I just played some DK64 again, and that game is still so, SO incredibly good! It's always been one of my favorite 3d platformers, and is the only 3d platformer I ever collected all of the Mario 64 star-style collectables in (that is, I got 101% in DK64, and have not done that in any other 3d platformer), but it'd been a while since I played it. And yes, it's still exceptional. Amazing graphics, amazing music, fantastic controls, so much variety, outstanding level designs, it's got it all. It rewards exploration better than most games; when I see those items for other characters it makes me want to go there with them and get them, I don't mind the 5 characters thing one bit. T he game doesn't have Banjo-Tooie or Conker's framerate issues, either; it's mostly quite stable. I've always wished that those games supported the Expansion Pak, maybe it could have helped, not that either one is as good as DK64 is, they aren't in my opinion. I love DK64 a lot, it's easily one of the best 3d platformers ever, and it's one of Rare's best N64 games too; really, it has to be either DK64 or Blast Corps, no question. Perfect Dark is great too, but it's 'only' a FPS, I like 3d platformers more. DK64 is an incredible game and its critics are totally wrong.
For negatives, really the only one is the camera, which is not always great. You can hit R to center it behind you, but sometimes it can be trouble. That's true in most 3d platformers, though, so you get used to it.
Oh, and my favorite 3d platformers ever would be Super Mario 64, Rayman 2 (I have this for PC and DC, never actually played the N64 version), Donkey Kong 64, Super Mario Galaxy, and I'm not sure what for #5. Lots of choices, choosing the last game for a top list is always really hard for me... Mario Galaxy 2? Banjo-Kazooie? Something else, such as Jak & Daxter, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, or something? Something I like a lot even if it probably isn't objectively top 5 material, ie, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos? I don't know. It's too bad that after the N64 the 3d platformer genre took a bit of a downturn that it never recovered from... Rare's absence in the genre really was not replaced. I've been disappointed for a long time that the Donkey Kong series never again attempted something remotely like it, the series peaked in the '90s and hasn't recovered from losing Rare. Retro's two DKCR games are awesome, but I want a 3d platformer too!
I got a new (for me) N64 3d platformer a few days ago, Gex 3. It's actually okay; I like it a bit more than I thought I would. It's not great, but it's fun enough if you like this kind of thing as I do. The graphics are only average, though, and obviously originated on the Playstation, and the controls are digital and not analog -- that is, you can only move in a few preset directions and don't have 360 degree movement, and you don't have speed control either. Yeah you use the analog stick, but it's not the Mario 64 style control you expect from an N64 3d platformer. But still, it's more fun than I remember Gex 2 on the PS1 being, so there is that.
