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Donkey Kong 64 Discussion (Nintendo 64) [game]
 
Donkey Kong 64 on the Nintendo 64
7.98/10 from 32 user ratings

Welcome to the official discussion thread for Donkey Kong 64 on the N64!

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DK64. One of the more divisive games in Nintendo's(/Rare's) catalog. But was it always so? Or has it just become the cool thing to hate? How will historians ultimately look back on Lanky, Funky, and the rest?

Well, we shall soon find out!

My guess is that public opinion will swing back to the positive side when DK64 hits the Virtual Console. Because it really isn't a bad game at all. The presentation is nice, it's mechanically solid, and it's chock full of content (including two awesome classic games). I always felt that the 'collectathon' complaint was rather overblown. It might be a bit bloated, but the bananas exist primarily to route each character through each level in a different way. They're not really hidden away, or anything. I get that talking about FIVE HUNDRED bananas in each level makes for a funny bit, but I don't understand why people so resent having to platform in a platform game. (Go home, content tourists! Donkey Kong 64 isn't for you.)

The multiplayer was SO WEIRD, too. I remember it being fun, but broken. Like, in the FPS mode, if you just jumped in the water, it was almost impossible to be attacked. And wasn't there a Smash Bros.-y type mode? Top-down, maybe?

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how DK64 is received the second time around, especially now that 3D platformers are less ubiquitous (and quite fondly remembered). Honestly, I'm not even sure if my opinion will remain the same. But I think DK64 has a chance to turn things around.

Really, it all depends on how the tastemakers react when they revisit the game. Your move, Jeremy Parish. Your move.

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04/16/15, 17:17    Edited: 04/16/15, 17:38
 
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@kriswright
Come to think of it, I played Echoes with no HUD whatsoever and had a much more pleasurable experience.

Y'know, except for the scanning.

@Mop it up
No other motion sickness for me. Even on a boat!
04/25/15, 16:18   
Edited: 04/25/15, 16:34
I kinda wanted to join in on this conversation. I haven't played the game since back when it came out and was curious about it. I popped my yellow cart into the n64 and played the first level. I forgot to check the options so the game was stretched. I wish I had set the game to widescreen.

I didn't really like how you just wandered around the level looking for bananas and whatnot. I just didn't find it all that interesting. Sure with Mario 64 you would re-play the levels several times. But you always had a different objective.
04/25/15, 23:11   
@PogueSquadron
Half Life 2 made me sick too! I think they changed the FOV in the later episodes, and I had no problem with them.

I actually played HL2 again recently, and it still made me sick in the same spots.
04/25/15, 23:21   
Played the game for an hour or two yesterday. Got both Diddy and Lanky. It's about how I remember it. Easily the worst of the collect-a-thons (that I've played) and the worst of the DK games (that I've played), but still decently fun. The only thing that's worse than I remember it is the camera, and as long as I hold R, that problem mostly goes away.
04/25/15, 23:59   
This game would be so much better without the mandatory minigames.
04/26/15, 05:15   
Did people stop playing this?

I'm in the Angry Aztec and I'm annoyed with this damn beetle race. I do NOT like these kinds of challenges in these games. Enjoying the rest mostly. Movement is a little weird but not too bad. I'm getting used to the controls.
05/03/15, 03:58   
@DrFinkelstein

Oh that beetle race was the WORST. Took me ages to beat that back in the day.

If I remember correctly, the trick to that is using Tiny's rolling attack just as the race starts to attack the beetle and delay it.
05/03/15, 05:36   
Edited: 05/03/15, 05:36
@Shadowlink

Hmmm... I just took the initial hit and then went fast the whole way. Got in front of the beetle for the walking finish and secured the win. Took maybe 5 tries but I still didn't like it.
05/03/15, 05:44   
The first beetle race isn't that bad. The Lanky beetle race is terrible, from what I remember.
05/03/15, 05:47   
So I've 100%'d Jungle Japes and the Frantic Factory. That damn factory always gets me lost (as do many of these levels, which is something Banjo-Kazooie never did for me).
05/04/15, 05:33   
@DrFinkelstein

For some reason the factory levels always get to me, both in DK64 and Banjo-Tooie. I think it's the fact that they're not as open as the other levels, and there's just a ton of rooms and passages, but very few that go to more than one place, so you have to remember the exact path you took for each area in order to get to where you need to go (and on top of all that, most of the factory sections look pretty similar).
05/04/15, 06:11   
The minigames in this game did feel a bit unpolished to me, like that beetle race mentioned. They probably could have used some more play testing. There's one later on involving beavers that felt particularly broken.
05/04/15, 06:38   
I'm exactly the same as you guys. I often got lost in those levels when I normally don't get lost in any levels.
05/04/15, 06:39   
@Mop it up

Ah, trying to get them in the damn hole? Yeah.... not a fan of that either, lol.
05/04/15, 13:04   
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