Conker the Squirrel

Conker the Squirrel is, obviously, a red squirrel and has three of his own games and is a playable character in Diddy Kong Racing.

In Diddy Kong Racing
Conker the Squirrel is presented as a kind hearted and free-spirited squirrel, not unlike Diddy and Timber, and like Banjo, he earned great reception from fans who after witnessing the success of Banjo-Kazooie wondered if Conker was bound to get his own game.

In other games
Conker starred in his own game for the first time in Conker's Pocket Tales for the GameBoy, where the player is taken to a colored world similar to that of the Banjo-Kazooie universe, where Conker must rescue his girlfriend Berri from the Evil Acorn.

Years later, Conker was bound to appear in his own Nintendo 64 game titled Conker's Quest, following the same platform style as Banjo or Mario, but as development progressed, it was seen as childlike and similar to Banjo-Kazooie and the recently released Donkey Kong 64, and due to the mixed reception of Conker's Pocket Tales, the game was completely remade, changing the personality and traits of Conker the Squirrel along with the appearance of Berri, his girlfriend, among many other things.

What was going to be Conker's Quest, which would later be known as Twelve Tales: Conker 64, the game was renamed Conker's Bad Fur Day, a game that, despite possessing the same art style as many of Rare's previous family-friendly titles, contained a much more mature atmosphere along with satirical humor with references to many movies, excessive violence, blood and gore, foul language, and sexual themes. The previous characters were retconned and the formerly carefree squirrel, Conker, was a slacker and alcoholic materialist who was introduced lying to his girlfriend in order to stick around with his friends drinking at a pub, likewise Berri was introduced as a materialistic girl with a slender physique (similar to Candy Kong) and revealing attire. Despite this extreme makeover the game was praised for its graphics, animations, original style and storytelling. However, due to its late release the game was overshadowed by anticipation of the Nintendo GameCube.

Years later after Rare became a subsidiary of Microsoft in 2002, the game was remade for the Xbox with the title Conker: Live and Reloaded. The game was praised by critics but heavily criticized by fans of the initial Conker's Bad Fur Day for its more strict censorship, which was seen as ironic by many as the Xbox was deemed the more "mature" console which was home to a vast number of Mature-rated games, almost all of which were released uncensored. Microsoft's acquisition of Rare was also the reason for Conker's absence in Diddy Kong Racing DS. A sequel to Conker's Bad Fur Day, according to Rare, was in development but scrapped for reasons unknown.

Since the release of Conker: Live and Reloaded, very little about the Conker franchise has been heard of, and its fate as of this day is uncertain.

Trivia

 * The name Conker comes from the horse-chestnut which is known in Britain as a conker and is the typical food of squirrels.