Donkey Kong 64: Top 5 Hardest Golden Bananas

[@velbyYT]

Beaver Bother.... *shudders*. Replaying the game recently I thought that minigame wouldn't pose too much of a problem from beating the easy variant fairly quickly, but oh boy, the hard version is so much worse. Not to mention there are TWO of these fudge nuggets in Creepy Castle. If they had upped the time limit to 90 instead of 60, it would definitely been more manageable

[@agentswipe6662]

Yeah revisiting that minigame made me realize how lucky I was to nail it on the 1st try when I was kid

[@Pootzauk]

For my future playthroughs I will grab 2 glitched bananas and skip both Beaver Bother

[@Apollo1989V]

Beaver bother was a badly designed and/or programmed mini game.

[@andresroga]

5. Beaver bother 4. Beaver bother 3. Beaver bother 2. Beaver bother 1. Beaver bother

[@olisnew5167]

Yeah, totally fair

[@josephhutchison596]

It's not so hard once you find the trick to get them to run inside the hole. Most people try to chase them directly into the hole but they dodge it. I have found if you chase them in a spinning spiral motion (like a hypnosis sign), they slip inside much more easily.

[@Buttington_Headerson]

@@josephhutchison596yeah it’s like herding sheep… it’s piss easy I don’t get why people suck so much at it

[@EponineGraydeChagny]

I'm not sure if I could list a ranking, but I remember when I was a kid, I had a really difficult time with the vulture and owl races where you had to fly through the rings as Diddy Kong. That jet pack wasn't always easy to control! 😂

[@mattdrummond3552]

I haven’t played this game in like 15 years. But if someone asked me what the hardest golden banana is, I definitely have the Crystal Cave Lanky race in my mind

[@olisnew5167]

Yup, it still haunts my dreams.

[@PrimevalDemon]

The beetle in general made me cry several times my first playthrough.

[@olisnew5167]

Same!

[@joshuabanks91]

The mechanical fish one becomes harder if you've progressed the game up to where you can get the sniper scope upgrade from Funky, because it causes the game to lag worse and run out of time faster while trying to shoot the heart targets.

[@derekrequiem4359]

Playing the bongos for the ice maze will stop the ice maze from moving! Also I'm very sure that there was meant to be a Strong Kong barrel for that area that was forgotten to be added in, which is evidenced by all the crystal coconuts in that area.

[@ericb3157]

about #3: i recently watched a video where someone said that having the "Zoom goggles" turned on LAGS THE GAME, causing the propellor to spin slower WHILE THE TIME IS STILL NORMAL, making it impossible!

[@heroknaderi]

For me it was the tiny beetle race and the mechanical fish as you mentioned and the sky arcade those were the top three in my opinion

[@dannytallman3022]

This game was released in North America 2 days before Toy Story 2 started playing in theaters.

[@TomMooreT2S]

I grew up playing DK64 and deemed it one of my favorite games ever. Believe or not, back in the day, it was my brothers that had such a tough time playing through it even more than my first few time. That was pretty much based on observation. I was watching them “suffer” through it first hand and it wasn’t until later that I played it the first time… I had more of a cakewalk. But said cakewalk was not without trial and error. Either there were things I missed or mini games I wasn’t able to beat. But of all challenges that I had to overcome and still plagues me to this day… it’s the Donkey Kong arcade game that still scorches my very soul! As much as I love the game, if I were to speak for the fanbase… Yes, it does need a serious makeover and a second life to make it more tolerable!

[@carybo777]

I've only just beaten the game for the I-don't-know-how-many-th time (all bananas, first time ever!). I'm absolutely in love with the soundtrack and the gameplay in general. But, oh boy, even though I'm pretty good at even some of the toughest challenges by now, some mini games are still VERY frustrating. Funnily enough, both Lanky races were no problem at all to me, I beat both on my second try. But the Tiny beetle race, on the other hand, was and (imo) is still a lot more difficult! The Arcade game is easily my No. 1, it's ultra-giga-mega frustrating that you have to start all over again every time you die. And who in their right mind would have us play the whole thing two times?? As for the ice spike maze, yep, I almost cried here. Same goes for Beaver Bother, although I'd do that 10 more times rather than playing the Arcade or the maze again. Or the mechanical fish, yeah.

[@lordnoodle2146]

Diddy kong had jetpack challenge against a bird. Fuck that you had to get so close to the brand without touching it or you land and it is over

[@kyle412]

I just completed this game for the first time… the Diddy Kong timed challenge in Crystal Caves was the WORST!!!

[@olisnew5167]

Yeah, that's a tough one!

[@tml1377]

Thank you! Especially when you play it multiple times and run out of oranges, so you either have to reset the game or go find more oranges (which there aren’t a lot of in that level), fuck that banana haha

[@leandrovalentim968]

1 - Rabbit Race (Fungi Forest) 2 - Beaver Bother (Creepy Castle) 3 - Beaver Bother (Creepy Castle) 4 - Beetle Race (Crystal Caves) 5 - Banana Fairy Queen's "201st" Golden Banana (no glitch, otherwise DK's Frantic Factory Arcade Mini-Game) While Lanky's race against the Beetle feels very challenging, winning the race after putting a lot of effort to learn from your mistakes makes this race really enjoyable IMO, at the end of the day. But this doesn't happen in Beaver Bother... it just feels like a very frustrating and (sort of) luck-oriented experience, unlike Tiny or Lanky's race against the Beetle - lots of people don't have the interest in replaying Beaver Bother, and a good reason, after all. If we ignore OranguSpring's "Try Again" trick, Lanky's rematch against the Rabbit feels incredibly unfair / nigh impossible as well, and not having infinite Crystal Coconuts makes this mini-game even more annoying and time-consuming than it should be.

[@UnchainedPandoran]

For me, Beaver Bother (Creepy Castle) Beetle Race (Crystal Caves) Rabbit Race (Fungi Forest) Diddy’s Cabin Room (Crystal Caves) Mechanical Fish (Gloomy Galleon)

[@chrispy3051]

Mechanical fish is a lot easier if you don't get the zoom scope, timing is still pretty strict even without it though. My top 5 hardest golden bananas are probably 5.Lanky rabbit race (probably number 3 if we're talking the Wii U version) 4. Diddy's timed enemy killing in crystal caves 3. Beaver bother mini game 2. Tiny Beetle race 1. Lanky beetle race

[@olisnew5167]

They're great choices!

[@bickeya.j.m8470]

I agree with you. Only thing is, I think beaver bother is the worst, and the rabbit race, being the second worst. Third being the ice maze.👍

[@eessppeenn001]

Honourable mention of a golend banana never meant to be collected. And can only be gotten through glitches. The out of bounds golden banana at Lanky's beetle race. You need to clone the exit cannon and shoot yourself extremly high, and then navigate blindly to exact coordinates out of bounds to collect the only golden banana in the game that's tilted at an angle (ever so slightly) from all the others.

[@31darkstar37]

It says something when players use a glitch to complete the ice maze.

[@jovannibaeza191]

You know what’s interesting about beaver bother? It’s the frantic fractory beaver bother specifically that gives me trouble! There are others that have higher requirements but it’s always that one that I struggle with ! Also, on the heart… the fan moves slower if you have the binocular upgrade… that upgrade literally makes it almost impossible to win since you spend more time waiting on the fan to stop moving and you can’t shoot 2 targets on one pause

[@l0rdghirahim258]

To anyone saying beaver bother or still having trouble, come at the beavers towards their sides when they’re near the hole.

[@PrimevalDemon]

The beaver bothers seem to act as if only able to fall in if on a line skewed so if facing directly at the hole or sideways/ directly with back to it they seem to get snagged as if on a force field/ dome invisible blockade. Yet if going slanted it's a sure thing in my experience! I think it's intended to feel like actual herding rather than just like pushing them over an edge like poker chips or inanimate coins with no say. Herding is always a two headed affair for good or bad! That's what is up if you ask me anyway. Definitely a flaw but if you think of cardinal directions or all points of a eight way star it'll carry you far even if it means throwing a few herds inversely, near as they be to you if success similarly is brought not far.

[@victorthyrstedt287]

I pretty much agree to all of these slots, although I would move the Lanky beetle race down to honourable mentions and replace it with Tiny´s version. For some reason I just found it way harder, I kept either just losing on time or being 1 or 2 coins short. Think I did the Lanky race in about 8 tries or so, so not saying it's easy at all lol.

[@olisnew5167]

Yeah, that's very fair! 🙂

[@michaelmilano2684]

Very accurate list

[@olisnew5167]

Thanks

[@Kenta455]

Weirdly I had a lot less of a problem with beaver bother compared to that stupid fly swatter mini game. The fly moves so fast and so erratically that in the end I think I won just by luck alone, not skill. I guess I got lucky on the race because during my second try the Rabbit got hung up on that Kasplat in the tree and never caught up to me again Agree about the beetle race; I really wish both of those slide levels had just been “collect 50 coins” instead of an actual race. Sliding around and collecting stuff is fun, and can still be made challenging, but having to race too just sucks. Or maybe split it up so like there is a banana for collecting and a separate one for the race?

[@lightningboy_91]

The fly swatter minigame was by far the worst followed closely by the beavers !

[@olisnew5167]

Yeah, they were the worst

[@Barix5000]

For that friggin beaver minigame l HATE the "WeLcOmE tO a BoNuS sTaGe" voiceline 😭😭😭

[@DannysDome]

I find the Rare coin (rocket minigame) 100 times harder than the Nintendo coin :O Beaver Bother can burn in hell tho, it's the worst thing I ever done in gaming :(

[@olisnew5167]

It's such a horrible mini game!

[@mpf1947]

It's just a points challenge, so you don't need to advance the stage after fueling the rocket. Just keep collecting the points items in the first stage, where doging the meteors is easier.

[@Monty2289]

Even I'm willing to admit without the save replay feature on Wii U VC I could not beat this game. Just the fact that I can log a point where a critical failure can happen and try again saved what could have been tons of heartarche. Every single race in this game is near unforgiving. All of the mine cart ones awful as well.

[@TonyChameleon]

beatle race in angry aztec was worse i thought

[@damonrichardson1999]

The beetle made me so angry I stopped playing as a kid. And when I came back to the game I muted my tv because I wanted to punch a hole through my tv whenever I heard the beetle squeaking and squealing at me. I'll take five games of Beaver Bother over either of those wretched beetle races, especially the one in Crystal Caves.

[@Blade-hf9po]

Switch the rabbit race with the Owl race, and this would be my ranking as well.

[@olisnew5167]

Yeah, I found that difficult too

[@adriangonzalez8161]

I vividly remember the spinning maze having the invincible barrel for donkey Kong to use. I remember using it and getting the banana so effortlessly. I don't remember how i made i pop up. I tried several different methods when i replayed it, but i can't remember. The next 10 times i played the game over, i couldn't do it, but i remember doing it with the invincible ability. There are crystals there for a reason

[@Countries_Watches]

The arcade-machine was the point where I've recently stopped replaying the game...absolutely unnecessary and annoying!

[@olisnew5167]

Yeah, it did feel padding! I wish the Nintendo Coin was an additional collectible.

[@kurtisk3643]

Lanky race is easy. Just collect the 50 coin then pick up speed at the end.

[@hanggeng7269]

& worst boss this that fire 🔥 breathing pathetic dragonfly that chunky has to fight & KILL IT WITHIN TIME BEFORE HE SINKS IN THE FKING LAVA!! That was hardest boss for me

[@ClipReplay404]

I think it’s best to keep practicing him. That boss used to be the hardest boss for me (like harder than K.rool at the end of the game), I just played him over and over for several hours. Now I can beat him first try consistently with plenty of time left.

[@ericb3157]

that's an annoying one, but i figured out that you can beat him faster by using the Super Punch (hold Zand press B) than by using just regular punches.

[@hanggeng7269]

Of course that DK ARCADE is the hardest for me cuz I don’t even know you can win the coin 🪙 at the end!