There has always seemed something peculiar regarding Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Given the type of game it was and taking into account the humour that was contained within, one can imagine the men in suits at Rare’s then-boss Nintendo staring with piercing frowns at a video game which completely went against the family friendly image which the big N seem so insistent on cultivating. Eventually shuffled onto shelves with barely any acknowledgement from the Japanese company, the game perhaps predictably ended up being immensely popular amongst those who played it nonetheless.

Presented as an ‘adult platform’ title, Bad Fur Day saw the player taking control of foul-mouthed cash-hungry squirrel Conker who had found himself lost one morning after a brutal night at the local pub. Now, we’ve all found ourselves there at some point in our lives, but it’s highly unlikely that many of us have been accosted by a talking scarecrow whilst trying to find our way home. Conker suffers this misfortune and from there his path sees him skipping between various game levels trying to gather himself money and find the way home.

These levels each drew heavy influence from a number of popular films, be it the obvious Matrix pastiche that concludes the game or the wink towards Bram Stoker’s Dracula during which Conker flies around a creepy stately home in the guise of a vampire bat. Each level required the player to use Conker in slightly different means, taking Bad Fur Day further away from being a traditional platform title and in effect dividing it into a series of mini episodes.

Instead of ploughing countless moves and techniques upon the player to allow him to do this, Rare dedicated to make the B button context-sensitive, changing its use when Conker stood in certain places throughout the game. Such activities which Conker would be assigned using this method included flinging toilet roll at a giant poo monster, firing a shotgun at zombie squirrels and drink vast quantities of beer, a trio of tasks you probably wouldn’t relate to a rodent you’d normally see scurrying up a tree with an acorn or two.

Surrounding all this slightly off-kilter action was a world that looked vibrant, colourful and full of variation. In keeping with the game’s content the surrounding areas veered wildly between the bright greens, blues and yellows of the main hub to the mixture of brown, brown and, er, darker brown of Poo Mountain and the sharp metallic and stone textures of the Feral Reserve Bank, plenty of imagination and time had gone into giving each area just the right feel to compliment the action occurring within.

The soundtrack provided more of the annoying kinds of tune that you’d find yourself whistling for weeks afterwards without realising you were doing so and also provided the game with a varied voice cast. Bad Fur Day also had the unique distinction of being one of the few (perhaps the only) Nintendo 64 games to feature copious amounts of profanity, although the heavier words used were bleeped as a slight concession from the developer given how unsure Nintendo already were about the content of the game.

There was much to like about Bad Fur Day. Be it the strange mix of a cute squirrel and mature film themes, the vibrant game world or the bounce-along soundtrack, the whole lot added up to being a thoroughly enjoyable game and for many was a great way to see off their beloved Nintendo 64 consoles. Whilst Ninty themselves were - and still are - more than a little reluctant to even acknowledge the game as being released on their machine (it didn’t feature in the official Nintendo magazine at the time, and still doesn’t feature on the official website to this day), Conker and crew still find themselves as one of the main reasons why people dig their dusty 64s out of the cupboard. Safe in the knowledge of this, perhaps the bods at Rare can afford themselves a wry smile now and again.