365//365: Day 046 – Conker’s Bad Fur Day (N64) [Quickie]

With Super Mario 64, we witnessed the birth, and subsequent explosion of the 3D platformer genre (or at least how to do them right). With the exception of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, each game was more focused on a bright, colorful world with characters that were a bit too cute and cuddly. Rare, a company that was widely respected during the N64 days, helped pushed the 3D platformer genre to new heights, with their pair of Banjo Kazooie titles, as well as Donkey Kong 64. Late in the N64′s lifespan, came another Rare 3D platform release – Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Originally called Twelve Tales: Conker 64, and featuring the same cutesy visuals, characters and light hearted story. Since the N64 was already experiencing an over saturation of cutesy 3D platformer titles, Rare decided to retool the title into what it is today – a game that raised the bar with storytelling. But how does it play?

Unfortunately, there are a few control snags with BFD. Getting used to jump timing, as well as the camera controls, proves a bit aggravating at first. For some reason, you need to time your jump a step before you want to actually jump. Meaning if you press the button too close to the edge, you fall, instead of jumping. Quite irritating, although after enough time, you’ll end up getting used to the quirky mechanic. The camera can’t be faulted too much, as no other N64 title, aside from Ocarina of Time, could construct a reliable enough camera system. For better or for worse, it’s functional, though rotates too slow, and often pitches into positions that hinder more than they help.

Conker has a few different idle animations, including one where he'll pop out a Game Boy Color.

None of this diminishes the fact that Conker’s BFD broke the mold of what we expect to see in video games. Never with a console title have we seen a story with lewd, crude and non-gaming like aspects crafted and weaved together in such a way, that it’s enjoyable to watch unfold. Name any other game that starts with a drunken main character who gets lost, runs into a cursing scarecrow and sometime later, encounter a mouse running back and forth, farting and vomiting all over the place, and makes it all plausible enough towards your journey and experiences. With profanity sprinkled in all around, mostly appropriate to the action at hand, and you’ll soon realize that all the adult overtones not only help push the game forward, but sets it apart from all of the other “kid friendly” 3D platform titles of its era.

The audio in BFD helps drive the story along, having the most digitized speech in an N64 title, with a fully voiced dialog. Quite astounding, especially since each voice you hear, is performed all by one person, with enough diversity between each character to make them all sound different. The quality of the voices is surprisingly good, with a good amount of clarity to them. Visually, BFD does have detail to it, although there’s a bit of blurring involved. Nothing crippling, though it is noticeable. There are some cutesy looking characters here and there, though their actions are far from their looks. Not only that, but character design is top notch throughout, with quite a diverse line up of NPC and enemies that you encounter.

Even though you'll see chat bubbles fill with dialog, they serve more as closed caption to the fully voiced experience.

Conker’s Bad Fur Day proved that, if done correctly, you can take an established formula, insert an absurd,  yet dark and comedic story, and pull it all off in a successful manner. The dialog can be a bit profanity laced, but it all fits each character and the situation at hand.  Although the game isn’t very long, and you won’t rush back right away to play it again, BFD is memorable, good time that you’ll be talking about for years to come.

Rating: 7.9