Year: 1999
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Grant Kirkhope
Number of tracks: 18

★★★★★

Monkeys from the nursery

After a short creative break, I'm back in the soundtrack business and bring you the score for a game that I was unfortunately never able to try out myself due to a lack of console. We are of course talking about Donkey Kong 64, the fifth installment in the series about the red-collared primate after Donkey Kong Country (1994-96) and Diddy Kong Racing (1997). In this game, Donkey no longer competes against King K. Rool and his henchmen in timeless 2D sidescroll graphics, but in the badly aged 3D look of the Nintendo 64.

Since looks aren't everything, I figured I'd take a trip into the past. To the time when new standards were set with every game, game mechanics were invented or refined and technical limits were explored. And that brings me to an old acquaintance: Grant Kirkhope. Because as it turns out, the man also had a career before mid-range games like 2012's Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (shocking!). In fact, the Scotsman found his way into the video game world as early as 1996 with the music for the fighting game Killer Instinct 2 and composed for such classics as GoldenEye 007 (1997), Banjo-Kazooie (1998) and Perfect Dark (2000).

I was therefore kinda excited about what I supposed was going to be the music for Donkey Kong 64. The 18-track score starts off with a banger ... namely my head against the wall. DK Rap, which according to sources on the Internet (Wikipedia) was intended as a "lighthearted joke", is cringe-worthy - an assessment that I, as a 31-year-old man, can certainly allow myself to make about a 24-year-old game. In a rapped style, we learn what Donkey's entourage looks like and what abilities the characters have. It's actually quite sweet and has achieved cult status, but as a non-fan, the song doesn't really cut it for me.

It's a different story with the rest of the score, which screams more Banjo-Kazooie instead of Donkey Kong Country . Iconic tracks such as DK Island or Jungle are recognizable even to DK-outsiders like me with their cheerful jazzy style and with their playful approach are fun for all generations. This allows me to give tracks like Aztec, Klanky’s Tune, Toy Factory or Funky’s Tune the attribute 'nice' with total impunity.

Some tracks, on the other hand, unintentionally show parallels to games such as Transport Tycoon (Candy’s Tune) or Final Fantasy due to the acoustic impression and limitations of the sound chips. In the case of the latter, this observation relates to the boss fight titles such as Aztec Boss, Ship Boss and Forest Boss, which in turn are accelerated/dramatic variations of the respective level themes Aztec, Shipwreck and Forest.

Overall, there is nothing in the OST that either surprised or excited me. Unlike Mario, which is fun for all generations with its timeless melodies, the score for DK64 is primarily something for kids from back then. In this respect, I lack the necessary nostalgia to give it top marks. Nevertheless, the score doesn't do anything fundamentally wrong. It is entertaining, relatively versatile and, above all, suitable for a young audience: tracks like Ice Slide are fun with their quirky, hectic style, Spooky remains minimally gloomy and Hideout is tame even for a final battle.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	DK Rap	Grant Kirkhope	2
02	DK Island	Grant Kirkhope	4
03	Jungle	Grant Kirkhope	4
04	Mine Cart	Grant Kirkhope	4
05	Aztec	Grant Kirkhope	4
06	Aztec Boss	Grant Kirkhope	4
07	Klanky's Tune	Grant Kirkhope	3
08	Toy Factory	Grant Kirkhope	4
09	Candy's Tune	Grant Kirkhope	3
10	Shipwreck	Grant Kirkhope	3
11	Ship Boss	Grant Kirkhope	4
12	Forest	Grant Kirkhope	3
13	Forest Boss	Grant Kirkhope	4
14	Funky's Tune	Grant Kirkhope	3
15	Crystal Caves	Grant Kirkhope	3
16	Ice Slide	Grant Kirkhope	3
17	Spooky	Grant Kirkhope	3
18	Hideout	Grant Kirkhope	3