Recently discovered footage sheds light on N64 anti-mascot’s embarrassingly un-sordid past.
It’s common knowledge that Rare’s Conker didn’t start his life as the foul-mouthed, perpetually drunk, hyper-violent womanizer we know and love. Instead, he was to be just another cutesy anthropomorphized animal in yet another cutesy N64 platformer. Eventually, Rare realized that Conker wouldn’t just be competing against Mario 64, he’d also be going head to head with one of the developer’s own titles, Banjo-Kazooie.
Thus, Twelve Tales: Conker 64 was reborn as Conker’s Bad Fur Day, and Conker himself was essentially recast as a tiny squirrel version of Oliver Reed. While Bad Fur Day didn’t sell exceptionally well, largely thanks to a distinct lack of advertising, it did go on to become a cult classic.
While we’ve seen brief snippets of gameplay and the odd screenshot from Twelve Tales, the video in the above right is the longest, most in-depth, look we’ve had at the game. The footage was uncovered by Rare fan site, Rare Minion, and it goes a long way toward explaining the radical change in direction. I got to around the four minute mark before the unbearably twee soundtrack and constant cries of “yeeheehee” made me want to start digging out my own ear canals. I don’t doubt the game would have been brilliant, this is N64-era Rare we’re talking about after all, but this video makes this version of the title look like little more than a slightly more annoying version of Banjo-Kazooie.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to listen to some classical music.
Source: Rare Minion
