The Pumpkin is the fourth standard transformation provided by Mumbo Jumbo in Banjo-Kazooie, obtained in Mad Monster Mansion for twenty Mumbo Tokens. Banjo and Kazooie become a small orange pumpkin with a stalk, large eyes and the familiar blue backpack, replacing their usual attacks and acrobatic moves with simple movement and bouncing jumps. The top lifts away from the body during its jumping animation. Its size lets it pass through holes, pipes and spaces beneath floorboards that the normal duo cannot enter, while protection from thorns and dangerous water helps it explore the mansion grounds. It also survives falls, although enemies can still hurt it and the absence of an attack makes avoiding them important. Mumbo performs the spell at his pad inside the world’s skull-shaped hut; the twenty-token payment is made once, and later changes do not require buying it again. Tokens from earlier worlds count toward the cost, so there is no need to find twenty new ones inside the mansion before visiting him. Prepare useful openings as Banjo and Kazooie first, particularly the upper mansion windows that require an attack to break, since the Pumpkin cannot open those barriers after changing. Its local tasks lead through the gutter, Loggo’s plumbing and a hidden room beneath the floorboards, but its most important journey takes it outside the world. In normal progression, this is the one standard Mumbo form needed to finish the adventure, because it reaches the lair’s enclosed water-level switch. A separate trip through the lava room leads to Cheato. The design also received a licensed First 4 Figures resin statue on a Mumbo-inspired base. In Nuts & Bolts, L.O.G.’s opening demonstration includes turning Gruntilda into a pumpkin; that scene concerns the witch rather than giving Banjo a playable return of this form. Banjoland’s exhibit description for Loggo also recalls Banjo becoming a pumpkin to fit down the toilet.
The Gutter, Loggo and the Mansion’s Hidden Rooms
The narrow passage beside the mansion and hedges provides the Pumpkin’s route toward the upper windows and gutter. Follow the small opening through the hedge and climb the sloping path along its top, then cross onto the ledge running around the building. This approach replaces the normal duo’s climbing and high-jump route with one suited to the Pumpkin’s size. At the gutter opening, drop into the downspout to collect a Jiggy during the descent. Banjo emerges in the basin below, where more Notes can be gathered; the reward is inside the drain rather than lying at the end of an ordinary corridor. For Loggo, return to the upper ledge and enter the bathroom through its previously broken window. Hop onto the toilet’s rim and into the bowl to begin the flushing sequence, which carries the Pumpkin down to the pipes beneath the house. Follow the passage to its Jiggy and collect the Notes and other supplies, avoiding the Whipcracks and snapping Grille Chompas along the route. With no attack to clear them, wait for an opening and move past rather than trying to fight. The bathroom is not the location of the hidden Empty Honeycomb Piece: that collectible lies beneath loose floorboards in a separate upper room opposite it. Enter through that room’s opened window and squeeze into the low gap to reach the piece, which is distinct from the mansion’s other Honeycomb Piece high inside the church. The Pumpkin is also useful in the well reached by the wooden walkway outside. It sinks and can move and jump below the water without the normal duo’s oxygen meter, making it convenient to gather the five interior Notes and reach the Jiggy in the bucket. Steer around the Whipcracks instead of treating the water protection as complete safety. The well is not exclusive to this transformation, however: normal Banjo and Kazooie can enter, swim down for the same reward and use the rope to leave. Other mansion tasks still rely on their usual abilities, including breaking windows and doors, the church’s upper platforming and the route through the chimney to Napper’s table. Finish the Pumpkin’s small-space collection, then return to Mumbo whenever those normal moves are required.
The Coffin Switch and Rusty Bucket Bay
The Pumpkin’s required journey begins outside Mad Monster Mansion in Gruntilda’s Lair. Before changing, use the normal duo to break the iron gate beside the building containing the world entrance. Leaving this barrier intact blocks the later trip because the Pumpkin has no attack with which to remove it. Enter the world, visit Mumbo and become the Pumpkin, then return to the entrance pad to leave while still transformed. Go through the opened gate and follow the path to the small crypt. The hole in its door admits the Pumpkin, but is too small for normal Banjo and Kazooie. Inside, another Mumbo pad lets the pair change back without paying a second twenty-token fee. A Tee-Hee haunts the room, and the restored duo can use Wonderwing to remove it before approaching the coffin. Use Beak Buster on its closed lid in the middle of the chamber. Its lid conceals the white water-level switch; the switch is inside the coffin, not an exposed floor button that the Pumpkin can simply walk over. Press it to raise the water in the later lair rooms, opening the next stage of the route toward Rusty Bucket Bay. The change also makes the approach to that world’s jigsaw area possible, but filling the picture and handling the lair’s other water switches remain separate tasks. Once the coffin switch has been activated, return to Mumbo’s pad inside the crypt and become the Pumpkin again. The Pumpkin is needed once more to fit through the small doorway. Exit through the hole, retrace the path to the graveyard and either return to the mansion or continue toward the nearby lava room for Cheato. Water and fall resistance do not protect it from the hostile gravestones on the surrounding paths.
Reaching Cheato and Activating REDFEATHERS
A second journey outside the mansion takes the Pumpkin to Cheato in the lava-filled cavern containing the Gobi’s Valley jigsaw picture. Leave Mad Monster Mansion while transformed and follow the lair passages back to this room. Look for the narrow winding ledge leading around the cavern toward Brentilda, then follow it carefully to the small tunnel behind her. The normal duo cannot fit through that opening, whereas the Pumpkin can pass into Cheato’s chamber. Its protection from the mansion’s hazardous water should not be mistaken for permission to jump into the lava; keep to the ledge and line up each bend before moving. This is Cheato’s second spellbook location, following the earlier visit reached using the Crocodile. He gives REDFEATHERS, the code that increases the maximum Red Feather supply from fifty to one hundred. Speaking to the book reveals the code but does not itself apply the upgrade. After leaving his chamber, return to Mumbo or travel beyond the spell’s permitted boundary to restore Banjo and Kazooie, then visit Treasure Trove Cove and enter its drained sandcastle. If the pool is still full, first give Leaky two eggs from behind to empty it. Use the normal duo’s Beak Buster to stamp REDFEATHERS on the floor letters and activate the increased capacity. The Pumpkin cannot perform that final letter-stamping step, so carrying the transformation toward Treasure Trove Cove is neither necessary nor a substitute for entering the code. Mumbo’s magic reaches unusually far from the mansion, covering the graveyard, coffin room and return to the Gobi’s Valley picture area; travelling beyond its geographical limit causes the pair to change back. There is no countdown forcing the entire trip to be completed within a few seconds, and stopping on the ledge to position the next jump does not use up a timed supply of magic. The Cheato Codes guide covers the other spellbook locations and inventory upgrades.