Conker's Bad Fur Day - Development and Marketing

Development and Marketing

Development of the game was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June 1997. The game was originally going to be titled Conker's Quest, and later Twelve Tales: Conker 64. Early screenshots suggested the game would be targeted at a family and young audience and feature cute characters and colorful settings. Rare had a history of making games of this sort, such as Banjo-Kazooie and Diddy Kong Racing, and at first Conker appeared to be similar. However, Rare started to fear that the game would not be differentiated enough from other titles, and critical mockery of "yet another cute platformer" caused the game design to be overhauled. Several delays, along with almost a year without mention of the game, led to speculation that it was privately canceled. Rare later clarified that the game was "still being worked on by a full team and with the same level of dedication as when it was first announced."

In early 2000, Rare revealed that Conker was retooled into a controversial game with lots of scatological humor. Inspired by South Park, the game's producer, Chris Seavor, revamped the graphics and attitude, and the title was changed to Conker's Bad Fur Day. Seavor himself voiced Conker in this new version, along with all the male characters in the game except the Great Mighty Poo, who was voiced by Chris Marlow. Louise Ridgeway voiced the female characters, including Mrs. Queen Bee and the Sunflower. Rare changed several aspects in the game to attract an adult audience. Unlike the Banjo-Kazooie series and Donkey Kong 64, item collecting was mostly discarded and moves were simplified by having "context sensitive" buttons. The game also differs from other Nintendo 64 games by relying heavily on cutscenes and featuring a large number of film parodies, which include The Terminator, The Matrix, A Clockwork Orange, Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Godfather, Reservoir Dogs, Aliens and Saving Private Ryan. Some offensive content was censored under the supervision of Nintendo, including cutscenes with Pokémon and a joke at the expense of the Ku Klux Klan. Seavor, however, remarked that "pretty much 99.9% of the game remained." Due to its extensive vocal track, Conker's Bad Fur Day is one of the few Nintendo 64 games that features a 64MB cartridge.

The game was first released on March 5, 2001 in North America. Advertisements for the game were featured in magazines such as Playboy, and video commercials were geared towards a mature audience. As Nintendo was known for its family-friendly games like Mario and Pokémon, the game was the subject of controversy. Nintendo of America refused to acknowledge the game in its Nintendo Power magazine. Similarly, KB Toys, which specialized in toys and video games for children, decided not to sell the title. In Europe, the game was published and distributed by THQ beginning in April 2001, after Nintendo of Europe declined to publish it.