One of the Greatest Games of the '90s Is Headed to Nintendo Switch

Donkey Kong is just a cool dude, right? Who doesn't love that bumbling, brave ape? He's been a part of Nintendo's lore for just as long as Mario, but he's been overlooked and forgotten about far too often.

The first step in the right direction toward remembering DK's vital role in the company's strategy came when Donkey Kong Bananza launched on Switch 2 last summer. A year later and after millions of fan complaints on social media and around the world, Donkey Kong's most popular retro 3D adventure is coming to Nintendo Switch Online.

Donkey Kong 64 will be available on the Nintendo Classics service through the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on June 4. The game was DK's first three-dimensional experience, and many folks swear by its greatness 27 years later.

It was the product of a long and successful relationship between Nintendo and Rare in the 1990s. Rare had previously developed all of Donkey Kong's games on the SNES, such as the Donkey Kong Country trilogy.

Donkey Kong 64 is everything you love about DK all wrapped up in a massive collectathon package. There are five playable characters (Donkey, Diddy, Lanky, Tiny, and Chunky Kong), eight stages, and hundreds of bananas and golden bananas to track down.

The quest to find all these different things in the game made it unpopular with some casual fans of the genre, but Donkey Kong purists still swear by this classic nearly three decades later. Critics at the time also loved the game, as it got a score of 90/100 on Metacritic.

It's a perfect time to capitalize on the character's reputation after Bananza, and many fans might be experiencing Donkey Kong 64 for the first time in their gaming lives. It's a game that takes at least 30 hours to complete if you're going for a nearly-complete run in which you get every item.

Switch and Switch 2 users can play the game; this is not a Switch 2 exclusive.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 7:25 PM.