Conker (series)

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Conker
ConkerLogo.PNG
The Conker logo used for Conker: Live & Reloaded
Genres Action, Platform, Action-adventure
Developers Rare, Team Dakota
Publishers Rare, THQ, Microsoft Game Studios
Creators Chris Seavor
Platforms Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, Xbox, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
First release Conker's Pocket Tales
8 June 1999
Latest release Conker's Big Reunion
23 April 2015

Conker is a series of action-adventure video games created 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 was family friendly and geared towards children, the series is noted for its later games and their mature content, which includes strong bloody violence, sexual innuendo, strong language, toilet humor, and several film parodies.

Titles

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 for the Nintendo 64.[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, and remains a popular collector's item to this day.

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.[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] After Live & Reloaded, Rare started development on Conker: Gettin' Medieval, an online multiplayer third-person shooter game, but it was ultimately cancelled.[11]

At E3 2014, Conker was announced as a character in Project Spark.[12] In 2015, it was announced that Conker would return in a new episodic campaign for Project Spark. The campaign, titled Conker's Big Reunion, was set ten years after the events of Bad Fur Day and Seavor reprised his voice role.[13] The first episode was released on April 23, 2015 for Project Spark. In 2015, Conker's Bad Fur Day was included in the Rare Replay video game compilation for Xbox One.[14]

On 13 May 2016, Microsoft announced that it had ceased all future development of Project Spark and that it was no longer available to download effective immediately. Online services ended on August 12, 2016. Measures were implemented for those who had purchased the game before its transition to a free-to-play model.[15]

See also

References

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