PixlBit

Number 24

When I was a kid, I never played that many M-Rated games. I played games like Goldeneye with my friends and I even rented the N64 South Park games. Yes those games were terrible but I was a fan of the fps South Park game and maybe Chef's Luv Shack. I never owned any violent game back then, of course we all know games are violent. What I mean is something with blood, offensive language, and inappropriate content.

Conker's Bad Fur Day has one of the most interesting stories behind it's development. The thing about this game is that it wasn't going to be the way it turned out, it was going to be a really whymsical game like all of Rareware's usual platformers. Its original name was Conker's Quest later renamed Twelve Tales: Conker 64 and it was going to be another colorful platformer. The reason for the sudden switch was because the "media" was labelling Rareware as a kiddy company. So Rare, and all their infinite wisdom decided to go from a kid friendly platformer, to a cartoony, mature, violent, inappropriate platformer.

Plus the game was so violent, Nintendo Power refused to advertise the game. Which is odd because they do advertise and review M-Rated games. The only thing I can think of is that Nintendo didn't want to be attached to a rated M title, hence why it was omitted from the magazine. It would make sense because it might of tarnished Nintendo's kid friendly, family image.

The game itself is unlike anything I have ever played at the time, in fact it is the very first M-rated title I have ever played that involved platformers. My brother and I used to rent this all the time back then when we first saw the box at the video store (remember those?) I thought it would be another platformer game with animals because it wasn't the first time I tried a platforming game with animals (more on that in a future post) So we rented it and the first thing I noticed is that it had a warning notice in the front of the cartridge. I thought what could possibly go wrong? The thing about that phrase is that anything could go wrong...

The game starts out with Conker sitting on a throne monolouging about a bad day he had, and from there the game starts. There still wasn't anything wrong till we got to a cut-scene with a drunk Conker calling his girlfriend via phone, then he preceeded to exit the bar. Conker then threw up on a guy outside the bar, and from there I knew this wasn't a normal game. At least for the Nintendo 64. This is the kind of stuff you'd normally see in South Park at the time, so the game took me by surprise but I just rolled with it. I definitely knew it was way different when I (or we since my brother was there) we heard Conker say bad word. Again only in South Park.

            

After renting it a few times, we decided to buy it, if we could find it at a store. It wasn't that expensive actually. My brother found a new new copy for 10 bucks, and yes he bought it and he was 6 at the time if you could believe that. 

The game itself is quite weird, the plot itself is weird too. The main plot of the game is that Conker has to find his way home because he got lost the night he was drunk. Apparently getting drunk makes you get lose your way home *citation needed* He has to help other characters in the game to get back home. The tasks you complete are weird and often places Conker in dangerous predicaments. But he get's cash in the end so it all works out for him anyway.

            

Meanwhile another plot of the game is that the Panther King (king of the land Conker gets lost in) has a broken table leg where he puts his glass of milk, so he has his scientist come up with a plan to fix it. The suggestion is that they use a red squirrel as a replacement leg, so the king orders his henchmen to find him one. I told you this game was weird. What's pretty funny is the Game Over scenes, because they change depending how Conker dies. If you die as in lose all your health, Conker winds up as the replacement table leg. Get sliced in half and you're brought to the Panther King in a body bag. It only happens when you lose all your lives but it's a nice touch. There's other different Game Overs but these are the ones at the top of my head.

   

The world Conker get's lost in is quite colorful for a mature game. It looks like something from Banjo-Kazooie since it's Rare game, but you know it's all a facade. There is a main hub world which connects to other levels or worlds that Conker must go through to get home. Why must he go through them to get home? I wish I knew but eh, just roll with it. Each of the different worlds have you do different tasks because each world you go to is based on a specific theme, from a farm, to a stoneage setting, to a haunted castle and so forth. Each area also spoofs/parodies famous and popular movies, so it's a treat to those who recognize all of them but they are a bit dated sadly. One of the things that are great about the game was the music to. Listen to the song that comes out in the hubworld, it sounds like something from an old cartoon like from Disney or Looney Toons, adding more to the colorful facade I mentioned before. Or the famous portion of the game featuring the Great Mighty Poo. The game also has boss fights and they are just some of the funniest boss fights I've ever seen, like the Great Mighty Poo one that I just mentioned. It's the shittiest boss fight ever, literally.

          

This game also packs a multiplayer mode of sorts. This is where my brother and I spent most of our time with the game. The modes are really fun and I bet you're wondering, how do you have multiplayer in a platformer? Well they did it in Donkey Kong 64 but we're not talking about that. Alot of the mp modes are the same but the objectives are different. Modes included is race mode where you race on hoverboards, Tank mode has you fight in tanks, and the other modes are mostly the same, except with a different skin. Total War has you fight the enemy for a gas canister to gas the enemies, Raptor has you play as cavemen who are trying to steal egg. You can play as the Raptor but I suck with it. Heist has you rob a bank, Capture the flag speaks for itself, and Beach has you help prisoners of war escape. There's Deathmatch that has you play as any character, if you use cheat codes. You can play any by yourself but I recommend playing it with more people.

The game itself has had  a cult following over the years due to it's mature humor and content. Think of it like Animaniacs, but if the shows adult humor took it to the next level, and if the Animaniacs themselves became more violent. The reason I find it very interesting is because when you think about platformers, you think it's a colorful kid's game with nice characters. This game is far from a kids game and you'd never even think of a cartoon charcter doing all sorts of adult things in a game that looks like a kids game. It's one of Nintendo's, Rare's, and gamings most interesting and controversial games for all the reasons you'd expect. But in the end you get something you didn't see often. If you're into adult humor and like a multiplayer mode in your platformers, give it a go. It really isn't as dated as Super Mario 64 but it's dated when you compare it to Super Mario Sunshine in terms of control, but if you could could find it for a cheap price (like we did) then give it a try, you wont be disappointed. Plus, what's the worst that could happen?

              

Did you ever play Conker's Bad Fur Day? Perhaps you're more familiar with the XBox remake? If you did, what did you think of the game(s)? Thanks for reading and later.