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00:07Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we're looking at details, easter eggs, and behind-the-scenes
00:12facts you may or may not know about Donkey Kong 64.
00:22But before we dive in, we publish new content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and
00:27ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:31An extensive marketing campaign.
00:34Donkey Kong is back in an adventure so big, it's taking the country by storm.
00:39Nintendo had big dreams for Donkey Kong 64, and spent an awful lot of money and time making
00:46sure they came true.
00:47It spent $22 million on marketing, which was a lot for the time, and twice as much as what
00:53it spent on other first-party titles.
00:55Pretty much everywhere you looked, you'd spot DK and his friends.
01:00This turbocharged game has better graphics, more moves, bigger bosses, huge worlds.
01:05It's so big we included an expansion pack to get it all in.
01:08They didn't even tip me!
01:10There were ads in movie theaters, magazines, and on billboards.
01:14There was a sweepstakes with Dr. Pepper, and a tour across the US called The Beast Is Back,
01:20featuring a truck full of Nintendo games.
01:22It also released a bundle with a special jungle green N64, and a few weeks after release,
01:28Nintendo of America held a contest where fans could submit a video of themselves performing
01:33their own version of the DK rap in order to win said bundle, along with a trip to their headquarters.
01:40Donkey Kong 64, and you thought insanity was crazy?
01:55The most infamous thing about Donkey Kong 64 is the amount of collectibles packed into it.
02:02Most agree that developer Rare went overboard, and that includes the people who worked on it.
02:07The reason there are so many is due to Rare's co-founder, Tim Stamper, wanting to differentiate it from the
02:13studio's then-recent, Banjo-Kazooie.
02:16Director George Andreas has stated Stamper would often instruct him to add more.
02:21We are all of my name!
02:23Looking back, Andreas also said he wished he had reined himself in, specifically mentioning how every level features
02:30100 color-coded bananas for each of the five playable characters.
02:46So, just how many collectibles are in Donkey Kong 64?
02:51Well, enough that the Guinness World Records felt the need to single it out.
02:54In 2001, the game earned the record for most collectible items in a platform video game.
03:00Across all five Kongs, the total of color-coded bananas comes to 3,500.
03:06There are also 201 golden bananas, 40 banana medals, 20 banana fairies, 40 blueprints, 8 boss keys,
03:1510 battle crowns, 1 Nintendo coin, and 1 rareware coin, all of which adds to your progress and earning 100%.
03:29There are also 949 banana coins, which the game doesn't keep track of.
03:35Good. Lord.
03:45A decline in 3D platformers.
03:53Donkey Kong 64 certainly has its defenders.
03:56I think it's pretty fun, but I will never go for 100%, or rather, 101%.
04:01But there are others who look to it as the downfall of 3D platformers, which were fairly oversaturated at this
04:08point in time.
04:09In a 2005 issue covering the most overrated games, Electronic Gaming Monthly said it sucked all the life out of
04:16the genre.
04:17Websites like Complex and Kotaku have written similar opinion pieces, mostly due to how many collectibles there are.
04:25Even Jonas Karlev, the creator of 2017's A Hat in Time, a spiritual successor to 3D platforming collectathons,
04:32listed DK64 as the reason for the genre's decline soon after release.
04:47The Final Rainbow Coin.
04:54Many of you are likely aware of the Final Rainbow Coin, one of the collectibles in Donkey Kong 64,
05:00since it was the subject of a lot of articles when it was discovered.
05:04But it's still an interesting secret that deserves inclusion.
05:07Most levels include one rainbow coin, which gives each Kong 5 regular banana coins.
05:12But in 2017, a speedrunner named Isotarge found a second one in the level Fungi Forest.
05:19You get these by performing a Super Slam on top of special dirt mounds.
05:23But Isotarge found this one hidden in a field of grass.
05:35They only knew where to go after looking at how the game formats save data,
05:40and noticing the level's rainbow coin information was incomplete,
05:44with analysis tools showing them the exact spot.
05:47The out-of-bounds bananas.
05:56Like I said, Donkey Kong 64 has its defenders,
06:00and many of those players love collecting everything,
06:03and even digging into what they can find out-of-bounds to collect even more.
06:08In case 500 bananas per level wasn't enough for you,
06:11there are a few bananas you can find outside the limits of their levels.
06:15In Tiny Kong's section of Gloomy Galleon, you can find a single purple banana out-of-bounds.
06:21In Jungle Japes, there's a yellow banana far below the Rambi crate,
06:26and in the same level, probably the easiest of these to glitch your way to,
06:30there's a red banana for Diddy Kong under the ground near the minecart minigame.
06:43Side-scrolling routes.
06:45Side-scrolling routes.
06:46Side-scrolling routes.
06:47Side-scrolling routes.
06:50Side-scrolling routes.
06:51Side-scrolling routes.
06:52Rare began work on Donkey Kong 64 soon after the release of the third country game,
06:591996's Dixie Kong's Double Trouble.
07:01The team spent 18 months making their next game in line with previous titles.
07:06The original version was a 2.5D side-scroller,
07:09and would have been much more linear than what we ultimately got.
07:18However, with 3D platformers growing more popular and featuring a more open-ended approach
07:24to progression and exploration, with the likes of Super Mario 64 and Rare's own Banjo-Kazooie,
07:30development changed course.
07:32Some team members from Banjo-Kazooie moved over to DK64 when that game was completed,
07:36and it even used the same engine.
07:49Stop N' Swap.
07:57Stop N' Swap was a famously cancelled feature that would have worked with Banjo-Kazooie
08:01and its sequel, Banjo-Tooie.
08:04Basically, you collect a group of mysterious eggs and one ice key in Banjo-Kazooie.
08:10You'd then swap cartridges without turning off the system,
08:13since it allowed RAM to be stored briefly,
08:15and this would unlock bonus content in the other game.
08:18Nintendo told Rare to cancel these plans,
08:21stating it could potentially damage N64s,
08:23and that later models wouldn't store RAM,
08:26making the feature not work anyway.
08:28Well, Donkey Kong 64 was another game planned to use this feature.
08:39In early promotional footage, a Banjo-Kazooie-themed fridge could be seen in DK's home,
08:45and an unused cutscene focusing on the spot where it would have been was found in its code.
08:50Players have also found that there was meant to be a big icy door in the Crystal Caves,
08:55likely opened with the ice key,
08:57and speculated to be a shortcut to DK's treehouse.
09:00There was also to be a golden Donkey Kong statue atop a pedestal in Creepy Castle,
09:05though what would have been the purpose of the statue is a mystery.
09:13The original Fungi Forest
09:21As you can tell, there are a lot of connections between this game and Banjo-Kazooie.
09:27Fungi Forest is one of the best levels in Donkey Kong 64,
09:31featuring a cool day and night cycle that changes which areas you can access and how enemies behave.
09:37Interestingly, this level was originally intended to appear in Banjo-Kazooie,
09:42with the slightly different name of Fungus Forest,
09:46but was removed due to time constraints.
09:49The game already featured different wooded levels,
09:52even one that cycled between seasons instead of day and night,
09:55Click Clock Wood.
09:56So it worked out that the similar gimmick was moved to the other game.
10:08Collected Instruments
10:17Sometimes an Easter egg can stare us right in the face,
10:20and we won't even recognize it.
10:22In Donkey Kong 64, Candy Kong lets each character purchase their own musical instrument,
10:27though she'll also later upgrade them as well as your overall health.
10:31Sitting to the side in her shop collecting cobwebs,
10:34you'll spot a banjo, a kazoo, and a xylophone.
10:38Well, those first two should clue you in that these are references to Banjo-Kazooie.
10:42The bear and bird play those instruments during the opening,
10:45with Mumbo the Shaman being the one who plays the xylophone.
10:57Repurposed Music
11:05Most diehard fans of Banjo-Kazooie are aware of Project Dream,
11:10Rare's cancelled title that was its precursor.
11:13Before this game was cancelled, composer Grant Kirkhope wrote 107 tracks for it.
11:19Not wanting his work to go to waste,
11:20Kirkhope used many of the songs in future games from the studio,
11:24including Donkey Kong 64.
11:36These include the level themes for Creepy Castle,
11:39Hideout Helm,
11:40and Gloomy Galleon.
11:42Interestingly, that last one reused music meant to accompany the villain of Project Dream,
11:47a pirate named Captain Black-Eye.
11:58Secret Musical Cue
12:00In our final connection between Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo-Kazooie,
12:05we have a musical easter egg.
12:07Whenever players hand over enough bananas to Troth and Scoff,
12:10the duo who unlock boss fights in every level,
12:13you'll get appropriate fanfare music when the door reveals which Kong is meant to fight them.
12:23This victorious theme is actually a sped-up version of what plays
12:27when you discover one of the stop-and-swap secrets in Banjo-Kazooie.
12:37The impact of the DK rap.
12:47The opening rap of Donkey Kong 64 is one of the most divisive pieces of video game music ever created.
12:54At the time, many reviewers and players hated it, but it was never meant to be taken so seriously.
13:01It started as a joke between composer Kirk Hope, director Andreas, and programmer Chris Sutherland.
13:07Kirk Hope would later recall being confused over everyone taking it seriously,
13:11and it being his first experience of people reacting negatively towards his music.
13:17Time has been kind to it, however, with its utterly ridiculous lyrics making it one of the more memorable moments
13:23from the game.
13:24Even Nintendo came around on it, including it in the 2023 Super Mario Bros. movie.
13:37However, Kirk Hope was frustrated to find that he went uncredited as the writer of the song.
13:43When he reached out to Nintendo, he was told the company decided not to credit any of the writers of
13:48music from games it owned,
13:50with the exception of Koji Kondo.
14:04The Expansion Pack Rumor
14:12Donkey Kong 64 came bundled with the Expansion Pack,
14:16a small device that inserted into your N64 for higher RAM power
14:21that would improve graphics, frame rate, and the ability to render distant objects.
14:26Since this was the first game to use it, a rumor circulated that it was created specifically for this game,
14:33which began with a rare employee, Chris Marlowe.
14:36He claimed a game-breaking bug was discovered late in development that couldn't be fixed without the Expansion Pack,
14:44hence why the game was bundled with it.
14:46However, this was proven false by others who worked on it, namely artist Mark Stevenson.
14:51While the bug was discovered late in development, DK64 was planned to use the Expansion Pack from a much earlier
14:58point,
14:59and the reason it was bundled with the system was because Nintendo wanted to avoid confusing customers.
15:11The Dolphin
15:20Another easter egg that stares you right in the face can be seen at the beginning of the game.
15:24Inside DK's home, you can find a red steel girder, a nod to the original Donkey Kong arcade game.
15:31Next to it is a phonograph, a nod to the opening of Donkey Kong Country, where Cranky Kong plays the
15:36original game's theme music.
15:46However, sitting above these items is a painting of a dolphin.
15:49You'd expect to maybe see one of the animal buddies from across the series, but a dolphin has never been
15:55one of them.
15:55This is believed to be a reference to the GameCube's codename before it was officially revealed, the dolphin.
16:13In the world of collectible cartridges, any that are marked not for resale are some of the most highly sought
16:20-after.
16:21These were usually used in stores for demo purposes, and the DK64 one has quite a few noteworthy differences.
16:28It features three playable sections.
16:31The first is a fight against the boss Dogadon, which includes a counter of white balloons,
16:36thought to represent lives like previous Donkey Kong games, an aspect that was removed before release.
16:42Then there's a minecart minigame, which only features minor changes, like how much Squawks the Parrot talks,
16:49and the amount of coins you need to get to win.
17:02Finally, it's the boss fight against Armidillo.
17:04This is actually the second fight against him, but within the arena of the first.
17:10We again see the life balloon counter, and hear the boss talk instead of just making noises.
17:16You'll never be seen too!
17:19You'll never be seen too!
17:22Test Room
17:29Many games have test rooms you can reach through certain tricks.
17:34In Donkey Kong 64, you first have to collect all 40 of Snide's blueprints, meaning you won't gain access to
17:41it until late in the game.
17:42Once you've done that, pressing the C up button while speaking with Snide will get you to the minigame menu,
17:48and then pressing A and B at the same time will take you to the Test Room.
17:53There isn't much to do here.
17:56There are some pillars to jump on, a yellow banana balloon,
17:59and a very creepy model of DK that never moves and can only blink.
18:03You know, the usual stuff.
18:05If you walk out into the black void, you'll eventually be teleported back to your starting location,
18:10with the only way out to reset.
18:17Crusher in Adventure Mode
18:26You can unlock the classic Donkey Kong enemy Crusher in the game's multiplayer mode by photographing 15 banana fairies.
18:33He's a fun alternative to the Kongs, but you can actually play as him in the story mode, though only
18:39through hacks.
18:40Doing so comes with certain restrictions.
18:42You can't activate warp pads, enter a character selection barrel, or collect any bananas since they're meant to be for
18:49the Kongs.
18:50This also reveals some interesting unused animations for Crusher.
18:55One happens when he takes fall damage, since that isn't a thing in multiplayer.
18:59Another is a unique idle animation where he tries not to fall asleep.
19:09Accessing levels early
19:19As is tradition for these types of games, you have to collect a certain number of golden bananas in order
19:24to enter new levels.
19:26In this game, portals into levels are guarded by B-Locker, an extremely grouchy signpost who hates his job.
19:34However, if you don't feel like collecting the required amount of golden bananas, there is a way around it.
19:39If a character simply touches a portal into a new level, the game counts it as entering.
19:46So, if you can touch the portal behind B-Locker, you can get past him.
19:50This is most easily done with Lanky Kong, whose stretchy arms give him a lot of reach.
20:03KONG GUNS
20:08One of the best stories about Donkey Kong 64's development concerns the guns that each of the Kongs use.
20:15They're made of wood and shoot things like nuts, fruit, and feathers, but they still each resemble a real-life
20:21firearm.
20:22In fact, for DK's coconut gun, a shotgun was used as a placeholder during development.
20:28Director George Andreas forgot that it was in there until a visit from series creator Shigeru Miyamoto,
20:34future Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata, and Nintendo of America chairman Howard Lincoln.
20:41When the shotgun came on screen, Andreas recalls seeing a horrified look from Miyamoto,
20:46then quickly drew up a sketch of the coconut gun and handed it to him.
20:50Regardless of what Rare's eventual plans were, I love the idea of Miyamoto being stunned by DK wielding a shotgun.
21:00If he shoots ya, it's gonna hurt!
21:04The fourth melon.
21:13There were more than a few things cut from Donkey Kong 64 that players have discovered over the years.
21:19Melons are used to represent your health.
21:22You begin with one, but can eventually unlock two more through Candy Kong.
21:26Apparently, we were supposed to get a fourth.
21:29Using a game shark, players could give themselves infinite health.
21:32If you turned the cheat off, a fourth one would remain.
21:36It's unclear why this extra bit of health was removed,
21:39but if I had to guess, it came down to a simple difficulty-balancing decision.
21:49Removed enemies.
21:55Keeping with the cut content angle, there were also a few enemies that were removed,
22:00but whose models have been uncovered.
22:02These include Recoil, a spring-tailed Kremlin that first appeared in Donkey Kong Country 3.
22:08There's also an Armadillo enemy, which first appeared in the original Donkey Kong Country,
22:13and a unique insect enemy.
22:15More interesting are two jack-in-the-box type enemies,
22:18one of which is a clown and the other a boxing glove.
22:22Perhaps these were removed due to their similarity of one of the game's best boss fights, Mad Jack.
22:38Unlocking DK
22:46When you start the game, all Kongs other than DK are locked,
22:50with different colored question marks holding their place inside the character selection barrels.
22:55However, the game actually treats him as if he's locked too.
22:59You just won't ever notice it.
23:02He's locked until you exit the tutorial area by opening the gate at the exit.
23:07However, if you glitch your way past this gate without doing so,
23:10the game will still read DK as locked.
23:14A yellow question mark exists within the game to represent him in the character select screen.
23:18Though, why this exists is unclear.
23:25Anti-piracy
23:35Nintendo has often included clever anti-piracy methods into their games,
23:40and Donkey Kong 64 features one of the most brutal.
23:43If a pirated cartridge didn't feature a specific lockout chip,
23:48it could potentially erase your entire save file.
23:51This could happen randomly at any point in the game.
23:55Since we've gone into detail about just how many collectibles are packed into this frankly giant game,
24:02this could hurt particularly badly depending on how far you were able to make it into the game before it
24:08happened.
24:16No Dixie Kong.
24:30No Dixie Kong.
24:33No Dixie Kong would have appeared in Donkey Kong 64.
24:35It's especially odd that she doesn't, considering Tiny Kong exists and features a similar ability to hover using her hair.
24:43She is mentioned in the manual, written from Cranky Kong's perspective, who mistakes Tiny for Dixie since they're sisters.
24:49So, why was a new character designed when one with the same ability already existed?
24:56When asked about it in 2018, designer Mark Stevenson said he couldn't recall clearly stating,
25:02quote,
25:02I guess we just loved creating new Kongs.
25:05I would say it would be because we wanted a character that fit with the shrinking ability.
25:09So, they probably wanted to keep Dixie's hover, but also include a shrinking mechanic.
25:15And thus, Tiny Kong was born.
25:23Do you know of any other fun facts about Donkey Kong 64?
25:27Share them with us in the comments.
25:29.
25:30.
25:32.
25:33.
25:33.
25:35.
25:35.
25:37.
25:37.
25:37.
25:41Oh, jeez.
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