DKC Atlas Forum

[Qyzbud]

DK64 was a game I had been looking forward to ever since I heard of the N64, but in my eyes, it failed to deliver plenty of things the DKC series was all about. Let's share our thoughts on the positive and... less positive aspects of DK's 3D adventure/collect-a-thon.

So as not to appear too negative, I'll start with some good points about DK64:

Strengths

• Thankfully, Rare remembered to include primates and bananas in the game
• The bosses were quite cool, especially compared to the many notoriously easy/boring ones featured in the DKCs.
• Koshas - the little crocs with BIG clubs! A nod to Kutlass, perchance?
• Klobbers - they are possibly the coolest thing in the whole game, and gave DK64 a little DKC2 essence

And now, what I really made this topic for...

Failings:

Gameplay has always been the main thing I've been impressed with in the DKC games, but DK64 was a huge let-down. The quick, responsive control and action-packed gameplay was lost, and we were left with slow and floaty characters with the lumbering agility of real world gorillas. Don't get me wrong; I'm incredibly fond of real gorillas, but they don't make for very stimulating gameplay...

Graphics were arguably the biggest reason for DKC's fame around its release, and Banjo-Kazooie was graphically beautiful, but somehow Rare seemed to put less attention to quality and detail into DK64's textures and character/terrain models. The over-sized levels are possibly a culprit here - technical limitations and time constraints being among my guesses for the reasons. For a game that required the N64 expansion pack, I sure wasn't impressed by the result.

The music of DK64 wasn't dreadful - in fact, I think it would have been well suited to the Banjo series (which has plenty of music I adore) - but it certainly didn't fit with my preconception of how a successor to the DKC trilogy ought to sound. There were too many cheery/cheesy melodies, and, just as disappointingly, there was more or less a complete lack of environmental ambience. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the impression I got, and the memories I keep.


So that's the start of my list of 'failings', and a few positives for good measure. There are many, many more good and bad points about DK64, and I'll post some more soon, but I'm sure there are others here who have a burning desire to share their thoughts, too...

What do you see as DK64's greatest strengths/failings?

edit: Feel free to share your thoughts on the strange/interesting aspects of the game, too.

[Gnawzooka]

I'm yet to get this game (I definitely WON'T be obtaining it illegally...) but indeed from what i've seen and heard, it seems to me that it lacks the feel that DKC had. I'm not even sure if I want to get it actually (but if I do, not illegally, of course).

[Kowbrainz]

I started a let's play of Starfox Adventures the other day for the hell of it and in one part ranted on about this game. I think one of the things I really hated was how the developers would get lazy and rather than design different challenges for all the kongs, they'd waste a good deal of the 200 bananas in the game by repeating the same task over and over. There's a good deal of tasks which will need to be repeated with each of the kongs for five separate bananas when one or two would have been fine. Think the game could have been condensed down to 100 or so bananas if they didn't do this, and if they allowed each banana to be collected by anyone so that the only thing preventing one kong from taking another's bananas was the difference in techniques (i.e. if you needed Diddy's jet barrel to get to an area for a banana or something).

Good example is the Krack Shot Kroc temple in Angry Aztec - each kong is required to enter, and each will get a banana from it. Some have minigame tasks within the temple to complete, whereas others simply need to pick it up when they find it inside. Think about it though - that's a waste of 2% of the game's bananas already, on one task alone!

[DK4Ever]

The only thing I have to say about DKC, was that I felt the repetition of ideas (Krackshot Kroc, Repeated minigames, etc., plus a couple bosses) was bothersome.

Apart from that, I LOVED this game. For the N64, the graphics were absolutely beautiful, on par, possibly surpassing (In terms of effects and such) what Banjo-Kazooie brought a year earlier.

I LOVE collection games. DK64 was full of this, and I also loved going back to each level and seeing all the different parts that were previously inaccessible (Chunky's section of Angry Aztec, and the underground area of Jungle Japes.)

Finishing Snide's blueprint was fun, and I liked the 101% (Or was it 103%) ending?

And I personally feel the music was great. In Jungle Japes, Hideout Helm, Frantic Factory, and especially Fungi Forest's boss.wow.

I loved Lanky when I first saw him, he was a great character, and added something different to a game like this (Running on his hands, brilliant!)

And I really thought the final battle against K. Rool was great.

[Kowbrainz]

Apart from that, I LOVED this game. For the N64, the graphics were absolutely beautiful, on par, possibly surpassing (In terms of effects and such) what Banjo-Kazooie brought a year earlier.

...wut? The graphics in DKC were better than those of DK64. DK64 was far too big so they actually had to cut back with their textures in the game, so it's probably closer to those used in Super Mario 64 than Banjo. Banjo and Conker had the best visuals on the N64.

Finishing Snide's blueprint was fun, and I liked the 101% (Or was it 103%) ending?

How can you like the 101% ending? There wasn't even a character parade, just a silly cutscene with horrible humour. The fact that this terrible humour was coming from Rare of all people (come on, look at the jokes in Tooie for goodness sake!) was just painful, to be honest. :/

For those who haven't seen the ending yet, be the judge and watch below (obvious spoiler warning). Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. I just couldn't see why this would be a good reward for collecting all 201 bananas in the game. Not worth the effort, personally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZihf09JkLU

[Qyzbud]

I didn't think to put this in my first post, but a major plus for DK64 was the original Donkey Kong and Jetpac being included - that was awesome! The tight gameplay and crisp 8-bit graphics were certainly a breath of fresh air after playing the main game.

Kowz, I agree with you about the graphics; DK64 had the blandest visuals of all of Rare's later N64 titles. Banjo's and Conker's games were phenomenal to look at, and Jet Force Gemini was also impressive on so many levels... and all of these were just using the N64's standard hardware. It seemed like a very awkward step backwards when I played DK64. I kept waiting to be impressed, and (apart from the fight/s with Dragon Fly/Dogadon) it never happened.

I actually never saw the game's ending... in fact, I played the battle with K. Rool once or twice, died as Chunky when K. Rool turned invisible, and haven't bothered to play again since then. So although I was mere moments from doing so - I haven't completed DK64. I mean, I wanted to finish the adventure, but I just lost interest after so many hours of tedious tasks and sloppy gameplay. I ended up seeing the 101% ending on YouTube (as linked above), and I wasn't impressed by the stilted attempts at humour, either.

All 'round, DK64 fell well below my expectations, and the high bar which Rareware had set for themselves.

[Jomingo]

I think we see a pattern with Rare's franchises. Rare does a good job of making a series, but when it comes time to take it to the next level, they are already bored with the series and fumble it.

They did it with Donkey Kong. The DKC's were great, but they were ready to move on to other series, and the fans still wanted a 3D installment. Instead of taking the time to give the fans what they wanted, they threw it together as if they were tired of the original trilogy.

And now they did it with Banjo. They did good with the first two, but they were pretty much done with the characters. But the fans weren't, and after however many years of being begged for a 3rd installment, they decided to just throw Banjo into another game they were working on just to keep the fans off their backs. I have no doubt in my mind that Nuts and Bolts will be amazing, but you can tell it wan't Rare's intentions to make another Banjo game.


As for DK64, I only played it for a few hours like 8 years ago, but no matter how many negative complaints people give I'm still going to buy it. I know I probably won't enjoy it, but you can't deny how much new stuff and new characters were introduced in that game. Being a die-hard DK fan I can't stand it when people are talking about something I have no idea about, and thus I have to beat DK64 if I truly want to understand the series as a whole.

Also, about DK64's graphics, I agree that Banjo and Conker look better, but I think I know why they still required an expansion pak. I read somewhere that DK64 using an advanced lighting technique, and that's why it need the expansion. The polygons and textures and stuff was still sub-par though.

[swoopysalvo]

I beat DK64 yesterday 101% and I loved it. I can even say that it is my new favorite Donkey Kong game. Even one of my favorite video games ever. I collected 101% of the bananas for the same reason I play all video games to accomplish something and get the fun of doing those tasks. Not to see some ending thouh I do enjoy the 101% ending. Yes the game had flaws(just a few in my eyes) but it is true that all video games have flaws no game is perfect.

The music was outstanding and great for this game. The characters showed more personality then ever in this game(and to be honest I'll throw in that I prefer any if not all three of these kongs alongside Donkey and Diddy then Dixie. These five were cool and hilarious and are better then the three. Yeah I know Dixie worshippers will want me dead now but anyway.). I like the animations for when you leave them idle and them in the tag barrel. The minecart rides with Donkey, Diddy, and Chunky. Oh and I like to point out that Snide was awesome in this game. I was thinking about many characters in many other series who help you defeat the bad guy because they have their own score to settle, want to redeem their selves ect.. Snide was a character who built the thing that was gonna blow up the island. He doesn't regret building it. He is just sore that K. Rool fired him when it was near completion.

Also the worlds take after from some of the DKC levels. Like the Jungle Japes(classic jungle stages), Angry Aztec( ancient temple stages), Frantic Factory(factory stages), Gloomy Galleon(underwater stages) ect.

And the final battle and ending was awesome. Every Kong did their share of K. Rool beating and knocked him out(the "unbiased" kremling time keepers made sure he didn't lose though until the final round). Many people complain that Donkey Kong should have finished the match and not Chunky Kong. I personally disagree. I think that Chunky being the powerhouse of the group was a better choice and besides we already had the option of taking out K. Rool with DK in DKC. With Chunky being the more lighthearted of the Kongs and a newcomer to beating K. Rool he never knew about the fact that K. Rool always gets up eventually giving Candy and Funky an opputinity to save his skin. The ending sequence was awesome as well. Diddy flirting with Candy, Tiny and Chunky playing together, and Cranky patting a sleeping DK on his head and giving him a thumbs up before waking him up abruptly. And the first part of the 101% ending with Candy, Chunky, Tiny, Diddy, Lanky and Donkey riding a swimming K. Lumsy in the sunset was priceless. The outtake endings were awesome too.

Overall this is my new favorite game.

[Kowbrainz]

I half agree with what you're trying to say, Jomingo; I mean I'm not sure that pattern is completely sound, but I do think that the product of DK64 was largely because of the large pressure to produce something which was up to standard with everything else on the N64, and which wasn't left behind in the SNES era. I think that I would have loved to have seen a DKC4 game which worked like the Crash Bandicoot games; 3D rendering but linear levels which would either be side scrolling or pseudo 3 dimensional (you know, the areas of the Crash games where you go forward or back towards the screen and can move left and right along a large path as you do so). Seeing DK64 go the same way as Banjo and Super Mario 64 was a bit saddening.

I don't believe the new Banjo game was simply to throw fans off Rare's back, though. I agree that Banjo would have been slotted into another game's idea, but that was largely because they needed something to sell the product - Perfect Dark Zero got a huge amount of sales because it was overhyped by the success of the last game, yet it wasn't that good of a game. Viva, Kameo and Ghoulies, on the other hand, didn't sell well because they were new IPs and people weren't sure what to make of them. Yet they all received decent reviews in one form or another. Nuts and Bolts wasn't likely to get anywhere on its own. Rare wanted to make a new Banjo game, but they needed something new to make it revolutionary, rather than just throwing out a new platformer like the first two which would only really sell to the older fans.

[Jomingo]

Yeah, a crash bandicoot-esque DK64 would've been great! Crash bandicoot was fun, and there were still a lot of parts where the camera angle turned to become more of a sidescroller. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Crash bandicoot was meant to be like DKC but 3D. The Wumpa fruits replaced bananas, the crates replaced barrels, the Crystals replaced DK coins, Tauwna was like Candy, Coco was like Dixie, they had animal buddies, etc, etc. The list is endless.

[Kowbrainz]

If you're going to use those comparisons to make it seem like it was inspired by DKC, then practically any platformer could be compared to DKC and said to have been 'inspired' by it. Saying Crash was inspired by DKC is a bit of a stretch; the banana and wumpa fruit systems used in each have been around since the original Super Mario Bros (i.e 100=extra life). Crystals were just an extra to promote players to go back and play levels again, and unlike in DKC it wasn't always possible to collect them all in one trip through a level. Crates were also a large part of the completion side of Crash, too, whereas in DKC they were used as weaponry.

They're both platformers. You can look for similarities where you like and say that one was inspired by the other, but generally if you have two or more games within one genre there's going to be a lot of similarities between the games whether the developer likes it or not.

[Swing King]

Hmm, DK64 was fun. I think it's strengths were,
-Gloomy Galleon gave it a bit of DKC2 feeling that I loved. Which is odd considering I didn't enjoy DKC2 as much as the 1st and 3rd.
-Angry Aztec gave me what I always wanted in a DK game, A temple world.
-Tiny and Chunky were in this game.
-The music. I LOVE the opening theme and the DK Isles Theme.
Now it's failings were,
-201 golden Bananas.
-Different colored bananas.
-Dixie and Kiddy were not in this game.

Oh, and Lanky is awesome.

[Kowbrainz]

Yeah, different coloured bananas were definitely not cool. There's poor platforming for you - when your pickups are restricted by their colour and not the abilities you have to get to them.

[swoopysalvo]

I thought the multi-colored bananas were a great touch to the game. Even though it wasn't nessesary I collected them all. They also told you which character should be exploring which area.

[Kowbrainz]

^ Oh no they didn't! It wasn't uncommon for one character to have a certain puzzle in one area, but several banana balloons or banana bunches for another character in that same area, even if it was such an out of place area to get to. Stuff like that is just silly; you shouldn't need to go back into some small insignificant area with another different character just so you can grab 10 bananas or so from shooting one of their balloons.

[Tiptup Jr.]

I liked this game. Its many glitches and large-breasted characters make me smile. Also, I thought the music was pretty great.

[Swing King]

The music was cool, Candy's innuendos are funny, and K.Rool's voice and the final battle were extremely cool

[swoopysalvo]

^ Oh no they didn't! It wasn't uncommon for one character to have a certain puzzle in one area, but several banana balloons or banana bunches for another character in that same area, even if it was such an out of place area to get to. Stuff like that is just silly; you shouldn't need to go back into some small insignificant area with another different character just so you can grab 10 bananas or so from shooting one of their balloons.

And you don't need to. In the final banana collecting stage there are 100 bananas you don't need. Most of the bananas are in your path anyway so it's not a hard task. I'm the kind of guy that likes to do everything so what I did was get them all and it wasn't as hard as some people make it out to be.

[Phyreburnz]

I, personally, was disappointed with Funky Kong's character. I never understood how a laid-back surfer could become an army commando. Funky's character in the DKCs is the polar opposite of DK 64's. I'm sure a lot of people probably disagree with me, but I could never make any sense out of it.

[Chaquan]

I think the things I really do not like is how the development will be lazy, but not all kongs different design challenges, they will be wasted repeating the same task over and over again in the game to 200 bananas a good agreement....

Buy RS Gold,Rift Platinum,Rift Plat← links removed

[Katzii]

Okay, is this a really elaborate spambot posting here?

Anyway, I have to say I wasn't fond of DK64, but maybe my fault in it was not getting it around release, but getting it only a couple of years ago. The levels are far too big (I got lost in the first one for about two hours before getting a migraine), and I found the controls needlessly complex for some reason.

[Chibisai Kong]

Candy's bazookas.

Are they ENCOURAGING boys to like girls a lot more than they should???????

[Tiptup Jr.]

I'm not sure what you mean by "a lot more than they should". They're um, supposed to. Also the following spoiler tag is not really a spoiler, it just contains large text:

Spoiler!

Bumping this slightly to say that I'm motherflipping SICK AND TIRED of every God-damn person in the Donkey Kong fandom hating on this game (DK64). It's effing cliche to the point of being tiresome. We get it, we get it, you hate exploring and the fact that it's actually a challenge to complete this game with 101%. But you know what, this game has some effing GOOD QUALITIES AND ATMOSPHERE and was a very large part of my childhood, so I'm just sick of everyone making fun of it and knocking it for no reason. I know most people here who say bad stuff about it will give a reason or two, but most of the time you just b...*bleep*...ch for the sake of bitching. Not every game has to be effing Ocarina of Time. Sorry if this seems random, just venting. Also no hard feelings to anyone; this topic itself has seen pretty reasonable posts, I'm just referring to other places on here, the DKU, and elsewhere where I have seen this game made fun of completely out of the blue.

ARGH.

[Jomingo]

Tiptup, you need to chill down a notch. I might just be imagining things, but I feel like more people recently have been admitting they like the game than they used to. I also tend to notice that younger people (maybe those that started off with the N64 generation rather than the SNES or NES) tend to like it better, and since they're posting online now they defend the game more than it used to be defended.

I personally love a few of the things the game did, and loathe a few others. First of all, when you first start the game it is super exciting. The opening cinematic with the Squawks' and the Clappers is awesome, and then you pick up in your Treehouse with the banana hoard cave and everything. Also, the graphics look sick for the time. Truly impressive. Compare DK's model in here to his model in Super Smash Bros. N64. Seriously, it's a good looking game. From there though, there are a few issues. I don't mind a game being hard to finish, but there's a difference between well designed difficulty, and difficulty because of poor design. DKC2 has well designed difficulty. It's hard to complete 102%, but it's hard because of how much skill and practice it takes. DK64 on the other hand is hard simply because you have to redo practically everything you do five times. That's not well designed difficulty, that's laziness and it's tedious, and it hurts what's otherwise a pretty solid game. I like the big open world's of 3D games, but I don't like having to back track through them over and over and over (and over and over) again. Still, I plan to finally finish it someday if I can get a hold of the game and expansion pack for a decent price (no luck so far).

[Phyreburnz]

I really REALLY liked Dogadon and I loved K. Rool's voice. K. Rool's voice alone kinda made me wish for a Donkey Kong movie! I loved the Creepy Castle area, but I think they could have had a few more things to make it cooler (like in DKC 2, in the background they have the Kremling heads with flames... stuff like that). I wish that Rare made the Kremlings (and K. Rool) smarter.

[Ribbedebie]

I really don't hate DK64, I mean, it's amazing, has a amazing amount of atmosphere and little details, and it has playable Krusha, what more could a fangirl want? Of course, it's different from the originals, but overall, it has a certain charm that a lot of modern games lack.

I, too, played this game in my childhood, and I remember that it used to be one of my favourites back then. Now, it's still an awesome game...

[Gaz]

Three years later & someone else is giving their input [me]; DK64 is a great game with a lot of potential. However, it does have its flops. First I'm going to list the good:

There are five playable Kongs: DK, Diddy, Tiny, Lanky and Chunky. Chunky is my personal favorite, because he's funny & cute. There's also K. Lumsy, another character I like. I also like how all five are supplied with shooters by Funky. I especially like how they fire food (or feathers). The boss fights are good, except for King Kut Out. I also like that the game has seven big worlds with unique terrain. Exploring in the worlds is fun, and it really FEELS like an adventure. Those are the highlights for me. Unfortunately, I seem to remember the bad easier, but the good & bad luckily counteract.

I don't like how you race against the Racing Rabbit twice. It's really cheap when he only gives you three Banana Bunch Coins for beating him on the first race. I think that is poor sportsmanship on his side. I don't think badly of it, though. I also don't like how he is strapped to a TNT Barrel in Crystal Caves. I know the Rabbit probably made many players rage-quit, but Rareware probably joking by strapping the poor thing up changes their company name to Unfairware. To compensate, Chunky must rescue it from walking flames with shades (slightly related to Fryguy from Super Mario Bros. 2). That makes me happy inside.

The Bonus Barrel minigames are bad. Period. Rare should have just made them like DKC2's and DKC3's minigames, but with a 3-D environment. Minecart Madness is the worst of the bunch. It's entirely horrendous and terrible. Beaver Bother is slightly better because Klaptrap is the playable character, albeit that minigame stinks itself.

Those are only a few examples. It's too much effort to vivisect the whole game into a whole post of good & bad. But I got the main points down.

[Ribbedebie]

A few years later and here I am again! I've recently been replaying the game and wanted to add my two cents.

First off, the game knows what it's doing. The aesthetic is there, and it's fun and beautiful. The Kongs show tons of personality mostly by body language, and being forced to switch them out a lot is barely a bad thing because they all have their fun little quirks. The environments, while a bit big and barren sometimes, have a lot of atmosphere, especially the lighting is noteworthy. The soundtrack helps a lot too, it's very memorable and I think it's on par with Banjo-Kazooie's.

I don't really have many complaints. Sure, there's a lot of padding and artificial length, but with the quirky characters and beautiful environments, I consider this hardly a punishment. Even if the minigames tend to be repeated a bit much, beating them is always a bit of an accomplishment.

I'm not a fan of that DK arcade, though. Beating it once with one life is hard enough, and then again for that blasted coin... Cranky would laugh at me, I'm sure!

[ProfessionalUsername]

15 years.

1999-2014 I tried my darndest to like this game.

In the DKC games, it felt like an adventure, with plenty of danger to overcome. In DK64, it all feels like you're going from one empty world to the next casually picking up bananas along the way.

I like idea that has been suggested, about going the crash bandicoot route (crash was inspired by donkey kong country, according to the two creators of Naughty Dog and Crash Bandicoot)

What could be truly bodacious is if 3 different kongs had their own adventure that would tie together by the end. Donkey Kong for one, Diddy for another, Dixie for 3rd. Maybe have the game start off with Donkey, complete the first world with him, 2nd world is Diddy, 3rd is Dixie, at end of 3rd Donkey and Dixie meet up allowing for player to switch between them for 4th world, something happens to Donkey, Diddy comes in reunites with Dixie for 5th world, 6th world we meet up with Donkey who has met a new kong friend for the 6th world, 7th world all 4 of them, 8th and final world Diddy and Donkey

Something that just provides a greater sense of adventure and urgency.

One thing I did like about DK64 was both the factory and castle world. Both felt like an adventure, where there was a great sense of danger, and you were never sure where each path would lead next.


July 11th, 2015 edit:

The past couple of days my mind's been sparking about of the "could'a beens" of Donkey Kong. I just jotted down this loose idea, going in with the mindset that it's 2004, 10th anniversary, haven't had a new Donkey Kong game since '96....



Donkey Kong Country: Legend of Kong Island

3D environments in a linear path

Diddy has gone missing, follow his fallen bananas to find him, find him, he's looking into an ancient secret of the island that may involve treasure and discovery of some forgotten Kong history


World 1- Set in first world of first game, different path, and in 3D. First level is just like the first level of first game, but a 3D perspective, some new enemies, and Dixie rather Diddy.

2nd level branches a new path

3rd has similarities of 3rd level, possibly indicating its right next door to where 3rd level was. Different layout, similar atmosphere

Etcetera etcetera


2nd world finds you exploring the lower south region of the island, sort of behind where the first world is located in first game. Perhaps some swamp, a little further you're on a beach with a tropical feel?

3rd world back in the jungle, on the low end of the island, where strange things are appearing and happening

By end of 3rd world you obtain Mr. Diddy as an optional partner.

4th world you enter a massive ancient cave, said to be forbidden, possibly the mouth or side of mouth of Donkey's big stone head.

5th world you find yourself on the back part of the island, where a storm is brewing/taking place on this/around this cove, where a few sunken pirate ships stick out of the water

6th world they find themselves ascending the side of a rough, rigid mountain, where strange things grow even stranger

At end of 6th world, Dixie is captured, leaving just Donkey and Diddy

7th world, an ancient, decayed area full of relics and strange happenings. Leading to Dixie, alongside the lost hidden treasure of Kong island (a treasure trove of bananas!)

Final boss looks to be a member of the Kong family, yet as a ghost, and vengeful terror in the eyes. Each 3 Kongs get a chance at him. 4 back-and-forths between each Kong. First Donkey, then he gets knocked, then Diddy, then Dixie. After 12 blows, seems the spirit is defeated, yet his head remains, as he now casts the both of you, and the other Kongs, in a warped, changing landscape as his head floats on, with Diddy and Donkey recovered, taking him on. After 4 tries, Diddy and Dixie, after another 4, Dixie and Donkey, with all 3 doing just 2 more blows to win. 26 total strikes to defeat enemy, with game saving once you reach that halfway point... maybe

[Chibisai Kong]

Other than a few of the bananas being ridcously hard to obtain ((even as a near-20-year-old whose played the game for years)), and the ever-enraging way of obtaining the Nintendo Coin, I have very few problems with DK64. I've loved it for years, and other than what I've mentioned, I hate very little of it.

I will never and HAVE never understood why people hate it so badly. I realize people have their reasons, but it just confuses me.

[Gaz]

I will never and HAVE never understood why people hate it so badly. I realize people have their reasons, but it just confuses me.

I agree that it's unnecessary to hate Donkey Kong 64 (any video game to be honest; hate is an extreme word). However, Qyzbud explains what he finds disappointing (and good) about the game in the first post. Others have explained why they dislike the game as well. I can see where they come from, the collecting-stuff gimmick is overused, the races with the beetle and rabbit were, let's say, bad. Beaver Bother and Minecart Mayhem are awful minigames (although I liked having played as Klaptrap in the former; Minecart Mayhem is plain terrible and useless).

Based on your post, I figure you're nostalgic about Donkey Kong 64, Chibisai Kong, which many people are. A lot like/love it but some dislike it. The people who like/love the game (luckily for you) outnumbers the people who dislike/hate the game. I think that Donkey Kong 64 is undeserving of harsh criticism (any game can have their flaws discussed, even the original DKC, but harsh talk is too far). Games such as the ones reviewed by the Angry Video Game Nerd are more deserving of harsh criticism, if not are worth it (but it would have to really, really suck, be a near-identical ripoff, and have been only made for a quick buck).

But overall, I like Donkey Kong 64. Not love like Rareware's other DK titles, but just like. The best addition was probably the fruit-shooting weapons of the Kongs. It made them look totally cool. They originally looked like real guns in the beta, but I'm glad that got changed—the wooden guns are much more DK-y.

(Also, I may have not mentioned this but as disappointing as Dixie and Kiddy's exclusion from the game is, I think their respective siblings were good additions to the Kong Family and the game. I will say though that Tiny and Dixie are very similar, but I still like both.)

[riki2321gamer]

I recently replayed this game for the sake of old times and honestly I didn't feel like it was THAT bad in terms of collectables and things, sure, some levels felt like a major slog to play through (Gloomy Galleon, anyone?) but this game probably has some of the most fun minigames in the DK(C) series I've seen so far, mosty the minecart ones, among other things. It was my first time replaying it in years, didn't feel it to be that boring and I beat it with only 105 golden bananas.

The sound design in this game was honestly one of my favorite parts. I love how marvelous it sounds despite it's mostly comical feeling, the music was great to get you going and I think grant outdid himself with this game (like he did with all of his 64 games he worked on.. either way). Only problem is that some of the parts really went over the board with sound and it would get too loud, but you can lower the volume in the settings anyways.

The only real problem in this game is the camera and the framerate drops. The camera is jumpy most of the times or rotates too often, when you're walking on tightropes or anything that is bound to make you fall the camera really shows how bad it can be. Frame rate dropping didn't happen as often for me (is it me, or real hardware runs this game better than emulators?) but it was also an annoying thing, when there were the enemies throwing the orange bombs and they would just slow the game down to a crawl. Graphics aged really well if you play it on the console. Upscaling makes it look ugly.

It's a good game honestly. I don't know why people hate it (to the point where some people say it killed the collectathon genre), it has it's problems, but it's pretty good aside that.

[Super Luigi!]

I could talk about DK64 for many hours, but I agree with your points about Gloomy Galleon and playing on real hardware. For the former, I'd say it's a bit of a mess, because Rare now had to design a level where all five Kongs should be unlocked, and for the latter, I think that's because Rare accounted for the N64's lag when making the game. Therefore, when you play on different hardware that doesn't lag, the game can seem off. On the bright side, however, modern hardware fixes Beaver Bother, so that's something.

I don't know what else to say right now, but I love just walking around in this game, and the music at times is very atmospheric.

[WesternTanager794]

I recently found this great video analyzing DK64!

Also, I think the music is good, for DK64. Dave Wise might have done a better job with it. Not that Grant Kirkhope did a bad job. I just feel like it lacked some of my favorite signature Dave Wise atmosphere.

[Super Luigi!]

Those are quite lengthy videos, Tanager. I may not reply here after I watch them, but I'll check them out. Thanks for sharing them.

[WesternTanager794]

You’re welcome, Super Luigi!