CIBSunday Donkey Kong 64 (Nintendo 64)

Rare performed quite a feat when it took the ageing Donkey Kong series and returned it to prominence with Donkey Kong Country, the SNES title which was so visually striking many people assumed it was a next-gen release when they first laid eyes on it. Sequels predictably followed, one of which was Donkey Kong 64 – the ape's first foray into the world of 3D visuals and his N64 debut.

Development began in 1997 but was restarted halfway through; as a result, Kong took his sweet time coming to the Nintendo 64, and by the time the game eventually arrived in 1999 (the same year that Rare moved to the lavish, purpose-built office complex it occupies today) it was so ambitious it required the use of the N64 Expansion Pak, which was bundled with copies of the game.

We're showing off the Japanese version in this edition of CIBSunday, which comes in the big-box format that Nintendo would also employ for the regional releases of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Perfect Dark, both of which also made use of the Expansion Pak.