this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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Gotta say, for a 90s console game on 16-bit technology, it looked phenomenal. Both this and Super Mario RPG.
Rare used top of the line super computers for the CGI graphics, SGI machines. The same kinda computers used in the making of Jurassic Park, iirc.
I might be mistaken, but didn't they use the SNES Super FX chip in this game? I know it was used in Star Fox.
Pre-rendered graphics.
They rendered each sprite from a 3D model on a supercomputer, then copied that image to the SNES ROM. All the SNES did was load the readymade images as needed. No SuperFX chip, but the original DKC carts had more ROM storage than any SNES game before it.
And then Rare claimed they were continuing the memory-maxing shenanigans with DK 64 requiring the Expansion Pack to play, but it was really only to fix one bug that would be hard to run into but would break the game without it. The Expansion Pack does very little to nothing for the game otherwise. According to some former Rare devs they could've fixed the bug without needing the Expansion Pack but they decided to require it anyway.
That ended up being a myth. It really does use that extra RAM. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/11/feature_donkey_kong_64_devs_on_bugs_boxing_and_20_years_of_the_dk_rap
Nah, it'd have been overkill for sprites. The sprites were based on models built using insanely expensive work stations, digitized into 2D sprites to fit on a SNES cart.
They didn't.