If you were one of many fans of irreverent Nintendo 64 hit, Conker’s Bad Fur Day that was infuriated by the half-measure of Conker-themed assets being placed in Project Spark, rather than Microsoft and Rare actually committing to a proper Conker sequel, you’re in luck!
It turns out that Team Dakota, the developers behind Project Spark itself, have actually been developing a proper Conker follow-up in secret, using their own creation. While Microsoft and Rare will still be offering over 300 assets to the general Project Spark community to make their own Conker games, as promised during Microsoft’s press keynote at E3 2014, Microsoft and Rare have also given the go-ahead to Team Dakota to develop an all-new proper Conker sequel within Project Spark! Better still is that Conker’s original voice actor, Chris Seavor will return to voice the naughty squirrel in the new game, despite no longer being employed by Rare. Rare will also be donating assets for Team Dakota, including the original Conker’s Bad Fur Day music, and worked directly with the team in realizing the new Conker game, so it’s the real deal!
The new Conker game, titled Conker’s Big Reunion, will only be accessible through Project Spark, but that should be fine, given that the base Project Spark download is free if accessed digitally, and it will no doubt set its own price within the software. This would mean that the new Conker game is coming to PC as well as Xbox One, and it is also said to be episodic in nature. Team Dakota has also stressed that the raunchy, self-deprecating humour of the original game will be plenty intact, complete with the original’s infamous affinity for poo jokes. The story is also said to involve a ‘washed-up’ Conker trying to pull himself together enough to reunite with his friends at the Cock and Plucker bar.
Interestingly, Team Dakota also mentions that the push for the new game came from a fan tweeting to Phil Spencer during a Twitch stream as he was playing other people’s Project Spark creations. It seems like Microsoft has finally heard the incessant pleas for a new Conker game then. It may not be coming the way that many expected, but the fact is, it’s coming. It’s finally coming!
The series’ previous proper release was a remake of Conker’s Bad Fur Day called Conker: Live & Reloaded, which released exclusively for the original Xbox in 2005. Conker: Live & Reloaded remastered the original Conker’s Bad Fur Day entirely with new graphics and scenarios, as well as adding in an all-new Xbox Live-capable multiplayer suite that built on the series’ major story arc of a war between the squirrel army, and the evil Tediz creations.
Both Conker’s Big Reunion and the Conker Creation Pack are scheduled for April 23rd.
Keep stumbling into Eggplante for all news and updates on Conker.