Conker's Bad Fur Day

Gameplay

Conker's Bad Fur Day is an action-platform game where the player controls Conker the Squirrel through a series of three-dimensional levels. The game features an overworld where players can transition from one level to another, although many are initially blocked off until Conker earns a certain amount of cash. Each level is an enclosed area in which the player can freely explore to find tasks to do. The gameplay mostly relies on figuring out a way to help other characters by completing a linear sequence of challenges. These challenges may include defeating a boss, solving puzzles, gathering objects, and racing opponents, among others. The result is always a cash reward, which aids access to other areas in the overworld.

Conker's abilities are far simpler than those of previous Rare platform games Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. The player can run, jump, and smack enemies with a frying pan. Conker also has a few other physical abilities. He can swim underwater for a while until he runs out of breath, climb ladders or ropes, and is strong enough to push heavy objects. To regain lost health, Conker can eat pieces of "anti-gravity" Chocolate that are scattered throughout the levels. Additionally, the game employs "context sensitive" pads that allow Conker to gain different, temporary abilities when pressing the "B" button atop them. For instance, in the beginning of the game, by pressing the B button on the first pad he encounters, Conker drinks some Alka-Seltzer to wipe out his hangover, at which point players can proceed forward. Some pads can turn Conker into an anvil to slam into the ground, and some are also used to pull out his shotgun, to activate his throwing knives, slingshot and so on. They also serve to inform players of what needs to be done next.

The game also includes a multiplayer mode, where up to four players can compete against each other in seven different game types: Beach, Raptor, Heist, War, Tank, Race and Deathmatch. In Beach, some players must go up through a beach and into a waiting escape vehicle, while others must stop them by firing at them from fixed positions. Raptor involves players controlling raptors to feed a baby dinosaur, while others play as cavemen that have to steal dinosaur eggs. Heist engrosses players in the robbery of a bank, where the goal is to retrieve a cash bag from the center of the level and run with it to the team's vault without being damaged. War can either be a traditional capture the flag mode or Total War, where players have to get the other teams gas canister and use it to release a chemical gas that annihilates the enemy. Similarly, in Tank players fight against each other by using tanks and grabbing chemical canisters that can release a lethal corrosive gas, destroying all the tanks that are outdoors. Race is a racing mode which provides two variations of the same course. Items can be acquired and used against opponents. Finally, there is a standard deathmatch mode where players fight against each other in shooting style from a third-person perspective. Players can set a number of different options for each game, such as score limit, number of lives, and inclusion of optional bots.

Plot

Conker's Bad Fur Day follows the story of Conker the Squirrel, a red squirrel who embarks on a quest simply to return home to his girlfriend, Berri, after a night of binge drinking with his friends. Meanwhile, the Panther King, ruler of the land that Conker is lost in, finds that his throne's side table is missing one of its legs and orders his paraplegic weasel servant, Professor Von Kriplespac, to solve the problem. Kriplespac suggests the use of a red squirrel as the fourth leg for his table, and therefore the Panther King sends his minions to search for one and capture it. As Conker searches for his way home, he finds himself embroiled in a series of increasingly absurd and often dangerous situations, including having to recover a bee hive from some enormous wasps, fighting a Terminator-like robot in a barn, confronting a giant opera-singing pile of feces, being turned into a bat by a vampire, and even getting drafted into a war between grey squirrels and a Nazi-like group of teddy bears known as the "Tediz," which Conker ultimately destroys. During his quest to return home, Conker finds wads of cash scattered throughout the land and becomes sidetracked from his goal.

In the final chapter of the game, Conker and Berri are enlisted by Don Weaso, head of the Weasel Mafia, to rob a bank. After entering the vault, they find that the bank scene was an elaborate trap set by the King and Don Weaso to capture Conker. In the ensuing confrontation, Berri steps in to handle the confrontation for Conker, but is gunned down by Weaso under orders by the Panther King. Afterwards, he calls over Professor Von Kriplespac when he begins having trouble breathing, and Von Kriplespac takes Conker aside to watch as a large Xenomorph suddenly bursts out of the Panther King's chest, killing him instantly. Von Kriplespac explains that the alien, whom he had named Heinrich, is one of his creations and that he had planned to use this opportunity to kill the King and escape captivity. Kriplespac then reveals that they are all actually inside a spaceship, which he activates and takes into low orbit. From there, he instructs Heinrich to attack and kill Conker as revenge for destroying the Tediz, which were also his creations. Conker pulls a switch that opens an air lock, pulling Von Kriplespac and Berri's corpse into space. After Conker briefly battles Heinrich with the aid of a robotic suit, Heinrich takes one last lunge at him, when suddenly the entire game freezes. Conker expresses disbelief that the developers of the game apparently did not beta test the game properly, and breaks the fourth wall to ask some software engineers to assist him in his current situation. The programmers give Conker a Katana and teleport him to the Panther King's throne room, where he decapitates Heinrich. As a result, he is crowned the new King of the land.

As characters from the previous chapters of the game gather around to congratulate him, Conker realizes that he should have brought Berri back to life when he was negotiating with programmers. He calls them out to bring her back to life, only to realize that they have left already. Conker then gives a closing monologue, in which he discusses appreciating what one already has instead of always wanting more, stating that "the grass is always greener, and you don't really know what it is you have until it's gone." The credits roll, and afterwards Conker is seen back at the same pub he was seen in at the start of the game, drowning his sorrows in Scotch whisky. He drunkenly exits the bar as it begins to storm outside, and leaves in the direction opposite the one he took previously.

Development and marketing

Conker's Bad Fur Day was developed by Rare and directed by Chris Seavor. The game was announced to be in development at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June 1997, under the title Conker's Quest. A year later, it was revealed that the game's title was changed to Twelve Tales: Conker 64 and players would be able to control Conker in action-based settings and Berri in strategy-based settings, with the possibility of two player split-screen gameplay. Early screenshots suggested that the game would be targeted at a family audience and feature cute characters and colourful settings. Rare had a history of making games of this sort and at first Twelve Tales: Conker 64 appeared to be similar. However, Rare was influenced by a critical reception of the prototype game's cuteness, resulting in a game design overhaul. The fact that the game was delayed several times and not mentioned for almost a year led to speculation that the game was quietly cancelled. Rare later clarified that the game was "still being worked on by a full team and with the same level of dedication as when it was first announced."

In 2000, it was announced that Conker was retooled into a controversial game titled Conker's Bad Fur Day with a large amount of scatological humour. According to the developers, "We already had the main character (although he was eventually remodeled) and a good deal of code already written, so the best option seemed to be to change the game's direction. Mature humor was a key element." Several aspects of the game were designed to attract an adult audience. Unlike in Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64, item collecting was mostly discarded and character abilities were simplified with "context sensitive" pads. The game also relies heavily on cutscenes and features a large number of film parodies. Some offensive content was censored under the supervision of Nintendo, including cutscenes with Pokémon and a joke at the expense of the Ku Klux Klan. Seavor, however, remarked that "pretty much 99.9% of the game remained."

In 2013, the developers explained that they had originally drawn inspiration from their deep analysis of the gameplay and camera mechanics of Super Mario 64. According to them, "We were just copying Mario, weren't we? Which, to this day, is still the best 3D camera." A lot of time and care was spent on system performance optimisation, animation details, and audiovisual appeal. For example, to increase the number of simultaneous light sources to four, one programmer spent four months deciphering and rewriting the Nintendo-supplied Japanese-commented microcode for the Nintendo 64's Reality Coprocessor, while another microcoded the support for MP3, reverberation, and Dolby Pro Logic surround sound. A developer also spent weeks optimising the system's ability to display distant backdrops as texture tiles to enhance gameplay navigation and visual appeal. Due in part to its extensive vocal track, Conker's Bad Fur Day is one of the few Nintendo 64 games that features a 64MB cartridge.

Conker's Bad Fur Day was first released on 5 March 2001 in North America. Advertisements for the game were featured in adult magazines such as Playboy, and video commercials were geared towards an adult audience. As Nintendo was known for its family-friendly games like Mario and Pokémon, the game was the subject of controversy. According to Rare, "Nintendo initially had concerns regarding this issue, because kids might confuse the product as being aimed at them, but I'm sure you'll agree if you've seen the box that Nintendo is making sure nobody makes that mistake." Nintendo of America declined to acknowledge the game in its Nintendo Power magazine and KB Toys, which specialised in toys and video games for children, decided not to sell the game. In Europe, the game was published and distributed by THQ on 6 April 2001, after Nintendo of Europe declined to publish it.

Reception

Conker's Bad Fur Day received critical acclaim, with an aggregate review score of 92 out of 100 at Metacritic. Many publications and websites declared the graphics were the best on the Nintendo 64. Critics noted that the game featured a number of technical effects that were uncommon at the time, especially for a Nintendo 64 game, such as dynamic shadowing, coloured lighting, large areas with a long draw distance, no distance fog, detailed facial animations, lip syncing, and individually rendered fingers on some characters. Shane Satterfield of GameSpot went so far as to say that the game "makes other Nintendo 64 games look like 16-bit software." IGN's Matt Casamassina praised the detailed 3D worlds, "fantastic" texture work, and cute character designs. He remarked that "Conker himself is equipped with an in-game facial animation system that realistically portrays his different moods as he travels the lands. When he's scared, he looks it, and when he's pissed off players will actually be able to see his teeth showing in a frown." Reviewers noted occasional drops in the frame rate, but most agreed it did not interfere with the gameplay.

The game's audio and diverse vocal track were widely praised. Critics credited the voice acting for its different accents and styles, with "cleverly lewd" scripts and "dead-on" movie spoofs. Most reviewers agreed the jokes were clever and funny. According to IGN, "Is it over the top? Yes. Is it lowbrow? Yes. And yet, it's also very well delivered and smart too -- and it's funny. Really, honestly, funny". Game Revolution noted that the game "has its crosshairs directly aimed at the college audience" and that "it works perfectly for the peeps who've grown up with Mario and are now looking for someone less dorky". The soundtrack was praised for its different arrangements of specific songs that gradually change as players move from one area to the next, and for its rich and creative instrumentation. Reviewers also highlighted the number of sound effects, with GameSpot noting that "there are literally dozens of sounds just for Conker's footsteps".

The gameplay was highlighted for its unconventional context-sensitive systems. IGN credited Rare for reducing the number of items to collect and simplifying the moves with context-sensitive pads, stating that they "help keep the action shifting, refreshing, and always exciting." In contrast, Edge remarked that the context-sensitive moments "threaten to make the title little more than a procession of barely connected and puerile minigames." Game Revolution criticised the game's simplistic action, short length and linear nature. Similarly, GameSpot noted that the game's linearity "cuts its length considerably". The game's camera system was criticised by several reviewers. Geraint Evans of N64 Magazine felt that it does not allow players to properly judge their position within their surroundings, while GameSpot remarked that it can get caught on objects or refuse to obey commands. The multiplayer was described as inventive and was praised for its numerous options. GameSpot, however, remarked that the multiplayer modes add some longetivity to the game, but most "fail to stand the test of time."

Conker's Bad Fur Day was awarded the 2001 BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award for sound, IGN's Game of the Month for March 2001, and GameSpot's Best Platform Game for 2001. In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine placed Conker's Bad Fur Day at #97 on their list of 100 Greatest Nintendo Games Ever, and GameTrailers rated it #1 on their list of Top Ten Funniest Games. In 2010, UGO included the game at #3 on their list of The 11 Weirdest Game Endings. Although the game fared well with critics in both the United Kingdom and United States, it sold worse than expected (only about 55,000 copies as of April 2001), partly due to its prohibitively high cost, advertisements exclusive to the older audience, and release towards the end of the Nintendo 64's life cycle. Nevertheless, the game has enjoyed a cult following due to its unique styling.

Legacy

After the release of Conker's Bad Fur Day, Rare began development of a direct sequel referred to as Conker's Other Bad Day. Chris Seavor revealed that the game would deal with "Conker's somewhat unsuccessful tenure as King. He spends all the treasured money on beer, parties and hookers. Thrown into prison, Conker is faced with the prospect of execution and the game starts with his escape, ball and chain attached, from the Castle's highest tower." However, the sequel was ultimately cancelled.

In 2002, Rare was purchased by Microsoft and decided to develop a remake of Conker's Bad Fur Day. The remake, titled Conker: Live & Reloaded, was released for the Xbox in 2005 to generally favourable critical reception. Developers noted that it was difficult to port the game to the Xbox system because Bad Fur Day's microcoded performance optimisations had been deeply customised for the Nintendo 64 hardware. Conker: Live & Reloaded features updated graphics and a multiplayer mode that supports the Xbox Live service. Additionally, some aspects in the single-player mode were adjusted: several minor obscenities within the voice dialogue that are present in the Nintendo 64 game were censored at Microsoft's request, the camera control was refined and improved with a zoom function, and an auto-targeting system was added to the game.

After the release of Live & Reloaded, Rare began work on another game in the Conker universe titled Conker: Gettin' Medieval. The game was to be multiplayer focused and did not feature Conker as a main character, with Rare instead hoping to focus on other characters in the series. However, the game was ultimately cancelled. Conker returned in a new episodic campaign for the sandbox game Project Spark. The campaign, titled Conker's Big Reunion, is set ten years after the events of Bad Fur Day and Seavor reprised his voice roles. The first episode of the campaign was released in April 2015, but the remaining ones were cancelled the following September. Conker's Bad Fur Day is also included as part of the Rare Replay compilation for Xbox One. The compilation was released on August 4, 2015.