A new secret has been found in Donkey Kong 64, as after two decades, fans have discovered a hidden developer code. When the player goes through a series of inputs, the code allows entry into a level with a lower than normal amount of Golden Bananas.
This was found by tjballaam on twitter and elaboration on by The Cutting Room Floor:
If you are in a lobby and get close to B. Locker, by pressing Up, then Down, then Left, then Right on the D-Pad, the homing ammo sound effect will play. This enables a developer function which is reset every time the player loads a level lobby. The purpose of this function is to cause B. Locker to allow the player to enter a level with a lower than normal amount of Golden Bananas, also displaying otherwise completely unused text. Note that the number on the sign will not change after entering the code. This code also does nothing in the Jungle Japes lobby, still leaving the player to collect the mandatory 1 Golden Banana to enter the level.
The requirements after entering the code for each lobby are:
- Angry Aztec – 3 Golden Bananas (Diddy)
- Frantic Factory – 10 Golden Bananas (Tiny)
- Gloomy Galleon – 20 Golden Bananas (Lanky)
- Fungi Forest – 35 Golden Bananas (Chunky)
- Crystal Caves – 50 Golden Bananas (DK)
- Creepy Castle – 65 Golden Bananas (Lanky)
The Cutting Room Floor has theorized that “it may be remnants of a scrapped mechanic where you could trade in some coins to lower the banana requirement, as indicated by other parts of the game code, with this code being used to test it.” Will you be testing it out?
You can play Donkey Kong 64 on the Wii U virtual console.
In addition, for access to an extensive variety of active retro gaming groups on Facebook, visit Retro Gamers Hub.