Games

‘Conker’s Bad Fur Day’ Is My Fluffy Valentine

In the late 90s, Goldeneye 007 revolutionized couch multiplayer for me and my friends. We focused on the single player in the game’s early days, since multiplayer console games were something of an unknown quantity for us outside of fighters and Mario Kart 64.

We actually didn’t get into multiplayer until about a year after Goldeneye‘s release, but once it hooked us, it changed how my friends and I played games. Weekend tournaments, challenges, and Oddjob rules followed in the years to come. While Goldeneye cemented couch multiplayer for us, it wasn’t until a few years later that a drunken squirrel perfected it. 

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Introducing Conker, the baddest of boys to grace the Nintendo console. Conker’s Bad Fur Day was the best multiplayer game on the Nintendo 64. It used the simplest of setups, all fun twists on existing playground and multiplayer games, but with that special deliberate Disney-reject touch. The ‘War’ capture the flag mode evoked hours of laughter and frustration for my entire crew.

Header and all Conker’s Bad Fur Day (Rare Replay edition) screens courtesy of Microsoft

The mold they set still exists today, with two bases, strategic pickups, and balanced teams—they just did it with evil teddy bears and squirrel soldiers. Whether you rushed the sword and ducked through the tunnels, or played the long range game as a counter sniper, the game created the perfect balance of tension and strategy on a simple backbone that was easy to hop into.

I still remember getting a headshot on a lil’ teddy bear about to capture the flag as a buddy runs in with a squirrel-toting chainsaw to clean up and return the flag. In fact, I’m ordering this now, Waypoint Conker is coming soon!