Conker's Pocket Tales

Conker's Pocket Tales is a Game Boy Color video game starring Conker, released in North America and Europe in 1999. The cartridge is dual-format, and can therefore run on the original Game Boy, with some differences.

Conker's Pocket Tales is the first game in the Conker series, and the only game in the franchise made for a family-friendly audience. Twelve Tales: Conker 64 was meant to be another family friendly title, but was ultimately cancelled and remade into the adult-oriented title, Conker's Bad Fur Day.

Gameplay
The game is played from a top-down perspective, with Conker exploring large environments in an attempt to find all his stolen Presents. By collecting a certain number of Presents in each area and defeating the boss, Conker is able to move to the next area. In addition to standard running and jumping, Conker can perform a mid-air ground-pounding attack that can hit buttons to solve puzzles. Conker also has the ability to dig in patches of soft dirt, emerging at another predetermined patch to reach inaccessible areas. He also uses a Slingshot to fire Conkers at enemies or to hit distant switches. Puzzles can also be solved by pushing blocks into grooves in the floor.

The layout and some events differ between original Game Boy and Color units. On the Game Boy Color, the game can be saved at any time, but for the original Game Boy saving is only possible at certain save points. Conker's Pocket Tales cannot have a save file for both original and Color units simultaneously. Attempting to play the game between the handhelds will warn the user of a save data erasure. The save data must be erased if the player desires to play the game on another platform. This warning is also included in the game's manual.

Plot
The game starts out with Conker and his girlfriend Berri at his birthday party, but as he is about to blow out the candles on his cake, the Evil Acorn bursts out and kidnaps Berri. Conker goes on a journey to rescue her; he has to solve puzzles and find items to assist him. He also receives assistance from various Acorn People, such as the Forest Guardian.

The ending shows Conker rescuing Berri from the Catacombs and getting every Present back along the way. The Evil Acorn is blasted into outer space from a bomb that he planted in said location, and he vows revenge on Conker. Conker, Berri, and the supporting characters gather together to throw a new birthday party for Conker. The game ends happily, in direct contrast to the ending of Conker's Bad Fur Day.

History
Conker's Pocket Tales was created to accompany the release of the Nintendo 64 title Twelve Tales: Conker 64, however it ultimately ended up being massively re-tooled into Conker's Bad Fur Day, an "adult" title featuring profanity, violence and toilet humor. Conker's Pocket Tales can thus be seen as somewhat of an oddity in the Conker series, as it represents an intended direction for the series which has since been abandoned.

Locations

 * Willow Woods
 * Vulture Ville
 * Krow Keep
 * Mako Islands
 * Claw Swamp
 * Aztec Temple
 * Catacombs

Enemies

 * Bat
 * Blob
 * Buzzsaw
 * Cactus
 * Chair
 * Chasing Plant
 * Crab
 * Evil Crow
 * Fish
 * Flying Sword
 * Mushroom
 * Patrol Ant
 * Shark
 * Snake
 * Spider
 * Terrible Tulip
 * Tumbleweed
 * Wind-up Mouse
 * Wolf

Bosses

 * Hsstamean
 * Sol and Luxo
 * Waldorf
 * Honker the Skunk
 * Swamp Fiend
 * Siegfried

Cover


The cover of Conker's Pocket Tales shows Conker aiming with his Slingshot, while there are Evil Acorns, flowers and a Windmill seen around him. This image is derived from artwork from the cancelled Twelve Tales: Conker 64, that was in development at the time of this game's release. Of all things shown on the cover of Conker's Pocket Tales it is only Conker, the Slingshot and the Windmill (though with a different look) that actually makes appearances in the game. Many of these things would later make appearances in Conker's Bad Fur Day but the Evil Acorns were ultimately scrapped.

Differences between versions
There are a few differences if the game is played on a Game Boy compared to the Game Boy Color. With the exception of the loss or gain of color and slightly different graphics, here are the noticeable changes:
 * The control scheme is changed for some actions and abilities:
 * On the Game Boy version, pressing the Select button while in pause mode will toggle the inventory between presents/invitations and other items. On the Game Boy Color version, pressing the Select button while in pause mode brings up the game save screen.
 * On the Game Boy version, while in the water, the A button is used to dive and the B button is used to increase Conker's speed. On the Game Boy Color version, while in the water, the Select button is used to dive while the B button is used to increase Conker's swimming speed.
 * Saving on the Game Boy version is done via rotating S symbols that Conker will come across during his adventure, so called save points. However, games can only be saved on one of the two versions at a time.
 * The HUD (head-up display) on the Game Boy version has the energy bar and the ammunition at the bottom of the screen while it is at the top of the screen in the Game Boy Color version.
 * On the Game Boy version, the introduction sequence has a close-up of Conker's face while his pupils move around looking at a butterfly; a sequence that is not present in the Game Boy Color version.
 * The layout of the maps is also different between the two versions.

Reception
Conker's Pocket Tales has received mixed to average reviews from critics. On GameRankings the game has an 55% ranking based on four reviews. AllGame gave the game a score of 3 out of 5, comparing the gameplay to the NES title The Legend of Zelda, while GameBoy Station ranked it lower with a score of 4 out of 10. The critic at Game Informer was mostly negative in the published review, commenting that it was a "dreadful game starring an annoying little squirrel." While the design of the game was deemed "noble and interesting", the gameplay and plot was panned.

Nintendo Power and IGN were more positive in their reviews of Conker's Pocket Tales, with the latter stating that the game is fun but is not a masterpiece. The game was described as being targeted solely at kids, and the gameplay was deemed too simple. The music was described as corny. Despite this, the critic at IGN said that "Conker's Pocket Tales isn't complex, but it is amusing. Rare is constantly making games that have good gameplay, and this is not exempt despite its cliche tone and overdone premise."

In an overwhelmingly popular review from Planet Game Boy magazine on their second issue, the publication praised the game's size and included minigames, stating that Pocket Tales is "a real grower" and that its lengthy lifespan of 20 hours "will fly by".