Moving Past Nostalgia | Donkey Kong 64 Retrospective

Published on 2020-05-28 | Archived on 2024-09-05

After the success of the Donkey Kong Country Trilogy and Banjo-Kazooie, Rare and Nintendo followed up with a brand-new collectathon platformer for their beloved monkey — Donkey Kong 64. It brought Donkey Kong and his friends into the 3D realm with sprawling worlds, brand new moves, and LOTS and LOTS of collectables, and even today, many consider it a quality game. However, while it received positive reviews at the time of its launch in 1999, in recent years, the game has been heavily derided by fans and critics alike for being bloated and poorly designed. So is Donkey Kong 64 a Rare classic or a giant misstep? Let's find out. #DonkeyKong64 #Rareware #BanjoKazooie
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TIMECODES

00:00 — INTRO

02:13 — DEVELOPMENT

06:33 — STORY

08:05 — GAMEPLAY

17:35 — GAME DESIGN

26:40 — AESTHETHICS

30:07 — PERFORMANCE AND GLITCHES

35:01 — CONCLUSION
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SOURCES/RECOMMENDED READING
IGN: Donkey Kong Swings to 64DD (https://bit.ly/2X749H8)
IGN: Donkey Kong Enforces 4MB (https://bit.ly/2B2K4sW)
IGN: The Beast Is Loose (https://bit.ly/2XFSz4L)
GamesRadar: As Donkey Kong 64 turns 20, the devs reflect on its design, the infamous DK Rap, and how a shocked Shigeru Miyamoto created the Coconut Shooter (https://bit.ly/2BbBUyH)
Nintendo Life: Donkey Kong 64 Devs On Bugs, Boxing And 20 Years Of The DK Rap (https://bit.ly/36EP02Q)
Square Enix Music Online: Interview with Grant Kirkhope (https://bit.ly/2M5lief)
Nintendo Life: Donkey Kong 64 Required Expansion Pak to Prevent Game-Breaking Bug (https://bit.ly/2ZJkZgZ)
theballaam96srl: Was the DK64 Expansion Pak REALLY a failure? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhaOaHHFzLQ)