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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 พ.ค. 2021
- Part 2 of 2 of my in-depth analysis of Donkey Kong 64 for the Nintendo 64. Part 1 can be found here: • Donkey Kong 64 Review ...
It's finally here. Performing for you. If you know the words, I guess you can watch something else, because you already know what I'm going to say.
Sources:
Nintendo Life: Donkey Kong 64 Devs On Bugs, Boxing And 20 Years Of The DK Rap - Gavin Lane, November 2019 - www.nintendolife.com/news/201...
Romhacking.net: DK64 - Tag Anywhere - www.romhacking.net/hacks/4961/
(26 November 2021 edit - Version 5 of the above mod has been released. Downloadable at github.com/Isotarge/dk64-tag-... )
Thanks go out to the following folks:
- Kit Sovereign ( / kitsovereign ) for helping once again with the music analysis and editing, as well as the alternate Fungi Forest illustrations.
- Thanks to @JasperRLZ for noclip.website, and Jasper, Isotarge ( / isotarge ) and Mittenz (github.com/MittenzHugg) for the DK64 reverse-engineering work that made the noclip footage possible.
- DK64 Commercials uploaded by CyberWorld 9000: • Video
- Hideout Helm transcription/arrangement by Toady musescore.com/toady/hideout-helm (arrangement was modified manually for presentation purposes)
- SiIvagunner (th-cam.com/channels/9ec.html..., for their endless supply of high-quality video game rips.
Twitter: / veegie_
SUPER ULTRA SECRET BONUS for cool people who actually read the description: • DK64 Review & Analysis... - เกม
your overhaul of the 5-character puzzle design might not be a fix for the 20 year old game, but the thought experiment still has merit. I mean, aren'T we supposed to reflect on past mistakes and figure out solutions for the future. You gave good advice to upcoming developers who might want to tackle a multi character collectathon themselves... or any other game for that matter. It certainly got my mind racing
It's kinda interesting that the game's terrain is largely flat gentle slopes, AND the characters have fairly similar movement. It feels like either concession would be enough to make the levels traversable by any character, but doing both really limited the game.
Also wild that the teams at Rare weren't really sharing with each other! Feels like this game could have stood to learn from BK and BT if there was a bit more collaboration. With Kirkhope scoring all of them I guess I never expected them to be different teams.
With Chunky Kong, what I'd do is give him another melon of hit points or something. A combat character in a sense, but more defensively than offensively.
Maybe even like, resistant to fall damage or smaller projectiles or something.
I was thinking something similar, like how the different members of the Smith syndicate have different amounts of health, speed and power when dealing damage, and unique abilities.
Sounds like the TH-camr is just blindly hating on Donkey Kong 64
@@MadSociety-uy6zg No, this guy's arguments are definitely valid. I like DK 64 overall, but it's absolutely correct that the game is a bit of a mixed bag. His criticisms don't even strike me as that scathing.
@@MatthewCampbell765 I don't know saying the characters all play similarly made me think he hasn't played the game otherwise he wouldn't say that at all.
I'd argue that Diddy should have the twin Popguns because it's one of the few things from this game that's been utilized in future games, unlike DK's Gun. Having DK use only the orange grenades not only frees a control input but also separates DK more into "Power" and Diddy into "Speed". Not to mention that Jungle Japes could have you unlock Diddy by having DK free him with an Orange Grenade, which then unlocks Diddy so he can get Popguns to open up the level organically.
Donkey, Tiny and Chunky's pad abilities should be reworked, so that all 5 Kongs are allowed to have a "jump" when on a pad, and they won't need their face on them.
- Donkey Kong's pad should be activated with him slamming the ground and make the pad bounce upward as a rising platform. If Donkey Kong is "Strong Kong" the pad could bounce higher.
- Tiny's should be a gust of Wind that pushes her up if she uses her Ponytail Twirl. In addition, if Tiny uses a pad while MINI, the gust of wind "teleports" her to another Pad.
- Chunky's invisibility could simply turn into a an invisible "ghost" that lets him slowly float upwards.
As for the DK barrel blast mini-games, just replace every Beaver Bother and Slot Machine with a Barrel Blast Maze, since every Kong could be shot out of a barrel.
Just my notes but once again you have proven to be one of the finest analyzers of Rare's golden age platformers, and video games as a whole. I'm ashamed I didn't Sub after the Tooie one years ago.
With the 5-Kongs and such, I think one way of describing the problem is that specific Kongs never make problems easier or harder per se. A specific Kong is often outright useless until they're outright mandatory. Worse, as you point out, the mechanics that make a specific Kong mandatory are often highly arbitrary and not mechanically meaningful.
I'd also argue another thing is that there's often no diagetic reason for a lot of this. For example, why (from a story perspective) can't Diddy Kong pick up yellow bananas or coins? They must have some pretty strict union regulations.
The 5-character mechanic definitely feels like the crux of most major criticisms with this game, and while I've seen people suggest being able to switch Kongs on the fly instead of walking back to the Tag Barrel to "fix" this problem, I've seen a number of people describe that as essentially putting a single band-aid over a massive stab wound, claiming that the tedium of going back to switch Kongs is just one part of a much larger problem. Speaking for myself and what I've played of Donkey Kong 64, being able to switch Kongs on the fly would definitely make a lot of the experience more bearable, but I can definitely see what some people are getting at when they say it goes deeper than that. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say the game forces you to make use of all the Kongs equally rather than letting you just play the game as a Kong you like or using Kongs special abilities for situational puzzles, the fact that collectables are color-coded and can only be picked up by certain Kongs kind of speaks to this design philosophy, in addition to the game setting up scenarios specific to certain Kongs that really any Kong could accomplish.
Incidentally, I think one of the best things about your analysis videos for Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, and now Donkey Kong 64 is that you don't just criticize, you try to be constructive, i.e. you try to give alternative ways to improve what's there or how ideas and concepts these three games had could have been done better, or at the very least, been more engaging. It really is refreshing compared to the wealth of critical videos that just tear a game apart without saying how it could have been better, or even highlighting what good is there with the game. Another important aspect with your analysis is that you take into account the development time for these games, so many people don't even bother considering what goes into making a game or how much time it takes develop, program, and smooth out the various ideas that go into a game; knowing that Donkey Kong 64 had a 3-year development cycle that wound up being slashed in half when development was started from scratch midway through that cycle definitely helps to explain a lot of what we got with Donkey Kong 64, for better or for worse.
You know, I really hope Grant Kirkhope sees these videos, the amount of praise you give him for his score in this game is incredible, particularly songs most people don't talk about.
I wish I could say I'm a big fan of King K. Rool and I've loved him for a long time, but unfortunately, I didn't grow up playing the Donkey Kong games all that much (I DID eventually play them all as an adult and loved them then), and I was only won over on King K. Rool after he got into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It was only then that I began to really dig into the character and how he's one of my favorites, though I can't help but feel guilty when there are so many people for whom this was their favorite villain since their childhood and I only recently came around to him. I do like what you said regarding him, though, how he constantly skirts the line between being genuinely threatening and being wacky and cartoonish. His overall design really speaks to this, it's both goofy yet also kind of menacing and creepy, helped in part by that crazy blood-shot eye of his. I ultimately like Gruntilda more since I have a deeper connection to her from my childhood, but it's hard not to love King K. Rool as a villain as well, even by proxy (in terms of Rare villains anyway).
If and when you do get around to a video looking at 3D platformers today and in the future, I definitely look forward to it. I especially look forward to what you have to say on Yooka-Laylee and A Hat in Time, since you name-dropped those games in the beginning of this series (Lobodestroyo has yet to be completed and information on it's development is scarce, unfortunately). Either way, great work as always!
I cannot tell you how happy I am that you spent so much time talking about the Hideout Helm music, because it's by far my favorite track in the game. The slowly escalating tension, the dissonant string melody, and it all builds up to...looping back to the beginning. It's brilliant. It's criminally overlooked with regards to Donkey Kong music and it deserves more recognition.
I was searching for analyses of these platformers I played as a kid and stumbled upon your videos. I'm so glad I did! What I most appreciate is that you've proposed potential solutions: different roles and attributes for each kong and a different structure for the final fight, rather than your just saying "this thing bad/ineffective/lackluster" and leaving it at that. I'm looking forward to your next analysis!
In a modern world of TH-cam critics who don't quantify their praise or disdain for something, and even fewer offer realistic solution, I have come to truly appreciate these videos over the years. You are truly a genius when it comes to game design.
This was the first video game I ever owned. I loved it but dang did that last boss hit hard. As a child I never could figure out how to get the n64 logo coin so I was stuck. I collected everything in the game. I went back to the game like 10 years later and finally figured out the n64 coin.
I couldn’t tell you how many hours I wasted as a kid playing that jetpack game wondering how high my score needed to be to get the other coin.
Once I beat the game I felt so accomplished.
The last hurdle of my childhood.
Just prior to that I went back and defeated canary Mary in Tooie to get the last cheato page.
I still love these games so much.
Still waiting for Banjo Threeie to continue my adventure I started when I was 6.
What a phenomenal series! I had the privilege of finding you after the series was done, enabling me to binge the entire series in one sitting! And wow, what a masterpiece analysis! I remember loving DK64 as a child because of its expansive world and immersion. At that time, if a game was unfair or well designed ( or not) was something that wasn't even within my comprehension. Video game worlds were more mysterious back then and were just meant to be explored and conquered. These days I firmly agree that DK64 is a bad game. I'm even an advocate for backtracking, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing in games. But DK64 has an over-abundance of what lies above backtracking: Repetition. DK64 is a repetitive game. Some might say that repetition isn't necessarily bad either, and I agree. But forced repetition is, which DK64 has too much of. I still appreciate DK64 as an important milestone in Nintendo and Rare-history with its rich world building, characters and music. But this is where I separate the art with the game. DK64 is a good piece of art and a great cultural phenomenon, but it's a bad game.
I also appreciated your positive perspective on Banjo Tooie which is in my opinion the better Banjo Kazooie game. I agree that the first Banjo Kazooie game will probably entertain a larger audience due to its more direct and polished nature. But to me, the careful world building and satisfying explorative aspect of Banjo Tooie is scratching an itch that I have a hard time to explain why I love so much. Your analysis on Banjo Tooie is probably the closest I'll come to being able to accurately express my love for that game, so thank you very much! I'm excited to see what the future of this channel holds! Subscribed!
I remember how excited I was to buy the official DK64 soundtrack, as it allowed me to specifically listen to the Hideout Helm theme whenever I want. When you listen to it in-game, you only have 60 minutes to listen to it before game over, and disabling the timer switches the music to the slower, less engaging variant of the theme permanently, until you start up a new game and adventure back to the final level. It probably did stand out as my favorite of the DK64 tracks, as someone who very much appreciated the entire OST.
I also distinctly remember struggling much more with the Donkey Kong arcade game than Beaver Bother. I was always confused why they made the Rareware coin so easy to get but the Nintendo coin so difficult. I remember struggling to take pictures of the last two Banana Fairies through the window of that room so I could get all the cheats without getting the coin. I'm glad they gave us that window at least.
A bit late to the show but i’m so glad this is finally out. I was in elementary school when I first saw your banjo kazooie review and this year i’m graduating high school. crazy to think how fast the time has gone by. over the years ive rewatched these videos countless times and it feels like you get what makes these games what they are more than anyone else. Best wishes to you and your future with the conclusion of this series!
Nice to hear even kids and early teens watch and enjoy video critiques of video games.
Through all of its faults and failures, this game truly was a masterpiece in my eyes, by far the greatest game I’ve experienced as a kid collecting all of those bananas and coins and fairies, etc…this game will always be the game I will look back fondly for decades to come as being one of my all time favorite games, thank you Rare for making my childhood
Hideout Helm DEFINITELY is an earworm for me. I catch myself humming this tune all the time!
Hey man, I just wanted to let you know I really appreciated these videos and your attention to detail for a game I spent a lot of my childhood playing. I agree with your points, Fungi Forest and Gloomy Galleon are a time sink. I loved this game when it came out and was super excited for it. I was 10 when I played it, I am 30 now and looking back I acknowledge that it was not a great game. I loved frantic factory and those segments where you had to platform the same route 5 different times with 5 different kongs that all have their own physics. It was a special game that I will always love for the great childhood memories.
Holy crap I never realized that the creepy castle main theme was a recomposition of the Donkey Kong Arcade intro 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
i enjoyed your whole retrospective. and i liked your beaver bother skit. it caught me by surprise with how clinical your commentary was throughout the videos, and then being blindsided by an unhinged rant. i know it's a ton of work, but i hope you do more analyses in the future, even if they're less ambitious videos that don't take years to complete.
Chunky could be used as a "level expander". There are various things keeping the player from exploring this or that, lack of platform to reach or boulder blocking a cave, the other kongs could provide the necessary means and tools for Chunky to use and then Chunky uses these pieces left from the other characters to open new paths or areas.
For example, Donkey hits a switch, to turn on a machine, lanky pulls a lever to dispense a tool, and then Chunky takes that tool to destroy a large obstacle and then Tiny can explore.
As a musician I loved your breakdown of the final stage piece. The whole video was interesting, but that part had me hooked up big time. Great vid
Holy... shit. You DID finish this series of reviews! Oh my god!!! I just stumbled across you again (I just subscribed now, but in the past I used a different YT account I no longer use at all), and then I started to remember! I watched all your other videos in this little series, and I was finishing up MIDDLE SCHOOL when you did the Banjo-Kazooie videos, and now when you've finally finished with Donkey Kong 64, I'm slowly but surely making my way through COLLEGE! My god! I'm just flabbergasted that you actually finished this eventually!!
Thank you so much. I'm thrilled to have felt like I was part of this... very long journey! I think the wait was worth it - you craft your thoughts AND get perfectly matching footage demonstrating your various points, so brilliantly. I love your work and I'll wait however long it takes for future content from you!
Id even go a step beyond with removing chunky as a main roster character, and turning him into something almost like rambi, hes too afrad to explore and platftom but when the time comes he can be a tank for specific situations.
That way chunky has a more defined roll, and also with 4 kongs the swap mechanic could be shrunk down to just using the dpad to swap out.
That way every kong is way more defined without having to balance out chunky needing something.
5 door locations could also be made for vharacter specific for 4 of them, and then the 5th door could require all 4 normal kongs to complete. Almost like a mini hideout helm.
Very insightful pair of videos man, you did a great job breaking this game down and putting it back together. These sorts of analyses are big projects, especially for a game like DK64. Don't know if you plan on doing more game design videos now that this trilogy of sorts is over, but if you do I'll definitely watch them (surprised I didn't see this one until now, honestly). Looking forward to playing the game(s) you make one day, too. Best of luck with all your endeavors, you're making quality stuff.
Those barrels at 16:09 were a great touch. Your 3 reviews of the N64 Rare platformers were top-tier! Are you going to continue onto Conker's Bad Fur Day or is this the series finale? Either way, I'm looking forward to your next review.
Great videos on DK 64. Finally replaying it for the first time since I was a kid and your vid came up when I was searching stuff on it. These are well done!
release the uncensored cut with full volume chunky
Another wonderful set of videos you've made. It was well worth the wait, seeing the time and effort you put into them in front of my eyes! Bravo!
I love rewatching this series now and then.
Dude, this is amazing. Best and most interesting analysis out there!
I'm sure everyone and their mother has realized and commented on this but the 5-year difference in time skyrocketed your videos' production value; I really noticed when you did a Swankybox sweep in the previous vid, but it's an overall improvement, and also goes to show how much I've wasted my life in that exact same interval.
Thanks for the kind words! You've made me curious, though -- what exactly is a "Swankybox sweep"? I'm familiar with the TH-camr, but not the term.
@@Veegie oh no, I made it up on the fly since I figured, as far as exploring old, large 3D models with a free camera model-viewer-type approach as part of the video's cinematic presentation, either he or Boundary Break would be the most immediately recognizable name to compare it to.
I think this was a great game to play growing up. Despite its many flaws, the overall creativity and charm the game has is outstanding in my opinion!
Wish more of youtube had this high quality, concise and informative video game analysis. If you plan on making any more, I'll be looking forward to it.
Really enjoyed this one. It's good to see you're still around man.
Even with the other problems, Tag Anywhere is still a massive improvement. It feels like a theather has been removed and the game has been boosted to a new level that's much more pleasent and fun. Tag Anywhere is a delicious taste of freedom and joy after a heavy chain has been removed from you.
I consider it a revelation. I think most people would easily enjoy and like the game if they played the "Tag Anywhere" mod, because it removes a major source of frustration and tedium and allows the player to only experience the "fun" part of the game, meaning more people can get to know what it is that many of us like about the game.
At the very least, with Tag Anywhere, DK64 is now a harmless game that doesn't consume the player's time and patience as much, meaning there's MUCH less reason for people to get angry at or frustrated with the game.
Excellent analysis series, your depth of knowledge really shows.
wow, it's incredible to see this series is finally finished! i'm only a year or so late, but we made it! the whole thing is fantastic by the way. i'm sure i'll watch it all at least a few dozen more times over the years, so thank you!
i don't have as much experience with DK64 as the banjo games, so there's not a lot i feel i should comment on... except of course, for your segment on the hideaway helm music. it's always been my favorite song from the game, and i never heard anyone else mention it until today, let alone sing it's praises and go to the trouble of diving so deep into it. i can only feel vindicated. i'm just going to leave a timestamp for it right here! 21:10
16:55 - 17.20
"Super Mario 64" technically did it this with one of the star challenges in the haunted house level - you put the vanish cap on, and then have to pass through a boo painting before the effect wears off; and yes, it is an engaging challenge, since it's more than just placing the cap block near the painting.
Loved the analysis of the Hideout Helm composition, it made me appreciate it even more I always was so stressed at this part.
The fact you did a knowledgeable musical analysis blew my mind. Talk about variety!
Hey dude. New viewer of your channel. This was a rather good video. While I don't agree with every criticism you made like me not really minding the DK Tag Barrel specific abilities or the structure altogether, I do appreciate how thoughtful it was. I like that you used many visual examples of ways DK64 in your eyes could of been improved without outright rewriting the entire game. That is pretty appreciated. Also pretty good editing I won't lie. Don't have lots of complaints really.
I'm sure you've probably heard this by now, but Rare's name was never actually 'Rareware.' That term specifically applies to the games themselves, hence the '-ware.' Rare has always gone by Rare limited.
Also, this video series rules.
I never heard of that. But it's an interesting bit of information.
Having the "tag kongs anywhere" patch takes this game from decent to really good. It does makes the backtracking quite rewarding as there's always new things to collect, most of them obtainable by the click of a button and not needing to go back to the kong barrel.
I think DK64 is a game solely for hardcore fans of the collect-a-thon genre. As a fan of them, I really like it, though I understand why others wouldn't. Loved your series man and am glad you got to finish it!
sorry youre not making videos recently because damn your analysis is incredibly sophisticated, amusing and interesting and there's so many games I'd love to hear your take on
They come out every once in a while, abd its a treat when they do
Veggie I really like your in depth analysis videos and I know the banjoo kazooie/Dk 64 series was concluded with this entry but I was wondering if there might be a teeny weenie chance you might conclude with the final loose end which is Yooka laylee which was supposed to carry the Banjoo Kazooie/collect-a-thon legacy (mainly because I am dying to hear what you think about it and seeing how you pick apart the game and examine it is very cash money 👌🏻)
I’m really glad that you gave these three games a thorough look through, examination and overall review. DK64 was my first Rareware game as a child and while I really enjoy a lot of it all these years later, I honestly don’t think I can recommend DK64 on a similar level to BK or BT. And this is coming from a guy who 101%ed the game 4 times and can do it in less than 15 hours getting literally everything lol. It was honestly kinda sad for me to think that many folks hold DK64 responsible for the “death” of 3D Platformers a few years after it came out. Anyway, I’ve greatly enjoyed all this work you’ve done on the videos, and I look forward to a type of discussion on the sort of evolution of the 3D platformer over time/ their current place in modern gaming. I’m sure I’ll be rewatching all these videos again sometime soon to remind myself of the whole picture. I look forward to more analysis in the future in general and good luck with getting a good job with your degree there, (also Beaver Bother is very terrible you are correct lol).
That's not what caused the death of 3D platformers, it was Microsoft buying Rare.
This game might be flawed but it does hold a special place in my heart because I used to play it so much as a kid and I do have a lot of fond memories with it. I’m trying to get a Nintendo 64 and this game just so I can play it again. I might stress over the back tracking and the camera but I’m hoping to relive some memories
Great work on this!
can't wait for the next video!
I don't know what you do next, or if you want to do any videos, but I would like to see you tackle Yooka-Laylee in the future: it's Rare's attempt to follow up these three games, essentially, and most of the critique I've seen of it is either too brief (10 minutes, say) or too concerned with scoring hits on it. I do agree in general that it's not very good, but unlike others I don't think it's because "collect-a-thons were always this bad" as I believe Sterling put it.
Not my boy chunky he’s very needed! He plays that triangle like no one else 😂 After all this I do reckognize its flaws in the day and age of 2023. But that being said at the time I played it I was about 5-7 years old and boy did I love that game and the magic it had to offer and maybe the easiness to grasp what needed to be done helped a young me get around. My sweaty adult ass probably wouldn’t need it and this would be an improvement now but yeah that’s 20 year later talk!
Im late to the party but anyways.. Thank you for making this detailed review!
Despite DK64 being one of my favorite games of all time (due to nostalgia of course and that I priotize things in a game DK 64 did pretty well on) I basically agree with everything you said during both of the 2 parts.
I always come back to the game when I want to have a slower paced relaxed gaming experience and in that case I really dont have a problem with the constant switching inbetween the characters, I rather just enjoy running around collecting everything slowly as also the theme of the different levels as also the gorgeous soundtrack.
Of course I probably would be more critical towards the game if it released today since there are so many memories tied to this game for me and I definitely had more time and nerves for some of the tedious challenges back then.
I think if they had implemented some of your suggested changes level design-wise DK64 could have been a serious contestor for one of the best games on N64.
This especially hurts because Nintendo seems to be afraid of releasing another 3D Donkey Kong game to the present day because of the feedback on this one.
This was a spectacular review! I'm almost done with my own 100% playthrough of the game and I've been looking for an in-depth review such as this to help justify my own thoughts with the game lol
If I may add also add one of my biggest critques as well:
This game constantly acts with the philosophy: *"Enough isn't enough".*
It's not enough to complete a challenge on it's own, you must also complete a bonus game. (this applies to WAAAAAYYYYY too many bananas)
It's not enough to win a race, you must also collect an arbitrary amount of coins as well.
It's not enough to fly through this loop 3 times with these annoying controls, now you must follow a vulture's rings as well.
It's not enough to race this rabbit once, you must beat him twice with an ability you can only get in the next level.
It's not enough to beat the arcade game once, you must beat it twice.
I could go on and on but you get the idea. It's easily one of the most frustrating elements to this game for me and I think it comes from a fear or anxiety that the game wont be 'large' or 'grand' enough, that like 70% of this game feels the need to add extra nonsense to otherwise a straight forward task. It's even more annoying when it's inconsistant, like why is is in angry aztec in the '5 doored temple' all Donkey, diddy and Tiny have to so is just get to the end of the maze but lanky and chunky have to do a stupid unrelated bonus game at the end? It makes no sense to me, and always makes me groan and rool my eyes whenever it happens.
Anyway sorry for ranting a bit there, I just had to get that off my back lol. Again, great video! I'm going to go back and watch the Banjo vids now, and you've earned a sub from me :)
"It's not enough to win a race, you must also collect an arbitrary amount of coins as well"
I quite enjoyed the races, but the coin collecting within them I would have preferred if it was tied to a collectible for completionists rather than something that casual players are forced to do while trying to focus on racing an opponent. It took me multiple tries to get the hang of it, but once I did it was pretty satisfying.
Not gonna lie, I would've flat-out loved the game if the Arcade Game was inside K. Rool's room, for the reasons you've given, my god, that really sound like such a missed opportunity.
Good video.
I find determine the key and using it fun so the tag anywhere mod actually fixed enough of the game for me that I can now say that I really like it.
If this ever gets a remake, I hope they use this video as reference.
Please do Conker's Bad Fur Day. I have been waiting years for you to do that game.
I would make one change to the new final battle idea and that would be make do DK more than just grab a barrel. Maybe K.Rool can have some powerful quake attack that he does after hitting him with Tiny, forcing you to active Strong Kong in the barrel to not get hit.
a tremendous analysis as always! this series is a valuable resource for my game development process and this conclusion is especially so, love your comments about what makes exploring a 3d space interesting to begin with
I disagree that the lack of disclosure about the bluebrint's utility is a potential problem. For one, you are given a golden banana for each one you get, so the player is incentivized to keep nabbing them all the time. Secondly, for the most part, they are easily accessible and require a lot less effort than other golden bananas, so there is little reason why a player wouldn't want to get a blueprint as soon as they see a Kasplat, which, as stated earlier, are largely out in the open or in can't-miss-it locations. Because the player is pushed to collect them so much, they don't tend to make the difference between Hideout Helm being winnable and unwinnable, but rather allow for more a wider margin of error. Is it possible to get this far without getting enough to make it clearable? Yes, but a player would have to hate easy golden bananas to be actively avoiding them, and it's really hard to even make it that far in the game with that type of attitude. If you get the 100 golden bananas necessary to enter Hideout Helm and didn't get a lot of blueprints, it's safe to say you played a fair amount of irritating bonus stages to make those numbers. If you're willing to put up with those, picking up blueprints is a really weird and arbitrary place to draw the line. I know the bonus barrels being a nuisance and an annoyance wasn't intentional, but it does mean the blueprints, with their ease of access, are all the more the relief.
I loved your videos
15:20 Chunky is Chunky. Only Chunky.
I power through this game when it first came out took me a long time but I did have the strategy guide so that definitely helped me out when I was a kid however I made it to the Nintendo coin checkpoint and I knew I needed it that's the thing is I had the strategy guide however I was so bad at the original donkey Kong game it literally took me 10 years to actually get the coin so I can actually beat the game
Good review. It's not a perfect game, but despite it's flaws, I may not agree with you, I still enjoyed it. But it's nice to see someone else's point if view with constructive criticism without content ranting that makes no sense that some are known to do. Even though I agree on some things, just not everything(some things are subjective)at least you gave it a chance before analyzing the whole thing.
Nintendo, Hire this man!
I wanted you to discuss the DK Arcade Game and Jetpack in depth
I don't think there's that much to say other than that, while they're cool but extremely challenging Easter Eggs, particularly the Donkey Kong arcade game, since you're only given one life to complete the full game (unless you earn enough points to get an extra life), the fact that they're both required to reach the end of the game is rather baffling, which Veegie already touched on.
this is one of my all round favourite games from N64 wont even lie.. when I go back to the console, this, both Banjo's, snowboard kids and OoT are my main replays.. though OoT not so much as I prefer to play the "HD" version on Gamecube
You don’t need to go far to get an example of differing characters done well.
Majora’s Mask.
The different characters there are near perfect with the ability to change nearly everywhere and great unique behaviours and abilities between them.
I enjoyed the boss battles, why didn't you mention them??!
You should review A Hat in Time
Hate to say it, but remove Chunky from the picture and give his abilities to DK. Replacement isn’t necessary, but if they did, make it Funky with his role as Arms expert. He would be the only characters with guns and orange grenades.
I'm surprised that the Banana Fairies weren't discussed or covered in this video eventhough they were optional collectables I guess.
Finished watching part 1 and now 15 minutes into part 2, I beat beaver bother 😂
Jetpack could rival Beaver Bother...
"Half-hazardly"?
Really good review, though i think a bit more emphasis could have been placed on the fact that DK64 really has very little platforming.
A fair point! I actually cut a sizable few chunks from the script because of length, some of which honed in a bit more on the platforming. Maybe a bit regretful in that regard, but on the other hand, I sort of committed to the ideology that "done is better than perfect" because this project was weighing so heavily on my mind and free time.
Thanks for watching!
Something just occurred to me while watching this.
Instead of having different colored bananas and golden bananas locked to each kong, why not limit the number of regular and Golden bananas each kong can collect? That would remove most of the backtracking complaints I always hear about the game. You'd still have to use all 5 kongs, but only if you are aiming to collect everything. Sure some regular and golden bananas are not gonna be accesible to every kong, but that's a minor issue, to me anyway.
Nicktoons Unite has a similar mutliple player structure -- you have to play as Danny, Timmy, Jimmy, or SpongeBob at certain points to solve puzzles -- and does it WAAAAYYYYY better than DK 64.
Are you still active on this channel, are you working on a new video?
Hey, thanks for your interest. I do want to make more videos, and I do have a couple very early in the pipeline, but this channel is something I can only work on when I have the energy and the free time. On the plus side, that means that you'll only see videos from me that I'm completely satisfied with. It just may be a while.
Still waiting on a new video 🤣
I liked DK64 in a weird way when I was a kid, but got frustrated with it and only got about half way through it. Going back to it and 101%ing it a month or so ago, I expected to have a rough time, but, Beaver Bother and some painful races aside, I enjoyed DK64 a lot! Your critiques and analyses are all spot on and despite having a good time with the game, I would hesitate to say it's "good". In my heart I give it a 7/10, but I don't think I could ever recommend it to anyone without a warning and a chuckle.
Would I play it again? Totally!
Would I beat it again? Probably. Maybe.
Would I beat it 101% again? Not unless you pay me.
ARRGGGG I am so mad at you bringing up so many criticisms in this game! I loved it so much as a child! Shame on you for not saying it's absolutely perfect!!!
Just kidding. Lol While I do like the game, it is indeed very flawed and most of your criticisms are constructive. While I don't think the game is as bad as people exaggerate, honestly this just comes from the fact that since this game was made at the time 3D gaming was still becoming a thing and developers had to experiment to see what things worked. I most definitely would love to have a new Donkey Kong game that is a 3D adventure and have multiple characters being playable but less segmented and you progress regardless of which character you decide to play as. But at the time, if I was to give Donkey Kong 64 a rating of 1 through 10, I'd give it a 7 out of 10. It's good but needs to be tweaked and makes each of the tasks feel less like a chore.
Diddy's rocket barrel ability has super shitty controls too
I don't think you played the game otherwise you wouldn't have said the konga play similarly cause each kong plays very differently with each having their own unique abilities, weapons, and instruments, Diddy Kong, and tiny kong and lanky Kong moves fast than donkey kong and chunky kong. This was definitely an error saying the game doesn't justify having multiple playable that apparently plays similarly to you. Sorry if I sounded rude I just had to correct cause I didn't want you to give misinformation to your viewers and your statements made me think you didn't actually play DK 64 saying characters play way too similarly.
I disagree with your statment i think giving each Kong there own Missions to complete makes the game more uniqe and challenging,if any kong was allow to grab any Bannna it would be two easy and not challenging,also everyone says DK64 is too big and has too much stuff,but i disagree,i think its not big enough and it could have more things to do and collect,everytime i beat DK64 i think to myself this could been bigger,and that was what mostly inspiered me to make a game like DK and Banjo thats much bigger then thoes two compond
its not a bad game... not a masterpiece either id call it middle of the road which is were many games land.
Agreed ! & I have fond memories of playing this religiously as an 8 year old. Looking back now I wouldn’t feel motivated to play this game.
@@MR.__G I'm actually on a second playthrough, it's more enjoyable when no trying to 100% lol
@@MrLinkkid you playing on emulator ? Maybe I should boot it up on my pc lol..
It is a good game, despite its flaws. It has a lot of redeeming factors.
Sorry, but I wouldn't call a game good if most of the content boils down to mind numbing back and forth traversing with almost nothing to justify it. This kind of tedious busywork, especially with such underdeveloped playable characters that feel mostly the same, is not fun. Would I say it's the weakest 3D platforming game from 1999 that I've ever played? Not really. I haven't played all of them, and some like Spyro 2 and Earthworm Jim 3D are potentially worse, but on the whole I don't see any real reason to pick it up again, especially when vastly superior offerings came out the same year like Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue, and Rocket: Robot on Wheels.
@@ultrairrelevantnobody1862 Lol, toy story 2 is a giant glitch, and it's not a collectathon platformer. Were you around when DK64 came out? It was fantastic then and it holds up very well today. It has problems, but it's still a great game.
@Yl Ow
"toy story 2 is a giant glitch, and it's not a collectathon platformer."
You need to collect Pizza Planet Tokens to progress, and two of the five you collect in every stage require collecting five minor collectibles as well as collecting fifty coins. That, and some minigames have you collecting five minor collectibles within a certain time limit. Yep, it's a collectathon, and fortunately one that isn't trying too hard. Granted, film based games tend to have shorter deadlines to meet than triple A games and therefore are far less ambitious, but sometimes that's a good thing. Nothing wrong with an ambitious game, especially when said ambition succeeds (Spyro 3), but most of the time ambitious games tend to age really poorly, like a lot of NES games for example. Great console but wow is there a lot of bad and dated stuff on it, lol. I guess I should address the game being a giant glitch now. I've played all three console versions and I don't recall encountering a single bug, aside from the downright terrible analog control in the Dreamcast version. I guess I'll have to look up what glitches the game has, but overall I never encountered one nor did I come across unpolished aspects like the camera getting stuck.
"Were you around when DK64 came out?"
Technically, I was around since I was born in the same year, but I was far too young to even properly experience the hype. Even then, it's unfair to expect EVERY person to have played the game when it was released. That's just impossible. Oh no, my opinion is invalid because I wasn't born in the late 80s/early 90s. I will say though my brothers were there when it came out. I'd often ask one of them if they liked the game and the usual response is "I liked it okay, but Country on the Super Nintendo was better". Though they also said they started to move on to Dreamcast by the time the game was released. Seriously though, I love retro games, I love researching game history, I'm very passionate about it all. It doesn't matter how old or new the game is, a quality game is a quality game, and a bad game is a bad game. More often than not, a game doesn't age poorly, it's usually that we overlooked problems at the time that are now starting to become noticeable and thus lead to re-evaluation. I loved Super Mario Sunshine growing up, but even then I've always found 64 to be the better game, and replaying both recently makes it easy to see why. Okay, moving on.
"It was fantastic then and it holds up very well today. It has problems, but it's still a great game"
Not everyone found it fantastic. Here's a review by GameFan who gave it a rather lukewarm take, with minor unfavourable comparisons to Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie. web.archive.org/web/20000303092126/www.gamefan.com/repre.asp?g=1141&t=r
Also, I wouldn't call it a good game for reasons I've already laid out. Collecting on its own isn't rewarding, overcoming obstacles and challenges in order to collect IS rewarding. But, hey. If you like the game, I can't change that.
@@ultrairrelevantnobody1862 Toy Story 2 is a very ugly and boring game, with horrible repetitive music and gameplay that is beyond tedious like the tree you keep falling out of and have to climb all over again. It reminds me of Superman 64 and it shouldn't be compared to DK64 at all. It's not a collectathon, pizza planet tokens are like stars in Mario 64, it's not a collectathon like Banjo Kazooie or DK64 is.
You're right, your opinion doesn't matter to me, because your generation is influenced by pseudo-intellectual reviewers like king gay and exoparadigm gaymer, who think toilet princess is superior to Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Wind Waker. Therefore, I don't care what your gen z self has to say about this game whatsoever, because your generation has produced nothing but pseudo-intellectuals with delusions of grandeur. Sorry. You're just too young to matter.
I didn't play it when it was released, I bought it a month after Majora's Mask came out, so that I could get the expansion pak for free. I got a great game, with awesome multiplayer content that me and my siblings loved, like Monkey Smash, plus an expansion pak to play Majora's Mask with.
@Yl Ow
"Toy Story 2 is a very ugly and boring game, with horrible repetitive music and puzzles that are beyond tedious like the tree you keep falling out of and have to climb all over again"
Most people I know who played it generally regard the music as incredible and rightfully so. The compositions are really well done with great rhythm, and the quality is excellent (It's a PS1 game, so yeah). Graphically, the game is colourful with solid texture work, runs smoothly and has a great draw distance. The character models have seen better days though. As for the tree climbing, it's what you call a challenge. You have to be careful when traversing vertically, contains tricky platforming, and your reward is a mini boss. Better yet, when you reach the top, you can choose where to fall and save some time playing the level. We call it Stage Routing. I'm going to skip that comparison to Superman 64 because there's nothing to say except that it's dumb.
"It's not a collectathon, pizza planet tokens are like stars in Mario 64, it's not a collectathon like Banjo Kazooie or DK64 is"
You're still COLLECTING them to PROGRESS. Though I do approve you comparing the tokens to stars, almost like a movie based game has a better understanding of what made Mario 64 such a joy to play than some triple A games. I still like Banjo Kazooie though, that's a fun game.
"You're right, your opinion doesn't matter to me, because your generation is influenced by pseudo-intellectual reviewers like king gay and exoparadigm gaymer, who think toilet princess is superior to OOT"
I don't care much for King K's content, and ExoParadigmGamer I'm indifferent towards; like some videos, don't like others. And I'm going to stop there, because the rest of the comment just comes off as condescending. It doesn't help you didn't go into much detail why Donkey Kong 64 is a fantastic game despite its flaws. Want me to respect your opinion? I'll let you decide.
Just thought i'd throw my own hat in the ring with DK64.
I think DK64 is bad on a first playthrough, meh on a second, and good on the third. It works well with replaying as it's fun (at least to me) to optomize each world's route. This does NOT excuse the poor level design, a game like DK64 should be designed around new players as well; and not make it so damn well confusing (Seriously, I get lost in some levels all the time and i've played the game about 5 times to 101%). Having each area feel different would help in this, and also I feel like the '5 golden bananas per kong' is dumb. Not ONLY because it breaks how DKC works (You could play whoever you want), but it also doesn't even follow it's own rules! Tiny gets 1 extra, which is silly (Seriously? The reward for getting all the banana fairies is a single golen banana? You have to get into hideout helm to even GET all the banana fairies, and that's the last level you need to unlock at 100!).
I rambled a bit, but if this game got some sort of remake (Like, entire remake. Not some upscale graphics nonsense.); here are some things i'd like to see changed:
- Allow switching kongs on the fly.
- Allow any kong to collect ANY collectable.
- Remove all the switches and pads with the different projectiles/musical instruments/kongs on them. Allow ANY kong to use them (I know stuff like Tiny's and DK's would be problematic but like, i'm sure you can find away around it somehow).
- Make the levels feel like they have different areas (Examples: Fungi Forest/Crystal Caves could use different coloured mushrooms/crystals to make areas feel different).
- Have some sort of map (It can be extremely primitive, but please just have it mark off locations you've already been. It's SO annoying thinking you found a new room, only to realize you've already done it).
- Better place bananaports (Some of these locations make no sense, like the 5 pad in Gloomy Galleon. It is ONLY used to get DK's blueprint it makes NO sense).
- Do what Creepy Castle's boss does (And I guess kind of K. Rool's Fight too) and allow ANY kong to fight the bosses (You could [And most likely WOULD have to] have unique ways of beating them, like Mad Jack's boss with Diddy would be more vertical and you'd have to use the spring pads to bounce up).
- Make the shops not so out of the way? Funky in Creepy Castle, Cranky in Jungle Japes, Snide in the overworld).
- Make any kong able to purchase ANY upgrade (Of course the game would tell you which kong it's for).
- Make upgrades cost more like, why are there SO MANY USELESS COINS???
- Have a 'Bronze', 'Silver', 'Gold' and 'Platinum' banana medals (Rewarded at 50, 75, 90 and 100 regular banana's collected) so that you actually WANT to go and collect regular bananas.
- Make health more of a big deal, you basically NEVER die in DK64 (Unless the hazard is an insta-kill or does 1 melon of damage).
- Make the kong's move differently (Make Chunky move the slowest, jump the shortest but make him the strongest for fighting enemies. Stuff like that to make them feel UNIQUE!).
This is NEVER happen knowing Nintendo, but these would help make the game just feel better to play, and be more rewarding at that without being so frustrating. Anyway I've run out of things to add. All I'll say at the end is that I love DK64, it's a fun game with major flaws as a 3d collectathon platformer; and I'm glad it got the in-depth analysis it deserved. It may not be rareware's BEST game (Far from it in fact), but it's so god damn charming; you can really tell that they loved making it with all the little details in the cutscenes and all the characters personalities. Anyway (again), great video (and series) and I can't wait to see what you do next!
Rumor has it Nintendo is making a new Donkey Kong game with the Odyssey team. RUMOR, this isn't confirmed
Fucking that Nintendo Coin. Only actual thing I hate about the game.