After doing a great job with Donkey Kong Country on the SNES, Rare were given the job of bringing Donkey Kong into 3D. Instead of transforming the style of Donkey Kong Country into 3D, however, they instead went more into the style of Super Mario 64 and their own Banjo-Kazooie. This time, though, there are five playable characters, which is both one of the game’s strong points and the game’s weakest point.

With five characters come a lot of abilities. Thankfully, all the Kongs control roughly the same, even with their differences, meaning you can move to a new Kong and not have to re-learn the basics. That said, how the basic jumps and attacks are performed by each Kong is different, so there is some variety in simply how they move.

A few of the special abilities are also shared, each has their own gun and musical instrument that mostly work in the same way, while they have a crystal-powered ability that is unique: Lanky can run on his hands really fast, Diddy gets a Jetpack, Chunky becomes massive, Tiny becomes tiny and Donkey Kong becomes invincible. And that’s just one of their unique abilities.

Where the main issue lies in, though, is how so many collectables (and there are a LOT of them) are colour-coded and can only be collected by the Kong they’re tied to, so you’ll see some bananas in the wrong colour and need to make your way to a tag barrel to swap. However, I do think this problem is overblown, and it isn’t such a colossal hassle as some make out – and I have to make extra trips due to being colourblind (I can’t see the difference between the stuff for DK/Chunky or Tiny/Lanky). I’ve collected everything (which isn’t required to see the end of the game) a couple of times, and the biggest issue is some of the barrel challenges, rather than the collectables.

Some Golden Bananas – the game’s main collectable (although there are also regular bananas, banana medals, fairies, coins, blueprints, crowns, and keys) – are locked behind barrels containing minigames. What bananas these are seems a bit random – you’d think they’d mainly be easily accessible, but some are difficult to reach and then you have a minigame.

I think the minigames are more of a hindrance than the collectables are, very few are much fun, and some can be extremely difficult. Some were also designed with the N64’s poor framerate in mind, and are almost impossible on the Wii U virtual console (and emulators) without repeatedly pausing. It’s my least favourite aspect of the game.

The basic movement also feels off to me, and I find it more difficult to cross a thin path in DK64 than in games like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. The camera is also often a burden, but that was common in a lot of games of this era.

Still, despite these problems, the game is still an immense amount of fun. The levels are complex, and take a while to properly explore for the first time, with a ton of stuff to see and do. Donkey Kong 64 will take a significant amount of time to beat for the first time – that’s if you can beat it. When I was kid, I did everything except beating the original DK arcade for the second time, so I collected 101% of the Golden Bananas, but never saw the wonderful final boss.

Some levels also make use of lighting quite a lot, featuring dark areas lit up by torches, with fireballs flying over to temporarily light up the path. It seems like something basic now, but for the time it wasn’t common for lighting to be used in this way.

Donkey Kong 64 is a wonderful game, just one with some frustrating flaws. There’s a ton of wonder and imagination with a lot to discover, but the frustration with the thin platforms and the minigames does hamper the experience.

Great

Then, like the sparkling ray of sunlight that signifies the end of the storm, this arrived. Donkey Kong 64 is everything a platformer, should be: vast, complex, beautiful to look at, and impossibly involving. While lesser games cower in the corner with their half-hearted controls and linear play, DK64 presents intricate puzzles, sprawling levels and magnificent sights that perfectly reflect how much real effort has gone into its making.

Mark Green, N64 Magazine #36. Review Score: 93%

Remake or remaster?

A good remaster would be outstanding. Refine the controls and camera, add some options to help with collectables (remove the specific Kong requirement or give the option to swap Kong anywhere like a popular ROMhack does), and rebalance the minigames to work with good framerates.

Official ways to get the game.

There’s no official way to get Donkey Kong 64

Re-releases

2015: Wii U Virtual Console