N64 DK's Jungle Parkway
| DK's Jungle Parkway | |||||||||||
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| Appears in | Mario Kart 64 (1996) Mario Kart Wii (2008) | ||||||||||
| Cup(s) | Special Cup (64) Leaf Cup (Wii) | ||||||||||
| Based on | Jungle Hijinxs (Donkey Kong Country) | ||||||||||
| Distance | 893 m | ||||||||||
| Online play | No longer available (Wii) | ||||||||||
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DK's Jungle Parkway (originally written as D.K.'s Jungle Parkway), also known as Donkey Jungle Park[1][2] or Donkey Kong Jungle,[3] is the first racecourse of the Special Cup in Mario Kart 64. It is Donkey Kong's home track in the game. The course returns in Mario Kart Wii as the third course of the Leaf Cup. The music for this course is the shortest of all Mario Kart courses in the series, with each loop being only about 15 seconds long.
Course layout
When racers go off-course, unseen "restless natives," as the instruction booklet calls them, throw coconuts at them. A large paddle steamer with "Mario" written on it cruises around the river in the jungle. The race starts off along the shoreline of the river, which leads to a massive jump across the river. Players, while jumping, can aim their landing spot. The paddle steamer may be an obstacle during this jump, but players can pass through the paddle steamer most of the time. Players then follow the winding dirt path to a narrow wooden bridge at the edge of a waterfall. The bridge leads to a small cave, which ends at the start of the track.
The original version has a glitch where it is possible to jump through the corner in the cave, resulting in as little as a 20-second race if done three times. This was not fixed in the Virtual Console release.
Mario Kart Wii
DK's Jungle Parkway makes its classic course debut in Mario Kart Wii as the third race of the Leaf Cup. In that version, the Hammer Bros., Toads, Goombas, and Shy Guys ride the paddle steamer (only in single-player mode), the water is yellowish-orange instead of blue (to reflect the color of the sunset sky), and the jungle has been pushed back, with the coconuts that usually hit the player being removed. Another change is that inside the cave is mud, which slows down racers that try to cross it, unless they use a Mushroom, Golden Mushroom, Star, or Mega Mushroom to cut ahead without slowing down. The Dash Panel at the jump has been modified. In the N64 version, if the player is shrunk by Lightning when approaching the jump, it is possible for the player not to make it over the river. In the Wii version, the Dash Panel acts similarly to the Barrel Cannon, where the player always makes it across, even when shrunk, and also forces the drivers to go straight and prevents them from cutting ahead and/or going anywhere else. Also, the Arrow Signs are now brown with blue arrows instead of cream with red arrows. The course map has been rotated 90° counterclockwise.
This is one of two tracks in Mario Kart Wii, the other being SNES Mario Circuit 3, where it is impossible to do a trick since there are no trick ramps.
Tournaments
August 2008's first tournament required players to complete a GP race on DK's Jungle Parkway against Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, who ride on the Phantom and Sneakster respectively. Both opponents have access to infinite Bananas, but players can still make use of Item Boxes; the second and third sets will always contain Green Shells, and the first and last sets will always contain Triple Green Shells. This tournament was later repeated as the second tournament of December 2009.
Profiles
Mario Kart 64
- Instruction manual: "The home of Donkey Kong, the Jungle Parkway was developed as a tourist facility and equipped with a racing ground for Karts. Carved out of the jungle, the road is mostly narrow. Be careful – should you leave the course, the restless natives will "voice" their complaints by throwing stones at you."
- Website: "Donkey Kong's riverside course is a wild Kart safari!"
Mario Kart Wii
- European website: "A paddle steamer slowly meanders its way round the muddy waters as you shift into a much higher gear and tear around dirt tracks, over shaky wooden bridges and through a gloomy cave illuminated by flame torches."
Gallery
Mario Kart 64
Artwork of the parkway
Artwork
The icon from the menu
The icon from the official Mario Kart 64 website
An overview of the map from the official Mario Kart 64 website
The Dash Panel
The big jump
A coconut is thrown at a player after they drive outside the road.
The bridge
The cave
Mario Kart Wii
The course banner
A preview of the course
The paddle steamer now has tourists on it.
The long jump
The bridge leading to the cave
The cave interior
Media
 D.K.'s Jungle Parkway - The music for D.K.'s Jungle Parkway | File info 0:30 |
 Mario Kart 64 - D.K.'s Jungle Parkway playthrough. | File info 3:03 |
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ドンキージャングルパーク Donkī Janguru Pāku (Mario Kart 64) DKジャングルパーク DK Janguru Pāku (Mario Kart Wii) |
Donkey Jungle Park DK Jungle Park |
| Chinese | 森喜剛丛林公园 Dàjīn Gāng Cónglín Gōngyuán |
Donkey Kong Jungle Park |
| German | DKs Dschungelpark |
DK's Jungle Park |
| Italian | Viale Giungla DK |
DK Jungle Parkway |
| Korean | DK 정글 파크 DK Jeonggeul Pakeu |
DK Jungle Park |
| Spanish (NOA) | Jungla de DK |
DK's Jungle |
| Spanish (NOE) | Pista de la Jungla DK |
DK Jungle Track |
Trivia
- When played on the Nintendo 64, this course has a noticeable drop in framerate caused by the boat and waterfall. To counteract this, a code is enabled when split screen is in play which changes the amount of in-game time elapsed per input frame to prevent gameplay from moving much slower.[4]
- This results in an unintended side effect when played on certain emulators (including the Wii Virtual Console and IQue releases), as the lag is not present due to improved hardware but the frame scaling code is still enabled, causing the game to run faster than normal when played in split screen mode. The Wii U Virtual Console release corrected this by removing the frame scaling code.
- In Mario Kart Wii, if the player uses the rearview mirror to look back, the torches inside the cave can be seen lighting up again.
References
- ^ Nintendo Magazine System (UK) issue 51, page 28.
- ^ Nintendo Magazine System (Australia) issue 49, page 41.
- ^ Nintendo Magazine System (UK) issue 51, page 29.
- ^ https://tasvideos.org/GameResources/N64/MarioKart64/Patches
