he catches up can avoid that punishment. Leaving the room resets the competition to its first round, so escaping punishment can also cost progress through the set. Entering the arena with healthy reserves is useful if several attempts are expected. The competition can be won with the Crocodile’s normal movement speed, so it is possible to complete the world’s Jiggy collection before learning the later Running Shoes ability. Players who find the final round difficult can leave it unfinished and return with that additional help.

The Running Shoes, also called Turbo Trainers, provide a temporary speed increase during Mr. Vile’s game once Bottles has taught their use in Gobi’s Valley. Finding the shoes in the arena does not replace learning the move. A useful return route is to finish the swamp’s other accessible tasks, progress far enough through the lair to open Gobi’s Valley, learn the footwear move there and then come back to Mumbo’s Skull in Bubblegloop Swamp. The already purchased transformation remains available, so this return does not require another ten-token payment. As the Crocodile, pick up the shoes inside the giant head and use the faster movement to reach food before Mr. Vile. Their effect expires, making it important to renew it when possible instead of assuming a single pickup lasts through the whole competition. Continue checking the food picture in round three, since moving faster does not protect Banjo from eating the wrong creature. After the Jiggy has been won, Mr. Vile offers a further three-game challenge with three Extra Lives as the prize and a life at risk when he catches a losing player. That rematch is optional and belongs to the extra rewards rather than the original Jiggy requirement. After the bonus set is won, Vile initially refuses to release the prize and flees, requiring Banjo to chase him down to claim the Extra Lives. The reward dispute also gives Banjo dialogue while transformed, using the crocodile’s portrait with his familiar voice. Later in the same adventure, Grunty’s Furnace Fun can send the player back to Mr. Vile’s third game as a timed challenge. The quiz supplies the Crocodile form for that event, so it does not require a fresh trip to Mumbo to buy the spell. The same visual food rule still matters there: follow the creature shown at the top and finish ahead of the red crocodile.

The Crocodile’s other major use lies in Gruntilda’s Lair, beyond Bubblegloop Swamp’s entrance. Prepare the route as Banjo and Kazooie before transforming. After learning Wading Boots, leave the world and use the boots in the surrounding lair area to cross the piranha water and reach the passage behind the swamp entrance. This leads to the snowy room containing the Freezeezy Peak jigsaw picture. Climb the sloping bank and use Beak Buster to break the ice obstruction covering a small hole. The Crocodile can fit through that hole but its bite cannot break the obstruction, so arriving transformed before clearing it forces another journey. Return through the lair water with the boots, enter Bubblegloop Swamp again and visit Mumbo to become the Crocodile. Leave through the level’s entrance pad while still transformed, cross the same piranha water safely and retrace the passage to the snowy puzzle room. Climb the bank and squeeze into the opening cleared earlier. Cheato waits in the chamber beyond it and supplies the BLUEEGGS code. This visit uses the room containing Freezeezy Peak’s picture; opening that world and completing its challenges are separate matters. Speaking to Cheato reveals the code, but its inventory effect must still be activated elsewhere. Restore Banjo and Kazooie, return to Treasure Trove Cove and enter its drained sandcastle. If it is still flooded, deposit two eggs backwards into Leaky on the ledge above it to drain the pool first. Beak Bust the floor letters spelling BLUEEGGS to raise the maximum Blue Egg supply from one hundred to two hundred. The Crocodile cannot perform that letter-stamping step. Its permitted lair range covers the journey from the swamp to Cheato, while heading back toward the earlier central rooms eventually produces Mumbo’s magic warning and changes the pair back. The route therefore uses both forms in a specific order: the normal duo clear the barrier, the Crocodile reaches the spellbook, and the normal duo enter the code. The separate Cheato Codes guide covers the other spellbook visits and their rewards.