Board 8 > How underrated was Donkey Kong 64?

(+) Yeah! (+)

From: pyresword | #005
As far as N64 platformers go: Banjo Tooie>DK64>SM64>Banjo Kazooie, although all of them are great. There is probably one I'm forgetting, and I have no idea where Conker's Bad Fur Day fits because I've never played it.

From: StifledSilence | #007
I wouldn't say bad game, but it's definitely overrated. When I played it, I was hoping for something similar to what Donkey Kong Country Returns ended up being, and was disappointed.

From: TomNook7 | #009
...how was it underrated

it received near universal acclaim

From: JaKyL25 | #017
Hang on, I'll tell you after I finish collecting 500 bananas on every stage.

From: StifledSilence | #015
I just expected DK64 to have the Country formula in a 3D environment instead of trying to be like Super Mario 64. It fell far short of that mark.

From: Figlar20000 | #016
Unfortunately, it was extremely overshadowed by SM64 and BK which came out close to it's release dates. It was great, just not top of the line great.

From: JaKyL25 | #023
Banjo-Kazooie nailed the "collectathon" 3D platformer, and nothing else since has really gotten it right, not even Banjo-Tooie.

From: StifledSilence | #029
Banjo-Kazooie nailed the "collectathon" 3D platformer, and nothing else since has really gotten it right, not even Banjo-Tooie.

That's how I felt after I played BT. Crash Bandicoot Warped came perhaps the closest to the standards BK set, but BK is still in a category of its own as far as platformers go.

From: th3l3fty | #031
Rusty Bucket Bay is without question the worst level in any game I have ever played

From: th3l3fty | #035
there's a good reason for that!

(I don't like Sonic games at all)

From: Kamekguy | #038
Nothing like DKC?

From: Kamekguy | #038
At the time of its release, not at all. There was an unbelievable amount of crappy and 'meh' 3D platformers (and Rayman 2, bless its heart) released at the time to ride off of Mario 64's coattails. Since Banjo was really the only thing worthwhile since its launch (again, with the exception of Rayman 2) and the N64 was... well it had Mario 64 so you probably thought of it before Crash and Spyro, DK64 being a 3D platformer with some level of quality and thought in its design was very nice.

I'll always regard DK64 as kind of the FFVIII to the N64's 3D platformers (with Mario being FFVII and... erm... I guess both Banjo games being FFIX) in that it plays with the mechanics of a 3D platformer more than any of the other games did and really experiments. There are a ton of mini-games, a huge amount of variation in the character playstyles, and just a lot to do and play around with. It's a lot of good ideas with some great intentions, and that works for some people and alienates others. It lacks polish in a lot of areas, especially graphically when compared to Banjo-Kazooie and that damn rocketbarrel power-up, but it did a lot of things right for all it got wrong. It's just the amount it presented players with was a bit overwhelming, and players could pretty much go 'yeah well I can do this in Mario/Banjo/Crash/Spyro without this other mechanic I don't like. DK64 sux'.

That and petty DKC fans. Aw poor babies where are Dixie and Squitter? They ruined Squawks? Nothing like DKC? Poor things.

From: TheKnightOfNee | #040
Donkey Kong 64 having huge worlds is one of the problems it has going for it.

The developers saw a mundane activity in other games that took a minute and said, "We can make the world bigger so this activity now takes three minutes! And instead of having the player do it 15 times, they can do it 50 times!"

From: The_Djoker | #044
What was wrong with a bigger world? I think it compensated for the lack of activities with multiple characters and multiple places to explore. It did use the Expansion Pak after all.