IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
As Donkey Kong 64 turns 20, the devs reflect on its design, the infamous DK Rap, and how a shocked Shigeru Miyamoto created the Coconut Shooter
Creative leads George Andreas, Grant Kirkhope, Mark Stevenson, and Chris Sutherland talk Donkey Kong 64
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It's a phrase espoused by many in the games industry, particularly those who design and develop the titles that we play and critique.
For Donkey Kong 64, that analysis has been ongoing for two decades. Rare's 3D title is considered to be the perpetrator behind the downfall of collect-a-thon platformers. Plenty have been critical of Donkey Kong 64's vast amount of collectibles – comments that still affect those who poured their hearts and souls into it. Donkey Kong 64's dev team has long disbanded but, on the eve of its 20th anniversary, a feeling of 'what if' continues to dominate thoughts.
"There's a lot I would do differently," George Andreas, Donkey Kong 64's creative director tells me. "We would scale things down, make things look sharper, and focus on fewer things. I would have unified the banana system. That would have made it much easier for players to play through. I'd also promote more swapping between characters at regular intervals, but just having a consistent banana count, rather than multiple colours, would have improved things."
Though players only needed to collect 281 items to achieve its zany 101% completion, Donkey Kong 64's staggering number of collectibles – 3,821 in total – remains a world-record. The reason behind it, Andreas explained, was down to a certain bear-bird duo that had earned Rare another platforming hit 18 months earlier.
"Banjo-Kazooie had a lot of great things about it," says Andreas. "So one of the first things Tim Stamper – Rare's co-founder – told me was 'Make sure there's lots to collect'. I'd always go back to him and say 'Here's some' and he'd go 'No, more things'. We had to make it as much of a collect-a-thon as possible to help try and differentiate it."
That desire to distinguish Donkey Kong 64 from Banjo-Kazooie extended to its playable characters. The Donkey Kong Country series had become renowned for its playable double acts. With Banjo-Kazooie copying this format, a roster rethink and the inclusion of prominent Donkey Kong setpieces were necessary to help Donkey Kong 64 stand out.
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