Conker's Bad Fur Day

Conker's Bad Fur Day
Developer	Rare Ltd.
Publisher	Rare Ltd. THQ (EU) Nintendo (AU)
System	Nintendo 64
Release Date	Nintendo 64 EU April 6, 2001 US May 5, 2001 AU May 25, 2001
Rating	ESRB: M

Conker's Bad Fur Day is a Nintendo 64 game starring Conker the Squirrel. It is infamous for being a Mature-rated game that clashes against the family friendly image of Rare's other games and Nintendo as a whole, including large amounts of sexual humor and innuendos, as well as graphic violence and other mature humor.

Development

In early stages, it was known as Conker's Quest and then Twelve Tales: Conker 64, where initial trailers showed a child-friendly 3-D platformer. However, initial reactions were highly critical of how similar it was to Rare's other games and how overly kid-friendly appeared. Rare responded to this criticism by revamping the game into the exact opposite of the critics' claims, a mature humor-filled video game with a story containing several darker twists, something unexpected from a video game starring a cartoonish animal. Something closer to the original concept of Conker can be seen in the Gameboy Color game Conker's Pocket Tales.

Story

After a night of drinking, Conker wakes up alone with a hangover far from his home. Conker proceeds to work his way back home to see his girlfriend Berri, getting caught up in various tasks in the meantime. At the same time, the Panther King begins to seek Conker dead, as the leg of a red squirrel will make the perfect replacement for the missing leg of his table.

Gameplay

The game features a unique take on the 3-D platforming scheme. Conker's normal actions are restricted to jumping and performing a small "helicoptery tail thing" in the air. Conker can use certain predetermined abilities in special "context sensitive zones", which temporarily alter Conker's gameplay so that he could wield guns or use a more ability to urinate on others, among other actions. There is also a multiplayer mode that is divided into multiple minigames, many of which take on elements of shooters and are based on parts of the story mode.

Legacy

Nintendo was apparently quite hesitant about the game, due to not directly publishing it and using minimal advertisement for the game, primarily through adult-oriented venues, which may have helped to strain Rare's relationship with Nintendo. The game also was not released in Japan.

Ports/Remakes

• An expanded remake called Conker: Live & Reloaded was released for the X-Box in 2005, which ironically featured further censorship. It also featured a new multiplayer mode that was part of Xbox Live.

Sequels

• A sequel called Conker's Other Day was planned for the Gamecube prior to Rare being bought out by Microsoft. Apparently Microsoft later canceled plans for a Conker sequel on their systems.