When people think of Conker the squirrel, they probably think of Conker's Bad Fur Day with its adult humor, terrifyingly graphic depictions of war, and its living mound of feces. They probably don't think about games that follow the same pattern as the 2D Zelda games, and that's because Conker's Pocket Tales slipped under the radar for most Rare and Nintendo fans when it first came out in 1999. It doesn't help that it never came to Virtual Console or Nintendo Switch Online and wasn't in Rare Replay. It will, however, be included in Rare Collection 1 for the Evercade - its first rerelease in 26 years.
Rare Collection 1 is being released as part of the celebrations for Rare's 40th anniversary. The cartridge comes with 12 Rare games (including Battletoads, R.C. Pro-Am, Sabre Wulf, and more), and all but one of them (Conker's Pocket Tales) were previously made available in Rare's 30th anniversary game, Rare Replay. One look at our list of the best retro handhelds will show you that there are loads of consoles to play classic games on, but this new release gives Nintendo and Rare fans a good reason to get an Evercade.
So what makes Conker's Pocket Tales worth trying? Well, it's never going to make its way into any lists of the best ARPGs, but it's such a bizarre experience that everyone should try at least once, especially those with an interest in gaming history. Not only is this the only appearance of child-friendly Conker outside of Diddy Kong Racing, but it was made to be a companion title to Twelve Tales: Conker 64, which was never released. It's almost like a game based on a movie that doesn't exist.
Beyond this, it's just really bizarre in the best kinds of ways. The storyline sees Conker's birthday ruined when all his presents are stolen and his girlfriend, Berri, is kidnapped by the Evil Acorn, whose only motivation seems to be that he's an evil acorn who ruins birthdays. He's absolutely ruthless, though, and leaves you with no doubt that he wouldn't hesitate to slit Berri's throat.
You meet a bunch of other weird Acorn people along the way (Ted the Boat Builder and Forst Wong, among them) whose lives and problems you get involved with as you track down Berri and your stolen presents. You also meet Conker's rival, Honker the skunk, who genuinely murders a guy at one point and gets you arrested for it. It's one of the strangest games I've ever played, and I am pleased to have it in my collection. I'll probably buy Rare Collection 1 just for an excuse to play it again.
I'm particularly curious to see how the game handles one little detail from the original: if you leave Conker idle for a while, he takes out a Game Boy and starts playing Donkey Kong Land, complete with audible Donkey Kong music. Presumably, keeping this in would create issues with Nintendo, so I wonder if they'll substitute it with music from another Rare Game Boy game or just remove it altogether.
Rare Collection 1 releases on Thursday, November 27, 2025. Pre-orders are available now, and it should be playable on any Evercade model. I recommend the Evercade EXP-R if you're planning on buying one for the first time, as it's a simple, out-of-the-box handheld console.
Read our list of the best RPGs if you're looking for new adventures to dive into. Meanwhile, our list of the best Zelda games is also worth a read if you love the formula of the series.