Donkey Kong 64

Donkey Kong 64 is a 1999 adventure platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the first Donkey Kong game to feature 3D gameplay. As the gorilla Donkey Kong, the player explores the themed levels of an island to collect items and rescue his kidnapped friends from King K. Rool. The player completes minigames and puzzles as five playable Kong characters—each with their own special abilities—to receive bananas and other collectibles. In a separate multiplayer mode, up to four players can compete in deathmatch and last man standing games.
Rare, which had previously created the Donkey Kong Country games, began working on Donkey Kong 64 in 1997, although production restarted halfway through the three-year development cycle. A 16-person team, with many members recruited from Rare's Banjo group, finished the game in 1999, when it was published by Nintendo in North America in November and worldwide in December. It was the first game to require the Nintendo 64 console's Expansion Pak, an accessory that added memory resources. The game's exceptionally large marketing budget included advertisements, sweepstakes, and a national tour.
The game received universal acclaim and was Nintendo's top seller during the 1999 holiday season, with 2.3 million units sold by 2004. It won the 1999 E3 Game Critics award for Best Platform Game, and multiple awards and nominations from games magazines. Reviewers noted the game's exceptional size and length, but criticized its camera controls and emphasis on item collection and backtracking. Some cited its similarity in gameplay and visuals to Rare's 1998 predecessor, Banjo-Kazooie, despite Donkey Kong 64's mandatory memory add-on. Critics felt that the game did not meet the revolutionary potential of Donkey Kong Country, but remained among the best 3D platform games on the console.
Donkey Kong 64 is remembered as the emblematic example of Rare's "collect-a-thon" adventure platformers for the tedium of its collection tasks. The rap song from the game's introductory sequence—the "DK Rap"—is often cited as among the worst songs to feature in a video game. Donkey Kong 64 was rereleased on Nintendo's Wii U Virtual Console in 2015.
Category:Video Games