The famous gorilla came to Nintendo 64 in November 1999 in his first 3D adventure. Most of his family and all of his precious banana collection have once again been locked away by K.Rool. Rescue the Kongs of varying abilities and recollect the scattered 201-large banana collection while travelling to seven different areas. Annoying mini games and a ridiculous auto-save system are the game's biggest problems.
Single-segment with death abuse 4:26 by Tom Votava.
Author's comments:
4:26 is as close to perfect as I'm willing to go for now. I calculated roughly 2 minutes of major mistakes (detailed below), so I could theoretically get sub-4:25 with exactly the same approach. However, it's more likely that I'll be able to make up the same couple of minutes by improving the route again, so I'll wait until I do that before attempting to go farther this.
Here are a few notes on each level. I've left several of the comments in from the previous run, since much of the run hasn't changed. Look for "**" instead of "--" to see the new stuff.
--It's a couple of seconds slower to use the #3 bananaports while rescuing Diddy, but I prefer this method because you get an extra banana bunch for DK's medal. Otherwise, you need both bunches from the barrel-blast course, which is tough to do. As it turned out, I missed BOTH of them and had to quickly re-enter the course for a bunch.
**One of these day's I'll have to draw the line here and force myself to get those barrel blasts right. I'm losing roughly 30 seconds by being conservative AND screwing up the shots! If it weren't for the Production Room in Frantic Factory, I would have concentrated more on this.
**I managed to pull off Diddy's "plank" jump in the mine area (the one with the switch that makes a banana appear at the very top of the level). A special thanks to YautjaElder for pointing out this nice little trick!
--During the boss scene, the damage I take is deliberate. The Army-Dillo likes to roll around for longer unless he hits you.
--Going after DK's blueprint without his "Strong Kong" barrel is a bit risky with just one melon. Still, it's early in the run, so it's worth it.
--It's actually faster to exit-warp out of the level after rescuing Tiny. It may look a bit weird, but it works!
--A big part of my run is my usage of the Rainbow Coins, which are worth $5 for all Kongs (even ones you haven't rescued!). This requires me to visit the banana fairy to get the "charged attack" move. This move is also useful for collecting blueprints, since it can kill even strong enemies (Kasplat, Kosha) with one hit.
--Getting the Rainbow Coin in K.Lumsy's room may seem like a waste of time, but I make up for it and then some. Just to give you an idea, think about this: There's a set of 5 green coins in Frantic Factory near the starting point. Normally, Chunky would need to warp back and forth from the basement to get these (he needs at least $8 before visiting Cranky and only $5 is available in the basement). This path takes roughly the same amount of time as getting the Rainbow Coin, but the rewards are far greater.
**Chunky's Zinger room now uses the "through the box" glitch! Thanks again to YautjaElder for pointing out another great time saver.
**I FINALLY GOT THE PRODUCTION ROOM RIGHT! I lost count of how many times I started the run over trying to do this part cleanly.
--As the reigning world record-holder on NES Donkey Kong, I know a thing or two about DK Arcade. :) I proved it here by scoring death-free runs on both levels of the game, as I collected the Nintendo Coin. I even managed to do the shortcut jump in the elevator level, which is harder to do in this version of the game than on NES or even the actual arcade game.
**This time, I did the shortcut jump "correctly" like all the other DK pros do it. :) I made the jump from upper ledge to upper ledge instead of riding the elevator down a notch like last time.
**To top it all off, I beat the Jack-in-the-Box boss without taking a hit!
**This was EASILY my best Frantic Factory run ever, which makes the mistakes that follow a little disheartening, but tolerable.
**Disaster strikes in one of the battle crown fights. I lose about 30 seconds from getting knocked over the edge in a freak accident. :(
--DK's Lighthouse area bananas are a bit slow, particularly since the cut scenes that follow them count against you. However, they both include tons of easy bananas, so I make up for it by getting him a banana medal on this level.
**Minor mistake: In going after Diddy's banana bunches atop the lighthouse, I slipped and had to retrieve the jetpack a second time.
--I discovered that you can get Diddy's blueprint here with the water level raised! It's simply a matter of timing. You have to jump on Kasplat's head just as he gets up from a knockdown.
--This is the only other place where I exit-warp in mid-level (the way I use the Lanky glitch forbids me from doing it from here on). I use it after collecting Chunky's Lighthouse Ship banana, which is a pain otherwise because he gets dizzy just afterwards, which is slow and painful.
--Here's a stumper that I couldn't figure out: There's supposed to be a green banana balloon (for Chunky) floating next to the #2 bananaport in the main watery area. I wanted to collect this in my run, but I couldn't because it's not there right away in the level and I don't know how to trigger it. The only time I've seen it is after I collect almost everything else, such as when I'm trying for 101% and all regular bananas. Does anyone out there know if there's a simple way to trigger this balloon? PM me if you do!
--I manage to wait until this level to collect any of Chunky's weapons. He doesn't need his gun at all in Frantic Factory and the Triangle is only needed to fight the "toy chest" monster (which takes too long).
--It took a little bit of study, but I managed to crack the Gloomy Galleon boss' pattern. The stars always appear in the exact same places, so you can plan out a specific path to each of them.
**I had another accident against the boss. Late in the battle, I let the timer expire due to taking too many hits. Another 30 seconds lost. :(
**NEW GOLDEN BANANA: I get Chunky's blueprint. I forgot about mid-air rolls before and thought I couldn't make the jump without coming back at night!
**I also try to throw in a few of Chunky's banana bunches, but as you can see, I forgot where they were at first. :) Not sure what happened, as I practiced this several times. This little brain fart only cost me about 10 seconds though.
--A nice little stunt-jump with Tiny nets me a Battle Crown without having to wait until nighttime to open the path.
--Back in DK Isles, I manage to make the jump from the Forest ledge to Diddy's caged banana, which normally requires a Jetpack. This took a LOT of practice to master, but once I figured it out, I hardly ever miss this jump!
--Tiny's Monkeyport path from Funky's is a bit long, but I make up for it by getting Diddy's blueprint, which cannot be collected without Tiny.
**I found the answer to my jetpack woes with Diddy and bananaport #4...Don't use it! :) I came up with a precision drop move that lets me land on the tiny ledge every time!
--There is no need to warp from the upper bananaport #2. Its mate and all of the others (plus a tag barrel) are just below the ledge!
--The Battle Crown in Lanky's maze seems like an obvious one to collect, but the Forest one is quicker. The Castle Battle has a longer clock, plus Lanky can't sprint out of the maze after collecting the Crown.
--Very few bananas can be skipped here, so I force myself to collect Lanky's TOUGH balloons across the green lava. This is another one of those areas that can ruin a speed run unless you practice hard. I used to miss at least 3 times per run until I sat down and learned a little "touch" for this room.
**A stupid detail I missed before on Jetpac: You don't have to die to end the game once you get the RareWare coin. You can just pause and select "quit" from the menu! I was always too chicken to try it before. :)
--You might wonder why I use the Saxophone when collecting Tiny's shrinking/mushroom-bounce banana. The reason for that is because I've been victimized by a glitch here where Tiny disappears from the screen after shrinking! I can't prove it yet, but I believe it has something to do with those bees and their bombs exploding at the wrong moment.
**I was a bit slower this time with this part, but just by a few seconds. Nothing great, but nothing terrible.
--This is one of my favorite final battles in all of video games! :) It's a bit long, but I love the antics with the Kremlings and that bell, among other things.
--My DK round is the best part. I take a few incidental hits between shots, but I nailed each cannon shot at the earliest possible times. Note that you can register the third hit REALLY fast, if you time it right. The pattern I used there always works.
--The rest of the battle goes on without incident, though I'm a bit slow with the Diddy part. The key is not ruining everything by getting get beat up during any one part, which can easily happen if you're careless.
**As part of my frantic effort to make 4:25, I gambled a little on Chunky's part and got burned. Funny thing though, it turns out that the 30 seconds lost here didn't hurt. My actual final time was 4:26:40, but I didn't know that then. :)
Enjoy!
100% with death abuse 9:02 by Joe Wiewel.
Author's comments:
This run took me some time to put together. I had to design route plans for each segment, which was made easier by the Nintendo Power Player's Guide I owned. If I didn't own that guide, there was no way I would have attempted this run!
That being said, I think my route plans overall are somewhat decent with the exception of Crystal Caves and some of the DK Isles bananas. My intuition is telling me that Crystal Caves can be improved somehow, and I admit it - I messed up on a few of the DK Isles bananas in the run. I explain what happened in this screw up in the description of the Jungle Japes 2 segment.
As for the ideal route plan for this screw up, what I should have done was NOT go to the DK Isles Snide's after the Frantic Factory segment. (I'll explain in a bit.) Then before I enter Gloomy Galleon, I should have got Chunky's blueprint, in the Gloomy Galleon segment obviously. Before entering Hideout Helm in the Hideout Helm lobby, Tiny should get a golden banana by playing on a saxophone pad - which also makes a Chunky barrel appear on an island. After defeating Hideout Helm, Donkey should get his blueprint in the Hideout Helm lobby, then drop down to Snide's in K.Rool's ship and get his golden banana. (Diddy should also get his golden banana in here as well as the battle crown.) Donkey should be selected again, brought outside and then he should get another golden banana from a switched cage nearby. He should drop down and go into the Gloomy Galleon lobby and Tiny should be selected. After she gets her golden banana in here, Chunky should be selected and taken out and past the banana fairy island. He should capture the banana fairy on the small island, become Hunky Chunky, slam on the X out in the water and go around the island and get the golden banana that results. The Hideout Helm segment should end here.
Honestly, I think the execution of my routes could have been much better, especially the retro games and the battle arenas. I'm sure sub-8:45 is very possible and I would have given it another attempt, but I finished it right before I had to go back to school.
Anyway, onto the run....
Segment 01 - Jungle Japes 1
After landing on top of the Kasplat with Diddy, I lost a few seconds by not getting close enough when I tried to finish him off.
I shot the Zinger over the plank because it usually gave me trouble in my practice segments.
I didn't take the time to slow down and avoid the hazards in the mine cart ride. There are more than enough coins to make up for what was lost.
I missed a coin in Donkey's Barrel Blast, so I have to make it up in the next segment.
Segment 02 - Angry Aztec 1
At the begining of the segment, I hadn't planned on going up to the llama cage, but I had to to get a coin that I missed in the last segment.
I wondered what was going on when the cutscene of the cave opening didn't start right away after the monkey sounds. Apparently, it doesn't work if Donkey's not on the level where the switch is, so I got off. Then after it was over, I was back on the step again. Weird.
When selecting Kongs to feed Scoff (I guess that's the hippo's name.), I got ahead of myself and chose Diddy, so I had to turn around and get Tiny.
When shooting the buzzard carrying Lanky's Golden Banana, he flew just out of range right before the last hit; the game wouldn't let me aim up anymore.
I'm still having a hard time believing that I managed to screw up getting to the top of the building where Diddy's blueprint is.
Segment 03 - Frantic Factory
WORST. SEGMENT. EVER.
In Chunky's room with the oscillating pillars, I had bad luck with the mechanical Zingers, but I still managed to get the banana without having to slam the button again.
The DK Arcade is by far the worst part of this run. I didn't have a problem on the first round. However, on the first attempt of the second round I spent awhile trying to avoid the fireballs on the second level. But then when I'm almost at the top, a pie comes out and nails me. On the second attempt, I lost my first life on the third level by falling something like a whole extra pixel too far. Then, again on the third level, the fireball on the right trapped me for a LONG time. But, on the last level, I got trapped by those flame creatures with only one brick left. >:( On the third attempt, on first level, I swear, I've never seen barrels come down the upper right hand ladder before. And finally, the fourth attempt....I beat the damn thing.
In Diddy's room where number codes have to be entered on buttons, I decided to take out the three banana balloons while he had infinite peanuts.
The next part of the run I accidentally deviate from my route plans because my little brother burst into my room and started distracting me. Where I start to mess up, my route plan was supposed to go as follows: Get Tiny, go into the room with the chart, shrink, race the car, get banana. Go back, get Donkey, go back into that room, pull the lever, come out and take a right and climb up the ladder, jump into the pit and get the battle crown...etc. What happened was that instead of getting Tiny first, I get Donkey. Then, I accidentally go in the wrong direction but then turn around and go into the room with the chart and pull the level. But I noticed Tiny's bananas and realized what happened. So I go back and get Tiny and get her banana from the car. When I get Donkey, I start to go back to that room since I had made a habit out of it, but I turn around and get back on track.
After turning the Auto-Production Room's power on and getting Chunky, I start to go down the tunnel instead of warping on bananaport #1. But I turn around and get back on track. My 100 golden banana run involved Chunky going down the tunnel at that point, which could possibly explain why I made that mistake.
When getting Chunky's golden banana in the Auto-Production Room, I fell off one of the mechanical arms. I attacked to try to stay on, but I fell off. At least I only fell on top of the base instead of all the way down.
After finishing Frantic Factory, if I would have completely thought my route plans through, I shouldn't have went to Snide's room in K.Rool's ship after finishing Frantic Factory. I would have been better off waiting until after completing Hideout Helm.
Segment 04 - Angry Aztec 2
When I had to set the giant boulder on the table with Chunky, the cage didn't lift up at first, even though the cutscene showed that it was. So I had to go back and reset the boulder on the table.
I didn't have Lanky's sound matching game well memorized like I should have.
Those banana fairies really irritate me. It took me several tries to capture the last one.
During Chunky's part in the "evil" temple, I noticed that he had 64 bananas when he was supposed to have 65. I forgot that I was supposed to get a single banana near the center of the area. So I had to exit, pick up one lousy banana, and reenter. Then to top it all off, I accidentally long jumped into the tag barrel and played the triangle!
Tiny's fly mini-game in the lobby was kind of annoying and took me longer than expected.
Segment 05 - Gloomy Galleon
Again, here's another spot that should have been changed in my route. Chunky should have got his blueprint in the lobby at the start of this segment.
I started to go down the cave with Donkey when I realized I was supposed to go under the rotting ship first and shoot a banana balloon.
When I got on the box outside of the cave with Lanky and looked up, his balloon wasn't there. So I had to get in the water and look up to make it appear. I had to do the same thing in my practice segments.
I took out Lanky's Kasplat with Chunky's cannonball because I'd still kill him by running him into it anyway.
The worst thing that happened was when I accidentally swam to the wrong "side-valley" of water in the larger water area with Chunky. I was swimming for a bit, noticing that something was wrong and wondering why I wasn't seeing the cactus-shaped thing. When I came up, the seal started talking to me. Then I realized what had happened so I swam to where I was supposed to go.
During one of the timed-door swims, I swam on the wrong side. When I started to swim to the door and noticed it was closed, I swam around the wrecked ship and went in the right door.
The second worst thing was trying to capture one of those banana fairies on film. It was the one in Tiny's section of the ship behind bars. It took me several attempts to capture it. The bars kept interfering with the camera. On a few of the pictures, the fairy was even dead center!
Note that the button that raises the water was pushed in, but came out when activated. Another glitch.
I didn't mean to fall off of the lighthouse with Diddy; I didn't aim my landing correctly.
The mechanical fish was a close call. I don't know why one of the pieces of the heart didn't break when I shot it.
Segment 06 - Fungi Forest 1
Right off the bat - the worst thing that happened - is...Jetpak... Yep, believe it or not, that's the worst part of this segment. So...I accidentally die a time or two, but didn't think anything about it since the character has to get a game over after picking up the Rareware coin. I get over 5000 points, but the Rareware coin doesn't come down, only a gold bar and a fuel container. Then I get hit by an enemy. DAMN. Second time, I get a game over when I had 34xx points. That was just horrible beyond belief.Third time I beat it, but stay on the first level. I always died whenever I went on the bottom part of the screen. So I played it safe and stayed on the top on the first level collecting items, then committed suicide when I had the Rareware coin. Then to top it all off, I pressed A when Cranky talked to me, so I had to pause and exit Jetpak when it started.
I had a bit of some button slip ups with Donkey in the giant mushroom - I accidentally shot a coconut into ground.
In the room where a Chunky face had to be made, I stay by the door to avoid the Zinger. The Zinger is hard to kill without homing ammo, and I hadn't bought it from Funky yet.
I killed the Zinger outside of the giant mushroom with Diddy because it always messed me up in the practice segments.
At the point where Chunky crushes steel kegs with a spiked wheel, I had an epiphany of improving my route on the fly by going to the back entrance of the barn and get the last keg first before going into the front entrance. Well, I did that, but when I set the keg on the conveyor belt, it wasn't moving. I had a bit of hesitation, then I got Donkey and had him do his thing with the levers, which got the conveyor belt moving. Thankfully, the game still counted the crushing of the metal keg Chunky moved from the other barn room. Then I got Chunky and had him finish the job. In the end, it did improve my route and time by a small amount.
Segment 07 - Crystal Caves
During this segment I sometimes jump into the tag barrel to cancel out the stalactites falling.
Well, there's really nothing to explain about the barrel blast other than I should be drug out in the street and shot for making such stupid and sloppy mistakes. I missed 3 times.
At the start of the race against the beetle, Squawks talks to me. I can't help but wonder if he gave the beetle a head start. Also, my strategy for the race was to get in front of him right before the finish line, which is what I did.
Diddy missed bananaport #4 on the pillar and fell into the water.
The rotating ice maze took me some tries to get through. Not that this is unexpected though.
In Lanky's cabin with the 3-second golden banana, I intended to pick up the bunch of bananas on the switch, but barely missed them. I continued since I had enough to get the banana medal.
Now....I had practiced the Battle Arena quite a bit in my practice segment, discovering the Donkey's roll is better, as opposed to his forward-kick. His forward kick is hard to control, and he can still get hit from the side with it. His roll is quicker and a person can change direction with it. But even with all that, Donkey is the worst Kong to have to play Battle Arena with. Unfortunately, the game forces Donkey to have to play this one and because of it....this Battle Arena just went horrible. The first time I got punched off. The second time I had to deal with unresponsive controls and rolled of the edge. The third time I got punched off right when time was up. The fourth time I got nailed by a shockwave and the fifth time I finally beat it.
Segment 08 - Fungi Forest 2
This one sucked. I beat the rabbit on the first try. But on the first two attempts of the second race, Lanky just barely misses the OrangSprint barrel (goes right through the edge)...and just barely looses. Then I get into the barrel on the third attempt and beat the rabbit.
Segment 09 - Creepy Castle
I lost Lanky's Searchlight Seek game in the Lobby, but then won on the second try.
There are two hard Beaver Bother bonus games in this segment. The first one took me several tries, and I think I got the second one on something like the fourth try. I can't say that this was unexpected though.
During the race against the car with Tiny, I had planned on cheating by skipping some flagged points. However, I screwed up by not seeing one and skipping ahead too far. I got confused for a bit and ended up restarting the race. Then at the end of the second try, I got lucky because an explosive box put me behind the finish line, but not between flags and the game counted it as a valid win.
During the fight against the flies with Tiny I accidentally played my instrument as I do from time to time. But it worked in my advantage because it killed all the flies at once. If I would have thought of that before, I would have done that right away.
Lanky's battle arena could have gone better. The first time, I got punched off and the second time I got hit by a shockwave, even though it didn't look like it hit me. Then I beat it on the third try.
Segment 10 - Jungle Japes 2
OK, Initially I had planned on going into the Gloomy Galleon lobby, getting Chunky's blueprint and Tiny's banana in there, then taking Chunky out and getting in his Hunky Chunky barrel after getting the banana fairy, slamming on the X, going around the island, getting his banana and then going into the Jungle Japes lobby and proceeding with the segment.
BUT, when I got to where his Hunky Chunky barrel was supposed to be, it wasn't there. I quickly realized that Squawks makes it appear when Tiny plays on her pad on the top of K.Rool's ship, so I had to just swim back to the tag barrel area on the beach and then go on into the level. So, that doesn't look so good... >_>
The reason I didn't realize this in my practice run is that I initially wanted to do Hideout Helm before Jungle Japes. In my practice run when I got in Hideout Helm and seen I only had 10 minutes to complete the whole thing, I realized I need to do Jungle Japes beforehand since that's when I turn in the blueprints. (I planned this run before my 100 banana run. When planning, I was using a guide, but hadn't played the game in a few years.) I had planned on jumping off the side of K.Rool's ship with Chunky and getting those DK Isles golden bananas after Hideout Helm, so I stuck them at the begining of the Jungle Japes 2 segment (since I hadn't gotten Chunky's blueprint in the Gloomy Galleon lobby), forgetting about needing the bird to make the barrel appear.
So basically, this mistake is a result of me forgetting something as a result of me forgetting something else. :/
As far as the actual Jungle Japes 2 segment goes....It took me a few tries to get into that stump with Tiny.
Segment 11 - Hideout Helm
During the battle arena...battle, a Kremling punched Diddy and knocked him off 10 seconds into the ordeal. But then I beat it on the second try.
You know, having Donkey's blueprint in the Hideout Helm lobby really screws me up trying to make a decent route since I can't visit Snide with all the blueprints at once without going to the Hideout Helm lobby twice. The best I could come up with is that after beating the level, I take Donkey out and have him fall down two levels to Snide's and then get the blueprint banana in there. (I already got everybody else's in Jungle Japes.)
After that, I get Chunky, and have him jump out and pick up where he left off at the start of the Jungle Japes 2 segment. Had I not gotten his blueprint at the start of that segment, I would have been in a pickle.
The negative part of this is that I already visited Snide's room in K.Rool's ship after the Frantic Factory segment! Had I planned ahead farther, everything I would have got at the end of that segment I would have got after Hideout Helm!
In addition to this, I will also get Chunky's blueprint in the Gloomy Galleon lobby at the start of the Gloomy Galleon segment instead of waiting until he presses the button after he gets the required potion if I decide to give this run another go.
Segment 12 - Rareware banana
Everything went OK.
Segment 13 - K.Lumsy's last key
Everything went OK.
Segment 14 - Final Battle
I punched too early with Chunky and K.Rool nailed me with an uppercut. It only happened once though.
If you have anything you would like to comment on about this run, you can do so in the the Donkey Kong 64 thread in Newer Consoles on the Speed Demos Archives message boards. If you would rather e-mail me, my e-mail is joewiewel AT gmail.com. I'm sure you know what to do with the " AT ". Thanks, and enjoy the run!