It's kinda interesting that the game's terrain is largely flat gentle slopes, AND the characters have fairly similar movement. It feels like either concession would be enough to make the levels traversable by any character, but doing both really limited the game.

Also wild that the teams at Rare weren't really sharing with each other! Feels like this game could have stood to learn from BK and BT if there was a bit more collaboration. With Kirkhope scoring all of them I guess I never expected them to be different teams.

With Chunky Kong, what I'd do is give him another melon of hit points or something. A combat character in a sense, but more defensively than offensively.

I'd argue that Diddy should have the twin Popguns because it's one of the few things from this game that's been utilized in future games, unlike DK's Gun. Having DK use only the orange grenades not only frees a control input but also separates DK more into "Power" and Diddy into "Speed". Not to mention that Jungle Japes could have you unlock Diddy by having DK free him with an Orange Grenade, which then unlocks Diddy so he can get Popguns to open up the level organically.

Donkey, Tiny and Chunky's pad abilities should be reworked, so that all 5 Kongs are allowed to have a "jump" when on a pad, and they won't need their face on them.
- Donkey Kong's pad should be activated with him slamming the ground and make the pad bounce upward as a rising platform. If Donkey Kong is "Strong Kong" the pad could bounce higher.
- Tiny's should be a gust of Wind that pushes her up if she uses her Ponytail Twirl. In addition, if Tiny uses a pad while MINI, the gust of wind "teleports" her to another Pad.
- Chunky's invisibility could simply turn into a an invisible "ghost" that lets him slowly float upwards.

As for the DK barrel blast mini-games, just replace every Beaver Bother and Slot Machine with a Barrel Blast Maze, since every Kong could be shot out of a barrel.

Just my notes but once again you have proven to be one of the finest analyzers of Rare's golden age platformers, and video games as a whole. I'm ashamed I didn't Sub after the Tooie one years ago.

your overhaul of the 5-character puzzle design might not be a fix for the 20 year old game, but the thought experiment still has merit. I mean, aren'T we supposed to reflect on past mistakes and figure out solutions for the future. You gave good advice to upcoming developers who might want to tackle a multi character collectathon themselves... or any other game for that matter. It certainly got my mind racing

>shows up
>drops the most polishes, insightful, analytical and even funny review the world has ever seen
>gets 2k subs
>vanishes without explanation

All good things must come to an end.

With the 5-Kongs and such, I think one way of describing the problem is that specific Kongs never make problems easier or harder per se. A specific Kong is often outright useless until they're outright mandatory. Worse, as you point out, the mechanics that make a specific Kong mandatory are often highly arbitrary and not mechanically meaningful.

I'd also argue another thing is that there's often no diagetic reason for a lot of this. For example, why (from a story perspective) can't Diddy Kong pick up yellow bananas or coins? They must have some pretty strict union regulations.

The 5-character mechanic definitely feels like the crux of most major criticisms with this game, and while I've seen people suggest being able to switch Kongs on the fly instead of walking back to the Tag Barrel to "fix" this problem, I've seen a number of people describe that as essentially putting a single band-aid over a massive stab wound, claiming that the tedium of going back to switch Kongs is just one part of a much larger problem.  Speaking for myself and what I've played of Donkey Kong 64, being able to switch Kongs on the fly would definitely make a lot of the experience more bearable, but I can definitely see what some people are getting at when they say it goes deeper than that.  In fact, I'd even go so far as to say the game forces you to make use of all the Kongs equally rather than letting you just play the game as a Kong you like or using Kongs special abilities for situational puzzles, the fact that collectables are color-coded and can only be picked up by certain Kongs kind of speaks to this design philosophy, in addition to the game setting up scenarios specific to certain Kongs that really any Kong could accomplish.

Incidentally, I think one of the best things about your analysis videos for Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, and now Donkey Kong 64 is that you don't just criticize, you try to be constructive, i.e. you try to give alternative ways to improve what's there or how ideas and concepts these three games had could have been done better, or at the very least, been more engaging.  It really is refreshing compared to the wealth of critical videos that just tear a game apart without saying how it could have been better, or even highlighting what good is there with the game.  Another important aspect with your analysis is that you take into account the development time for these games, so many people don't even bother considering what goes into making a game or how much time it takes develop, program, and smooth out the various ideas that go into a game; knowing that Donkey Kong 64 had a 3-year development cycle that wound up being slashed in half when development was started from scratch midway through that cycle definitely helps to explain a lot of what we got with Donkey Kong 64, for better or for worse.

You know, I really hope Grant Kirkhope sees these videos, the amount of praise you give him for his score in this game is incredible, particularly songs most people don't talk about.

I wish I could say I'm a big fan of King K. Rool and I've loved him for a long time, but unfortunately, I didn't grow up playing the Donkey Kong games all that much (I DID eventually play them all as an adult and loved them then), and I was only won over on King K. Rool after he got into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.  It was only then that I began to really dig into the character and how he's one of my favorites, though I can't help but feel guilty when there are so many people for whom this was their favorite villain since their childhood and I only recently came around to him.  I do like what you said regarding him, though, how he constantly skirts the line between being genuinely threatening and being wacky and cartoonish.  His overall design really speaks to this, it's both goofy yet also kind of menacing and creepy, helped in part by that crazy blood-shot eye of his.  I ultimately like Gruntilda more since I have a deeper connection to her from my childhood, but it's hard not to love King K. Rool as a villain as well, even by proxy (in terms of Rare villains anyway).

If and when you do get around to a video looking at 3D platformers today and in the future, I definitely look forward to it.  I especially look forward to what you have to say on Yooka-Laylee and A Hat in Time, since you name-dropped those games in the beginning of this series (Lobodestroyo has yet to be completed and information on it's development is scarce, unfortunately).  Either way, great work as always!

release the uncensored cut with full volume chunky

In a modern world of Youtube critics who don't quantify their praise or disdain for something, and even fewer offer realistic solution, I have come to truly appreciate these videos over the years. You are truly a genius when it comes to game design.

absolutely loved this series, hope to see you back one day!

I remember how excited I was to buy the official DK64 soundtrack, as it allowed me to specifically listen to the Hideout Helm theme whenever I want. When you listen to it in-game, you only have 60 minutes to listen to it before game over, and disabling the timer switches the music to the slower, less engaging variant of the theme permanently, until you start up a new game and adventure back to the final level. It probably did stand out as my favorite of the DK64 tracks, as someone who very much appreciated the entire OST.

I also distinctly remember struggling much more with the Donkey Kong arcade game than Beaver Bother. I was always confused why they made the Rareware coin so easy to get but the Nintendo coin so difficult. I remember struggling to take pictures of the last two Banana Fairies through the window of that room so I could get all the cheats without getting the coin. I'm glad they gave us that window at least.

Chunky could be used as a "level expander". There are various things keeping the player from exploring this or that, lack of platform to reach or boulder blocking a cave, the other kongs could provide the necessary means and tools for Chunky to use and then Chunky uses these pieces left from the other characters to open new paths or areas.
For example, Donkey hits a switch, to turn on a machine, lanky pulls a lever to dispense a tool, and then Chunky takes that tool to destroy a large obstacle and then Tiny can explore.

I was searching for analyses of these platformers I played as a kid and stumbled upon your videos. I'm so glad I did! What I most appreciate is that you've proposed potential solutions: different roles and attributes for each kong and a different structure for the final fight, rather than your just saying "this thing bad/ineffective/lackluster" and leaving it at that. I'm looking forward to your next analysis!

WELCOME TO BONUS STAGE

15:20 Chunky is Chunky. Only Chunky.

Hey, I just wanna say that your videos are great. If you are still working on stuff, I'll continue to patiently wait. If not, we are here for whenever you want to return.

Through all of its faults and failures, this game truly was a masterpiece in my eyes, by far the greatest game I’ve experienced as a kid collecting all of those bananas and coins and fairies, etc…this game will always be the game I will look back fondly for decades to come as being one of my all time favorite games, thank you Rare for making my childhood

I cannot tell you how happy I am that you spent so much time talking about the Hideout Helm music, because it's by far my favorite track in the game. The slowly escalating tension, the dissonant string melody, and it all builds up to...looping back to the beginning. It's brilliant. It's criminally overlooked with regards to Donkey Kong music and it deserves more recognition.

A bit late to the show but i’m so glad this is finally out. I was in elementary school when I first saw your banjo kazooie review and this year i’m graduating high school. crazy to think how fast the time has gone by. over the years ive rewatched these videos countless times and it feels like you get what makes these games what they are more than anyone else. Best wishes to you and your future with the conclusion of this series!

Funny thing is in Donkey Kong 64 Randomizer races, where Tag Anywhere is enabled, Diddy is the defacto verticle climber everyone swaps to for climbing, jumping, backflipping, and also swimming. When given the option, the game really does feel rewarding to play into these optimized strengths.
The default horizontal movement character of choice is DK because indeed, his special roll attack is this game's Talon Trot.