The Donkey Kong Country series' 2D graphics earned Rare plenty of plaudits between 19. We'd then save the Midi file out, compress it and stick it in the machine, and then the file would be in the machine and play samples in it." Taking the 3D Plunge
"It made you think more about what instruments sounded good in certain pitches because they all sounded crap really! We specifically moulded the soundtracks to fit the instruments that we had in the machine, which is why I think Rare soundtracks stood out.
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We weren't writing tunes in full quality and trying to crunch them down and get them into the machine – we only played the instruments in it." "We could link our PCs, which were running Cubase via Midi to the dev kit, so we actually played the sounds in it when we were writing. "We actually built our Midi orchestra inside the cartridge of the dev kit," Kirkhope explained. A reimagining of classic number Jungle Japes aside, however, Kirkhope elected to make each tune from scratch, and the Nintendo 64's 4MB of RAM - huge for its time - altered the way that every track was written and produced. Wise's Donkey Kong Country soundtracks, as iconic today as they were in the 1990s, formed the backbone of Kirkhope's ideas. Dave Wise's soundtracks had some moody parts to them, so I felt like I needed to bring that moodiness back into DK64." "In my head, I had to try and separate Banjo-Tooie from DK64, and I always felt DK64 was a darker game.
"I was doing DK64, Banjo-Tooie, and Perfect Dark all at the same time," Kirkhope revealed. For Grant Kirkhope, making Donkey Kong 64's score distinctive was all the more salient due to the number of Rare projects he was working on.
The game's soundtrack and the infamous DK Rap – more on that later – also had to be unique. Gameplay wasn't the only element that needed to distance itself from Banjo-Kazooie. You'd think 'Oh, what would happen if Chunky Kong was here?' and it allowed the player to predict what puzzles they'd have to face with different characters and, in theory, keep the game fresh." Let's all do the Kong-a "The expectation was that, once you enter a new area, you'd traverse it with one character and see a different puzzle element. "It added another layer of richness to the discoverability of each new character, and gives them both a share of the spotlight and puzzle solving aspect that feels quite fresh," Andreas said. Each character's unique ability, such as Diddy's jetpack and Chunky's superhuman strength, presented opportunities to test gamers' problem solving. Their inclusions, though, enabled Rare to get creative with another gameplay mechanic – puzzles. We also tried to punctuate levels with over-the-top boss battles."ĭonkey Kong 64's playable quintet – Donkey, Diddy, Tiny, Chunky, and Lanky – might have seemed like overkill to some players. "Then we had a lot of what I used to call 'thrilling moments', so the minecart rides or slides that made it more exhilarating than the more laid-back approach to adventuring of Banjo. "Having a cast of five characters, which you could play and swap between, gave it a slightly different edge," Andreas said. Here's the best new games of 2019 (opens in new tab) and beyond. By visiting Cranky Kong in each level more moves can be learned for each character, allowing them to complete challenges and reach sections in levels that were previously inaccessible.There might be no new Donkey Kong game on the near horizon, but there's still plenty more games to come. The player starts only being able to choose Donkey Kong, and must rescue the other four characters from the early levels before they can be used. Each level has multiple objectives, such as collecting DK's stolen golden bananas, collecting bananas color coded to each of the five characters, and miscellaneous other objects that need to be found to eventually complete 100% of the game. Several new features have been added to the game, like being able to change between different characters with different weapons and abilities.Īs with many platformer games players will run around the various levels, jumping, swimming, and climbing where needed.
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We drift through countless memories of flickering TV screens and eye-popping graphics, washing up on the shores of 3D gaming's first bold steps onto a Nintendo platform.ĭonkey Kong 64 is similar to Rareware's other Nintendo 64 platformer series, Banjo Kazooie, but starring Donkey Kong and his friends from the Donkey Kong Country games. He's finally back, but does he still kick some tail?Īt the mere mention of Nintendo's first 64-bit console, many of us find it difficult not to get swept up by a wave of nostalgia.