So many 3D platformers. Ok, this one is infamous for being the very hieght of the collectathon genre. The sheer amount of goobers to pick up, that are colour-coded no less so you have to pick the right one of 5 characters to even collect them, is a big source of frustration for a lot of people. But on my recent playthrough, I didn’t find that so bad. I just treated it as a leisurely relaxing process, going back and forth, switching up, piling up little tasks to complete one after the other.

I was helped immeasurably by having an open strategy guide next to me for the second half of the run. It prevented frustration and fruitless wandering. Plenty of maps and checklists. Without it the game really is a confusing mess, especially levels that get you lost easily, like… all of them. These huge areas with hubs, a lot of places look similar, doorways that arbitrarily lead to areas that you mix up.

But enough about game design. I want to talk about the character of the game. In style and structure it’s quite similar to the Banjo series, but there are important differences. I read that it was made by a different team to those games, which means that Rare had three 3D platformers developing simultaneously. Wacky. One thing that stood out to me that set them apart was the humour and personality. Banjo has a few little amusing animations, but really shone in its writing. On the other hand, DK64 had very dull writing but has tons of characterful animations and physical humour. It’s a distinction that leads in to the next point.

This game has not aged very well. From the downright embarrassingly 90s DK Rap that opens the game to the game design to the visuals. They wanted to show off the dynamic lighting system but the game just ends up too dark a lot of the time. They wanted to push the hardware but there’s a lot of lag as a result. They wanted it to be funny but it’s a little lame.

Still, there’s an undeniable charm to it. Having this world and especially the characters fleshed out so much. Just watching the Kongs’ antics in the tag barrel says so much about their personalities. And while a lot of the tasks are mindless or pointless, there’s satisfaction in hunting them down and performing them. The music is a highlight, Grant Kirkhope at his best.

It’s invaluable as a Donkey Kong game because of what it brings to the series. Having said that, its wackiness doesn’t fit too well with the Country games that preceded it, it’s not quite as grounded. Well they got a little crazy at times too. But, as a game it’s clearly not as good as either Banjo game, just my opinion of course. Having so many 3D platformers in such a short time was pretty mad, but it’s just cool to have 5 playable Kongs in their wild world. And I’m so glad I was able to finally get 101% after all these years. Ok Cranky, take it to the fridge!