Donkey Kong Country 2 rocked.
When thinking back on it, I might agree. Excessive collecting is annoying but alluring because it means an extra bit of adventure to find those last few secrets. Impossible challenges... well, I only appreciate that if the impossible challenges are near the end of the game, because then it's a real test of my ability. Otherwise it's a moment I always try to skip over. Looking back, what I tend to remember most about Rare games is the adventure aspect. I know other games are great about adventure too, like the Zelda series, but few combine it with the lovable characters that Rare comes up with.
Snake Rattle n' Roll
Irritating voice acting - N/A
Excessive collecting - Getting those Nibbley Pibbleys got to be a real pain after a while.
Painfully obvious fetch quests - N/A
Friggin'-impossible challenge - Toughest game I've ever played. I bow to anyone who can complete it without using an emulator. Screw the person who said this game has precise control, I know there was some hidden gravity intentionally pushing me off sloped ice blocks. Those ice blocks are evil, man.
Donkey Kong Country series
Irritating voice acting - No. Or at least, there weren't any monkey screams to my recollection. Beaver yelp (jumping on Gnawty) is still cute, although I think Rare overuses that sound effect.
Excessive collecting - I swear some of those bonus levels are impossible to find without a player's guide. You're in some random place in the level, you jump up, and you end up in a hidden Bonus Barrel.
Painfully obvious fetch quests - Going off-topic a little, but Donkey Kong Land required you to fetch K-O-N-G just to save the frickin' game. Incredibly stupid.
Friggin'-impossible challenge - It was getting there near the end of each game. I think Toxic Tower from DKC2 is notoriously difficult. Now getting through Snow Barrel Blast the normal way (going through the gauntlet of barrels), that was impossible for me as a child. Only through using an emulator and a lot of patience did I finally get through that. I'm so glad that there was a shortcut, because that level seemed incredibly hard just for the end segment compared to the rest.
Banjo-Kazooie
Irritating voice acting - Some of the garbled voices are annoying. Most annoying garble is the toilet for obvious reasons. Others are charming. Kazooie's garble is the second-best garble I've ever heard (#1 is Rayman's garble from Rayman 2).
Excessive collecting - ...yes... oy... I don't even see why they needed so many items. What the fudge is a frickin' Jinjo good for? It's just a Red Coins knockoff as an excuse for another Jiggy. Er, then again, it was an excuse to hide colored things in places with similar colors. You remember the Yellow Jinjo in Click Clock Wood, practically have to trip over the guy to find him.
Painfully obvious fetch quests - It became obvious when note doors and Jiggy puzzle things kept popping up out of nowhere. Cheapest part of all was having to pass two Note Doors after the "end" of the game. At that point, the game's pretty much requiring you to find every last thing.
Friggin'-impossible challenge - Rusty Bucket Bay, inside the engine room, the whole enchilada just to get the Jiggy from behind the propellers. I haven't had the courage to try passing that without cheating.
Perfect Dark
Irritating voice acting - Yeah. Looking back, heh, some pretty lame lines. I wanted to punch the CIA operative in Area 51 in the face when he said "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize you wanted him to shoot you, I can call over some more guards if you'd like."
Excessive collecting - I chalk this up to not being a Goldeneye veteran, so I find the objectives in later levels and higher difficulties to be ridiculous. To this day I haven't passed dataDyne Extraction on Secret Agent because of that stupid helicopter.
Painfully obvious fetch quests - Erm, can't think of any, except for when I have to protect someone or something.
Friggin'-impossible challenge - I'd say yes just because I'm bad at first-person shooters. I can't believe in the Combat Simulator that they threw in a bot that moves faster and aims better than a normal player would (DarkSim). Yet, strangely, they're easier than PerfectSims who always get head shots within one nanosecond of opening a door.
Star Fox Adventures
Irritating voice acting - Some of them. Mostly the Star Fox team save for Fox. I think Steve Malpass has the best Fox voice yet, just drips with contempt for the characters he has to work with. Or maybe it's because I was too busy being floored by his facial expressions. Chief Lightfoot had my favorite voice. In honesty I think it sounds incredibly close to the SF64 voice. For a while I didn't know there was a difference. Most annoying voices of all were when anyone spoke in Dinosaur language. Oh, wait, no, I take it back, the most annoying voice were those cackles made by the flying green goblin bats in Thorntail Hollow. God I hated those things. They always came back five seconds after you defeated them.
Excessive collecting - Ugh. Penny Arcade brilliantly parodied all the pointless crap you had to pick up, and VG Cats did a parody as well (also parodies that Fox thinks everything he picks up is the surprise find of the century, judging from his facial expression). I agree, the stuff you picked up in this game was even more ridiculous than Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. Who gives a flying flip about Bafom...Bafomidad... those fat hopping red rabbit things?
Painfully obvious fetch quests - Yes, double ugh.
Friggin'-impossible challenge - Strength test in Lightfoot Village. Some sort of shooting challenge while atop a Brontosaurus thing at the place after the T-Rex place.
*looks up* I may be taking this way too seriously. Bafomdads from Star Fox Adventures are without a doubt the most stupid thing I've come across in a game.