DK64 Appreciation Thread

The hate comes from the ridiculous amount of padding and how you basically have to play the same levels five times each if you want everything. The color-coded items restrict gameplay and make traversing levels a chore more than fun.

The game is not without its endearing charm though.

People are impatient.

Way too much stuff to collect, it's all color coded so you have to play through the level five times over, the levels are more poorly-designed than those in BK, and it lags like hell.

>>3247689
BK>>DK 64>>>>BT

>>3247689
People nowadays don't have time for videogames. Back when we were kids, having more stuff to collect was always better because it meant more fun and we got more bang for our parent's buck.

I love DK64. But it's a chore to replay. Even if I know how to get everything, it still takes quite a few hours to 100% it because of the sheer size of the game.

>>3247689
This game should be a must-play by anyone who wants to get into game development.

So they can have a perfect example of horrible level design.

It's a good game, but it's better to play it in short bursts, not marathon it.

At the very least even if you dislike the game design, there's the arcade DK on it.

Also best track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQceqHynii0

It really is a love-hate game. I think it's one of the best games ever. I think it's sad how a lot of games like this get lost over time because of some haters when they can make a big impact on someone else.

>>3247823

I don't love it, as in I don't think it's one of the best games ever, but also don't hate it, I just liked it when I played it, it IS a good game.

I think what happens to most people is that they get overwhelmed by the amount of things there is to collect.
Also I assume many people also parrot the opinions of others, "DK64 is a shitty collectathon" gets thrown out a lot so many people will repeat it, even if they haven't played the game.

Yes, it is a "collectathon", but it is by no means shitty.

My problem with the game wasn't the collecting aspect, but rather that sometimes it is a bit confusing, especially the overworld, I remember getting stuck not knowing where to go for a while, but then when I figured out I enjoyed the rest of the game until the end, even got the 101%.

OP here, I played the game with my friend who never beat it as a kid. We had a great time passing the controller back and forth if we were having trouble.

It took us about 40 hours to beat the entire thing 101% but I think we left the game on for a few hours. One of my current favourite video game experiences.

I recently started playing it for the first time and I'm loving it. It's so big, and there is so much stuff to do, that while I don't play it all the time whenever I do I go on for hours.

I wish I had played it as a kid, I know I would have loved it.

The K rool battle is long and challenging. LOVED IT. (except the diddy part)

beaver oh bother

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>>3247806
Awww yeah.

>>3248681
I didn't like the K. Rool battle too much to be honest.

I started the game when it came out as a kid and never got around to fully beating it until a few years ago, so it might just be the nostalgia goggles coming off.

Even as a kid, I expected K. Rool to be this terrifying badass end boss, but instead it felt like the opposite.

>>3247689
This game triggers perfectionists and completionists that can't let a banana go that belongs to a Kong that they are not playing. These kinds of people have to do everything perfectly and hate leaving a banana unpicked because of their autism. I for one love the open concept and exploration aspect of the game and it's fun playing through as Tiny to get an arial view of the area before changing Kongs.

This game is also one that thosr that hate collectathons hate on becausr it is the epitomy of the genre.

>>3252301
Did you play any of the DKC games beforehand? Because K Rool's always been a dope. If anything he's uncharacteristically conniving in 64's cutscenes

DK64 gets a bad rap nowadays for exactly the same reasons it was praised with it came out.

I know how nostalgia this sounds, but back then, most kids were lucky to get a couple new games a year, and we'd constantly be playing the same games over and over, even after doing literally everything. DK64's necessary "backtracking" was a nice spin on something most people would end up doing anyways.

Now we're all spoiled with cheap games and emulation, so anything remotely redundant or excessive is seen as some kind of annoyance because we have literally hundreds of games ready to be played as soon as we're done with the current one.

All the rare games need is to be rereleased with a good framerate. What a fucking dream.

I've been playing through this for the first time. It's too similar to Banjo-Kazooie and it doesn't really establish its own identity. The collectathon aspect isn't really that bad since the levels (that I've played so far) really aren't that large. It's not a bad game but I also haven't seen anything so far that would make me call it a great game.

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>>3252690
>All the rare games need is to be rereleased with a good framerate

We need to stop this meme. The Rare platformers had a good framerate (except for Tooie). Only the FPS ones were dodgy.

>>3252576
You make some pretty good points. Banjo-Tooie suffers from the same malady I think. Standards have definitely changed, but that doesn't make these games worse than they were when they came out. People expect different things from games now

>>3252712
I disagree and feel that it adds latency to the movement. But I'm glad you enjoyed it.

>>3252712
Your idea of a "good framerate" is apparently something between 15-20.
You must be loving the current console generation then too.

The time I was at these spoiled chinese kids' house and overwrote all of their progress while they were eating dinner.
I renamed every file 'ass'

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>>3252725
FYI this is what 20 fps looks like.

>>3247689
Graphically the game is fantastic, easily one of the best looking games on the system. If you removed the artificial padding with the collectables it might be a pretty good game, as it stands it's just absurdly drawn out and more frustrating than anything else.

>>3253718
That looks awful. The only reason it looks tolerable in a video is because people are so used to seeing videos with poor framerates.

>>3253405
You're a cunt.

>>3255494
It must be hard to enjoy retro gaming if you think that looks awful.

>>3252576
This is a really good point, RPG's got popular in the 5th gen for many of the same reasons. The repetitive nature of the gameplay was seen as a justifiable means to extend the experience.

>>3253405
racist

>>3255860
I'm not him but most retro games run well above 20fps. And yes, that 20fps clip does indeed look like shit.

>>3255860
>It must be hard to enjoy retro gaming if you think that looks awful.
The framerate does. Link to the Past ran an awful lot better if I'm remembering correctly. Sure, there's a good reason for that, but it's still true. Many 3D PS1 and N64 games ran like garbage because they were so busy trying to make everything super pretty that they forgot to keep great framerates in many cases. I can see why some people prefer it that way but I tend to prefer fluidity over raw technology given a choice of hardware resource expenditure.

>>3252576
>>3252715
This is an interesting point.
I was actually thinking that if I had a N64 as a kid, and could only had one game, this one would be one of the most likely candidates because I would have content for ages.

>>3252715
Yeah, people want open world bullshit now with the same 5 side quests repeating over and over again

>>3256006
They are great games for kids to roam around aimlessly doing nothing. I know a wasted a good chunk of my life just replaying OoT and Kazooie, just trying out glitches, game shark codes and to enter blocked off areas.

>>3256006
I didn't like DK64 back then though. I do have nostalgia for other N64 titles.

>>3256549
Congratulations, you have an opinion. Just don't confuse it with fact.

banjo kazooie just kicks the absolute shit out of it.

>>3256564
It's a very popular opinion, unfortunately.

>>3247689
>I don't understand all the hate for it.

The Donkey Kong Country series prided itself on awesome (for its day) graphics, killer music, tons of secrets, tight controls, and challenging platforming

Then DK64 came out with its crap graphics, bland rooms and choked corridors, mediocre music, collectathon level retreading, and clunky controls

I think they should've went the Crash Bandicoot route of level design instead of the Mario 64-ish route

>>3256624

I disagree with a lot of things you have to say about DK64.

>crap graphics

I personally think the graphics are quite good, and most people thought so at the time.

>bland rooms

This is just vague. Most of the game doesn't even take place inside of rooms. Care to give any examples?

>choked corridors

This one perplexes me. I can't think of a single instance of this. Most of the corridors in this game are actually very wide.

>mediocre music

This is obviously subjective. Personally, I love the music. It has one of my favorite soundtracks on the system, after the Zelda games and Banjo Kazooie.

>clunky controls

I disagree. While it's hard to say what qualifies as "clunky", I think the controls are fine. The only problem I can see people having is remembering how to do many of the moves since you have so many at your disposal.

>I think they should've went the Crash Bandicoot route of level design instead of the Mario 64-ish route

I do have to say that this would have been pretty cool, though. It would've felt more like DKC (which is my favorite trilogy of games).

>>3256596
Just as long as you can admit that it's an opinion.

>>3247712
>>3247742
>have to play the levels 5 time over
You don't though. I've never understood this criticism. It's pretty clear how different areas of different levels are for different kongs. You're playing the level once switching between 5 different kongs. They're very generous with the warp placement too to minimize how much you need to wander.
>too much stuff to collect
This too. Bananas, golden bananas, banana coins, secret plans, and fairies. All but fairies have an obvious and consistent set number per level. The rest are pickups for ammo and.

>>3257395
Level design is atrocious, the warp pads are all over the place. You can't collect bananas of a different color without the correct kong. This even affects the golden bananas too. Whoever thought this was a good idea?

Also the whole sense of humor seems cheesy and unfunny. You can tell right away from the monkey rap the developers are trying too hard to be hip.

>>3257397
The levels are fairly well-designed such that there's paths that are intended for each kong. If you're seeing a lot of bananas for other kongs you're in the wrong place.

>>3257405
>The levels are fairly well-designed such that there's paths that are intended for each kong.
You need to do them all anyway, most of the time in order. There's no freedom of choice at all.
I think you and me played different games.

>>3257418
Maybe you're just bad at collectathons

>>3252712
I replayed Conker's Bad Fur Day recently. It occured me to how short the game is, especially when compared to DK64. I'm glad I didn't pay for it.

>>3253718
>You will never be kidnapped by a tribe of female brown skinned warrior princesses to be milked for your semen

>>3257423
Calling yourself a master of them is nothing to brag about.

>>3257441

Could be said about any video game ever.

>>3257401

That's the joke. The song is trying really hard to be hip and cool but it's actually really lame. They did it on purpose. I can't believe I have to explain that.

>>3247786
BK>BT>>>>DK

>>3252576
I've never appreciated DK64 because of that artificial life time. I got the luck to also have both banjo's games and i've never felt the same about them.
To me DK64 felt like an insult to DK country serie.

>>3257401
I guess you aren't familiar with irony

>yfw Tarzan on N64 was a better DKC game

>>3257810
This is open to interpretation though, I suspect the developers were quite earnest with that song, is only exposure to contemporary internet ironic memer culture that makes us see irony where there may be none.

>>3257871
It's Rare.

>>3257860
kek

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>>3257860
B R A V O R A R E
R
A
V
O

>>3247689
Banjo Kazooie was a fun collecathon, this one is just unfun padding.

Dk64 is the bomb

>>3257860
How could this look so shit compared to CBFD?

Also did anyone else get the weird illusion that it was Diddy until they expanded the thumbnail?

>>3260129
To be fair, this is a section of a level where Rare screwed up the texturing resulting in ugly seams. The emulator just exaggerates the seams even more.

I too held this game in high regard as a kid but in the end levels it started to get tiring with the backtracking and padding. Also Beaver Bother was never really a problem for me, I beat it considerably faster than others.