Donkey Kong 64 Is Finally on Switch Online (Only Four and a Half Years Late)
Nintendo Switch Online has had N64 games for over four years. Donkey Kong 64, the best-selling game of 1999 in the US, was not one of them. Until now.
The Wait Was Genuinely Baffling
N64 support hit NSO four and a half years ago. DK64 wasn't there. A year in, still not there. Two years, three years, games nobody was actively waiting for kept showing up. Mat Piscatella from Circana posted the sales data May 28th that puts this in perspective: DK64 outsold Pokemon Red and Blue in 1999 US sales. It was the number one game that year by dollars. 2.3 million units lifetime in the US. Over $130 million in US sales for a cartridge game in 1999. That's not some forgotten B-tier platformer. That was THE game of that year, and it ranked 16th in US sales the following year too. Whatever the holdup was, it wasn't a lack of demand.
What You're Actually Getting
Rare built this thing, pulling mechanics from Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. There are five playable Kongs, including Donkey Kong, Lanky Kong, Tiny Kong, and Chunky Kong. Each one plays differently and the whole structure is a collectathon where certain Kongs can only access certain areas, which means you're constantly switching characters to make progress. King K. Rool is the final boss.
Here's the part that still sounds made up: to finish the game, you have to beat the original Donkey Kong arcade game and also Jetpac at some point in the campaign. Both are included. That's a real requirement, not a side thing you can skip.
If You've Already Played It
DK64randomizer.com generates randomized but guaranteed-completable versions of the game. There's an actual scene around it if a straight nostalgia run doesn't appeal to you. Worth knowing before you assume a replay has to be the same experience you had in 1999.
Worth Playing in 2026?
It was the best-selling game of 1999. A lot of people have strong opinions on it in both directions. If you weren't there, it's a pretty accurate picture of what "ambitious 3D platformer" meant right at the peak of that era. If you were there, you already know if you want to go back.
Either way, it's on NSO now. Four and a half years after N64 games launched on the service. Better late than never.
Source: Kotaku