Conker (series)

Conker
The Conker logo used for Conker: Live & Reloaded
Genres	Action, Platform, Action-adventure
Developers	Rare
Publishers	Rare, Microsoft Game Studios
Platforms	Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, Xbox
First release	Conker's Pocket Tales June 8, 1999
Latest release	Conker: Live & Reloaded June 21, 2005

Conker is a series of action-adventure video games developed by Rare. It chronicles the events of Conker the Squirrel, a fictional red squirrel that made his debut as a playable character in Diddy Kong Racing. Although the first game in the series is geared towards the young audience, the series is noted for its later games and their mature content, which includes violence, sex, language and sarcasm.

Games

• Conker's Pocket Tales, released for the Game Boy Color in 1999.
• Conker's Bad Fur Day, released for the Nintendo 64 in 2001.
• Conker: Live & Reloaded, released for the Xbox in 2005.

Development

Conker was introduced to the world for the first time at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 1997. His game Conker's Quest was presented by Rare as another 3D platformer aimed at a young audience.^[1] Later the same year, this fact was confirmed with Conker's inclusion in Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64, thus promoting his future games.^[2] In the spring of 1998, Conker's Quest was renamed Twelve Tales: Conker 64.^[3] In 1999, Conker made his first solo debut in Conker's Pocket Tales for the Game Boy Color.

Before its release, the Nintendo 64 game was deemed too similar to Banjo-Kazooie, another platformer from Rare, and its release date was pushed back almost a year while it underwent a complete transformation, eventually being released in 2001 as Conker's Bad Fur Day.^[3][4] The redesigned game was geared towards a mature audience and featured sexual content, foul language, drug and alcohol usage, and excessive violence.^[5] According to Rare co-founder Chris Stamper, "When people grow up on games, they don't stop playing. There aren't games for people who grew up on the early systems", explaining the change.^[6] The game suffered from relatively poor sales,^[7] but received a cult following with its unique brand of humor.

After the release of Conker's Bad Fur Day, Rare began development of a new Conker game referred to as Conker's Other Bad Day or Conker 2: Getting Medieval.^[8][9] Designer Chris Seavor said that it was to be a direct sequel dealing with "Conker's somewhat unsuccessful tenure as King. He spends all the treasury money on beer, parties and hookers. Thrown into prison, Conker is faced with the prospect of execution and the game starts with his escape, ball and chain attached, from the Castles highest tower."^[8] In 2002, Microsoft purchased Rare from Nintendo, so instead of finishing and releasing the game, Rare remade Conker's Bad Fur Day for the Xbox in 2005, renaming it Conker: Live & Reloaded. It features improved graphics and minor alterations to gameplay. Also included was a new multiplayer adaptation that was available for use over Xbox Live.^[10]

See also

• List of Conker characters
• Diddy Kong Racing

References

1. ^ IGN Staff (1997-06-21). "E3: First Impressions of Conker's Quest". IGN. http://uk.ign64.ign.com/articles/061/061003p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
2. ^ IGN Staff (1997-08-27). "Diddy Kong Racing Unveiled". IGN. http://uk.ign64.ign.com/articles/061/061219p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
3. ^ ^{a b} IGN Staff (2000-01-13). "Conker Has a Bad Day". IGN. http://uk.ign64.ign.com/articles/073/073948p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
4. ^ IGN Staff (1997-01-21). "More Proof that Conker is Insane". IGN. http://uk.ign64.ign.com/articles/074/074232p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
5. ^ IGN Staff (2001-01-02). "Happy New Year, Love Conker". IGN. http://uk.ign64.ign.com/articles/089/089527p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
6. ^ IGN Staff (2000-06-05). "Against the Big N's M". IGN. http://uk.ign64.ign.com/articles/080/080434p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
7. ^ Rus McLaughlin (2008-07-28). "IGN Presents the History of Rare (Page 6)". IGN. http://uk.retro.ign.com/articles/894/894511p6.html. Retrieved 2011-03-14. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Pérez, Iker (September 16, 2008). "Conker Commands and Conquers". Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. http://replay.web.archive.org/20100105233915/http://mundorare.com/news/2008/09/conker-commands-and-conquers/. Retrieved February 4, 2010. 
9. ^ Firchau, Ryan. "Further Information". Archived from the original on March 5, 2008. http://replay.web.archive.org/20080305163204/http://www.ryanfirchau.co.uk/index/info.html. 
10. ^ Hilary Goldstein (2004-05-12). "E3 2004: Conker Live and Reloaded Hands-On". IGN. http://uk.xbox.ign.com/articles/514/514188p1.html. Retrieved 2011-03-14.