Well, so much for me writing more often. Well if you read this at all, you’d be used to irregular updates. So here’s the last game I played before packing away my N64 again. Fitting, as it was released so late and seems a culmination/subversion of a prevailing genre at the time, the 3D platformer.

Bad Fur Day is often lumped in with the other Rare collectathons, but that’s an unfair association. It lampoons them, yes, but many other genres as well. Its rewards are the humorous excuse collectible of cash and more importantly simply getting to the next cutscene, seeing what happens next, the next joke or the next setpiece, is the reward for progress.

Importantly, the humour is very central to the game, being a driving force, rather than a sweet secondary focus as it is in Banjo. You just don’t get that many humour games or comedy games, especially not ones that actually have good gameplay too. The gameplay here is classic 3D platformer stuff, but with a heavier emphasis than normal on changing it up. We get thrid-person shooter segments (war-themed and horror-themed), flying, pitchfork-riding, first-person turret sections, races, arena combat, and quicktime events among others, in addition to the standard jumping-climbing-swimming challenges. Some of these can get quite frustrating but it’s all worth it to “get to the next bit”.

About the humour though, it’s a little dated. A good example of late 90’s “mature” immature humour, like early South Park. Swearing and poop are funny. Of course, at the time and at the ages we were, they really were very funny. There’s quite a few pop culture/movie reference jokes too, which tend to date. I think there’s a lot there that holds up though, and has value, even if it’s simply as a historical item. The main point underscoring it all though is that the world is initially so cutesy and the characters being talking animals and objects, which is constantly subverted.

In a lot of ways, it’s rooted in its time. You have to understand something of its development environment to truly understand it. Rare’s development teams were separated into barns to foster a competitive atmosphere. Chris Seavor’s barn was working on Twelve Tails: Conker 64, Rare’s first(!) 3D platformer. Another team was working on Project Dream. When they saw Conker, they reworked their game, taking cues from Seavor’s project. Meanwhile Conker suffered several delays while Banjo, then its sister project DK64, and finally Banjo Tooie, were released. Seavor saw that they would have to do something drastic to differentiate their project from those that beat it to the punch. Their answer was to subvert that style, subvert Nintendo’s kid-friendly image, subvert even the game itself in its past stages.

For some of us gamers growing up, we are now finding interest in looking back behind the scenes of games we loved. Apparently the developers of those games are doing so too, reflecting on their careers. Chris Seavor’s development commentaries (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbRUl7dkRVPKlYiUq4TmEaQ) with some others of his team are an invaluable look behind the curtain, as well as being very entertaining (they’re so bad at their own game!). You also get them on Twitter sometimes, or in interviews. Conker’s story has many twists and turns, and that’s before you even get into Microsoft…

So given that it’s so unique, I’m pretty comfortable giving Bad Fur Day my “Favourite N64 Game” award. I just loved having a game that engaged me on the game level, but also made me laugh, that ended up being very emotional. On completing my recent playthrough, I admitted on Twitter that I shed a tear at the ending. There’s an abrupt and very hard-hitting turn that in itself is another subversion of what came before in the game itself, while also being a moral that Conker was leading up to in some ways. As I said before, this dual identity of the game itself is reflected somewhat in its ending, if only in a tonal sense.

Also it had a bunch of kickass multiplayer modes that occupied us for many a Saturday morning. While the campaign is the main focus, as was the case for many games the tacked-on multiplayer greatly extended the longevity and made it not only suitable for party occasions, but a must-have. There’s a lot of variety but inevitably Beach and War are the most frequently played.

Ah. It was really good, despite all its flaws. I’m also playing Conker’s Pocket Tales (slowly)… they’re really nothing alike. But that’s all for now. Oh, did I mention the memorable characters? The paint pot, Chucky Poo, Professor von Kripplespac, Conker himself, Gregg the Grim Reaper, the army sergeant. Classics all, and every minor character also has something to make you laugh. Oh… now I’m thinking about the ending again and feeling all sad and bleak. See, this is what the game does to you. But then you remember the scouser dung beetles and smile. Mm. Marvellous. ting