Donkey Kong 64
Encyclopedia
Donkey Kong 64 is a platform game
, developed by Rare and published
by Nintendo
for the Nintendo 64
. It was released in North America on November 24, 1999 and in Europe on December 6, 1999. The game is a follow up to the Donkey Kong Country
trilogy on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
. Many of the levels are based on levels from the original 3 DKC games, such as the mine carts and the bonus stages. Donkey Kong 64 follows the adventures of Donkey Kong and four of his simian relatives as they try to win back their hoard of Golden Bananas and banish King K. Rool. Players can control all five Kongs in eight individual levels as well as a greater worldmap, a multiplayer mode, and several minigames.
Donkey Kong 64 was the first game to require the Expansion Pak, which provides 4 MB more RAM for enhanced graphics and more expansive environments (the only other game to require the Expansion Pak for any gameplay whatsoever was The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
; all others were optional with the exception of Perfect Dark
s limited gameplay). Donkey Kong 64 went on to become a Nintendo 64 Player's Choice
title. For reasons unknown, this is one of the only Donkey Kong games not to be available on the Virtual Console
. Rare mentioned on their Twitter
account that they do not own the rights to the game, but Nintendo does.
adventure with strong platforming links, similar to that of Super Mario 64
and Banjo-Kazooie
. There are a total of five playable Kongs, each with unique (and upgradeable) abilities. The player starts out with access to Donkey Kong only, then goes on to unlock each of the other four Kongs as part of the gameplay (in the order of Diddy, Lanky or Tiny, and then Chunky). Unlocking all 5 Kongs is necessary to defeat character-specific bosses in each level. There are a total of 7 areas (subtracting the DK Isles, the overworld for the game and Hideout Helm): Jungle Japes, Angry Aztec, Frantic Factory, Gloomy Galleon, Fungi Forest, Crystal Caves, and Creepy Castle. Each new Kong that is freed can be accessed as playable through tag barrels that are scattered throughout each world. Additionally, each Kong is represented by a color which works alongside the game's unique collecting system where objects such as bananas and coins can only be collected by the Kong who has that color on the object. The colors are as follows: Yellow for Donkey Kong, Red for Diddy, Purple for Tiny, Blue for Lanky, and Green for Chunky.
Each playable Kong has several different collectables within the game. First and foremost are the Golden Bananas. There are five Golden Bananas per Kong in every level that only that specific character can get. (One Golden Banana per Kong per level can be collected by delivering the color-appropriate blueprint to Snide after getting them from the Kasplats.) The Golden Bananas are used as payment to get past B.Lockers that guard the entrance to every new level.
Each character can also find 100 color-appropriate bananas per level - single bananas, bunches of 5, or balloons to be popped that are worth 10. The regular bananas are necessary to unlock boss fights and acquire Boss Keys. There are eight boss keys in all (though seven of the eight are actually obtained via defeating the area's boss). Boss Keys in turn are used to free K.Lumsy, who in his excitement often unlocks new levels to be completed.
A third important thing to collect is character-specific colored coins. With these coins, each Kong is allowed to buy essential combat items: Cranky Kong's special ability potions, Funky Kong's guns, and Candy Kong's musical instruments (as well as upgrades of the same). All of these skills and supplies are necessary to complete the game, either just by killing enemies or because of specific pads and switches that needed to be activated.
Two single items of grave importance later in the game are the Nintendo and Rare(ware) Coins, that can be obtained in classic games in the game. 15 Banana Medals, which are obtained when a Kong gathers 75 of the 100 regular bananas each can get, will allow the player to play Jetpac to get the Rareware Coin. The Nintendo Coin can only be found in the game's third area, Frantic Factory, with Donkey Kong, by playing the original Donkey Kong Arcade game and winning twice (first for the Golden Banana, and second for the Nintendo Coin).
Other items to be collected are ammunition for guns, orange grenades (usable by all 5 Kongs, and rather self-explanatory), Crystal Coconuts, used to fuel Cranky's special abilities, film for taking banana fairy pictures, and headphones scattered in each level to restore the instruments' powers that Candy gives each Kong.
Other characters include Cranky Kong who sells the Kongs various new moves via his potions, Funky Kong, who sells them guns, Snide the weasel, who had formerly been King K. Rool's henchman before he was fired and thus collects blueprints for the Kongs, and Candy Kong, who supplies the Kongs with musical instruments. Some other notable characters are K. Lumsy, who opens up levels, Squawks, who points things out, brings you Golden Bananas when his attention is attracted, and can carry Tiny to new heights. There is also a Banana Fairy Queen, who requests that the Kongs rescue her citizens and in exchange teaches the Kongs an invincible technique. Collecting Banana Fairies unlocks many new options outside of one-player mode, including cheats.
Rambi and Engaurde appear in the game. Donkey Kong can turn into Rambi the Rhino in Jungle Japes. He can batter into objects and immediately kill any enemy. Lanky Kong can turn into Engaurde the Swordfish in Gloomy Galleon. He can swim at high speeds, leap out of the water, and strike with his "sword".
The game has several antagonists as well. The main villain is the Kong's main antagonist, King K. Rool, who tries to destroy DK Isle. The level's bosses are Army Dillo (a heavily-armoured armadillo who is the boss of Jungle Japes and Crystal Caves), Dogadon (a giant dragonfly who's the boss of Angry Aztec and Fungi Forest), Mad Jack (a gigantic jack-in-the-box who is the boss of Frantic Factory), Pufftoss (a large Blowfish who is the boss of Gloomy Galleon), King Kut Out (a cardboard cut-out of K. Rool who is operated by two Kremlings and is the boss of Creepy Castle), and the final, extremely difficult boss, King K Rool (in a boxing match where each Kong must fight). The game's secondary antagonist is a Minecart Kremling [Krash], not actually a boss, and operates mines throughout Jungle Japes, Fungi Forest and Creepy Castle.
who was asked to help out at the beginning of the project. The intro cut scene of the game is a music video
that features a full-length song with vocals, entitled the "DK Rap". The song was criticized by many (EGM, Error Macro), and the line "His coconut gun can fire in spurts. If he shoots ya, it's gonna hurt!" was named the fourth worst game line ever in the January 2002 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly
. The rap also features the line "this Kong's one hell of a guy" (referring to Chunky Kong); a remixed version of the "DK Rap" was in Super Smash Bros. Melee
as part of the Kongo Jungle stage, in which the word "hell" was replaced with "heck". This version was also one of the selectable songs in Donkey Konga
, but only has the parts of the first three characters. The remixed version heard in Melee was also in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
. The song is performed by James W. Norwood, Jr. in Melee, who used several different voices and effects for the remix in that game.
There was also a scrapped level from another Rare platformer Banjo-Kazooie. It was later made for Donkey Kong 64, and used the same music.
claimed "it lacks enough 'wow factor' to exert the revolutionary influence that Donkey Kong Country had" and IGN
reports that while it is "not the leap and bound that Donkey Kong Country was for Super NES, [it] is still an excellent platformer all the same".
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
, developed by Rare and published
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
. It was released in North America on November 24, 1999 and in Europe on December 6, 1999. The game is a follow up to the Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country is a side-scrolling platformer video game developed by Rare, featuring the character Donkey Kong. It was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994. Following an intense marketing campaign, the original SNES version sold over 8 million copies worldwide, making...
trilogy on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
. Many of the levels are based on levels from the original 3 DKC games, such as the mine carts and the bonus stages. Donkey Kong 64 follows the adventures of Donkey Kong and four of his simian relatives as they try to win back their hoard of Golden Bananas and banish King K. Rool. Players can control all five Kongs in eight individual levels as well as a greater worldmap, a multiplayer mode, and several minigames.
Donkey Kong 64 was the first game to require the Expansion Pak, which provides 4 MB more RAM for enhanced graphics and more expansive environments (the only other game to require the Expansion Pak for any gameplay whatsoever was The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan on April 27, 2000, North America on October 26, 2000, and Europe on November 17, 2000. The game sold approximately 314,000 copies during its first...
; all others were optional with the exception of Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark is a first-person shooter video game developed by Rare for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It is considered the spiritual successor to Rare's earlier first-person shooter GoldenEye 007, with which it shares many gameplay features...
s limited gameplay). Donkey Kong 64 went on to become a Nintendo 64 Player's Choice
Player's Choice
Nintendo Selects is a marketing label used by Nintendo to promote video games on Nintendo game consoles which have sold well; Nintendo Selects titles are sold at a lower price point than other games...
title. For reasons unknown, this is one of the only Donkey Kong games not to be available on the Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
. Rare mentioned on their Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account that they do not own the rights to the game, but Nintendo does.
Gameplay
The game is a 3D3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
adventure with strong platforming links, similar to that of Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64
is a platform game, published by Nintendo and developed by its EAD division, for the Nintendo 64. Along with Pilotwings 64, it was one of the launch titles for the console. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, and later in North America, Europe, and Australia. Super Mario 64 has sold over...
and Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie is a platform and action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998...
. There are a total of five playable Kongs, each with unique (and upgradeable) abilities. The player starts out with access to Donkey Kong only, then goes on to unlock each of the other four Kongs as part of the gameplay (in the order of Diddy, Lanky or Tiny, and then Chunky). Unlocking all 5 Kongs is necessary to defeat character-specific bosses in each level. There are a total of 7 areas (subtracting the DK Isles, the overworld for the game and Hideout Helm): Jungle Japes, Angry Aztec, Frantic Factory, Gloomy Galleon, Fungi Forest, Crystal Caves, and Creepy Castle. Each new Kong that is freed can be accessed as playable through tag barrels that are scattered throughout each world. Additionally, each Kong is represented by a color which works alongside the game's unique collecting system where objects such as bananas and coins can only be collected by the Kong who has that color on the object. The colors are as follows: Yellow for Donkey Kong, Red for Diddy, Purple for Tiny, Blue for Lanky, and Green for Chunky.
Each playable Kong has several different collectables within the game. First and foremost are the Golden Bananas. There are five Golden Bananas per Kong in every level that only that specific character can get. (One Golden Banana per Kong per level can be collected by delivering the color-appropriate blueprint to Snide after getting them from the Kasplats.) The Golden Bananas are used as payment to get past B.Lockers that guard the entrance to every new level.
Each character can also find 100 color-appropriate bananas per level - single bananas, bunches of 5, or balloons to be popped that are worth 10. The regular bananas are necessary to unlock boss fights and acquire Boss Keys. There are eight boss keys in all (though seven of the eight are actually obtained via defeating the area's boss). Boss Keys in turn are used to free K.Lumsy, who in his excitement often unlocks new levels to be completed.
Two single items of grave importance later in the game are the Nintendo and Rare(ware) Coins, that can be obtained in classic games in the game. 15 Banana Medals, which are obtained when a Kong gathers 75 of the 100 regular bananas each can get, will allow the player to play Jetpac to get the Rareware Coin. The Nintendo Coin can only be found in the game's third area, Frantic Factory, with Donkey Kong, by playing the original Donkey Kong Arcade game and winning twice (first for the Golden Banana, and second for the Nintendo Coin).
Other items to be collected are ammunition for guns, orange grenades (usable by all 5 Kongs, and rather self-explanatory), Crystal Coconuts, used to fuel Cranky's special abilities, film for taking banana fairy pictures, and headphones scattered in each level to restore the instruments' powers that Candy gives each Kong.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer can be played by up to four players at one time. It features three arenas, one special arena and six gameplay modes. The five playable characters from the single player adventure are used in the multiplayer mode, along with a secret character, Krusha. If only two players play in the special arena, random baddies will appear to make the game more difficult.Plot
King K. Rool is trying to destroy DK Isles with a large laser called the Blast-O-Matic, but it malfunctions after a crash that puts his floating, mechanical hind face-to-face with DK Isles. To buy some time, he captures Donkey Kong's friends and locks them up, and then steals Donkey Kong's precious hoard of Golden Bananas. As Donkey Kong frees his fellow apes, they set off to recover the bananas and defeat King K. Rool and his army of Kremlings and other evil creatures.Characters
- Donkey Kong, the titular character and the first playable character in the game, is a large, muscular Mountain GorillaMountain GorillaThe Mountain Gorilla is one of the two subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla. There are two populations. One is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, within three National Parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes, in north-west Rwanda; and Virunga in the eastern Democratic...
who wears a red monogrammed necktie, and his weapon of choice is the "Coconut Cannon". His instrumental attack, fittingly, is the "Bongo Blast". - Diddy KongDiddy Kong, originally known as Donkey Diddy, is a fictional character in the Donkey Kong series of video games, first appearing in the 1994 game Donkey Kong Country. He lives on Donkey Kong Island in the Kongo Jungle, and is identified by his red hat, which has a Nintendo logo on it, and shirt...
, who debuted in Donkey Kong CountryDonkey Kong CountryDonkey Kong Country is a side-scrolling platformer video game developed by Rare, featuring the character Donkey Kong. It was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994. Following an intense marketing campaign, the original SNES version sold over 8 million copies worldwide, making...
, is a monkey in a red baseball cap and T-shirt, then later bearing a yellow star on the back, his weapons are the "Peanut Popguns" (pistols that fire peanuts). His instrument is a guitar (bearing the same star as on his shirt) with the deafening attack "Guitar Gazump". - Lanky Kong, a newcomer in the Donkey Kong series, is a Sumatran OrangutanSumatran OrangutanThe Sumatran orangutan is one of the two species of orangutans. Found only on the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia, it is rarer and smaller than the Bornean orangutan. The Sumatran orangutan grows to about tall and in males...
whose long arms allow him to handstand. He can also inflate himself to float. His weapon of choice is the "Grape Shooter" (similar to a blowgun). His instrument is the trombone and his move is the "Trombone Tremor". - Tiny Kong is a ChimpanzeeChimpanzeeChimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
, and younger sister of Dixie Kong from the Donkey Kong Country games. Just like her sister, her pigtails allow her temporarily to float through the air, and unique to Tiny is the ability to shrink in size to fit into places the other Kongs cannot reach, her weapon is a "Feather Bow" (a crossbow that fires sharp feathers). Her instrumental attack is the "Saxophone Slam". - Chunky Kong, the older brother of Kiddy Kong and cousin to Tiny Kong, is a strong yet cowardly Eastern Lowland GorillaEastern Lowland GorillaThe Eastern Lowland Gorilla is a subspecies of Eastern Gorilla that is now only found in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo...
who can lift heavy objects, but (as explained in the theme song) is slow and unable to jump high, and his weapon is a "Pineapple Launcher" which is the most powerful gun in the game. Appropriate to Chunky's "gentle giant" demeanor, his instrumental attack is the "Triangle Trample".
Other characters include Cranky Kong who sells the Kongs various new moves via his potions, Funky Kong, who sells them guns, Snide the weasel, who had formerly been King K. Rool's henchman before he was fired and thus collects blueprints for the Kongs, and Candy Kong, who supplies the Kongs with musical instruments. Some other notable characters are K. Lumsy, who opens up levels, Squawks, who points things out, brings you Golden Bananas when his attention is attracted, and can carry Tiny to new heights. There is also a Banana Fairy Queen, who requests that the Kongs rescue her citizens and in exchange teaches the Kongs an invincible technique. Collecting Banana Fairies unlocks many new options outside of one-player mode, including cheats.
Rambi and Engaurde appear in the game. Donkey Kong can turn into Rambi the Rhino in Jungle Japes. He can batter into objects and immediately kill any enemy. Lanky Kong can turn into Engaurde the Swordfish in Gloomy Galleon. He can swim at high speeds, leap out of the water, and strike with his "sword".
The game has several antagonists as well. The main villain is the Kong's main antagonist, King K. Rool, who tries to destroy DK Isle. The level's bosses are Army Dillo (a heavily-armoured armadillo who is the boss of Jungle Japes and Crystal Caves), Dogadon (a giant dragonfly who's the boss of Angry Aztec and Fungi Forest), Mad Jack (a gigantic jack-in-the-box who is the boss of Frantic Factory), Pufftoss (a large Blowfish who is the boss of Gloomy Galleon), King Kut Out (a cardboard cut-out of K. Rool who is operated by two Kremlings and is the boss of Creepy Castle), and the final, extremely difficult boss, King K Rool (in a boxing match where each Kong must fight). The game's secondary antagonist is a Minecart Kremling [Krash], not actually a boss, and operates mines throughout Jungle Japes, Fungi Forest and Creepy Castle.
Music
The music for the game was composed by Grant KirkhopeGrant Kirkhope
Grant Kirkhope is a British video game music composer, known for writing the soundtracks for numerous games by Rare, such as Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark and Donkey Kong 64.-Biography:...
who was asked to help out at the beginning of the project. The intro cut scene of the game is a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
that features a full-length song with vocals, entitled the "DK Rap". The song was criticized by many (EGM, Error Macro), and the line "His coconut gun can fire in spurts. If he shoots ya, it's gonna hurt!" was named the fourth worst game line ever in the January 2002 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
. The rap also features the line "this Kong's one hell of a guy" (referring to Chunky Kong); a remixed version of the "DK Rap" was in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee, known in Japan as , often abbreviated as SSBM or simply as Melee, is a crossover fighting game released for the Nintendo GameCube shortly after its launch in . It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 game Super Smash Bros., and the predecessor to the Wii game Super Smash...
as part of the Kongo Jungle stage, in which the word "hell" was replaced with "heck". This version was also one of the selectable songs in Donkey Konga
Donkey Konga
is a GameCube rhythm video game starring the ape Donkey Kong, developed by Namco and published by Nintendo. Instead of the standard GameCube controllers, the game is intended to be played with a special controller called the DK Bongos that resemble two small bongo drums.Donkey Konga was developed...
, but only has the parts of the first three characters. The remixed version heard in Melee was also in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, known in Japan as , often abbreviated as SSBB or simply as Brawl, is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games, developed by an ad hoc development team consisting of Sora, Game Arts and staff from other developers, and published by...
. The song is performed by James W. Norwood, Jr. in Melee, who used several different voices and effects for the remix in that game.
There was also a scrapped level from another Rare platformer Banjo-Kazooie. It was later made for Donkey Kong 64, and used the same music.
Reception
Donkey Kong 64 was released to highly positive reviews. Review scores range from 80% to 100%, with an average of 88% on review aggregate site GameRankings. The most commonly cited issue was the lackluster multiplayer mode and unwarranted tediousness and difficulty of some parts. GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
claimed "it lacks enough 'wow factor' to exert the revolutionary influence that Donkey Kong Country had" and IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
reports that while it is "not the leap and bound that Donkey Kong Country was for Super NES, [it] is still an excellent platformer all the same".
Awards
- Nintendo Power Award for 1999's overall game of the year
- E3 1999 Game Critics Awards: Best Platformer