With all the Donkey Kong content Nintendo's been putting out, it's honestly baffling that Donkey Kong 64 still hasn't made its way to Nintendo Switch Online.
The Donkey Kong Land trilogy rollout, the new DK-themed park at Universal Studios Japan, and the HD return of Donkey Kong Country Returns have made this a DK-packed season. Not to mention, of course, the reveal of Donkey Kong Bananza for the Switch 2.
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+ 2So why is one of the most iconic (and controversial) games in the series still missing from the lineup? Part of the reason is how Nintendo handles its legacy titles.
They tend to space things out slowly, especially when it comes to the Expansion Pack tier of NSO. Instead of flooding the service with everything all at once, they tend to hold certain games back for sometimes years to keep the release schedule active and maintain interest.
Although Donkey Kong 64 has already been on the Wii U's Virtual Console, it could be sitting on the sidelines until it's included in a future rollout.
There's a technical aspect we should consider as well. Donkey Kong 64 is one of the rare N64 games that needed the Expansion Pak to run. The added memory was necessary to run the extensive environments, multi-character mechanics, and minigames.
Trying to emulate something that has such high demand can be trickier, particularly when it includes features like the Jetpac arcade game, which is connected to Rare's legacy properties. Even if Nintendo owns the DK brand, little things like that can slow the process down.
One more thing to keep in mind is that Rare, the studio that created the game, is now under Microsoft's umbrella. While Donkey Kong 64 technically belongs to Nintendo, its development roots are still tangled up in Rare's tools, design habits, and perhaps even lingering legal gray areas.
Banjo-Kazooie and other Rare-developed games have made their way onto NSO, but they weren't weighed down by side content or memory dependencies like DK64.
click to enlarge + 2There's a chance Donkey Kong 64 requires more backend work than most N64 titles. Even once it makes its comeback, it's bound to trigger some debate.
The game is remembered not just for its bold scale and colorful design but also for its overwhelming number of collectibles and confusing progression.
The structure of switching between five characters to collect color-coded bananas at every level hasn't aged well.
For some, that design might feel dated or frustrating, and it wouldn't be surprising if Nintendo hesitates to bring that type of experience back without some kind of update.
One last idea to consider: Donkey Kong 64 could be delayed for something more significant. Nintendo might be planning a standalone remaster or a more refined re-release instead of launching it via NSO.
Since Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is already confirmed for this year, they could be pacing out the franchise's return to sustain the momentum.
Holding off on DK64 for a remaster makes more sense if the idea is to bring the brand back with higher-quality releases.
Whether it arrives as part of NSO or gets a full re-release later down the road, it's clear there's still a lot of potential left in Donkey Kong's weirdest, loudest, and most collectible-packed adventure.