Donkey Kongis a household name across all generations of gaming. Some of the most well-known aspects of theDonkey Kongfranchise are from the games developed by Rare. While the company is now known for the swashbuckling adventure ofSea of Thieves, Rare’sDonkey Kong Countryseries was incredibly influential. Rare would also go on to develop the Kong’s 3D platformer debut inDonkey Kong 64. Many things are remembered from this game, but one of its composers, Grant Kirkhope, believes one particular song didn’t age well.
Grant Kirkhope is a British music composer, who is best known for compositions of different video games during the N64 era. Some of his noteworthy works were forBanjo-Kazooie,GoldenEye 007, andDonkey Kong 64. Since then, he’s been a composer for different video games, still maintaining relations with Nintendo. One of his latest compositions was the score forMario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle,along with its sequelMario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. Of all the songs that Kirkhope has composed over the years, he considers the DK Rap fromDonkey Kong 64to be quite awful.
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In a celebratory tweet forDonkey Kong’s 40th Birthday, Kirkhope expressed his jubilation in being able to compose for the long-running series. He noted that while he was glad to contribute to its history, he comedically apologized for the DK Rap fromDonkey Kong 64. While he went as far as to call it “bloody awful,” he did doan homage to the song inYooka-Laylee, another game similar to the ones he had worked on in the past, though he noted that decision was a massive mistake in hindsight.
While Kirkhope himself doesn’t look at the DK Rap quite as fondly, many fans still have some nostalgia for the song. Despite the rather aged and silly lyrics of the rap, the game it’s attached to is quite charming to many.Donkey Kong 64still has fans to this day, as evidenced by the discovery ofa cheat code forDK64decades after it was released. This is further evidenced by Kirkhope’s followers assuaging him that the song is still one of his best works, with Kirkhope himself having a self-described love-hate with the song.
With the series' last release being aTropical Freezeport on the Switch, some are surprised that Nintendo doesn’t have something to celebrate the 40th anniversary of theDonkey Kongseries. While there have beenrumors of a newDonkey Konggame being in the works, nothing has been confirmed as of yet and this is only speculation. As forDonkey Kong 64, the game is still an important part of the franchise’s history, contributing notable additions to its cast of Kongs. This includes Diddy Kong’s jetpack and peanut popguns, which can be seen inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimateand the Retro Studios reboot of theDonkey Kong Countrygames.
Donkey Kong 64is available on Nintendo 64.
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