Why People Hate Donkey Kong 64

Donkey Kong 64 is one of the most hated games ever. As someone who loved the game as a kid I had to find out why for myself. I walked away with 3 main reasons on why people hate donkey kong 64. Too many collectables, padded out length and repeating mini games. Come with me now as I break down each of these 3 reasons to see if the haters are right and Donkey Kong 64 really is a bad game or if it's all just an overreaction. Come with me now as I find out why people hate Donkey Kong 64.

[alb]

I never knew people hated this game. I always loved it as a kid

[RetroMoments]

As an adult, I can definitely recognize all the problems with this game.
But playing it as a kid, it was magical to have a game that never ended :D

[BoundaryBreak]

I still argue DK64 did not kill the genre.

I think it was a combination of the AAA studios drifting away from them and AA studios flooding them with umarketable characters and unpolished gameplay.

It created market data during the Gamecube/PS2 era that publishers read into too closely.

[DrugsAreForWinners]

I've never once heard a single person say they hate this game.

[mobster]

No matter how good or bad DK64 as a game may be, it graced us with the ultimate form of fire known as the DK Rap

[lordkanti]

Me and my entire family beat Donkey Kong 64 together. Collecting, mini games, bosses, we traded based off our strengths and ultimately beat it as children. A crowing achievement considering how young we were.

[nappa]

Honestly, the backtracking never bothered me, because a tag barrel was almost always only a short trip away, and they were easy to find due to the shine effect you see when the barrel is far away. I understand why switching characters could be bothersome, but it just never really got on my nerves.

[theelitistjerkmetalhead]

You gotta keep in mind that when this game came out, there was not as much widespread usage of the internet, and people on average had fewer games at their disposal. As a kid I was glad to play the hell out of this game and get everything because I didn't have that many games to play, so I wanted to get everything I could out of the games I had.

[pp-zjmv]

The big thing I loved about the game was that it truly felt like a huge world. All the levels felt so big and held so many secrets. The much-decried "backtracking" was actually experienced as exploration by most children, who would unlock a new power or kong, or flip some kind of switch on the other end of the level, and then go to see what has changed. Since play time was broken up by school, chores, homework, dinner, parental crankiness, etc, there was ample time for palette cleansing as well. DK64 is like a bottle of expensive whiskey: you could drink half the bottle in one night, but that is so much less enjoyable than spacing it out over a month or more.

[non-yesman]

I've literally never heard anyone saying they hated DK64. My friend and I would spend countless hours playing that incredible game!

[jasonthedrummer]

Considering Mario literally says “It’s A-Me Mario” as his most famous phrase… I’m baffled people still say Mare-io.

[elrifle]

Pretty Stupid to blame DK64 for the death of 3D platformers when Jak n Daxter and ratchet and clank were successful after the fact

[Adzelio]

I wasn't even aware that this game was even hated. I loved it as a kid, love it as an adult.. honestly figured it was widely considered a classic.

[or]

I have never in my whole 20 plus years of life ever once heard anyone trash this game from the kids my age (at the time) to the older kids in high school to the dads playing with there children no one had anything negative to say not even once, this is a masterpiece

[dursty]

replaying DK64 as an adult, i was surprised by how physically small the levels were. but after an initial hit of disappointment, i remembered how much backtracking there was and became relieved by the smallness.

[hvoltage]

The thing about the collectible count, however, is that it doesn't account for the banana bunches. There are several instances where you can collect MANY bananas in a single spot.

[guilamonster]

Absolutely loved it. Never met someone who openly hated it.

-Amazing music
-Long ass game
-Nostalgia

[deadcellmgs]

People have to understand more collectibles, mini games, and areas to explore with different characters back then was a good thing.

[toomuchlove]

every time you say “mayrio” I die a little inside

[chadwiklund]

The entire “modern” complaint about donkey Kong 64 is not relevant to gamers of the modern era. What they don’t understand, is back then we didn’t have online multiplayer, DLC, constant patches and updates. When a game released, it had to have enough content to Keep you entertained, busy, or both for a long time. It’s kind of like the gripe modern writers have with streaming services. Now you can watch an entire series in a week that used to take a whole year watching one episode per week. There’s nothing wrong with this game, it’s that modern Gamers don’t understand how life was during the time this game was made.