![]() DK64 provided a heck of a lot of bang for its buck. I’d love to see DK64 re-released, or better yet, see a new 3D platformer featuring Donkey Kong. It scratches a certain itch that many of today’s releases don’t. It’s meaty, deep, and unrelenting, expecting a certain amount of commitment from the player for the whole thing to coalesce and be appreciated. DK64 is the equivalent of War and Peace in the video game world. At the same time, though, it began to grow on me the more I played. I appreciate the diversity (scurrilous developers would probably try to sell half of these moves as DLC if they’d made the game and released it today), but combined with everything else to do and see, my head started to swim before too long. There’s a ton of different button combinations for the Kongs, which allows them to jump, high jump, use an instrument-based weapon, lob grenades, and more. Rare had little sense of restraint when developing DK64, and that included designing the characters themselves. Bananas, Golden Bananas, Crystal Coconuts, Banana Coins, Banana Medals, the Boss Key, Watermelons, Orange Grenades, Headphones, Banana Camera Film, and Blueprints are all part of the collect-a-thon, and taking things a step further, there are color-coded versions for each Kong! It’s almost maddening, trying to find and gather everything. For all the quality on display, as I made my way from level to level what I came to realize is that there’s just too much stuff to gather. Level and enemy design is also very classic Rare. For an old N64 game, it’s still an impressive sight. The lighting, though, is a notch above either of those two games. The graphics are as vivid and pretty as I remember, though not quite up to the level of Banjo-Kazooie or Tooie (to be fair, it’s probably because the bulk of the game’s memory is dedicated to the gigantic amount of places to go and things to do!). The DK Rap is also worth a shout out I almost forgot that this was the game where it originated! Rare was always known for its irreverent humor, and DK64 is funny as ever. It also never made sense to me to get rid of Dixie– she was as classic as Diddy, as far as I was concerned! Still, there are plenty of other Kongs who made their way back, like Cranky and Funky, who are always welcome sights. Outside of Donkey and Diddy, though, I never liked any of the new Kongs that were introduced. There are five Kongs to play as (Donkey, Tiny, Diddy, Lanky, and Chunky), each with their own distinct move sets and collectibles. Rare knew how to keep players on point, though, and I quickly started launching back into the core gameplay. I spent a good chunk of time exploring everywhere that I could, and though I was curious to see what was around the corner, I also felt a little listless. As a kid when I first played the game, I don’t remember being as overwhelmed as I felt playing the game now. Rool’s own mechanical island floating right next to it. The central hub of DK Isles is large and surrounded by a vast expanse of water, with King K. Playing DK64 again, it was clear why the game needed it the cartridge is stuffed with content. It was intended to improve the capabilities of the system, and actually came bundled with Donkey Kong 64 (the game wouldn’t even run without it). The Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak was a 4MB memory expansion device that inserted into the top of the console under a small cover. Plugging the game back in for the first time in years, it was interesting to go back and rediscover its secrets. Though Rare had already taken a shot at the 3D platformer with Banjo-Kazooie, the developer still had plenty of ideas left to mine and make Donkey Kong 64 its own game. 3D was decidedly “in,” so DK was going to have to adapt to the times. After a trilogy of 2D platformers in the form of the Donkey Kong Country trilogy for SNES, when it came time for DK to bow on Nintendo 64, Rare went back to the drawing board. That phrase always comes to my mind when I think of Donkey Kong 64.
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