List of Donkey Kong 64 glitches

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This is a list of glitches in Donkey Kong 64. Unless otherwise noted, all glitch names are conjectural.

Audio

Wrong music in Frantic Factory's R&D Room

This glitch happens anytime the player completes Tiny Kong's race against the Mini-Car in Frantic Factory, even if the player has already gotten its Golden Banana. After finishing the race, the main theme for Frantic Factory will start playing in the R&D Room, instead of the R&D Room's music track. The music will be restored back to normal if the player enters a Tag Barrel or exits the R&D Room and re-enters it.

Wrong music in Gloomy Galleon's shipwreck area

This glitch can be done with any Kong. Simply swim into the cave where all the treasure is located, dive underwater and swim back out to the shipwreck area. The music that plays in the caves of Gloomy Galleon will play instead of the music that plays when in either the shipwreck area or the lighthouse area. The music will be restored if the player swims back to the surface. The music will not be restored however, if Tiny Kong enters her Kong Barrel and then cancels her Mini-Monkey ability.

Freezes

Bananaport glitch

The purple and green second Bananaport Pad

This glitch is observed when the colors on the second Bananaport Pad on DK Isles will become randomly disoriented. Standing on it for an extended period will freeze the game.

Wrinkly Door glitch

To perform this glitch, the player must go to the Gloomy Galleon entrance and find the area where the blue and purple Wrinkly Doors are. Walk to one of the doors to talk to Wrinkly and quickly press B and move over to the other door. If the player is fast enough, Wrinkly will appear at the other door, but will not say anything. Also, the player is unable to move, meaning that they have essentially soft-locked the game. The only way to get out of this state is to reset the Nintendo 64.

Physics

These glitches result from how Donkey Kong and/or other characters and objects interact with the world.

Angry Aztec Troff 'n' Scoff re-entry

Chunky out of bounds near Cranky's Lab

The Troff 'n' Scoff portal near Cranky's Lab in Angry Aztec has a loading zone behind it, a trait shared with no other Troff 'n' Scoff portal in the game. It remains present even after the portal disappears, so it is possible to reenter the Troff 'n' Scoff in Angry Aztec by clipping out of bounds. After using the Chunky Barrel to become Hunky Chunky, the player can get out of bounds by going down the hallway to the right, backflipping on top of the torch on the left, then jumping through the wall. The player must then walk along the edge of the boundary, making sure not to walk back in bounds or void out, until Chunky disappears. After that, the player can go into first person and move the camera until they can see Chunky and the path leading to Cranky's Lab. The player must then continue walking along the edge of the boundary. Upon approaching Cranky's Lab, the player will drop down to ground level. The player can then get to the area behind where the Troff 'n' Scoff portal used to be and enter the loading zone. This glitch can be combined with parent map manipulation to reenter any level's Troff 'n' Scoff and rematch the boss.

An alternate method for reaching the loading zone involves repeatedly throwing oranges near Cranky's Lab to lag the game, then clipping through the wall. This method only works on Nintendo 64, since there is not enough lag on Wii U Virtual Console for the trick to work.

Below rotating puzzle room in Crystal Caves

With Donkey Kong, the player must go to the rotating puzzle room in Crystal Caves. The player has to press the switch to the right of the room, then jump into the wall. If done successfully, DK should end up under the room. If he walks away he will end up at the beginning of the world.

Boss entrance and fight glitch

This glitch works with all the Kongs and also before giving away all the required quantity of regular bananas. The player must stand near the edge of one of the stairs on the right side and use the Button right before they drop down a stair and turn the camera over to the stair and should see a black mark through it. If done correctly, the player should be able to walk under the stairs and head over to the door. The door will open/close the opposite way than normal and have floating numbers if using other Kongs or before giving away all the required regular bananas.

The Frantic Factory boss fight against Mad Jack is tricky to do with the male Kongs, since Tiny Kong (who normally fights against this boss) has the Pony Tail Twirl ability to reach distant platforms and evade more easily. Also, while using them, the game may crash anytime while falling off platforms: the screen remains black while the music keeps going on. The player has to reset the console to play again. Mad Jack may also behave strangely if using any of the male Kongs, such as jumping diagonally across platforms, jumping straight up on a platform he's already on or at the end of his chase sequence when the switches appear, only for them to disappear immediately.

The Gloomy Galleon boss fight against Puftoss is the only one where the other Kongs can replace Lanky Kong (who normally fights against this boss) for the cutscenes, but will have Lanky's voice for those scenes as well. They will all copy all of Lanky's animation poses during the cutscenes as well. If Tiny Kong is being used for this boss, her pigtails will also move during the cutscenes. If DK is brought into this battle, his boat will move slower than the other Kongs' due to his boat speed being intended for the seal race.

The Fungi Forest boss fight against Dogadon is impossible to defeat the intended way with the other Kongs as the Hunky Chunky Barrel (for the final blows) will remain translucent when Chunky is not being used. However, the other Kongs can win this boss fight by exploiting a glitch to end the fight instantly.

Also, Tiny Kong can pick up and throw barrels only during this glitch, and her voice clips during those actions is never used at all if playing the game normally. However, she cannot throw barrels as forcefully as the other Kongs, due to having the weakest physical strength. And unlike her sister Dixie Kong, she used her hands (like the other Kongs) instead of her hair to lift the barrels.

Also, collecting the Boss Key after defeating the corresponding boss (with any Kong) will always count and then the portal to Troff N' Scoff will vanish.

Fungi Forest barn entry during the day

In Fungi Forest, there is a glitch that allows the player to enter the blocked off barn during the day. Chunky Kong is required and can use the Hunky Chunky barrel in the area with the Tomatoes. Once the player returns to the main area, they should walk to the edge of the part where they put the giant apple. The player then should walk along the edge closest to the wall; if done correctly, the player should walk through the wall. Once through the wall, the player walk forward a little bit and they will be in the locked off barn during the day. Donkey Kong can also enter the blocked of barn by moonkicking off of the roof of the waterwheel barn.

Hunky Chunky in Jungle Japes glitch

Using Chunky Kong, the player has to travel to Jungle Japes and enter the round area that contains a Hunky Chunky Barrel. This glitch is best performed while using the Infinite Crystal Coconut cheat from the main menu. In this area is a massive shell that only Tiny Kong can enter using her Mini-Monkey ability. If Chunky jumps at the point where the shell meets the wall, it is possible for him to fall through the level, and land in the caves that branch off beneath the level, leading to the clearing which houses Professor Cranky Kong and his Lab. Chunky now has free reign of the level, and, as long as he doesn't return to the round area where he started or through any kind of scene transition, can travel anywhere in the level.

It is also possible for this glitch to lead Chunky into being beneath the level itself, in an invisible body of water beneath the level's cliffs. Chunky can swim quite a distance here, but will eventually be stopped by a level boundary, and be forced to turn back. Swimming toward the main level and entering an area normally accessible to the other Kongs will allow Chunky to return to the level and play normally, albeit being huge.

Hunky Chunky under Kong Isle

The player must first Monkeyport to the top of Crocodile Isle with Tiny Kong, and then blow her saxophone on the saxophone pad. A Chunky Barrel will appear. The player will have to change into Chunky Kong and jump into the barrel to become huge. Chunky will have to go to the two huge stone steps leading up the island. The player has to make him first go to the second step then fall to the first step while holding the control stick towards the second. Chunky Kong should be under Kong Isle. If he walks away, he will start to swim. This glitch also leads to a couple other glitches.

Inside K. Rool's cockpit

Donkey Kong inside K. Rool's ship

The interior of King K. Rool's ship, normally only seen in the "K. Rool Press Button" cutscene that plays after the Kongs disable the Blast-o-Matic, is stored inside Kong Isle's geometry. Therefore, it is possible to get inside it by using a glitch such as Hunky Chunky under Kong Isle or swim through shores to clip through Kong Isle. After clipping inside, the player should move toward the center of the island and swim around until the Kong disappears. The player may need to move the camera around until they appear inside a room. Depending on where the Kong enters the room from, the player might have to jump onto the computers. They will now be inside the ship's cockpit. The cockpit can be escaped by going behind the computers and dropping through the gap underneath them.

Inside the Banana Fairy Princess room as Chunky

To perform this glitch the player must have Chunky standing on Banana Fairy Island, the player must then run towards the ocean and then quickly press and hold the control stick in the opposite direction until Chunky stops sliding. At this point Chunky will be able to swim under the island. After Chunky is under the island, the player can jump into the trapezoid-shaped object and will warp into the Banana Fairy Princess's room.

Intro Story Kong prison access

During the Intro Story, the Kongs (aside from Donkey Kong) are seen being imprisoned in cells. Normally, these cells are only ever seen during this cutscene. This is because the prison is in a disconnected location east of the beginning of Hideout Helm. Though the game uses three different Hideout Helm maps for different purposes (one for gameplay, one for Intro Story, and one for other cutscenes), the prison area is present in all of them. Therefore, it is possible to access it by using the computer terminal west of the door to King K. Rool's throne room to clip out of bounds. The player can then walk around the perimeter of Hideout Helm until they reach the beginning, then walk directly east of the Tag Barrel, and they will reach the prison. The prison area only has walls on one side and is otherwise surrounded by an empty black void. There is only one cell, and the Intro Story cutscene shows the Kongs being locked in the cell from different camera angles to give the illusion of there being multiple cells. The cell's walls are only solid on the inside, but the bars are solid on both sides, so the player can get in, but not out. The only way out of the cell is to exit the level from the pause menu.

Jungle Japes mountain clip

In Jungle Japes, the player must go just outside the entrance to Funky's Store with Diddy Kong or Donkey Kong. On the wall to the right, there should be some flowers. If Diddy Kong aims his Chimpy Charge or Donkey Kong rolls just to the left of the flowers, he should go right through the wall.

Kroc misses

In order to perform this glitch, the player must go inside the Temple with Five Doors in Angry Aztec where Kroc says "Get Out" and gives them a time period to leave. The player must find an enemy and get hit by it with good timing. If the player times it right, the shot will miss and the clock will reset. The shot will also miss if Chunky Kong uses the shockwave attack on a dirt pile and picks up a 5-Banana Coin for the first time.

Moonkick

With Donkey Kong, run up a steep, non-slippery slope and use his midair attack ( → ) while running. By timing his grounded kick attack correctly by pressing , he will fly very far and high into the air. This glitch allows for a wide variety of sequence breaks.

Swim through shores

Donkey Kong swimming through Kong Isle

Anywhere where there is a slope that leads into water, such as the beaches of Kong Isle and Banana Fairy Island, it is possible to swim through it. First, the player must go in the water in front of a shore, but not too far away. Then, the player must slowly swim toward the shore by rapidly pressing B. If done correctly, they will go through through the shore. This allows players to access the interior of Banana Fairy Island with any Kong by swimming through the island and clipping into the loading zone.

Swim through vertical walls

Lanky swimming through a wall

If the player swims up to certain vertical walls and goes into first person, they can swim through them. Examples include the wall near the exit of the training area, the wall near DK's caged Golden Banana in Jungle Japes, and the wall to the right of the entrance to Gloomy Galleon's lobby.

Take no fall damage

With any Kong, run towards a ledge that is not above a bottomless pit and hold the Button to crouch. If the player keeps crouching as they fall, no fall damage will be taken regardless of how high they fall. An example of this glitch is doing it on DK Isles on the floating island where the entrance to Fungi Forest's lobby is located.

Walk through walls while carrying a heavy object with Chunky

When picking up any heavy object with Chunky Kong, go to a nearby wall with Chunky's back facing the wall and put down the object by pressing . When Chunky picks up the object again by pressing , he will take a step backwards and slightly clip through the wall. Without touching the control stick, pick up and put down the object until Chunky can go through the wall safely. This does not work on all walls however, and sometimes Chunky needs to jump while carrying the object so he can put it down again.

Scripting

These glitches abuse interactions that cause objects or displayed information to perform unintended behaviors.

Held object manipulation

Chunky carrying a Tag Barrel

When Chunky picks up a heavy object, such as a boulder or metal keg, he tosses it upward, then catches it. If the player holds to charge a shockwave, walks into the object to pick it up, then releases , the shockwave will take priority and delay the object catching routine until it finishes. The object will fall to the ground and be destroyed before Chunky can pick it up, but Chunky will still be put into the carrying state, which results in him holding a "null" object. By moving the camera around and loading other objects and parts of the level, the vacant section of memory that Chunky is holding can have other data loaded into it. This can cause some objects that normally cannot be held, such as Tag Barrels and vines, to load into Chunky's hands, allowing him to carry them around and transport them to other locations.

If Chunky goes through a loading zone that allows held objects to persist between maps, the game will attempt to spawn an object in the next map upon entry. A two-byte value is used to determine the currently held actor, so it can be any value from 0 to 65,535. For example, if the held actor value is 23, a grounded Barrel Cannon will spawn in the next map. However, the game's valid actors only go up to 343, and not all of them are able to spawn this way, so many values will simply crash the game upon attempting to load the next map. If the value is 0, nothing will happen. Unless an object present in the level visibly loads into Chunky's hands, there is no way to know what the held actor value is without tool assistance. Releasing the null object ends the glitch.

Intro Story glitch

The Intro Story glitch is activated by opening the DK Theatre menu in Mystery mode, and selecting the Intro Story. The player must press the button to cancel the Intro Story as soon as the screen starts turning blue. If timed correctly, no music will be playing upon returning to the Mystery menu. When the Intro Story is initiated, the game starts a global timer that, when it reaches certain intervals, instructs the game to load the next map and play the next Intro Story scene. After performing this glitch, the game cancels the Intro Story and returns to the Mystery menu, but fails to deactivate the global timer, resulting in the glitch's effects. Therefore, the player should start an external timer in order to keep track of time and know when the fadeouts will occur. If a cutscene is playing when the timer reaches a point where the game is meant to fade to the next part of the Intro Story, the game will fade to the corresponding Intro Story scene. If a cutscene is not playing when the interval is reached, the fadeout will be queued until the next time a cutscene initiates. If the timer reaches multiple fadeout points before a fadeout occurs, the latest scene takes priority.

Exploitation of the Intro Story glitch primarily revolves around fadeout canceling. If a DK warping transition completes while an Intro Story fadeout is occurring, the DK warping transition takes priority over the Intro Story fadeout. When this happens, the player is taken to their destination map as intended, and the game plays a cutscene upon entering that map. The scene played is the one from that map whose index number corresponds to that of the scene that would have played if the player had not disrupted the Intro Story fadeout. For example, when the fifth Intro Story fadeout occurs, the game fades to the Intro Story version of Hideout Helm and plays cutscene 8, which is the scene where K. Rool gives orders to his men. However, if the player fadeout cancels into the DK Isles main hub, the game plays cutscene 8 on that map instead, which is the opening of Angry Aztec's lobby. Common methods of fadeout canceling include leaving areas such as Cranky's Lab and Snide's H.Q. right before a fadeout occurs and using oranges to reduce the Kong's health to zero and knock them into a loading zone at the same time. If the player fadeout cancels into a map that does not have a valid cutscene for that fadeout's cutscene number, the game crashes.

The following chart displays the time that each fadeout occurs, the cutscene number that the fadeouts trigger, and the Intro Story scene that plays if the fadeout is not canceled. Times vary slightly between Nintendo 64 and Wii U Virtual Console due to the latter having less lag.

Fadeout	Time	Cutscene number	Intro Story scene
Start	N/A	N/A	The opening scene with parrots and seals flying and swimming around DK Isles
1	0:55	0	Crocodile Isle's introduction
2	1:26	0	The first scene with K. Rool and the Kremlings
3	2:36	1	Crocodile Isle crashes
4	3:01	7	Crocodile Isle approaches Kong Isle
5	3:25	8	K. Rool gives his orders
6	4:26	0	Squawks informs DK that his Golden Bananas have been stolen

Bring Rambi outside of Jungle Japes

Rambi in DK's Tree House

A save file with Bongo Blast unlocked is required for this glitch. Having already entered the Rambi Crate in Jungle Japes on the same file also prevents the cutscenes that play upon first opening the gate and entering the crate from causing disruptive Intro Story fadeouts. After activating Intro Story glitch, the player must enter the file in question and go to Jungle Japes where the Rambi Crate is. DK needs to uncrouch immediately before entering the crate. This can be done by either crouch sliding into the crate and uncrouching right before touching it or deactivating the Rambi transformation and uncrouching as soon as the crate respawns. If done correctly, the camera will shake a bit upon entering the crate. In this state, the player will be able to use Bongo Blast shortly before the transformation finishes. By holding and mashing , the player must attempt to use Bongo Blast at the earliest possible moment. If successful, Bongo Blast will activate and Rambi will emerge from the crate as the game fades into the Intro Story. If DK emerges instead, the glitch will not work. After Intro Story finishes, the player will be controlling Rambi.

Normally, if the player leaves a map in any way while a Kong is transformed, such as by exiting the level from the pause menu or going out of bounds and voiding out, the game automatically changes the active character back to the original Kong. This glitch works because the game only attempts to make this change the instant the map transition begins. By using Bongo Blast and starting an Intro Story fadeout before the transformation finishes, Rambi emerges after the fadeout has already begun, bypassing the failsafe. The transformed state does not persist between maps, so upon performing this glitch, the game stops treating Rambi as a transformed DK and instead considers him a standalone character. As a result, pressing and will not transform him back into DK, and the game will no longer attempt to revert him when changing maps.

Side effects

Since Rambi was intended to only be playable in very specific parts of the game, bringing him elsewhere has many side effects, including some game freezes.

• If the banana or Banana Bunch Coin counters on the pause menu are unlocked, attempting to pause freezes the game. This is because the game tries to load different graphical data for the banana and coin counters depending on the active Kong, and Rambi does not have valid data for either of them. To avoid unlocking these counters and prevent the game from freezing, the player must have never collected a banana, coin, or Supply Crate (Supply Crates unlock the banana counter despite not granting any bananas). The data copying glitch does not transfer these counters, so it can be used to transfer bananas and Golden Bananas to a fresh file while retaining the ability to safely pause the game. The banana counter will not freeze the game when pausing in DK Isles or Hideout Helm since they do not use it, but the coin counter still will.
• Entering a level's Troff 'n' Scoff without opening its boss door freezes the game, again due to the banana counter. If the door is already open, the counter does not appear, so Rambi can enter without issue. The data copying glitch can be used to transfer open boss doors from another file as long as the player takes actions to avoid the softlock glitch before gaining control of Rambi. A glitch is necessary to enter boss fights, since the door will close on Rambi.
• Rambi can enter every boss fight except for King Kut Out and K. Rool, since they automatically change the active Kong to Lanky and Donkey, respectively. Mad Jack is impossible to defeat since it requires using Simian Slam to hit the switches, which Rambi cannot do. Every other boss is beatable, including the Dogadon rematch due to the instant win glitch.
• Rambi cannot attack certain enemies, such as Klumps, Koshas, and Kasplats, as he was never meant to encounter them.
• Rambi cannot use Bananaport Pads or Tag Barrels, nor can he collect any items intended for specific Kongs, such as Banana Bunch Coins and most Golden Bananas. The few Golden Bananas he can collect, such as the one from the Gloomy Galleon seal race, do not count towards the Golden Banana total. Rambi cannot enter Bonus Barrels or Training Barrels either.
• Entering Funky's Store or Candy's Music Shop will freeze the game shortly after entering. Entering Cranky's Lab freezes the game most of the time as well, though it will not freeze on the first visit. If the player has completed the Training Barrels but not obtained Simian Slam from Cranky, the game will only freeze when the game tries to have Rambi drink the potion.
• Checking Rambi's collectibles for DK Isles or Hideout Helm on the pause menu displays the words "TRY AGAIN?" where the active Kong's name would normally be. Attempting to look at his collectibles for any other level freezes the game, since they also attempt to show Rambi's banana counter.
• Rambi can use the Banana Fairy's Camera, but only while swimming. The game will freeze when the Banana Fairy Princess tries to refill Rambi's supplies, but this can be circumvented by exiting the level from the pause menu immediately after capturing the fairy as long as the banana and coin counters are not unlocked.
• Rambi has a dogpaddling animation while swimming that normally goes unused.
• Rambi has no squishing animation, so he will not be squished in scenarios that the Kongs would, such as taking fall damage or getting hit by a Kosha's overhead swing.
• If the Rambi Crate in Jungle Japes is entered as Rambi, he will transform into himself. Upon pressing and to end the transformation, Rambi's theme music will continue to play.
• Rambi can play minigames at Snide's H.Q. if all blueprints have been turned in. Rambi's movement speed is transferred to the Klaptrap in Beaver Bother!, causing it to move much faster than normal.
• Glitches can be used to get Rambi into the Creepy Castle minecart area. He is completely invulnerable to all of the obstacles on the track, including the gravestones and all of the resident demon's attacks. However, the Golden Banana is Donkey Kong-specific, so Rambi cannot collect it even if he meets the coin requirement.

• 

  Rambi's name is listed as "TRY AGAIN?" on the pause menu.

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  Rambi glitching through the stairs in Troff 'n' Scoff

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  The early fifth Boss Key glitch with Rambi

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  The Gloomy Galleon boss intro with Rambi

Copy bananas, coins, upgrades, and Golden Bananas to a new file

A new file with 80% completion and 201 Golden Bananas

After starting Intro Story glitch, the player must get a fadeout in a DK Bonus game or boss battle, which will bring the player back to the Mystery menu. After that, the player must view an empty file, but not enter it, then attempt to start a Kong Battle, which will immediately send the player to the results screen. This writes multiplayer data to the empty file the player previously viewed, and when checked in the file selection screen, it will no longer be empty. The player must then view the file whose data they wish to copy, delete the previously empty save file the data is to be copied into, then wait on the menu with DK for an Intro Story fadeout. The player can then either wait for the Intro Story to finish or reset the game. All bananas, Banana Bunch Coins, and Golden Bananas, as well as everything bought from Cranky, Funky, and Candy, will be copied from the source file into the new file. Play time is copied over as well. However, nothing else is copied over, so the new file will not have the Training Barrels completed, any Kongs unlocked, the Banana Fairy's Camera, or any other collectibles such as Boss Keys, blueprints, Banana Medals, Battle Crowns, Banana Fairies, or the Nintendo and Rareware Coins.

While Golden Banana counts are copied over, the flags for each individual Golden Banana are not, so all of them will still be available to collect. This allows the player to collect more than 201 Golden Bananas. However, if any Kong's Golden Banana count for a level surpasses 7, it will overflow due to the saved Golden Banana counts for each Kong only using three bits.

Troff 'n' Scoff softlock

Troff's absence causes the introduction scene to softlock the game.

When the data is copied, the amount of bananas Scoff has been fed in each level is transferred, but the flag that indicates that the player has entered Troff 'n' Scoff before is not (nor is anything else determined by a flag). Therefore, when the player enters Troff 'n' Scoff on the new file, the game will attempt to play the scene where Troff explains how feeding Scoff and opening the boss door works. However, Troff and Scoff will be absent from the room if the player has already opened the boss door. This results in the game getting stuck in an endless loop of waiting for Troff to speak, which he cannot do since he is not present.

To prevent this from happening, the player can activate the Intro Story glitch and enter Troff 'n' Scoff while the first or second fadeouts are queued. Upon entering Troff 'n' Scoff, the camera will be at an unusual angle and the player will be unable to control their Kong. From here, the player simply needs to wait for another Intro Story fadeout. This autosaves the game, so the next time the player enters Troff 'n' Scoff, the game will not attempt to play the introductory scene again. Alternatively, if the source file did not open every boss door, the player can simply enter a Troff 'n' Scoff whose boss door is still closed and watch the scene without issue.

Fungi Forest minecart area on foot

Canceling the 2:36 Intro Story fadeout by entering the well in Fungi Forest will load an unused cutscene upon entering the minecart area. After a few camera pans, the game will cut to Chunky, who will be standing at the entrance instead of inside the minecart. The player can then explore the entirety of the minecart area on foot. None of the walls have collision, so Chunky can go right through them and walk out of bounds. Since the course was never meant to be traversed this way, touching certain invisible triggers, such as the one right where the first coin is, will freeze the game the instant Chunky touches them, while ones that spawn Kremlings in minecarts will freeze the game about two seconds after the Kremling spawns. Touching certain obstacles, including cages, fallen girders, and logs, will also freeze the game. Touching fire or TNT Barrels will trigger Chunky's normal damage animation, though he will not lose any health or coins. Rocks simply act as solid objects, stopping Chunky's movement. Touching bells and levers works normally.

It is possible to navigate all the way to the loading zone at the end that leads to the barn area. However, it is not possible to obtain the Golden Banana, even if 50 coins are collected, since triggering any cutscenes, including Squawks dialogue, will cause an Intro Story fadeout. Hitting the lever used to drops rocks on the minecart Kremling and touching the trigger for the cutscene in the falling log area where Chunky's minecart jumps over the river will also cause an Intro Story fadeout.

If Chunky walks into the minecart, he will get in and the course will play out normally, though there is no way to avoid getting pulled into the Intro Story in the falling log area. If Chunky charges up a shockwave, walks into the minecart, then releases the shockwave, he will be in a glitched state where he is standing in the minecart and can perform standard actions while inside, such as punching, shooting, and throwing oranges. First person does not work properly, positioning the camera behind Chunky instead of in front of him. Running into obstacles will knock Chunky into the minecart and render the player unable to do anything, even normal minecart actions such as tilting and jumping. This can be avoided by going into first person. Taking pictures may result in the photo crumpling when it appears onscreen and will often freeze the game.

Gain control in the Enter Hideout cutscene

DK standing in front of K. Rool in the throne room

To perform this glitch, the player must have a file where they can access Hideout Helm but have not entered it yet. Story skip must also be turned off in the Options menu so the Enter Hideout cutscene will activate. After activating the Intro Story glitch, the player should wait until 1:26, activate the End Sequence cutscene from DK Theatre, then press once the screen fades to black to cancel the cutscene. The credits music should be playing in the background. The player must then enter their file, reduce their health to one, and get to Hideout Helm's entrance (but not go inside) as quickly as possible. Activating Bananaport Pad 4 in DK Isles and Bananaport Pad 1 in the Hideout Helm lobby, purchasing Monkeyport, paying off B. Locker, and only having one melon prior to performing the glitch will speed up this process. Once the Intro Story timer reaches 3:25, the player should use an orange to knock their Kong into the loading zone during their death animation. If successful, the Enter Hideout cutscene will play with no music, and when it ends, instead of transitioning to Snide's H.Q. so Snide can inform the Kongs of how much time they have to shut off the Blast-o-Matic, the game will simply cut to the active Kong standing at the beginning of Hideout Helm.

Upon gaining control, the sound will be glitched, with the machinery sounds from the end of the cutscene looping and most other sounds (including the Kong's voice) muted. This sound glitch will persist as long as the Intro Story glitch is still active. It can be fixed by activating an Intro Story fadeout, then entering either Cranky's Lab or the DK Isles main hub.

Map oddities

There are three Hideout Helm maps in the game: the actual level explored during gameplay (map 11), one used for the Intro Story (98), and one used for non-Intro Story cutscenes (map 1C). Therefore, when the player gains control, they are not inside the proper Hideout Helm level but the non-Intro Story cutscene version. While the map's geometry is identical to the normal level, it is different from the standard map in several ways:

• Almost all of the objects found in normal Hideout Helm are missing, including enemies, Tag Barrels, vines, Bananaport Pads, Music Pads, and the Boss Key. There is also no loading zone at the entrance. The doors, however, are still present. The absence of these objects mandates using glitches to explore the area in its entirety.
• K. Rool and the Kritter technicians can be encountered, and they will be stuck in an animation loop based on what they were doing at the end of the cutscene. The Kritters will be pleading, and K. Rool will be frantically pressing the button on his throne. The navigator Kritters and purple Klaptrap from the Intro Story can be also found at the steering wheel, even though they do not appear in the cutscene at all. They are completely motionless. K. Rool and the Kremlings have no collision, and interacting with them does nothing.
• The map functions like a boss room in that it disables C Button moves (instruments, weapons, oranges, and the Banana Fairy's Camera), has two zoom levels instead of three, and pressing activates a fixed camera mode that focuses on the boss (or in this case, K. Rool) instead of positioning the camera behind the Kong.
• There is a misplaced flame behind the steering wheel. While the flame itself is invisible, its embers are not, and they can be seen by clipping out of bounds.
• The Intro Story prison cell is open. In the standard level version, the cell is closed.
• Pausing the game displays the player's location as DK Isles instead of Hideout Helm.
• Triggering an out of bounds warp leads to Diddy's barn in Fungi Forest.
• Exiting the level from the pause menu takes the player to Troff 'n' Scoff. Since entering Troff 'n' Scoff this way does not store a parent map, it behaves abnormally. The door displays "000", but never opens. This is because the banana requirement is actually 65, but the door does not display this properly, and there is no way to feed Scoff any bananas without hacking. There will also be a DK logo and checkmark beneath the zeroes if the player has the first Boss Key. Going through the portal does not lead anywhere; the camera will just keep spinning for a few seconds and stop, and the player will be unable to do anything, softlocking the game if an Intro Story fadeout does not trigger during the cutscene. Attempting to exit through the pause menu also softlocks the game. Triggering an out of bounds warp leads to Chunky's underground area in Jungle Japes. Reaching the boss door loading zone without activating the walking cutscene (which will pull the player into the Intro Story) will attempt to send the player to the nonexistent map 124, which crashes the game.

Game mode manipulation

Donkey Kong 64 has various "modes" that affect how the game functions, such as what controls are enabled and whether or not the game can save, and switches between them depending on what part of the game the player is in. Intro Story glitch fadeouts store the active game mode whenever they occur, which can result in certain game modes being active in situations where they are not intended to be (e.g. the game's mode designed for the main menu being active in Adventure). Modes 4 and 8 appear to be unused.

Number	Usage	Effects
0	Opening logos (after power on)	All controls are disabled. Since the game never returns to this mode after the initial logos, it is impossible to use it in an unintended way without hacking.
1	Opening logos (after Game Over or DK TV)	If any of the first four Intro Story fadeouts occur in this mode, the Intro Story will get stuck in an endless loop, softlocking the game. If the fifth Intro Story fadeout occurs, the game will play the first scene with K. Rool and the Kremlings, then skip straight to DK's Tree House. If the sixth fadeout occurs, the game will go to DK's Tree House immediately. After the scene with Squawks is over, the player can press to proceed to the DK Rap, but all other controls are disabled.
2	DK Rap	The effects of this mode are identical to mode 1, but with leading to DK TV. The words "PRESS START" also appear while the screen is transitioning.
3	DK TV	In this mode, the game title and copyright information are displayed for a few seconds upon loading a map before fading away. The words "DK TV" are at the top left corner and "PRESS START" flashes at the bottom of the screen. Controls are disabled except for , which leads to the main menu. The Kongs make automatic movements based on the preset inputs for each Kong's demo. DK launching out of the cannon in his demo is the only way to activate an Intro Story fadeout during DK TV. In the NTSC versions, DK's demo ending cancels the Intro Story fadeout. This results in a cutscene playing at the start of Diddy's demo (which can result in a proper Intro Story fadeout), or if the fadeout was the fourth or fifth one, the game crashing. In the PAL versions, the cannon launching scene is slightly longer, so the Intro Story fadeout is not canceled. In these versions, if the final scene in DK's Tree House is loaded, the Kong will travel too far out of bounds and void out, spawning the next Kong in the training area.
5	Main menu	If this game mode is brought outside of the main menu, controls become fully functional except for , which remains disabled. This prevents the player from pausing, and by extension, saving, exiting the level, or quitting the game through the pause menu. Autosaving is also disabled, so the game cannot be saved at all while the game is in this mode. Locations that normally display their names upon first entering them will not do so, and there will be no text during story scenes that play upon first entering a level. Bananas and coins respawn after leaving a level and coming back. The player cannot lose health, with the exception of events that cause instant knockouts such as bottomless pits and most pools of lava.
6	Adventure/Kong Battle	This game mode automatically saves to the currently loaded file during screen transitions outside of Kong Battle. This is the only mode where the Blast-o-Matic timer is enabled, so if Hideout Helm is entered in other game modes, it will not activate regardless of whether or not the Blast-o-Matic has been shut down.
7	Quit Game	When the player selects "Quit Game" or the Blast-o-Matic timer runs out, the game is set to this mode until the fadeout finishes, then changes to mode 9 for the Game Over sequence proper. All controls are disabled.
9	Game Over	The words "GAME OVER" will eventually appear onscreen. Controls are disabled except for and , which lead back to the opening logos.
10	End Sequence (Adventure)	All controls are disabled. There is no way to glitch the game into this mode, since there is not enough time to defeat K. Rool before an Intro Story fadeout.
11	DK Theatre	The and are disabled. Pressing returns the game to the main menu.
12	DK Bonus/Bosses	When playing games or fighting bosses from the Mystery menu, this mode is activated. The game automatically gives the Kongs certain moves and upgrades so they can defeat the boss. This also applies to the DK Bonus games, even though none of them require any moves to play. The only pause menu options are "Return" and "Quit Game". Any screen transition in this mode other than falling during the Mad Jack fight returns the game to the main menu regardless of what causes it. This means that if an Intro Story fadeout occurs (such as during a boss's intro or defeat scene), the game will fade back to the main menu instead of the Intro Story. This also preserves the mode going back to the main menu, so attempting to play games, fight bosses, or watch DK Theatre will simply send the player back to the main menu after the screen fades. Attempting to start a Kong Battle in this state will lead straight to the results screen with player 1 winning. This also brings mode 6 to the main menu, resulting in multiplayer data being saved to the player's currently loaded file.
13	Snide's Bonus Games	This mode shares many properties with mode 5, including being disabled and the player being unable to take damage. All screen transitions will either reload the current map (equivalent of selecting "Yes" when prompted to try again after losing) or warp the player back to Snide's H.Q. (equivalent of winning or selecting "No" after losing). The latter also sets the game to mode 6, making this the only way to restore the ability to save when playing the game in mode 5. This game mode is also the reason the test room is inescapable without Intro Story glitch being active; entering the test room through the Bonus Game menu activates this mode, preventing the player from using the pause menu to leave. Intro Story fadeouts always lead to Snide's H.Q.
14	End Sequence (DK Theatre)	An Intro Story fadeout can only occur during the first part of the End Sequence outside of Kong Isle. If the Intro Story glitch is active and a fadeout does not occur before the game is supposed to transition to the training grounds, it will fail to do so, and the camera will get stuck in a glitched state. The only thing the player can do when this happens is press to return to the menu. The credits will be shown while the Intro Story is playing. The and are disabled, but the player will otherwise be able to control DK while the Intro Story is playing (except during the scene where Crocodile Isle approaches Kong Isle). If the currently loaded file has the Coconut Shooter, Bongo Blast, and Banana Fairy's Camera unlocked, the player will be able to use them if the player had previously quit out of that file or has the in-game cheats on. If Bongo Blast is used, the cutscene playing will be immediately canceled and the camera will focus on DK, though the Intro Story timer keeps running, and a fadeout can be initiated by playing the instrument again.

Obtain Funky's weapons and Simian Slam immediately on a new file

After the player activates the Intro Story glitch, they must then view an empty Adventure mode file, but not start it. After going back to the main menu, the player needs to go to the Mystery menu and go to the Rambi Arena. The player then needs to start the minigame once the timer reaches 50 seconds. If done correctly, the cutscene that plays at the start of the minigame will be interrupted, and the player will be sent back to the Mystery menu. From there, the player needs to go to Kong Battle mode and start a 2-player Monkey Smash round. The match will get interrupted immediately, and then the player should go back to the Adventure mode game file they viewed earlier. There should be some game time registered on the file, but the amount has no effect on the glitch itself. When starting this file, the player will now have access to the Simian Slam, having ammunition as well as Funky's weapon for every Kong, even if they are not rescued yet. Funky Kong will now only sell the two ammo belt upgrades for the Kongs, and Professor Cranky Kong will still give away the Simian Slam potion after Donkey Kong completes the Training Barrels, and will give away the other moves as usual.

Open Angry Aztec's lobby without the first Boss Key

After the Intro Story glitch is activated, the player needs to go to a file were they haven't given K. Lumsy his first key, but still be able to visit the outside of DK Isles. After starting the file, the player needs to take enough damage to have only one melon slice left. Then the player needs to go back inside DK Isles and align themselves as close to the exit without leaving the area. As soon as the timer passes 3:25, the player needs to throw an orange grenade at the wall in front of them so the orange will knock the player to the exit. If done correctly, the cutscene that plays when giving the first key to K. Lumsy will play, and the lobby to Angry Aztec will be open for the rest of the game. If done wrong, the part of the intro cutscene where King K. Rool gives orders to his guards will play instead, meaning the player will have to restart the process again if they want to retry. If the glitch is done successfully, Army Dillo's first Boss Key can still be collected in Jungle Japes and will still count towards 101% completion, but it cannot be given to K. Lumsy to open the entrance to Angry Aztec's lobby.

Stand in midair in Jungle Japes' Baboon Blast course

If the player cancels the 2:36 Intro Story fadeout by using the Baboon Blast Pad in Jungle Japes, Donkey Kong will be standing on a small invisible platform upon entering the barrel course. Walking off the platform will result in DK falling and returning to Jungle Japes like normal. Entering the Baboon Blast course after the Intro Story timer reaches 3:01 will freeze the game.

Warp from DK's Tree House to Crystal Caves

After starting the Intro Story glitch and entering their file, the player must go to the area outside DK's Tree House and reduce their health to one. After that, the player must position their Kong inside the doorway to DK's Tree House, but not far enough to touch the loading zone. After waiting until the Intro Story timer reaches 2:36, the player should use an orange to knock the Kong into the loading zone. Upon entering DK's Tree House, the game will trigger an unused cutscene where the camera pans over to the left of the doorway and warps the player to the area behind the first ice wall in Crystal Caves, a remnant of the abandoned Stop 'N' Swop feature. The ice wall only has collision on the front, so the player can simply walk through it and explore the rest of Crystal Caves.

Mechanical fish victory glitch

In the Gloomy Galleon mechanical fish minigame, if the player shoots the last target just after running out of time, it is possible for them to win the mini game despite the failure sound having already played and the timer having seemingly ended.

Parent map manipulation

Global sub-areas, which include character huts, Bonus Barrels, Battle Arena Pads, and Troff 'n' Scoff, set whichever map the player entered it from as the "parent" map in order to determine various things, such as where to warp the player upon leaving. Normally, exiting these areas unlocks the parent map value so it can be overwritten the next time the player enters a global sub-area. However, there are ways to keep the parent map value "locked" in memory. One is to set up the Intro Story glitch and get pulled into the Intro Story while inside one of these areas. Another is to activate the Blast-o-Matic timer and enter a Bonus Barrel or Battle Arena Pad shortly before the timer runs out (roughly one second for Bonus Barrels, roughly two seconds for Battle Arena Pads) so the parent map is set during the Game Over fadeout. Either way, the next time the player enters a global sub-area, the game will think they entered it from wherever the parent map lock occurred and act accordingly. If using a Bonus Barrel to lock the parent map using the Intro Story method, the barrel must be entered before the game is ready to initiate an Intro Story fadeout, otherwise the fadeout will occur too quickly for the parent map to be set. Exiting a level or quitting the game through the pause menu or leaving (but not entering) a level through a DK Portal removes the parent map lock.

This can lead to other glitches. For example, there is only one Troff 'n' Scoff map in the game, and the game sets parameters upon loading it depending on the parent map's level index, such as where the boss door leads, how many bananas are needed to open it, and which Kong is supposed to fight the boss. Going through a Troff 'n' Scoff portal after locking the parent map will load the Troff 'n' Scoff for whichever parent map had been locked in memory, regardless of what level it was actually entered from. This can be used to access any level's Troff 'n' Scoff, including the normally-unused ones for DK Isles and Hideout Helm.

Level lobbies exhibit some unusual properties involving parent map locks. Despite lobbies being considered by the game in most ways to be part of DK Isles, their level indexes used for Troff 'n' Scoff correspond to that of the level they lead to. For example, using the Bonus Barrel in the Angry Aztec lobby to lock it as the parent map and entering a Troff 'n' Scoff portal will load the Angry Aztec Troff 'n' Scoff instead of the DK Isles one, even though pausing the game will show DK Isles as the player's current location, and the pause menu will have the "Quit Game" option instead of the "Exit Level" option. The only lobbies where a parent map lock is possible are Angry Aztec's, Fungi Forest's, Creepy Castle's, and Hideout Helm's.

Bonus Barrel glitches

Entering a Bonus Barrel while the parent map is locked has side effects: if the player wins the minigame, then upon emerging from the stored parent location, the game will prepare to break open the nearest Bonus Barrel within a large radius of the active Kong and spawn its reward. If the stored location was itself a Bonus Barrel, this will always be whichever Bonus Barrel the Kong emerges from; otherwise, it can affect Bonus Barrels that are a significant distance away from where the Kong spawns. For example, emerging from the Battle Arena Pad on the giant mushroom in Fungi Forest will break open the Bonus Barrel on top of the mushroom. If that barrel has already been cleared, the one on top of the owl's tree will be affected instead. As soon as the camera gets close enough to load the Bonus Barrel, it will immediately break open and spawn the Golden Banana, even if Diddy has not raced the owl yet.

Additionally, entering any Bonus Barrel in an area that is not part of a level's main map (e.g. Snide's room in DK Isles, the sunken ships in Gloomy Galleon, or the mushroom interior in Fungi Forest) will, after finishing the minigame, have the Kong emerge from the previous Bonus Barrel they entered instead of the one they just entered. This effect chains, and it continues until the player exits a level through a DK Portal or the pause menu.

Boss rematches in Adventure Mode

By locking a level where the boss has already been beaten as the parent map, the player can reenter its Troff 'n' Scoff by going through a Troff 'n' Scoff portal in any level. If there are no Troff 'n' Scoff portals left (i.e. the player has defeated every level's boss), the out of bounds loading zone near Cranky's Lab in Angry Aztec can be used to get into Troff 'n' Scoff. Upon entering, the door will be closed with a DK logo and checkmark on it, a state not seen during normal gameplay, since Troff 'n' Scoff portals disappear after defeating a level's boss. There is no way to reopen the door, so the player must clip out of bounds to get to the loading zone and rematch the boss.

DK Isles Troff 'n' Scoff

DK Isles' Troff 'n' Scoff. Despite not having fed Scoff any bananas, the door is already open.

By storing DK Isles as the parent map (e.g. by getting pulled into the Intro Story while inside Snide's HQ on Crocodile Isle), it is possible to access the otherwise-unused DK Isles Troff 'n' Scoff. However, attempting this on the Nintendo 64 will crash the game due to the game dividing by zero upon entering Troff 'n' Scoff. This is because the game determines the height of Scoff's pad by dividing the number of bananas Scoff has been fed by the number needed to open the boss door, and the banana requirement for DK Isles is zero. Emulators with a dynamic recompiler bypass this error and will not crash the game, allowing the player to enter the DK Isles Troff 'n' Scoff without issue. Wii U Virtual Console handles the error differently. Instead of crashing, Virtual Console simply ignores the offending instruction. This has the side effect of severely corrupting the map's geometry, placing invisible walls and out-of-bounds triggers all over the room, which complicates reaching the boss door's loading zone.

Upon entering the room, Troff and Scoff will be absent, and the door will already be open with Donkey Kong's face on it, a state normally only seen when the player has already finished feeding Scoff and opened the door in a level but hasn't beaten the boss yet. The door will close if approached by the wrong Kong as usual. Entering the door leads to the battle with King K. Rool. If the player enters the DK Isles Troff 'n' Scoff on a file where K. Rool has already been beaten, the door will be closed with a DK logo and checkmark on it, as is the case for any level where the boss has been defeated.

Hideout Helm Troff 'n' Scoff

Hideout Helm's Troff 'n' Scoff

Hideout Helm can be stored as the parent map by triggering an Intro Story fadeout with one of the K. Rool Bonus Barrels or the Battle Arena Pad on top of the Blast-O-Matic. The player can perform a fadeout cancel after 1:26 or 3:25 by orange-bombing themselves into the Hideout Helm loading zone at one health to prevent cutscenes (such as the Tag Barrel or the Mini Monkey pipe walk) from pulling the player into the Intro Story too early. If the Blast-O-Matic has not been disabled yet, the Hideout Helm timer will continue to run during and after the Intro Story warp. The timer running out will trigger the Game Over sequence as usual.

Alternatively, the Bonus Barrel in Hideout Helm's lobby can be used to access Hideout Helm's Troff 'n' Scoff. A fadeout cancel must be performed after 1:26 or 3:25 so the player has enough time to reach the Bonus Barrel before the next fadeout. This can be done by having Tiny orange-bomb herself into the Frantic Factory's lobby at one health, then going to the Monkeyport pad and the Hideout Helm lobby as quickly as possible, switching to Chunky, then activating Gorilla Gone and swinging to the Bonus Barrel. Orange-bombing into the Hideout Helm lobby does not work since the loading zone does not trigger during the death animation, and orange-bombing out of the lobby into the DK Isles main hub will trigger intrusive cutscenes such as the Angry Aztec lobby opening and warping the player to K. Lumsy's Prison.

The banana requirement to open the boss door is 1, but the door incorrectly displays it as "000", much like the "null" version of Troff 'n' Scoff. The door cannot be opened without hacking since Hideout Helm does not contain any bananas. If the player has obtained the first Boss Key, the door will have a DK logo and checkmark on it in addition to the zeroes. Going through the door causes the player to emerge from the pipe in front of the high voltage power hut in Frantic Factory. Entering Frantic Factory this way does not remove the parent map lock, so if the player enters a Troff 'n' Scoff portal without leaving the level, they will be taken back to Hideout Helm's Troff 'n' Scoff instead of Frantic Factory's.

Swimming with a gun

First, the player must perform the Under Kong Isle Glitch. Then, if the player keeps swimming until they get out of the island, there will be a blue spot on the ground. If the player swims there and then goes somewhere else, it will be as if they are on land. Then if the player takes out their gun and goes back to the blue spot, they will be swimming with their gun out. However, it cannot be fired. If the player gets out of the water, they will put away the gun.

This can also be done in multiplayer with Lanky Kong or Tiny Kong. To perform the glitch, the player must select one of the multiplayer maps that have water, then the player must take out their gun and walk into the water, if the player presses C-Up at the right time when jumping into the water, the Kong will be swimming with their gun. If the player presses C-Up while swimming on the surface, they can fire their gun or throw Oranges. When the player presses C-Up again, the Kong will put away their weapon.

Tag Barrel storage

An example of Tag Barrel storage

Normally, when a Kong enters a Tag Barrel, the Kong enters a frozen state where no actions can be performed until the player exits the Tag Barrel. However, entering certain states immediately before entering the Tag Barrel overrides this, causing the player to have control over the Kong and the Tag Barrel at the same time. Various states can cause Tag Barrel storage, including but not limited to:

• Taking damage
• Splashing into water or diving
• Falling from a great height
• Uncrouching
• Deactivating Hunky Chunky
• Capturing a Banana Fairy

Upon gaining Tag Barrel storage, the player will be able to control their Kong, but they will be invisible and the camera will remain fixed on the Tag Barrel. Entering first person removes the camera lock, and playing an instrument makes the Kong and the level visible again. Pausing the game reactivates the Tag Barrel void. Since the , , and buttons are used to select Kongs in the Tag Barrel, actions that involve these buttons such as jumping must be done while transitioning between different Kong selections to preserve Tag Barrel storage. If the player moves far enough away from the Tag Barrel while the camera is not locked, the Tag Barrel will become inactive until the player approaches it again (indicated by the Kongs' names being visible at the bottom of the screen). When a Kong is selected, they will spawn wherever the player was when they were selected instead of at the Tag Barrel. The mechanics behind Tag Barrel storage can lead to many other glitches and sequence breaks.

Test room glitch

Donkey Kong inside the test room next to a motionless clone of himself

Once a player has collected all 40 blueprints, Snide will give them the opportunity to play minigames in his hideout. The options that appear on screen allow for the player to view their collected blueprints, exit the hideout, and play minigames, using , , and respectively. If the player presses , a menu will appear allowing the player to access the different minigames available. If and are pressed simultaneously on the minigame selection menu, the player will be transported to a test room left over from early in development. This occurs because of a programming oversight in the minigame menu. Pressing with a specific minigame highlighted sets that minigame's map as the next destination and attempts to warp the player there, while pressing returns the player to the previous menu, which has a value of 0. Pressing them at the same time causes the game to attempt to perform both actions at once, which results in the menu value of 0 being set as the destination map. This sends the player to map 0, the test room.

The test room contains several pillars that can be jumped on, as well as an unmoving model of Donkey Kong (although he blinks his eyes). Also located in the test room is a yellow Banana Balloon that, if popped, will award the player 10 bananas, regardless of how many have been collected in the level. If the player walks off of the platform, they will continue to walk through space until a scene change occurs. They will then appear back where they started in the room. The test room also lacks background music. Within the test room, the player is unable to pause the game due to the game thinking the player is in one of Snide's minigames, which disable pausing. The only way to get out of the test room without the Intro Story glitch active is to reset the game. If the Intro Story glitch is active, the test room can be escaped by playing an instrument to cause an Intro Story fadeout. This takes the player back to Snide's H.Q., where attempting to leave the first time reloads it, but the game returns to normal after that. However, if the player voids out in the test room before causing the fadeout, the player will be stuck in Snide's H.Q. with no way to escape it.

Unbeatable mechanical fish minigame

In Gloomy Galleon, if the player enters the mechanical fish and tries to complete the target shooting mini game after collecting the Sniper Scope, they'll be unable to win, since the timer ends up falling out of sync with the propeller blades.

This is because the Scope overlay lags the game just enough that said desync occurs, explaining why many players find the mission impossible to complete if they leave it until late in their playthrough.

Uncollectable Hideout Helm Banana Medals

In Hideout Helm, if the player turns off the Blast-o-Matic and resets the game without collecting all five Banana Medals nearby, the medals will be lost forever, since the flag that makes them collectable is reset upon turning off the game. This in turn makes 101% completion impossible on that file.

However, the bug was fixed for the Japanese, European and Australian versions of the game, since Rare made sure turning off the Blast-o-Matic was an alternative condition that could be met to make the medals collectable.

Sequence breaks

These glitches allow the player to access areas through unintended methods.

Enter levels without the required number of Golden Bananas

This is a simple glitch that uses Lanky Kong's move, his stretching arms. The player should walk up to any level entrance with B. Locker stopping the player's way. The player should choose Lanky Kong and go as close as they can to the DK portal and press three times. If done correctly, the player can gain premature access to any level guarded by B. Locker, except Hideout Helm. Donkey Kong can also do this using his standard attack, and Chunky Kong can do it using the Primate Punch. However, Donkey Kong cannot use his technique to enter Frantic Factory prematurely, but he can use another method. To enter Hideout Helm early, Diddy or Tiny Kong can go to either corner of the room where the entrance to the lobby is located and continuously backflip up the wall. They should eventually go through the wall, and can now walk to the loading zone behind B. Locker to enter Hideout Helm.

Enter the lobby of Jungle Japes before talking to K. Lumsy

With Donkey Kong, walk into the water far enough from the shore so he can dive, while also facing the lobby entrance. From here, dive and then mash the button to swim through the shore. Once past the shore, Donkey Kong can swim to the lobby entrance and jump into its loading zone.

Enter Crystal Caves's lobby early

Donkey Kong's method

Run up on the steep slope below the entrance to the lobby of Crystal Caves, do a moonkick and aim for the ledge that is located just before the slope. Once Donkey Kong grabs the ledge, he needs to move slightly towards the left and can then climb up the ledge as normal, clip through the boulder and enter the lobby. The boulder is not solid from the inside, so it can be jumped out from.

Tiny Kong's method

Stand on the ledge that is located behind the boulder with the Triangle Pad, and use the Ponytail Twirl to grab the center ledge. Tiny may have to move to the right after grabbing the ledge in order to clip through it.

Enter Hideout Helm's lobby without key 6 and 7

With Tiny Kong, Monkeyport to the top of Crocodile Isle and backflip up to a golden block next to the Pad. From there, Tiny can use her sliding kick attack ( + ), jump and use her Ponytail Twirl to reach the right side of the croc's snout. Once she lands there, she needs to do her normal ) attack to avoid slipping off of the snout. After she does this, she can jump and do her Ponytail Twirl again to reach the center part of the snout. Once there, she can walk over to the head's small eye and jump towards it. If done correctly, Tiny will go through the eye, and can then use her Ponytail Twirl to float to the lobby's loading zone.

Enter the temple area in Angry Aztec without Guitar Gazump

With Donkey Kong, go to the upper right corner of the temple in Angry Aztec where Tiny Kong is held captive. After facing the corners of the wall, continuously backflip into the corner. If done correctly, Donkey Kong should clip through the wall and be out of bounds. He can then simply walk to the cave were Professor Cranky Kong is found, and continue through the level normally. If Donkey Kong goes too far out of bounds, he will be transported back to the beginning of the world.

Enter Frantic Factory's lobby without the second Boss Key

Below the platform on Crocodile Isle were Donkey Kong's Golden Banana next to a Coconut Switch is located, there is a small, steep hill. If Donkey Kong moonkicks here, he can grab the ledge of that platform, and from there, he can kickjump to the spiral path leading to Frantic Factory's lobby entrance. Although the door to the lobby is closed, Donkey Kong can simply walk right through it.

Instant Dogadon defeat glitch

To trigger this glitch, Dogadon must collide with a TNT Barrel and the active Kong on the same frame. There are multiple ways to do this. One way is to set a TNT Barrel down in front of Dogadon as he is landing, then stand next to the barrel in between it and Dogadon, and wait for him to wag his finger. If done correctly, the game will immediately activate the cutscene where Hunky Chunky lands the final blow on Dogadon, instantly ending the fight and spawning the fifth Boss Key. This works with any Kong.

This glitch works in both Dogadon fights. If performed during the Angry Aztec fight, the game will play a glitched cutscene and turn the active Kong giant, but it otherwise works the same, ending the fight instantly and spawning the fifth Boss Key. This allows the player to obtain the fifth Boss Key much earlier than intended. If this is done, the Troff 'n' Scoff portals in Angry Aztec will not disappear, and the player can go back in and obtain the second Boss Key by defeating Dogadon normally.

Locked Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong locked

At the start of a new game, Donkey Kong is the only available Kong, while the others are locked until they are rescued. However, the game also considers Donkey Kong to be "locked" until the gate blocking the way to the DK Isles main hub is opened. Therefore, if the player uses the swim through vertical walls glitch to skip opening the gate, DK will still be locked, as indicated by there being a red question mark on Tag Barrels where DK's face would normally be. Entering a Tag Barrel as DK will automatically "unlock" him (and open the gate in the starting area, since both are determined by the same flag). However, if the player reaches the King Kut Out boss fight without ever entering a Tag Barrel, the player can switch Kongs without "unlocking" DK. This can be done by using a glitch to bypass the banana and Kong requirements to enter boss fights and obtaining the fifth Boss Key in Angry Aztec to enter Creepy Castle early. If the player does this, leaves the King Kut Out fight as any Kong other than DK, then enters the Tag Barrel, there will be a normally unseen yellow question mark where DK normally is, and the player will be unable to select him.

To switch back to DK, the player can either reenter the King Kut Out fight and exit as DK, reload the file from the main menu, or hit the switch in the starting area (even though the switch has DK's face on it, it can be activated by any Kong).

Obtain the Golden Banana from the Mini-Car in Creepy Castle with Chunky

When going inside Creepy Castle's museum with Chunky Kong, pick up the boulder in the statue's mouth and carry it over to the glass wall with a small factory behind it. By repeatedly putting the boulder down and picking it up again, Chunky can clip through the glass and be on the other side. He can do the same trick on the factory's walls and enter its loading zone. After beating the Mini-Car, he receives the Golden Banana, and it will count towards his totals, not Tiny Kong's. This allows Chunky to have a total of 6/5 Golden Bananas, something only Tiny normally has in the game.

Obtain the last Boss Key without the Nintendo Coin and Rareware Coin

With Chunky Kong, go to the terminals to the left of the door in Hideout Helm were the entrance to King K. Rool's throne room is located. Chunky must then jump on the left side of the terminal, and if done correctly, he should end up inside the terminal. From there he needs to walk carefully towards the wall, as he will otherwise be pushed away from the terminal. Once past the wall, he can walk underneath the path leading to K. Rool's throne room, go behind the room where the final Boss Key is located and backflip into it to obtain the key. As he cannot exit the room normally, the player needs to exit the level through the pause menu.

Unlock Kongs through King Kut Out

Using the glitch to get past the boss door with any Kong in Creepy Castle, enter the battle against King Kut Out. The player will be able to use all the Kongs during this fight, even those they may not have rescued yet. If the player, for example, has not rescued Chunky, and makes him appear in the battle and then leaves the battle, Chunky will now be unlocked for the rest of the game. However, when leaving the battle, all of his color-coded collectibles (Banana Coins, Blueprints and normal bananas) will be invisible, so to fix this, he can jump into a Tag Barrel and go back out. This will not only make his collectibles visible, but the cage he would normally be locked inside in Frantic Factory will disappear, and the Golden Banana that would be rewarded for freeing him will spawn to its location as usual. This also applies to Tiny, Lanky and Diddy Kong.