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.

Physics

Access the Intro Story Kong prison

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.

Below the 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.

Enter the barn house 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 Killer Tomatoe. 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.

Go through the mountain in Jungle Japes

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

Hunky Chunky in Jungle Japes

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'll 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 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.

Kroc misses

In order to perform this glitch, the player must go inside the Temple 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.

Reenter Angry Aztec Troff 'N' Scoff

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.

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 isn't 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.

Music glitches

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.

Intro Story glitches

The Intro Story glitch is activated by opening the DK Theatre menu in Mystery mode, and selecting the Intro Story cutscene. As soon as the player sees the screen turning blue, the player must press the button to cancel the cutscene. If they do it right, no music will be playing. If they do it wrong, they will have to replay the cutscene and cancel it again. The glitch will have many different effects on the game, depending on how it is used. When starting the cutscene, the player must also start a timer simultaneously, as keeping track of the time is important, because glitches associated with the Intro Story glitch will otherwise not work.

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.

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.

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, homing ammo 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.

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, getting pulled into the Intro Story while inside one of these areas bypasses this, causing the game to keep the parent map "locked" in memory. Therefore, 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, the barrel must be entered before the game is ready to initiate an Intro Story fadeout, otherwise the parent map lock will not occur. This is not necessary for character huts or Battle Arena Pads.

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 stage bypass

This glitch allows the player to obtain a Bonus Barrel's Golden Banana without beating its bonus stage. To do this, the player must use a Bonus Barrel they wish to bypass to get a parent map lock, then enter a different Bonus Barrel and win the bonus stage. The player will exit the Bonus Barrel that was used to lock the parent map instead of the one they just entered, and it will break open and spawn the Golden Banana.

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.

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 crash 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.

Sequence breaking

Defeat Dogadon instantly/obtain the fifth Boss Key in Angry Aztec

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 trick 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.

Enter levels without the required amount 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 corners of the room were 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 with Donkey Kong and Tiny Kong

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

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 were 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.

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 were 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, hasn't 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.

Freezing and softlocking

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.

Scripting

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.

Swimming with a gun in multiplayer

This glitch will only work 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 an 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 the A, B, and Up C buttons respectively. If the player presses Up C, a menu will appear allowing the player to access the different minigames available. If A and B are pressed simultaneously on the minigame selection menu, the player will be transported to a test room containing 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. The only way to get out of the test room is to reset the game.

This room was likely used for testing the game's physics when it was still in development, and the room was never removed from the final build of the game.

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.

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.

An unexpected victory

In the same mini game as above, if the player shoots the last target just after running out of time, it's possible for them to win the mini game despite the failure sound having already played and the timer having seemingly ended.