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.

The score

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 RapGrant Kirkhope2, 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 IslandGrant Kirkhope4 or JungleGrant Kirkhope4 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 AztecGrant Kirkhope4, Klanky’s TuneGrant Kirkhope3, Toy FactoryGrant Kirkhope4 or Funky’s TuneGrant Kirkhope3 the attribute 'nice' with total impunity.

Some tracks, on the other hand, unintentionally show parallels to games such as Transport Tycoon (Candy’s TuneGrant Kirkhope3) 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 BossGrant Kirkhope4, Ship BossGrant Kirkhope4 and Forest BossGrant Kirkhope4, which in turn are accelerated/dramatic variations of the respective level themes AztecGrant Kirkhope4 respecive ShipwreckGrant Kirkhope3 and ForestGrant Kirkhope3 sind.

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 SlideGrant Kirkhope3 are fun with their quirky, hectic style, SpookyGrant Kirkhope3 remains minimally gloomy and HideoutGrant Kirkhope3 is tame even for a final battle.