Donkey Kong 64 Questions

Is there an easier way to beat the origanl donkey kong game?

Date of Question: Aug 2nd 2004 | Question ID: 7962

No!

This is a lot of info - but if you read it it should help!

Stage 1 -
Donkey Kong will continuously throw barrels down at you, so you must either jump over them, or find a ladder to go to the above level. When one of the blue barrels falls into the flaming oil tank, a fireball will be born, and start to chase after you. The hammers will enable you to destroy anything in your path! Sometimes the barrels will fall down the ladders (even the broken ones you can't climb), so if a barrel is about to go over a ladder, get ready just in case. If it doesn't go down, you can then go up the ladder and cut it off. This is all classic girder action!

Stage 2 -
This is some kind of twisted pie factory, as conveyor belts lead directly to flaming oil tanks, and pies can kill you! I never heard of a dangerous dessert before...Anyway, many flames hang out in the center, and they will track you down, so be sure to keep an eye on them. When you get to the ladders that retract every few seconds, wait there at the top, as it is the safest place in the board (unless a flame starts to come towards you...). Don't be afraid when Donkey Kong himself begins to run at you, because he can't do anything to impede your progress. It is entirely possible to jump over the flaming oil tank if a flame is chasing you, so don't give it a second thought.

Stage 3 -
The first main obstacle is getting past the first flame. To do this, wait until he is at the very bottom of his platform, or on a ladder, and then wait for one of the rising platforms to come close enough so you can jump on it without dying. Then, when it gets to the top of the flame's platform, quickly jump off. By this time, he will be chasing you, so go down a ladder, to the falling platforms, and free from his evil clutches (a bit melodramatic, I know). You'll want to stay far from the second flame, so go to the detour. Now, the final obstacle: getting past the bouncing "I"s. You must realize that the only place it can kill you, is the area around the ladder that leads to Paulina (the Princess Toadstool look-alike). If you stay to the right of the ladder, they can't TOUCH YOU! So wait for one to bounce past the white ladder, then quickly climb up before the next one has time to even come close.

Stage 4 -
The final board, all you have to do is run over the eight switches (the small, yellowish objects embedded into the girders). I think the easiest way to do this is to wipe them out level by level (e.g. all the ones on the bottom row, then all the ones on the middle row, then the ones on the top row), because it enables you to dodge the considerable amount of fireballs that come after you much easier. If you try to do them by column (e.g. all the ones on the left-side of the screen, the all the ones on the right) you will have a bit of a problem, as you will have to dodge MANY fireballs when going back down. Stick to my method, and it should be easier.

General Tips -
After beating stage 4 for the first time, you may play it in the Mystery Mode, which is a lot better than trekking all the way to the center of Frantic Factory...and besides, you don't have to sit through the cinema of Donkey pulling that stupid lever.

By successfully completing the fourth stage, you will start over, except with a much more higher difficulty rating (look in the upper-right hand corner, see the "L = #"? The # is the difficulty rating). The highest I have ever gotten to was three, but I hear that it goes up to five! Each stage gets MUCH more difficult, with an insane amount of barrels being dropped, and dozens of fireballs being unleashed. Scary, yet highly addictive. You might want to use those hammers a lot, to clear out the path.

If you're going for a high score, be sure to pound as many fireballs, barrels, and pies into the ground as you can by either jumping over them or using the hammer. Likewise, collect the stationary pies, umbrellas, and purses for bonus points.

No dude like I said there really is to secret to beating it it's just hard