Conker's Bad Fur Day

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can write up your thoughts and opinions for Rare's 2001 action-platformer - Conker's Bad Fur Day - we'll also be discussing 2005's remake Conker: Live & Reloaded.

[Hannsford]

Conker'S BFD arrived at an unfortunate time, sales-wise. The N64 was in its death bed already and people were moving on. Not that I cared about that stuff back then – the impression has been made and it still lasts. Conker became a very "personal" game for me. I remember reading articles in magazines and looking at the same few screenshots over and over, soaking up every bit of the little news we got now and then.

This game formed my tastes for games and appealed to 14-year-old me in a way few games did before. The graphics! The characters! The humor! The 4th wall-breaking! The ingame cutscenes with actual face animation and of course blood and guts! This wasn't the cute platformer you were used to, that's for sure. My mum definitely didn't know about the game's gross contents. A few days before my 14th birthday I snuck into the living room and voila, there it was. Nicely wrapped up, hidden in the drawer. I committed my only true crime then and there. I played it for half a day with my sister before carefully putting it back in the wrapper...No regrets!

I felt right at home with the gameplay, me having played Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie to completion multiple times. The way the game's story progressed felt narrated and episodic, yet they somehow managed to prevent it from feeling randomly pieced together. The ending is surprisingly dark and stands as one of my favourite final chapters of any game. Just wait till you get there, if you haven't played it. I like to think of Conker as a rare (*cough cough*) spark of genius from the N64 era. It was ahead of its time...although some aspects may have aged better than others. Don't ask me...My rose-tinted glasses are really strong with this one.

The great soundtrack and sound design by Robin Beanland is at least as crucial to the experience as everything I mentioned so far. You just didn't get sounds like this from other N64 games! I still listen to the music on my music player today. The great mighty poo even became popular among people who didn't even play the game!

You can feel this was a team effort with crystal clear direction. Conker's Bad Fur Day knows its childish silliness and runs with it. The only good game I've played since that (almost) completely achieved this mix of inspired artdesign, gameplay and self-aware storytelling is Psychonauts.

Just a side-note: one underrated aspect is the multiplayer on the N64 version. The charge/defense-action of "Beach" needs to be copied by more developers and the "Total War"-variation of capture the flag was fun, even with bots!

Special.

3-word review:
Worthwhile squirrel drama.

[dezm0nd]

Thanks for making this post your first!

[dezm0nd]

Hmmm, gonna pop this in here to provoke some discussion for the upcoming podcast.

[ratsoalbion]

1. Why isn't he pissing everywhere?

2. What's wrong with his fucking face?

[dezm0nd]

That thumbnail looks like piss. I got excited.

I am more disappointed than the Project SPARK reveal AND the actual Conkers Reunion level itself.

[Hannsford]

The funniest thing about the young Conker debacle are Chris Seavour's reactions to it:

First: "@Alex_Olney Erm.. First i've seen of it.. I presumed they were using the Sparks asset (which i really liked ).. I dunno what to say "
https://twitter.com/conkerhimself/statu ... 56?lang=de

Then:
https://twitter.com/conkerhimself/statu ... 32?lang=de
https://twitter.com/conkerhimself/statu ... 54?lang=de

[dezm0nd]

Brilliant stuff. He really does seem to embody the spirit of that game entirely and it seems a shame that he doesn't own the rights to it anymore.

[dezm0nd]

Don't forget to post your thoughts and views on all things Conker's Bad Fur Day/Live and Reloaded!

[Bakers_12]

I first learnt about Conkers: BFD from watching CITV's bad influence where they showed a clip of it at the end of the show and describing it as a possible swansong for N64. Despite how short the clip was it stuck with me I was impressed by the look of it but the idea of a "cute" platformer but with adult sensibilities and a clever use of film parodies really resonated with me for some reason.

Years latter I picked up a second hand N64 for my girlfriend to take to uni with her (or was it for me to play when I visited?). At this time you could pick up games for it for a pound or two at cash converters, but there were a few places still that you could buy N64 game brand new. WH smith was one of them places that were still selling N64 games a full price a legacy of them getting to much stock of an ailing console and stubbornness to now lower the price.

I played my £60 pounds for it and you know what it was cash well spent!

As a platformer it sits along side Mario as one of my favs, every thing I liked about the video I saw years before translated to when I was playing it. The parodies are spot on and just seam to fit the game never taking you out of the world; looking back they remind me of how the parodies in Spaced work.

For the most part the platforming is a lot of fun, but there are a few bits that where highly annoying like the climb up the bee hive though the pay off for getting into it is facing off with grate and mighty poo, who is one of the best gaming creations ever and if his song is not played on this podcast it would be an outrage!!!! I have shown that section of the game to non gamers and seen them in fits of laughter!

Conker does a very good job in making the game varied in style and game play, giving you different locals to explore, charters to meet and things to do.
For the most part it works, though some of the latter stages which rely on shooting did not quite work for me. when played in third parson the shooting was to unwieldy and when in first person mode you was a sitting duck, now I know this is because the devs back then where still figuring thing like this out.

One of my biggest gaming regents is that I have never completed this game, that final boss always got the better of me.

I would love to see a second bad fur day but I don't know if lightning would strike twice with it now. When people think of an adult platformer now things like braid or fez spring to mind not of a pissed up squirrel!!

TWR: mario meets spaced

[dezm0nd]

The team over at Gory Detail have just teased their next game currently titled "Project3". It's touted to be a spiritual successor to Conker and this is all we have to go on... but... oh man!

[dezm0nd]

Im gonna be having a little chat with Gory Detail soon for a podcast.

Anyone got any questions they fancy asking Chris Seavor and/or Shawn Pile?