Conker's Bad Fur Day

About Conker's Bad Fur Day

Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001) is Rare's adult-oriented Nintendo 64 platformer in which a greedy, hard-drinking red squirrel tries to get home to his girlfriend after a night at the pub.

Conker's Bad Fur Day in Depth

Conker, a greedy, hard-drinking red squirrel, must find his way home to his girlfriend Berri after an evening of heavy drinking at the local pub. Though it looks much like Rare's Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo-Tooie, it was made for mature audiences, with graphic violence, alcohol and tobacco use, profanity, dark and toilet humour, fourth-wall breaks and pop culture references. It is a 3D platformer whose later sections add shooter elements: an overworld links the levels, many of them blocked until Conker earns enough cash, and each enclosed level is explored freely to find tasks.

Most of the game involves helping other characters through linear sequences of challenges, such as beating bosses, solving puzzles and fighting enemies. Up to four players can compete in seven multiplayer game types. Development took four years, beginning as a family-friendly "generic 3D platform adventure" conceived after Super Mario 64 during work on Killer Instinct Gold in 1996; Tim Stamper planned from the start for it to star a cute squirrel. Announced as Twelve Tales: Conker 64 for late 1998, it was criticised at E3 1998 for its childish tone and resemblance to Banjo-Kazooie and was transformed into an adult game.

Making Conker's Bad Fur Day

Rare developed it for the Nintendo 64, releasing it in North America on 5 March 2001; in Europe, THQ published it on 6 April 2001. It received critical acclaim, scoring 92 on Metacritic, but sold well below expectations because of limited advertising and its release late in the console's life, later gaining a cult following and inclusion in Rare Replay in 2015.