Trying to collect every item in Donkey Kong 64 is looking madness in the face.
These are the items you must collect if you want to achieve 101% completion inDonkey Kong 64.
At this point, you may be asking Why 101%?
Before trying to answer that question, you have to appreciate what that number means.
All you better do to get those is beat each of the games bosses.
Battle Crowns arent too bad either.
They just require you to complete special areas.
Banana Fairies are also relatively simple to acquire.
That or they were just suffering from a lack of general creativity, but well revisit that later.
Bananas make the world go round inDK 64.
Because you need bananas in this game so you can make progress.
In each of the games eight stages, there are 100 bananas.
You dont need to acquire every banana to beat the game.
That takes about 400.
So how does one actually acquire bananas?
You just pick them up.
Assuming you make contact with them with the right character, that is.
Here is where things truly go off the rails.
Remember earlier when we said that you only need 75 bananas from each level to earn a banana medal?
Heres a small, practical example of how convoluted this approach can get.
The trouble is that only Lanky Kong can pick-up blue bananas.
These special barrels are located across each level and allow you to perform character swaps.
Every time you should probably switch between characters, you must wander back to the barrel.
Thats a fine attempt at practicality, but the problem with your logic is that youre using logic.
That tunnel with the blue bananas, for example?
It leads to a door that can only be opened by, you guessed it, Tiny Kong.
Once again, these Golden Bananas and blueprints can only be acquired by specific characters through various means.
The problem runs deeper than that.
The extra banana comes from collecting each photo of the banana fairies, which are otherwise useless.
Actually, the Golden Bananas themselves are fairly useless.
You dont even need them to collect the other collectibles.
Strangely, those coins are required to beat the game, but not the Golden Bananas or blueprints.
So why would you want to collect these Golden Bananas?
DK64was supposed to be Rares N64 masterpiece.
Some, like former Nintendo VP Peter Main, even believed that it could become the consolescrowning technical achievement.
Actually, it doesnt even really manage to achieve that status.
The pride of 101% and a few scattered gameplay highlights is really allDK 64has to offer.
Oh, and that extra 1%?
Hmmm…maybe that 1% is more relevant toDonkey Kong 64than I give it credit for.
Matt Byrd is a staff writer.
