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.

Back in those times gaming was still seen as mainly a kid’s hobby by most, so I would almost guarantee Conker fooled a lot of parents (didn’t fool mine, though), especially being on the N64 and starring a “cute” squirrel as the main protagonist. I would actually argue, though, that parents cared a good deal more then than they do now. Night Trap and Mortal Kombat almost got games censored by the US government in the early 90s, and they’d be seen as quaint now. We’ve had a ratings system for 30 years and more underage kids than ever are probably playing adult oriented games today. An M rating is just what marketers need to sell their game to the junior high market because parents are ignorant and retailers just want the money, doesn’t matter from where.

Mint or Pop_OS are likely the most widely recommended distros I know of for beginners. I haven’t tried either of them myself, but from what I hear about them I’m inclined to agree. Personally I would NOT recommend a rolling release distro to beginners. Too much potential to break things way too easily and way too often, which would likely require digging into the terminal to fix. Terminal-averse beginners wouldn’t be served well by that at all.