Donkey Kong 64

Donkey Kong 64 is a 1999 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the first Donkey Kong game to feature 3D gameplay. As the gorilla Donkey Kong, the player explores themed levels to collect items and rescue his kidnapped family members from King K. Rool. The player completes minigames and puzzles as five playable Kong characters—each with their own special abilities—to receive bananas and other collectibles. In multiplayer modes, up to four players can compete in deathmatch and last man standing games.

Rare began working on Donkey Kong 64 in 1997, following the completion of Donkey Kong Country 3 (1996). A 16-person team, with many recruits from Rare's Banjo group, conceived it as a 2.5D platformer similar to Country before reworking it into a more open-ended game using the engine from Banjo-Kazooie (1998). It was the first of two games to require the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak, an accessory that added memory resources. Grant Kirkhope composed the soundtrack, which includes a comedy hip-hop song, the "DK Rap", that features in the introduction.

Donkey Kong 64 was released in North America in November 1999 and worldwide in December. Nintendo backed the release with a US$22 million marketing campaign that included advertisements, sweepstakes, and a national tour. Donkey Kong 64 received acclaim and was Nintendo's bestseller during the 1999 holiday season, selling 5.27 million copies worldwide by 2021. Reviewers praised the exceptional size and length, but criticized its camera controls and emphasis on item collection and backtracking. Some cited its gameplay and visual similarities to Banjo-Kazooie as a detriment. Critics said Donkey Kong 64 did not match the revolutionary impact of Donkey Kong Country but was still among the Nintendo 64's best 3D platformers. It won the 1999 E3 Game Critics award for Best Platform Game and multiple awards and nominations from magazines.

Donkey Kong 64 was rereleased on Nintendo's Wii U Virtual Console in 2015. It was Rare's final Donkey Kong game before its acquisition by Microsoft in 2002, the last major Donkey Kong game until Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (2004), and the franchise's only 3D platformer until Donkey Kong Bananza (2025). Retrospective reviews of Donkey Kong 64 were mixed; critics considered it emblematic of the tedium in Rare's "collect-a-thon" adventure platformers. It has been blamed for precipitating 3D platforming's decline in popularity for its excessive emphasis on collecting items, while the "DK Rap" garnered infamy as one of the worst songs in a video game.^[4]