I often find it tough to motivate myself, but I was pretty pleased with how these two came out! Just thought I’d share. Anyone into classic games may be able to surmise where the border idea came from, on my first one…

I often find it tough to motivate myself, but I was pretty pleased with how these two came out! Just thought I’d share. Anyone into classic games may be able to surmise where the border idea came from, on my first one…

I often find it tough to motivate myself, but I was pretty pleased with how these two came out! Just thought I’d share. Anyone into classic games may be able to surmise where the border idea came from, on my first one…

I often find it tough to motivate myself, but I was pretty pleased with how these two came out! Just thought I’d share.

It has been a long road to openly be singing again. I was afflicted with long-COVID in 2020, and it quickly reduced my voice to a hoarse and uncomfortable whisper. Singing and music were my biggest passions, up to then. I can’t say the same, for today… I spent five years in limbo, hoping to someday regain something. It was more depressing than I can express, to have my passion stripped from me. It was like having an arm cut off. Even when my voice became usable again, I found singing constrictive, cut-down, and not worth the discomfort. Well—this year, I can finally do some of the things I used to be able to do. Putting an earnest hope out there, that the patience continues to pay off… I’m very thankful that I have healed, to some degree.

"An eternal theme for me with game design has been to let the players create their own vision."

It's hard to overstate the importance of this one title. The gaming landscape had been turned on its head, seemingly overnight. With the advancement the new wave of 3D-capable machines brought—we went from static viewpoints and flat sprite-based graphics, to maneuvering entire worlds full of nuance, mystery, and mechanical wonder. Many struggled to translate what worked in the old method, to this wide-open and uncharted territory. Somehow, Nintendo came through and delivered, with their first shot.

Super Mario 64, and the Nintendo 64 hardware itself, released in Japan on June 23rd, 1996—making this day their 30th anniversaries. While not the most successful platform Nintendo had put out (it ended up being their weakest, sales-wise, for the time), no one can deny that many of the revolutionary 3D systems and mechanics still used today, were figured out by Nintendo for their flagship first 3D entries in the Super Mario and Legend of Zelda series.

I don't have a gigantic essay in me, or anything. I just wanted to create a little hub, where we can all share what this marvelous game means to us—both at the time of its release, and looking back on it, 30 years later.

And to anyone out there, honoring this milestone through a replay—or possibly even making the jump and checking out this classic for the very first time—I leave you with a few useful resources, that will help further immerse and guide you through one of early 3D gaming's most striking and joyful journeys.

• Super Mario 64 Instruction Booklet
• The Official Super Mario 64 Nintendo Player's Guide
• Super Mario 64 Original Soundtrack

"Ultimately, though, we really did want to change the culture of gaming, and it was in that spirit that we made Mario 64." — Shigeru Miyamoto, 1996

Back in January, I noticed that there wasn’t really any community on Reddit for people who wanted to connect over the Nintendo Classics collections available via Nintendo Switch Online. This subreddit here was, perhaps, the closest thing to it—and you can already tell that it’s not fulfilling that purpose at all.

So, if you would like a proper place to discuss the drops, what we’re wishing for next, and a related Discord server to link up for multiplayer—then, please visit r/NintendoClassics!

The Discord server is this way!

Thank you for giving us a look!

Just announced during today's Nintendo Direct, and exclusive to Switch 2—our favorite Nintendo Classics collections are being expanded with some extra goodies... a new challenge system, scheduled to roll out today—June 9, 2026 at 6pm PST / 9pm EST!

This is a limited-time event that will run all the way until September 1, 2026, ending at 12:59am PST / 3:59am EST.

Besides a Switch 2 (yes—really), you only need the standard Nintendo Switch Online subscription to participate, as the games involved only span the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Game Boy apps. What's not yet clear is if these challenges can be accomplished through regular gameplay, like an achievement system, or if they are self-contained and only bootable through the challenge menu seen in the screenshots. This interface is accessed through the Nintendo Switch Online hub, and each challenge completed awards you with a digital collectible card. Through the footage shown, we can confirm the following games:

Title of Game	Original Platform
Donkey Kong	NES
Donkey Kong Jr.	NES
Donkey Kong 3	NES
Donkey Kong Jr. Math	NES
Donkey Kong Country	SNES
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong-Quest	SNES
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!	SNES
Donkey Kong	Game Boy
Donkey Kong Land	Game Boy
Donkey Kong Land 2	Game Boy
Donkey Kong Land III	Game Boy

More info to come at its launch, tonight! You can swipe through the images to see some of the card art and challenges—including a glimpse at a brambly-lookin' DKC2 one marked "Hard"...!

Until Donkey Kong Bananza brought them back into the spotlight—things had been a bit grim for our furry friends, for a moment, there... They lost their impact, the ones who had given them new life, and the property slowly withered into stagnancy. Rumors even abounded that our dear Chunky had somehow bitten the bullet.

However—reports of the Donkey Kong franchise's demise had been greatly exaggerated. Nothing can keep the big ape down, and this particular classic has been pounding away from the confines of its crate over at Nintendo HQ, yearning to see the light of day again.

That moment has finally come. Only re-released once before, on Wii U—the final mainline Donkey Kong developed by Rare, and the only other 3D entry in the franchise besides Bananza, is finally here.

Donkey Kong 64 is now up and playable on Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Classics! A milestone in the 3D-platforming genre (and not just for good reasons...), this game brought Nintendo and Rare's classic cast of characters into the third dimension, following the blueprint set by previous all-timers, Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie.

Opening with a memorable rap track that is still referenced today in the likes of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and ending with a five-phase boxing match against King K. Rool that may very well be one of the greatest boss battles yet seen in a game of its type... Each bookending a cornucopia of (3,821) collectables that earned this game the Guinness World Record for "Most Collectable Items in a Platform Video Game"... This game demands to be conquered.

So—please share your thoughts, memories, and progress, here, as you make your way through the massive undertaking and challenge that this game represents! Or feel free to make a post of your own! Our Discord server is on standby, as well! We will be hosting multiplayer sessions, and posting our hijinxs, victories, and misfortunes, as we all (hopefully) clamber our way towards achieving that coveted 101%.

And for anyone wanting to experience the game, all decked out with the original supplementary material—I've got you covered:

• Donkey Kong 64 Instruction Booklet
• Donkey Kong 64 Official Nintendo Player's Guide
• Da Banana Bunch: The Original Donkey Kong 64 Soundtrack

Wishing everyone a great time, with this one! 🍌

It's just a few more days until Donkey Kong 64 is set loose back into the world! How timely, then, that the origin story behind the iconic Rare logo should finally spring up from its source—artist Kev Bayliss, who has taken to Instagram to share a treasure trove of never-before-heard information with us! You might know him as the artistic mind behind Battletoads, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, Killer Instinct, Diddy Kong Racing, Joanna Dark (both versions), and StarFox Adventures. This is his insight into the creation of the brilliant Rare logo—an icon of its time, that still conjures up memories of the fantastical creations dreamt up in those storied barns of Twycross, England...

>"This is the Rare logo I designed back in the early ’90s to launch our 3D games like Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct! I built it in PowerAnimator, and right from the start I was thinking about it as a badge we could wear on our suits at shows like CES and E3 in the USA.

>Tim [Stamper, co-founder of Rare] loved that classic royal navy blue and gold combo, so that became the colour palette for the logo. While I was working in 3D, I could see how the shape would catch the light and decide which parts would be enamel and which would be brass. There was actually an earlier version with more glass-filled blue, but this is the badge we mostly used to brand Rareware—and the one we wore proudly whenever we went to shows. 

>At the time, it was very fashionable to have three primary colours (like the 3DO system—remember that?) So the first logo/rebranding concepts were based on that: three simple, coloured blobs that looked a bit like an 'R'. Those were created by Banjo Daddy, Steve Mayles! But I looked at them and was concerned that it was a trend which would go out of fashion, and fortunately I was art director then, so Tim appointed me as 'Make this new logo then, Kevin—and make sure it's good!' artist and gave me the task.

>This was the result! It's one of the original badges (not one of the replica badges made many years later). ^([Images 2 and 3]) I also gave the logo a facelift around 2003, which was the simpler gold/orangey ramped version without the surround, while I was working on Perfect Dark Zero. ^([Image 4]) I didn't like the sharp edges on my golden toilet roll design, and I've always hated the colour combo 'Blue and Brass'/'Blue and Gold', so I decided to remove that enamel and simplify the logo, and use my favourite warm colours—orange and yellow!

>Of course—it's now been updated again, but the old loo roll still shines through! It's the gift that keeps on giving!"

Apparently, the Rare teams joked that it resembled a roll of toilet paper—which, if you know your Rare, you'd recognize as a gag eventually put into the opening reel to Conker: Live & Reloaded.

However... to all of us—it was far, far more than that. It was an emblem of quality; a signifier of classics; and a fondly-remembered banner, under which this humble UK games studio changed the world of gaming forever.

^([Source for the quote, and images 2 and 3:) ^(Kev Bayliss's Instagram post)^(. Give his page a visit and see what else he's shared!])

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Update: I've since come upon an older article on the website Time Extension, in which Kev's remembrances are even more detailed! He starts by recalling the moment he first glimpsed what Steve Mayles was cooking up for the logo...

>"I remember walking through the offices, one day, and saw what Steve was up to, and joked that it just looked like some kind of 'infant toy', because of the simplistic graphics and colours. Steve had created an 'R' out of what looked like three blobs of paint, in primary colours—similar to the 3DO logo. Now, there was nothing 'wrong' with Steve's work, but I was concerned that the three-colour, three-shapes 'fad' was going to soon go out of fashion and would date our games horribly. Also, I was a little worried that the logo would just become buried within a pile of different coloured blobs for every other video game company that made the same decision to take that approach. Funnily enough, I look back now and there wasn't really that many of them, anyway—but, for some reason, I had a pet hate for this ‘gimmick’, and Tim noticed how passionate I was about it.

>We were always rewarded with the promise of a trip to CES or whatever big show our games were launched at, after development, and it was nice to have some kind of badge on our suits. At the time, I think we'd all been sporting a small steel pin on our lapels with the 'Rare' font logo embossed within it. We always wore suits and dressed very smartly while attending the shows, and so I had this in mind and wanted to create something that looked a little bit 'classy' on our formal attire. It soon became very different, as we all eventually wore branded polo shirts, usually featuring the game we were promoting—but, at this time I wanted to make something that worked with a shirt, tie, and suit."

The article then notes that Kev began with the curved shape of the now well-known and beloved "R"-with-its-side-missing. Tim seemed to like this concept, but added input to ensure Kev make "something that wasn't going to slice our fingers off every time we tried to pin it onto our lapels". That's when new inspiration suddenly struck, as Kev recalled his school days:

>"Prefects wore a blue and gold, rectangular enamel badge with rounded edges, which gave them the power to tell you to 'do your tie up' properly, or monitor the hallways and send you outside while it was raining, as they stood around feeling important, leaning against the hallway radiators. These weren't popular kids (I was one for a brief period at primary school), but they did have a fancy badge that made them oh-so-powerful.

>Knowing that Tim was into his classic 'Navy Blue and Gold', I decided to surround the 'R' shape in a golden rectangle with rounded edges and give it an enamel Navy Blue background, placing the word 'Rareware' beneath it. ‘Classy,’ I thought. Creating it in Maya/PowerAnimator was very easy and I could show a really accurate representation of how it would look, by rendering it up.

>I remember a year or so after designing it, I pulled up on a garage forecourt, one day, to fill up my car. I noticed the symbols that were on the side of the petrol pumps near to the paper towel dispensers that are often seen outside, and there it was: 'the R logo’. It was also a simplistic 'icon' for towel dispensers and I couldn't get it out of my head after that. I knew I'd seen it somewhere before, subconsciously. Then, a few months later, I was in an aeroplane toilet and saw the same logo. I'll let you use your imagination, from here on out.

>Along with Diddy, KI, the Battletoads, and the redesign of Donkey Kong, I think the Rare logo is possibly the one part of my legacy I’ll leave ‘behind’, that I wish I’d perhaps thought out a little more, before angrily creating what became known as ‘The Golden Toilet Roll’ among myself and Rare colleagues back in the day."

Far too harsh on himself, don't you think? No way, Kev. You did good, with this design. The logo remains legendary, and will always bring to mind some of the most classic games ever created.

Hi, there! ⭐️

I sincerely hope you've enjoyed perusing and participating in this subreddit! For those of you who're new here—you may not realize that it's still relatively new, at just three and-a-half months old! I don't know why nobody had thought to make a subreddit based around these collections, in the seven years that they've been available... but, we've finally got one, now. These Nintendo Classics collections are clearly being positioned as Nintendo's main method of preserving their legacy, for future generations to discover—and for those of us who grew up on them, to rediscover. I think it's important for those of us who adore these games, to be good stewards, and create a welcoming space where everyone can understand the magic that they brought into our lives. No matter how technology progresses, in all sorts of fanciful directions—they still remain artistic achievements that display the beauty people can create—even with limited manpower, and under severe constraints.

As an extension of this community, I created a Discord server months back, to make it easier to converse with fellow enthusiasts, and link up for some multiplayer action! I just wanted to highlight it, once more—now that it's more fully developed!

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Tap (or click) here to join the NintendoClassics Discord server!

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Here's a list of some of the features and channels we've got:

• 18 different username colors (seen in the second image) to adorn your name with—each one of them based on not just classic Nintendo hardware, but also some beloved variants!
• A trim and tidy layout, with spaces for 💬—•general-chat•, Nintendo Classics-centered discussion over in ⭐—•nintendo-classics•, and an area for all other classic games in 👾—•retro-talk•!
• One of the big ones: post to 🎮—•connecting-controllers• when you're looking for anyone to buddy up with and tackle all the multiplayer games at hand, like The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, Mario Kart 64, Donkey Kong Country 2, the trio of Mario Parties, Kirby Super Star, GoldenEye 007, River City Ransom, Streets of Rage 2, Tetris... Most of the apps even support someone coming in just to watch—or to pass the controller to, while taking turns!
• I'm of the mind that part of the love we have for these games should include getting to know how they were made, and the humans that made them. To that end, the server has a 🔖—•gaming-history• channel, that anybody can post their facts and knowledge to! Every valid message will be pinned, so that anybody can look back at the assortment of facts we've shared with each other.
• Many of our members are budding artists, in their own right! It can be tough to find motivation, these days... so we should support one another, wherever we can! That's why we also have a 🌱—•creativity• channel, where anyone can share their creative work, in any field—whether you're a complete beginner, or someone who knows the ropes.
• 32 custom emoji (seen in the second image) and 5 stickers, from throughout Nintendo history! More to come, as well.
• We now have an onboarding process that allows you to customize your experience and see only the channels that pertain to your interests! Thus—you won't need to be notified, if you have no interest in any of these multiplayer or history shenanigans, or in the creativity of other members (you devil, you!).

All of this is still pretty new, but I've done my best to make it as neat, presentable, and fully featured as I can! I've actually done all of the work on both the subreddit and the server, on my own. We have a lovely little group of regulars already, and are currently sitting at 70 members—a far cry from the subreddit's 3,300. But, if this strikes your fancy in any way, I hope you'll come take a peek and chat! Thank you for reading, and thank you for being a member of this subreddit! I appreciate all the new posters I'm seeing! 💛

But thought I’d share it here, as well!