Now I knew for a while that this game was coming. I'd heard about it, seen some screenshots of it, but like Donkey Kong Country 3, it was Nintendo Power that showed me just incredible it was shaping up to be. Instead of reading about it in an issue, Nintendo Power sent their subscribers one of their videos that they would often put out to promote upcoming products (others that I got included videos for the release of the Nintendo 64, Diddy Kong Racing, and Pokemon.) Two of the games that this video talked about were Jet Force Gemini and Donkey Kong 64 and while I would end getting both games that Christmas, the latter was the one I was the most excited about. The footage on the video made it look like this was Donkey Kong on steroids, just the biggest, most spectacular game in the entire series and of all time. I also knew going into it that it was going to be different than the Donkey Kong Country games and would be an exploratory one like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. And while I would eventually enjoy playing it, first getting into it would be a little frustrating.
It was amazing the bad luck I seemed to have when I first tried to play this game. First off, it was the first game to require the new expansion pack for the Nintendo 64. So just to be safe, I unhooked the system and then put the pack in. Unfortunately, unplugging and plugging the system back in was not as easy as you would think due to the state of my TV and tabletop at the time. Once I put the game in, it was all cloudy and static-filled. I had to keep jiggling the cord back there to keep it clear so I missed almost the entire DK rap at the beginning of the game and didn't even know it was going on for a while. Finally, I get it clear and start playing the game. I watched the opening FMV for the game and was quite impressed. But then when the actual gameplay started, Donkey Kong started moving before I touched the control stick and I realized what had happened: the controller was stuck in that annoying mode that happens when the stick was moved before the game was turned on and now you're struggling with your character. I had to reset the game and watch that entire opening sequence AGAIN! I was not a happy kid. But when I finally got everything under control and was able to get into the game, I started to enjoy it.
Let's talk first about the first thing you see when you start the game: the DK rap. From what I understand, people have mostly mixed feelings about the rap: some like it, some hate it. Me, I think it's awesome. I know people say it's overly silly but by this time, I think the games had really embraced how absurd the premise was and went with it. Yeah, seeing the Kong family members standing in a group while a guy raps about each of them is silly but these games are meant to be silly and fun. The thing that shocked me a bit when I first heard it was they said Chunky Kong was, "One hell of a guy." I couldn't believe that somebody just swore in a Nintendo game. It was unheard of for me at that time. Of course, I had no idea what was to come. (Conker's Bad Fur Day.)
The plot for the game is a combination between the one for the original Donkey Kong Country and the ones for the sequels. King K. Rool is back once again to cause havoc on Donkey Kong Island. He now resides within a floating fortress that has a Death Star-like weapon that can destroy the island in one blast. But something goes wrong, of course, and K. Rool has to resort to his usual plan while he waits for the weapon to be repaired: kidnap the Kongs and steal their bananas. You start out as Donkey Kong and you're warned by Squawks what has happened. That's when you start exploring various areas of the island, freeing your friends and reclaiming your bananas.
As I said, the gameplay is completely different from the Donkey Kong Country games. Instead of going through various levels in different parts of the island, you explore deep, fully 3-D worlds like in Super Mario 64 and also like that game, you have a set number of goals you must complete to get important items (your bananas in this case.) In each world, there are bananas that can only reached by a certain Kong, so you have to keep going back and forth with different characters to get all of them. Like the Donkey Kong Country sequels, you have to pay for the services of the other Kong family members with Banana Coins you collect. And just like bananas, there are some of those that can only be collected by certain characters too. You also have ammo that you must collect for your individual Kongs' weapons, crystal coconuts to fuel special moves you can learn to do, headphones to replenish musical attacks you learn, and much more. You also have to collect blueprints for K. Rool's weapon to get bananas and to make the final level easier for yourself.
You've got new Kong family members to play as as well. Besides the essential Donkey Kong and Diddy, there's Lanky Kong, an orangutan-like guy with a clown-like face. His long arms prove to be useful in taking out bad guys from great distances. Tiny Kong is Dixie's little sister who can float in the air with her pigtails and can live up to her name when you buy a formula from Cranky. Chunky Kong is an overgrown toddler of an ape, even a bit bigger than Donkey Kong apparently. He's Kiddy's brother but despite his size, he's quite a coward and more than a little simple. But his strength proves to come in handy.
No other new Kong family members are introduced but the supporting ones now all have new services. Cranky Kong is back once again and he's apparently a scientist this time, mixing up chemicals that you can buy to give you special abilities. Also returning for a fourth time is the always cool Funky Kong, who now owns a weapon shop and gives your characters their own individual guns. (Not as un-kiddy friendly as you think though.) Candy Kong returns for the first time since the original Donkey Kong Country and now owns a music shop where you can buy musical instruments that can take out enemies as well as find secrets. But an aspect of this game that kind of disturbed me was Wrinkly Kong, who has died since Donkey Kong Country 3 and is now a ghost! She still gives advice but the very idea that she died and her husband Cranky didn't even acknowledge it kind of bothered me! Even now, I think it's a bit too morbid for this series.
This game was a lot of fun in many aspects but in others it felt either derivative or annoying. The good aspects are that this game never fails to entertain. There are many hilarious cut-scenes that occur when you defeat a boss or activate a special part of the game. It's funny to see K. Rool's reactions when he sees that things aren't going well for him and you're managing to reclaim your bananas. One of my favorites is when a Krusha tries to escape from the fortress when he realizes that things are going belly-up for the Kremlings. K. Rool, however, hears him talk trash about him and sics a giant Klap-Trap on him! Also funny are the reactions to the various Kongs when you enter a boss fight and they see the boss. I also like Snide, a weasel who helped K. Rool build the death-ray machine but now helps you defeat him because the Kremling king booted him out.
I also liked the enormous variety of the gameplay and how it gave every Kong a shining moment. For one, each Kong has a boss that only they can defeat. Also, each Kong has his or her own specific special moves, weapon, or musical instrument. Every Kong, however, can use these oranges that explode on contact to defeat enemies. Some of the stuff the individual enemies do when they're defeated is hilarious. My favorite is when you blow away the big, fat Klumps: they spin around, salute, and then fall over backwards. Hilarious.
I liked the portrayal of King K. Rool this time around. First off, he is a king again like he was in the original Donkey Kong Country, reverting back to his original design instead of the disguises he used in the sequels. But, he's a bit more intimidating than he was previously. He sits in his throne room, watching everything on video monitors, and even makes Darth Vader-like deep breathing sounds. He actually has some dialogue at the beginning of the game and it's clear that his minions are quite terrified of him. The cut scenes where he yells at certain enemies who've failed to defeat you and the fact that he's imprisoned a big relative K. Lumsy in a floating cage attached to the island makes him seem a lot more like a tyrant than he's been before. But the final battle with him shows he hasn't lost his flare for being outrageous.
Speaking of which, the final battle is hilarious. After you release K. Lumsy and he crashes K. Rool's escape jet when he tries to get away, you jump into a hole in the plane and proceed to face K. Rool in a boxing match! Like all the other attributes of the game, each Kong faces him in their own section. The funniest is the section after Diddy faces him. The end of that part leaves K. Rool with an overhead lamp stuck on his head and he can't see. As Lanky, you have to attract K. Rool by playing your trombone and have him slip on banana peals. Tiny's section is also funny: she shrinks down to her small size, you go inside K. Rool's shoe, and shoot his toes with your crossbow. The cut-scenes in between each section are the funniest of all. The stuff these Kritters go through to try to ring the bell before K. Rool gets disqualified are very funny.
One of the game's weak points, however, is how it's a bit derivative of other games. The game that comes to mind the most when playing it is Banjo-Kazooie. The worlds you explore are similar in design to that game (in fact, so is the whole game), K. Rool lives in a lair that you have to scale to face him, just like Gruntilda in Banjo-Kazooie, and a lot of the music sounds like music in that game. That was immediately the first stuff I thought of when I played the game the first time and heard the music. It doesn't feel like its own entity. I also thought the animal friends weren't used to the best of their abilities. There are only three in the game and one you can't even play as. Squawks appears in various parts of the game but you can never play as him. You can play as Rhambi and Enguarde but only when a specific task can be completed by them and you can only become them, not ride. Donkey Kong can become Rhambi and Lanky can become Enguarde. I guess they'd packed too much into the game already but I thought they could have been more creative with the characters.
Also like Banjo-Kazooie, some of the stuff you're asked to do to get bananas are ridiculously hard and almost impossible. With a lot of luck and patience, I eventually collected all the jigsaw pieces in Banjo-Kazooie. To this day, I have never been able to get all the bananas in Donkey Kong 64. Some of them I feel are impossible to get. The races you have to do as Lanky with this sliding beetle I think are just impossible. I can never beat that little shit. Other times, I don't think the game makes it clear enough what exactly you're supposed to do to accomplish your goals. Or maybe I'm just stupid, I don't know which. Sometimes, the camera angles are bad and you can't see exactly what you're doing, a common problem in games like this. That often causes me to fall from certain spots and it's usually a nightmare to get back up to where I need to be. Just because a game is hard doesn't mean it's bad but I feel that some, like this, go a little too far.
While I do indeed like Donkey Kong 64 and enjoy playing it, I don't think it's quite on par with the Donkey Kong Country games. Because of its different style of gameplay, I don't consider it a part of that series. It's an exploratory game that is fun but is also very derivative of other games that came before it. Still, it's hard to argue with a game as entertaining as it is so while I do think it's not 100% perfect, it's worthy of having the Donkey Kong name on it and worth playing by fans. After this, I was anticipating the next Donkey Kong game but none of the ones released for the GameCube really interested me enough in buying them. Donkey Konga especially didn't appeal to me at all. Little did I know that another great Donkey Kong game would come eventually but not for over a decade after Donkey Kong 64.
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