Conker the Squirrel
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| Conker the Squirrel | |
|---|---|
 Conker the Squirrel as seen in Conker's Bad Fur Day. |
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| Game series | Conker series |
| First game | Diddy Kong Racing (1997) |
| Voice actor(s) | Chris Seavor |
Conker the Squirrel is a fictional, anthropomorphic squirrel starring in various video games. The character was created by Rare, which was sold to Microsoft in 2002. Because he first appeared in Diddy Kong Racing, a spinoff of the Donkey Kong series, Conker is considered an official character in the Mario universe (which is ironic, because of Conker: Live & Reloaded). The character is 21 years of age and has an affinity for alcoholic beverages.
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[edit] History
Conker was introduced to the world for the first time at E3 in 1997. His game Conker's Quest was presented by Rareware as another 3D platformer aimed at a young audience. Later the same year, this fact was confirmed with Conker's inclusion in Diddy Kong Racing, for the Nintendo 64, thus promoting his future games. In the spring of 1998, long after the initial release date, Conker's Quest was renamed as Twelve Tales: Conker 64. In 1999, Conker made his first solo debut in Conker's Pocket Tales for Game Boy Color.
Conker seemed poised to become another one of those cute yet forgettable platform heroes geared towards a younger audience. After being passed off as such, Rareware decided to redesign the game entirely from scratch, and turned it into Conker's Bad Fur Day. This version of the game was completely different in the fact that instead of being a generally E-rated game, it was instead turned into a game aimed towards adults, with its sexual content, foul language, drug and alcohol usage, and excessive violence. This game faced many delays, until it was finally released in 2001 in Europe and the United States, towards the end of the Nintendo 64's lifespan. The game suffered from relatively poor sales, but over time it received a cult following with its unique brand of humour and surprisingly deep themes.
In 2005, a remake was released for the Xbox known as Conker: Live & Reloaded. This featured Bad Fur Day with vastly improved graphics and minor alterations to gameplay. Also included was a never-before-seen multiplayer adaptation that was available for use over Xbox Live.
[edit] Appearance
When Conker was introduced in Diddy Kong Racing, he had no gloves (in art only), a blue vest, blue and yellow Converse All Stars shoes, and a flat-looking tail. This appearance was kept for Pocket Tales as well, but was changed in Bad Fur Day; Conker now had gloves, a blue zipper hoodie, and the same shoes, but with the Converse logo removed. In Live and Reloaded, he ditched the gloves (now using his bare hands) and had scruffier fur, giving him a somewhat unshaven appearance. The single player portion of the game was where his appearance changed drastically; his blue hoodie outfit was now more detailed, with yellow patches and more zippers, and the most noticeable change was that he was now wearing green and yellow shorts (simmilar to banjo´s).
[edit] Fictional "biography"
Conker was born on November 24th. Little is known of the character's origins or his early life. It is known that he had met Diddy Kong on his adventures prior to participating in races with Diddy and his friends, though he was never seen in the games preceding "Diddy Kong Racing." Always kind-hearted and polite, his parents brought him up strictly, teaching him to never touch alcohol, swear or be materialistic. Although he broke these rules later in life, he still seems to retain an initially sweet persona to even the roughest of characters he meets, although he has lately developed the habit of whispering snide comments about them to himself while their backs are turned.
Although Conker drinks, commits lewd conduct, and is very greedy, he hardly ever swears. Notably the only truly real swears he's uttered were "fellatio" (albeit out of context), "bitch" and "ass", although the latter two were stated in the context of movie parodies in which the characters from the original movies stated the exact same lines.
After "Diddy Kong Racing", in the story of Conker's Pocket Tales, he had his next adventure retrieving birthday presents from evil acorns.
One day, he met a girl known as Berri, and the two quickly became a couple. Berri was originally depicted as a little, cute red squirrel like Conker, but was later changed into a tall, curvaceous, buxom girl with a valley girl-like personality and grey fur. In Live and Reloaded, Berri's ditzy traits still remain, but she is also depicted as a porn star, or prostitute of sorts, judging by various references in the remake.
Conker and Berri developed an apparently strong relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend, as they soon began living together. Berri began to get frustrated with Conker's habit of constantly staying out late at a bar with his friends, until one fateful night, he never returned to his home.
A very drunk Conker stumbled out in the opposite direction of his home, thus arriving at a completely foreign world, the Fairy Panther Kingdom, which he believed only existed in fairy tales, when he awoke. A series of very bizarre and unfortunate events ensued, until he ultimately found himself reunited with Berri, as well as with a horde of money. He was about to leave with Berri when suddenly she was betrayed and murdered by a mafia boss, Don Weaso, eliminating one of his few true loves in the world.
At the defeat of the evil Panther King, the people of the world all gathered at a throne room, pushed Conker onto the throne, shoved a crown on his head, and declared him the king. Although Conker had all the money and land in the world, he came to the realization that he didn't want it, and that his only true reason of living was killed before his very eyes.
Conker remained living unhappily as king of this strange world, when one night, his habits came back to him, and he found himself stumbling from the Cock and Plucker Bar, only going the other direction, opposite to the one that lead him to the horrible chain of events. This implies that he ends up going to yet another unusual world, or perhaps, back home, although this has never been further explained.
In Conker's Bad Fur Day, Conker has nine prominent weapons: a pair of uzi machine guns, a shotgun, a set of throwing knives, a bazooka, a frying pan, a sling shot, a baseball bat, a chainsaw (in the opening credits), and urine.
It has been confirmed that the original ending involved Conker committing suicide, by pointing a gun to his head and pulling the trigger, but was scrapped because it did not leave the series open for a sequel[citation needed] (however, according to Gregg, the Grim Reaper, Conker can get away with however many lives as he thinks he can).
However, when Chris Seavor (the voice of Conker on the N64 version of Bad Fur Day) was asked about a new Conker game, he said that would be focused on the war between the S.H.C. and the Tediz, and Conker would be killed in the first scene. His future, both as a franchise and a character, remains uncertain as of this point.
[edit] Trivia
- In Twycross, near where Rare were based, there was a theme park named Conker's Amusement Park. This may be where Rare came up with the name for the character.
- In a X-Box commercial, he was shown with Banjo, Joanna Dark and Kameo. Despite meeting Banjo in Diddy Kong Racing, he dosent seem to remember him.
