Donkey Kong 64

Donkey Kong 64
Developer	Rare Ltd.
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Nintendo 64
Release Date	US October 21, 1999 EU December 6, 1999 JP December 10, 1999
Gallery	GH Gallery
Rating	ESRB: E

Donkey Kong 64 is the first and only game on the Nintendo 64 starring Donkey Kong. It is also Donkey Kong's only fully 3-D adventure and the last Donkey Kong game made by Rare.

Story

K. Rool has returned to wreak vengeance on Donkey Kong and his friends. This time, K. Rool uses a giant mechanical island with the Blast-o-Matic, a cannon that could be used to completely destroy Donkey Kong Island. However, the Blast-o-Matic is accidentally disabled as Rool approaches the island. In order to stall Donkey Kong until his cannon is repaired, King K. Rool has his minions capture all of Donkey Kong's friends and steal all his Golden Bananas.

Gameplay

The game plays similarly to Super Mario 64 or Rare's previous hit, Banjo-Kazooie. The player must explore the overworld (Donkey Kong Island) which acts as a hub that is used to access all the other worlds. These worlds contain items like Bananas, Golden Bananas and keys which must be collected to either complete the world or unlock a new world. The Kongs also have a variety of weapons such as wooden firearms and musical instruments. Several supporting characters appear as in most Donkey Kong games, although there is much less emphasis on the animal buddies, which are only found at two areas in the game.

The game also has five playable characters, but only Donkey Kong is initially playable. The other four (Diddy Kong, Tiny Kong, Chunky Kong and Lanky Kong) become playable only after they are rescued from the Kremlings. The kongs all learn different sets of special abilities from potions provided by Cranky Kong.

The game also has its own multiplayer mode (a first for the series), along with a variety of minigames.

Legacy

The next Donkey Kong adventure game to be made was Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat. Many elements of the Donkey Kong franchise introduced by Rare were later re-introduced in DK: King of Swing.