''Conker'' is a series of platform

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s created and produced by Rare. It chronicles the events of

Conker the Squirrel Conker the Squirrel is a fictional anthropomorphic red squirrel starring in various video games, primarily known for featuring in ''Conker's Bad Fur Day''. He first appeared alongside Diddy Kong in Rareware's ''Diddy Kong Racing''. Other appear ...

, an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

red squirrel The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris'') is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus'' common throughout Europe and Asia. The red squirrel is an arboreal, primarily herbivorous rodent. In Great Britain, Ireland, and in Italy numbers ...

that made his debut as a playable character in '' Diddy Kong Racing''. The

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

game is targeted at a family audience. ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'' was changed during its development to be based on graphic violence, profanity, and other adult material, which earned the game a Mature rating by the

ESRB The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Asso ...

, with an advisory on its box. A graphically improved but censored version of ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'', along with new multiplayer modes, was released as '' Conker: Live & Reloaded'' on June 21, 2005 in North America for the original

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

. The uncensored ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'' was released on Rare Replay and ''Live & Reloaded'' has been made backward compatible with the

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

Games

*''

Conker's Pocket Tales ''Conker's Pocket Tales'' is a 1999 action-adventure video game developed and published by Rare for the Game Boy Color. It is the first game in the '' Conker'' series and follows the story of Conker the Squirrel as he retrieves his stolen birthd ...

'' (1999) - Game Boy Color *''

Conker's Bad Fur Day ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'' is a 2001 platform game developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64. The game follows Conker, a greedy, hard-drinking red squirrel who must return home to his girlfriend. Most of the game requires the player ...

'' (2001) - Nintendo 64 *'' Conker: Live & Reloaded'' (2005) - Xbox *''

Young Conker ''Conker'' is a series of platform video games created and produced by Rare. It chronicles the events of Conker the Squirrel, an anthropomorphic red squirrel that made his debut as a playable character in ''Diddy Kong Racing''. The Game Boy Co ...

'' (2016) - Microsoft HoloLens

Related games

*'' Diddy Kong Racing'' (1997) - Nintendo 64 *''

Project Spark ''Project Spark'' was a game creation system video game developed by SkyBox Labs and Team Dakota and published by Microsoft Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One. The game was announced during Microsoft's E3 2013 press event, and was launched ...

'' (''Conker's Big Reunion'') (2014) - Xbox One *'' Rare Replay'' (2015) - Xbox One

Development

''Conker'' was introduced at the

Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...

in 1997. The game ''Conker's Quest'' was presented by Rare as a 3D platformer aimed at a young audience for the Nintendo 64. Later the same year, Conker's inclusion in '' Diddy Kong Racing'' for the Nintendo 64 was confirmed. In early 1998, ''Conker's Quest'' was renamed ''Twelve Tales: Conker 64''. In 1999, Conker made his first solo debut in ''

'' for the

. During development, the Conker team looked around E3 of 1998 where there were many games that were quite similar or were the same. They realized that there was nothing special or unique about Conker other than it was just another cute platformer. After E3, Chris Seavor came on board as designer. The first level, the beehive, added machine guns shooting wasps which Rare found funny and kept going with this idea to be raunchy and different. After two more years of development, the game emerged as ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'', which targets adults rather than children with its mature content. According to Rare co-founder

Chris Stamper Brothers Tim and Chris Stamper are British entrepreneurs who founded the video game companies Ultimate Play the Game and Rare. They first worked together on arcade conversion kits, which were licensed to companies, but later became developer ...

: "When people grow up on games, they don't stop playing. There aren't games for people who grew up on the early systems". The game suffered from relatively poor sales, but received a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

. 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''. 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 Castle's highest tower". It was never confirmed which console ''Conker's Other Bad Day'' was for, but it was likely the Nintendo

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

as with ''Donkey Kong Racing''. In 2002, Microsoft purchased Rare from Nintendo, so instead of finishing and releasing the game, Rare

remade Bas-Lag is the fictional world in which several of English author China Miéville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic (referred to as "thaumaturgy") and steampunk technology exist, and is home to many intelligent races. It is inf ...

''Conker's Bad Fur Day'' for the

in 2005, renaming it '' Conker: Live & Reloaded''. It features improved graphics and minor alterations to gameplay, and was also censored. It has a new multiplayer adaptation for

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...

. After ''Live & Reloaded'', Rare started development on ''Conker: Gettin' Medieval'', an

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

game, but it was ultimately cancelled. At

E3 2014 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014 (E3 2014) was the 20th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 10, 2014, and ended on June 12, 2014, with 48,900 total attendees. Ma ...

, Conker was announced as a character in ''

''. In 2015, Conker returned in a new episodic campaign for ''Project Spark''. The campaign, titled ''Conker's Big Reunion'', is set ten years after the events of ''Bad Fur Day'' and Seavor reprised his voice role. The first episode was released on 23 April the same year for ''Project Spark''; however, before any more additional episodes could be made, ''Project Spark''s online services were shut down and the game was abandoned. In 2015, ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'' was included in the '' Rare Replay'' video game compilation for

. In 2016, Microsoft announced ''Young Conker'' as the next installment into the series, released for the

Microsoft HoloLens Microsoft HoloLens is an augmented reality (AR)/ mixed reality (MR) headset developed and manufactured by Microsoft. HoloLens runs the Windows Mixed Reality platform under the Windows 10 operating system. Some of the positional tracking techn ...

. The trailer was released in February and was almost universally panned by the public, with many complaining that it lacked the humour and overall style of its predecessors. The trailer received more than 30,000 dislikes against just over 1,000 likes. A petition was created to cancel the game's release but failed. Some video game critics and general YouTube commentators have boycotted the game.

References

{{Xbox Game Studios Rare (company) Microsoft franchises Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1999