Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The big retro gaming news is official: Nintendo has finally announced that the legendary, massive, and highly controversial 1999 collectathon Donkey Kong 64 is officially hitting the Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Classics library! Starting June 2026, anyone with an active subscription to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack will be able to load up this classic Rareware title on both the standard Nintendo Switch and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.
But if you’ve followed the channel for a while, you know my stance on this one. I recently shared a quick update mentioning that I’ve never been a fan of Donkey Kong 64, and I casually noted that I’ve spent maybe 10 minutes playing my physical copy of the cartridge. Some viewers in the comments mistakenly thought I meant that I’ve only ever played Donkey Kong 64 for 10 minutes in my entire life. That is absolutely not the case! I’ve given this game its fair shake over the decades—I just can’t stand it. In this video, I’m putting my original cartridge into actual N64 hardware, running an S-video cable setup straight into the RetroTINK-4K upscaler, and taking you through a real-time gameplay demonstration to explain precisely why this game completely misses the mark for me.
The Camera and Controls: A Step Backward
Right out of the gate, you see a perfect illustration of my biggest grievance. As I navigate DK around a basic corner early in the level, the camera completely fails to keep up, getting stuck at a horrible angle. Moments later, a random enemy snucks right up on me and takes a bite out of my health bar simply because the camera won't let you see what is directly behind you. Trying to get your platforming jumps lined up is an absolute chore. The game frequently locks you into an awkward 3/4 perspective looking at the back of Donkey Kong's head, making depth perception a total guessing game.
A lot of retro defenders love to point out that Donkey Kong 64 controls a lot like Super Mario 64. They aren't entirely wrong—the baseline engine shares some structural DNA—but here is the major problem: Donkey Kong 64 launched years after Super Mario 64. By late 1999, the industry should have progressed. Super Mario 64 was a pioneer, and its camera wasn't perfect, but instead of fixing those early 3D platforming issues, Rare went in an even worse direction. The movement feels muddy, the angles are atrocious, and a single misjudged jump can send you plummeting all the way back to the start of an area to redo the exact same sequence. I even ran into a few annoying recording hiccups while capturing this footage, meaning I had to climb up these poorly designed structures multiple times just to prove a point. Yes, I absolutely have the mechanical capability to get through these sections, but the game makes the process feel like pulling teeth.
The Visuals and the Meandering Open World
Even when you pump the original hardware signal through a high-end upscaler like the RetroTINK-4K to clean up the video output, it cannot save the underlying art direction. To me, this game is just plain ugly. The textures are muddy, the environments feel washed out, and everything is too open, vast, and completely meandering for its own good. It completely lacks the tight, focused design that made Rare's previous side-scrolling masterpieces so incredible.
While I’m always supportive of video game preservation and I love that Nintendo is working directly with Rare to rescue these classic titles from licensing limbo for the Switch and Switch 2, I can't help but feel like the N64 expansion app is being largely ignored. It gets updates so slowly, much like the Sega Genesis online catalog, and when we finally get a major drop, it’s a game built entirely around tedious backtracking and collecting five different colors of bananas. Personally, I would much rather see them add Diddy Kong Racing or other highly requested N64 gems to the online classics lineup instead. For me, the absolute best part of playing Donkey Kong 64 is the exact moment I reach over, power off the console, and stop playing it entirely.
But hey, that's just my perspective! I know there is a massive community of retro gaming enthusiasts who absolutely worship this title, love the nostalgic pull of the iconic "DK Rap," and are thrilled to finally have a legitimate way to play it on modern hardware. I am not questioning your taste or your memories—I genuinely want to understand what makes this game click for you.
Are you excited to see King K. Rool and the rest of the Kong crew on the Switch? What was your favorite aspect of the gameplay growing up? Drop your thoughts down in the comments section and let's get a real discussion going! IN the end this game has Bad Camera, Bad Controls, No Improvements, which is Why I Dislike Donkey Kong 64
#DonkeyKong64 #DK64 #NintendoSwitch #N64Classics #NintendoSwitchOnline #RetroGaming #Switch2 #Rareware #DonkeyKong #RetroTINK4K #N64 #GamingDiscussion #NintendoExpansionPack #SpringOnShorts
The big retro gaming news is official: Nintendo has finally announced that the legendary, massive, and highly controversial 1999 collectathon Donkey Kong 64 is officially hitting the Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Classics library! Starting June 2026, anyone with an active subscription to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack will be able to load up this classic Rareware title on both the standard Nintendo Switch and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.
But if you’ve followed the channel for a while, you know my stance on this one. I recently shared a quick update mentioning that I’ve never been a fan of Donkey Kong 64, and I casually noted that I’ve spent maybe 10 minutes playing my physical copy of the cartridge. Some viewers in the comments mistakenly thought I meant that I’ve only ever played Donkey Kong 64 for 10 minutes in my entire life. That is absolutely not the case! I’ve given this game its fair shake over the decades—I just can’t stand it. In this video, I’m putting my original cartridge into actual N64 hardware, running an S-video cable setup straight into the RetroTINK-4K upscaler, and taking you through a real-time gameplay demonstration to explain precisely why this game completely misses the mark for me.
The Camera and Controls: A Step Backward
Right out of the gate, you see a perfect illustration of my biggest grievance. As I navigate DK around a basic corner early in the level, the camera completely fails to keep up, getting stuck at a horrible angle. Moments later, a random enemy snucks right up on me and takes a bite out of my health bar simply because the camera won't let you see what is directly behind you. Trying to get your platforming jumps lined up is an absolute chore. The game frequently locks you into an awkward 3/4 perspective looking at the back of Donkey Kong's head, making depth perception a total guessing game.
A lot of retro defenders love to point out that Donkey Kong 64 controls a lot like Super Mario 64. They aren't entirely wrong—the baseline engine shares some structural DNA—but here is the major problem: Donkey Kong 64 launched years after Super Mario 64. By late 1999, the industry should have progressed. Super Mario 64 was a pioneer, and its camera wasn't perfect, but instead of fixing those early 3D platforming issues, Rare went in an even worse direction. The movement feels muddy, the angles are atrocious, and a single misjudged jump can send you plummeting all the way back to the start of an area to redo the exact same sequence. I even ran into a few annoying recording hiccups while capturing this footage, meaning I had to climb up these poorly designed structures multiple times just to prove a point. Yes, I absolutely have the mechanical capability to get through these sections, but the game makes the process feel like pulling teeth.
The Visuals and the Meandering Open World
Even when you pump the original hardware signal through a high-end upscaler like the RetroTINK-4K to clean up the video output, it cannot save the underlying art direction. To me, this game is just plain ugly. The textures are muddy, the environments feel washed out, and everything is too open, vast, and completely meandering for its own good. It completely lacks the tight, focused design that made Rare's previous side-scrolling masterpieces so incredible.
While I’m always supportive of video game preservation and I love that Nintendo is working directly with Rare to rescue these classic titles from licensing limbo for the Switch and Switch 2, I can't help but feel like the N64 expansion app is being largely ignored. It gets updates so slowly, much like the Sega Genesis online catalog, and when we finally get a major drop, it’s a game built entirely around tedious backtracking and collecting five different colors of bananas. Personally, I would much rather see them add Diddy Kong Racing or other highly requested N64 gems to the online classics lineup instead. For me, the absolute best part of playing Donkey Kong 64 is the exact moment I reach over, power off the console, and stop playing it entirely.
But hey, that's just my perspective! I know there is a massive community of retro gaming enthusiasts who absolutely worship this title, love the nostalgic pull of the iconic "DK Rap," and are thrilled to finally have a legitimate way to play it on modern hardware. I am not questioning your taste or your memories—I genuinely want to understand what makes this game click for you.
Are you excited to see King K. Rool and the rest of the Kong crew on the Switch? What was your favorite aspect of the gameplay growing up? Drop your thoughts down in the comments section and let's get a real discussion going! IN the end this game has Bad Camera, Bad Controls, No Improvements, which is Why I Dislike Donkey Kong 64
#DonkeyKong64 #DK64 #NintendoSwitch #N64Classics #NintendoSwitchOnline #RetroGaming #Switch2 #Rareware #DonkeyKong #RetroTINK4K #N64 #GamingDiscussion #NintendoExpansionPack #SpringOnShorts
