Donkey Kong 64 Bonus Games High Scores Guide Version 1.5 Date 5/14 By Jon Barber (Ngamer64) E-mail Mr1166@hotmail.com (Feel free to E-mail me about anything relating to DK64. I love getting mail from people and hearing if my guide has helped them. If there's something I should add, tell me about it.) Web Page The Official JB Page - http://www.geocities.com/cyber1166 Jon Loves Playing For High Scores at N64 High Scores - http://nintendo64.high.scores As I looked at all DK64 Walkthroughs and FAQs posted at GameFAQs.com, I was shocked and appaled to see that there were no guides to help you to get farther, get high scores, and show how to do better when you "play for fun" in the 4 excellent Bonus Games that Rare added: Enguarde Arena, Jetpac, DK Arcade, and Rambi Arena. I intend to fix that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS ------- 1. Revision History I. ENGUARDE ARENA II. JETPAC a. Point total b. Level reached III. DK ARCADE IV. RAMBI ARENA V. Credits **************************************************** 1. Revision History 5/14/00 - I finally found some time to update again. I was able to hit a really nice run and got a 202 in Rambi Arena last week! So I updated a few things on that game, and I also wrote down my complete stragegy for getting a 430 in Enguarde Arena! I was able to hit 430 just a few hours after I sent in that update on the 28th, and now you will know how it's done, also. Just be warned, you have to be EXTREMELY fast to get that strat to work. Also added a bit more info about DK Arcade, but David Wonn has not written the complete walkthrough for the game yet. 4/28/00 - Horray! I was finally able to improve my DK Arcade score! I beat 4-3, and I even got by 5-3, all the way to 5-4. My new score is 124,700. I'll tell the story of how I (and I'm not a very great Arcade player, by the way) was able to get past level 4-3 soon. Also, David Wonn agreed to help me out and write a great DK Arcade walkthrough for this FAQ! With his help, you ought to be able to improve your DK Arcade score very quickly. Also, Chris Rayola has helped me out by writing a little something for me to put in the Rambi Arena section. He just improved his score to 202 points last night. I wrote the basics of Rambi Arena, and a little bit about getting nice scores. So keep checking this FAQ! Also, I am now SO close to a 430, and also a 435, in Enguarde Arena! I got within a second of breaking 430 last night, but it seems that every time I have a real good run going, I choke in the last 5 seconds. I've got to get it this weekend... The new strategy that I'm using is so insane, I'm not even going to tell you about it right now. If I do hit a 430+ score, you will be the first to hear about it, and then I'll write a full strat. But rest assured that it will be very confusing and almost impossible to use and get a good score, unless you are really, really fast. So keep checking this FAQ to see if I can do it! 4/24/00 - Everything is new. ************************** Bonus Game I. ENGUARDE ARENA My score: 430 Proof: Screen shot of Enguarde high scores. Viewable at http://jbpage.surf.to/dk64.html (The shot right now is still of my 420 score. I'm going to take a 430 shot and get it posted there soon.) First some basic info about this bonus game, which is my favorite, by the way. There are 10 stars in the pool. 6 of them are below water, they each give you 5 points when you go through them. There are also 4 stars above the water, and they give you 20 points each time you go through them. There is also a Lap Bonus which will give you 50 points as soon as you complete your first full lap. There are basically 2 different kinds of laps you can finish, a Full Lap and a Small Lap. Now, imagine that you are looking down at Enguarde's pool from high above it. It is in a rectangle shape, with a larger width than the heigh. Now, off the left of the pool is the highly concentrated points section, where you will find 3 out of the 4 stars that are above water level. You'll also find all different little "rooms" that are sperated by the blue bars which you must jump over, and then go under, to collect the stars. I will call this area the starting section. On the other side of the pool, the right side, there is only 1 star above water. Aviod spending alot of time here. To go the fastest, you must master how to move Enguarde. You have to stay as close to the top of the water as you can, and when you jump out of the water, stay as low as you possibly can while still hitting the bottom of the star. There are different strategies for how to hit the A button. Some people like to hit it every few seconds, while others like to hold down the A button the entire time. Personally, I like to tap the button the whole time. Each of these makes you go the same speed, as far as I can tell. Experiment and decide which one you like the best. HOW TO GET A HIGH SCORE THE 420 METHOD *NOTE: This method will give you a score of 420 if you get good enough at it, but I don't think that it's possible to pick up more than an extra 5 points after you hit the final ring. So if you want a score higher than 425, look at my 430 method, which is posted just below this one --- I can give you the best strategy to use, but you still won't be able to hit a really high score unless you get very fast. And you can only get fast through practice. So that you'll be able to see if you're going fast enough, I've included the times that I get when I'm on a good 420 run. When you start the game, you must first let the entire cut scene play, so that you float to the top of the water. After this, make a 90 degree turn to your left, and head for the starting section that will be right ahead of you. If you do it right, you'll go through the 5-ring right in front of you, and then through the 20-ring right behind it. Keep on going, and you'll go 5, 20, 5, and then 20 again. You have to keep doing this until you get very fast at it, because if you get out to a bad start, you're in a lot of trouble. If you get good at it, you can easily tie my time at this point 75 points :50 seconds remaining After this, continue going forward, hit the very top of the next star, then jump as low as possible and try to angle yourself toward the right as you hit the 20-point star. (This is the hardest star to master.) Come back down and hit the next 5-star to finish the lap and collect your 50 point Lap Bonus. 160 points (1 full lap) :41 seconds remaining After collecting the lap bonus, continue on and do another full lap. Remember to stay as close to the top of the water as possible. You will not get another Lap Bonus for doing the lap a second time, unlike some people think. 270 points (2 full laps) :22 seconds remaining Once you finish it, continue on past the entire starting section one more time, through the 20, 5, 20, 5, and 20. 345 points :12 seconds remaining After you hit the water, make a sharp turn to the right and go as fast as possible to the same 5-star where you started the game by hitting. You have to be going very fast to have a shot at 420 by this point. You have to be able to hit this first 5-star with 350 points :08 seconds remaining Now is where you have to be flawless. Go up through the starting section one last time, past the 20, then down to that 5, and now be careful to stay very, very low as you hit the next 20. If you're going fast enough, you'll be able to hit the top of the 5, and then power up and to the right and make it through the next 20, giving you that 420 total you've been dying for! 420 points 1/2 second remaining ***** THE 430 METHOD ***WARNINING*** Do not even try this method unless you consider yourself VERY good at Enguarde, and really, really fast. I would suggest practicing my 420 method until you can routinely hit 395-420 before moving on to this "expert"- difficulty method. Well, you have been warned, you can read on now... Start out like you would with any other method, by collecting the lap bonus on your first lap. Like last time, you should have about 41 seconds remaining when you collect it. After that, get through the rings in the starting section again quickly, going through all 3 20-rings and all the 5's under them. Now, this is where it gets a little bit crazy. After getting through the final 20, make a sharp turn to the right, and head back into the middle of the starting run, going above the bar and hitting that middle 20-ring. So now you're doing the starting run backwards. Come down and get the next 5, then head up and to the left, through the 20-ring there. When you come down, there will be a 5 right in front of you. Hit it, and then make a VERY, VERY quick U-turn to your left. If you do it right (and this is pretty hard to master) you'll go back through the 20-ring that you passed less than 3 seconds before. You have to time it right, so that you hit it within a split-second of when it stopped spinning from the last time through. That way, the game will count the points. After this, just continue on as you normally would, going on 2 more full Small Laps. If you did the whole U-turn fast enough, you will be able to make it to the end of the starting run the second time, and the counter will keep going up. When you get to your score screen, you will have a big 430 on the top! Congratulations, you are now officialy extremly fast, and one of the world's best Enguarde players. Up until the time this was posted, I was the only person in the world who knew about this strat. (Well, me and Chris Rayola, who I like discussing stratgy with.) And now you know it too. Lucky you! If you have any ideas for more crazy strats that you think could break 430, tell me about them. Mr1166@hotmail.com And I'll try them out and get back to you. --- Another one of the best Enguarde players in the world is Chris Rayola. He currently has a 415, and is very close to 420. He recently wrote me and told his idea on how to break 420. I'll share his new strategy with you: "I think that you can get 435. Here's how: Start off with the lap bonus and after you go through the last twenty in the sequence of 3 twenties, quickly turn right to the other side. Do another lap of twenties, then turn right again. Then do another sequence of twenties and turn right for the last time. (When you go to the other side all those times keep hitting the 5 points then jump up to the twenty) When you are on the other side you should hit them in this order: 5, 20, 5, 20, 5 for the last lap and end up hitting the last 20 just before time runs out. ~Chris" That is a very good strategy, but I haven't been able to get it to work yet. I do think that it is possible to complete, though. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bonus Game II. JETPAC Now on to my second favorite bonus game. Who ever thought that an atari-type game from 1985 could be so much fun! Now, maybe you're thinking "What? Fun? Jetpac is such an easy, boring game. I got my Rareware coin and 5,000 points on my first try." That's true, playing Jetpac for a high point total is an experience that may require enormous amounts of caffine to keep you awake. The reason that I like it so much is because I play for farthest Level Reached, which is a whole lot of fun. The average DK player only gets to Level 5, which is the first challenging level. Once you get good enough to pass this level, it really opens the whole game up for you. Well, first I'll tell you how to get a great point total, if that's what you're into. HOW TO GET A HIGH POINT TOTAL My score: 999,995 points Yes, I really have that score, and you can have it too. In fact, if you hurry, you can have it within 2 hours of right now! And here is how: Start out a new game of Jetpac. Get past the first 3 levels, you really shouldn't have any problem doing this. Just hold down the B button so that you keep on shooting, and if anything gets in front of you, you'll kill it right away. Even if you die a few times, it's no big deal, just keep on going. Once you get to Level 4, the one with the airplanes, go and stand on the far-right platform, the highest one. Now, stand as far to the right on it as you can. Look to the right, and start shooting. Your shots will go across the screen and come out on the other side, killing all the airplanes that form over there. Also, the airplanes will keep on trying to kill you, but they can't fly high enough and will crash into the bottom of the platform you're on. Every time a plane crahes or gets shot down, you get 150 points or so. So you'll be on a course to go over 1 million points in around 2 hours. But now you're thinking, "What? I have to sit here holding this controller and watching little planes crash for 2 hours?" You see, this is where the genius part comes in. Go and find yourself a piece of tape, preferably stoch. Now, rip off a piece, and tape that B button down on your N64 controller. Make sure that it's taut! There, now set the controller down, be careful not to touch the control stick. Now go away and do something for the next hour and a half or so. A really good idea would be to try to read every single word and look at every picture that's posted at my web page http://www.geocities.com/cyber1166/ . After that, go and post something on the GameFAQs message boards about how much you're enjoying reading this guide. Then go and read a book or something. Ok, now you can come back to your TV, and you should be somewhere in the 900,000 range. For a real challenge, try to stop yourself right exactly when you hit 999,995 points. Then take a picture of it and show it to your friends. Also, send me the .JPG. Mr1166@hotmail.com You may very well have the only screenshot of 999,995 on the internet today. By the way, I would like to give credit to the person who I first found out this strategy from. Thank you, Steven Zwartjes. ************************** HOW TO GET FAR/ PLAYING FOR LEVEL REACHED My score- Level 16 Proof: Screen shot of me in Level 9 (the only screen shot of Jetpac beyond Level 8 on the internet today?) Viewable at http://jbpage.surf.to/dk64.html This is where it gets fun. I'll break it all down, level by level. Level 1- Difficulty= 2 (out of ten) You really shouldn't have any trouble with this level. Good god, I hope not. What I like to do is to hold down the the B button the whole time and stand on the middle platform. Then you just have to keep moving back and forth, collecting the fuel tanks when they land on the platforms next to you. Try to catch them in the air before they land to save yourself alot of time. If you're really worried about getting hit, stand on the right platform and fire right while you wait. It's almost imposible to get hit this way. Level 2- Difficulty= 4 You might die once or twice here. The little furry alien heads (that's what they look like to me) bounce up and down, but they are not all that hard to avoid. I use my basic straegy here, just stay on the middle platform and shoot the entire time. If one is bouncing on it's way up, try to slip under it, and if it's coming right at you, shoot it down. You ought to be able to beat this level without dying after a little bit of practice. Level 3- Difficulty= 5 This one gives me a little bit of trouble once in a while. The big bubbles here move slower than the alien heads, but it's a little harder to predict which way they will bounce. Sometimes one will come up from under me and take me out. I use the same strat. as usual here, just keep that gun shooting and stand on the middle platform. If you get into trouble, stand on the far right platform and fire to cover yourself. Level 4- Difficulty= 1 The easiest level in the game, if you know the right way to do it. Stand on the right platform and face to the left. Now, wait for the wave of planes to crash themselves into the platform you're stannding on, then hurry out and pick up the fuel tank and drop it into the ship. Then go back and stand on the platform again. Keep this up until you're all fueled up and ready to leave. You really have no excuse for dying here. Level 5- Difficulty= 7 The first real challenge. You get chased by UFOs that actually follow you where ever you go. The only way you will be able to make it through is if you keep moving. What I like to do it to hold down the B button (didn't see that coming, did you) and then jet myself in one direction as much as possible. When I reach a large wall of UFOs, I'll turn around and go the other way. It's always risky to cross the screen and go over to the other side, because you can't see what will hit you, but I do it pretty often. The biggest problem is if you end up dying, and the next fuel tank is way off to the left. If you get in this situtation, you are in big trouble. Just try to grab it and get back to the ship as fast as you can. You'll probably end up dying almost half the time, but there isn't much you can do about it. The main thing with this level, and all the other hard ones, is that you shouldn't go in thinking that you're going to beat it easily. If you do, you'll be dead within a few seconds and then just give up on Jetpac alltogether. You have to try this a few times to get the hang of it, and then you'll be able to beat it pretty easily. Level 6- Difficulty= 6 This is alot like a cross between Level 2 and Level 3. There are plus signs, or little crosses that bounce up and down throughout the whole level. They move a little faster than anything you saw in 2 and 3. But this is still not hard at all compared to level 5. They won't follow you around, so you should be able to blast them all you want. I pretty much try to do the same things I usually do for Levels 2 and 3 in this level. You might die once here, but that should be all. Level 7- Difficulty= 1 I'm not sure if Level 4 or Level 7 is easier, but they're both very, very simple. In this level, you have ships that look kind of Star Wars-ish that always move from right to left. Also, they go very, very slow. No one should ever die in this level, so I don't really need to write any kind of strategy. I'm usually able to pick up all the fuel tanks as soon as they start to fall, so I'm done with this level within a minute. Level 8- Difficulty= 8 Now, here we go! This is a very tough level, and only an elite group of Jetpac-ers are able to get by it. You get chased by a half-dozen crazy frog-heads (once again, I can call them whatever I want...) that follow you even better than the UFOs. They are a little bit bigger than the UFOs, in fact, they are the widest enemy that you will face. This makes them a little easier to shoot, but also a whole lot harder to avoid. I generaly get out of plenty of close situations where I'm almost traped in by the UFOs, and these are even harder to get out of with these frogs. I end up using the same strategy as for Level 5, just lay on the B button and try to keep moving as much as possible. If you beat it, you've got to be pretty good. But like I said before, I can't give you a strat. that will work all the time. You've just got to play it a couple times and get the hang of it. Levels 9 through 16- Coming sometime... --- I've chatted with the the one of the best Jetpac players in the world, Joaquim Mendes, who has gotten all the way to Level 20. We talked a little bit of strategy, and here is how he described his methods for beating the levels. You guys at GameFAQs probably know him better as "Joca64". In fact, you've probably seen his DK FAQ already. If not, go look at it, it's posted under "JMendes". You'll like how he describes his methods. "I have 3 main strategies, I call them The Pacifist, Rambo and Chicken. The Pacifist - I rarely fire, only when I have no other escape. I try to make the enemies group. Sometimes I get lucky and get them to behave like if they were only one. I use this technique when facing enemies from level 5 and 8. I do this mainly because if you kill one ofthem they reappear on another place of the level. And may appear right in front of you. Rambo - I always have the fire button pressed. I stay at the safest place I know. On top of the highest platform, firing to the right. This way I can kill both enemies that come from the left and right. I wait for the fuel to drop and when the path is cleared I go get it. I use this technique when facing enemies from levels 2, 3 and 6. Chicken - I stay on top of the highest platform and wait for the fuel to drop. I go get it then I return to the same place. I never fire. I try to use the middle platform as a shield.I only use this technique when facing enemies from level 4. I don’t use any particular technique when facing enemies from level 1 and 7. ~Joca64" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bonus Game III. DONKEY KONG ARCADE This is a pretty fun, nostalgic little game, I'm really glad that Rare decided to add it. I'm not the greatest at it, but I was happy just to get past the 100,000 point mark. On my best run, I got all the way to Level 5-4 and got 124,700 points in the process! The whole key to the game is obviously stage 3, and timing that spring that you must get under at the end right. If you time if right, you can also get past 4-3 and 5-3. As for me, it was mostly luck! My score- 124,700 HOW TO GET A HIGH SCORE My guide is coming soon. Until I get it up, just remember to always take the ladder nearest you in stage 1, just run right up the ladders in stage 2, try to use the shortcut in stage 3 in as many levels as possible, and use the hammer to clear a path for yourself in stage 4. Also, I asked David Wonn for help, and he agreed to write a strategy! I'm sure that it's going to be exellent, and will really help you improve your score. David is the world's best DK Arcade player, with a score of 276,600. He is also a world-famous glitch master. You may not know him, but if you've played Nintendo alot, you've probably used them. Check his website out. http://davidwonn.turokcave.com I've sent him a few glitches that I found in DK64. You can check that section to see them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bonus Game IV. RAMBI ARENA This game looked so cool when I first saw it. I mean, you get to be a big rhino and ram into little blue and yellow beavers! What could be more fun than that? Well, alot of things, it turns out. This game just got boring too fast. Also, I don't like how much it relies on luck. You could know just exaclty what to do, but if the yellow beaver shows up on the wrong side of the arena, you lose time and can't get a good score. I don't know, I just can't really get into this game. My score: 202 HOW TO GET A HIGH SCORE Here is a short little walkthrough giving you all the basics, but I'm far from one of the world's best at this game. There are 10 beavers total in the arena. 9 of them are blue, and they will give you 2 points every time you ram them. There is also a very important yellow beaver who gives you a whole 10 points every time you ram him. Whenever you get a combo, that is more than one beaver within about a second and a half of each other, you score is doubled. So if I got a 3-hit combo with a yellow beaver, I would get 2+2+10 x2= 28 If you hit the blue beaver soon enough, he will appear a total of 3 times. You must involve him in a combo every one of these 3 times to get a really good score. The most important thing in this game is being able to link together beavers so that you get alot of combos. The real trick is finding a good strategy that will make the beavers appear in the same place every time. Once you do that, you can plan out where they will appear next and then be able to hit a big combo again and again. The main thing with this game is that you play it enough so that you get very good at linking hits together. Something that helped me to get a high score is that if I saw one blue beaver all alone, I just ran right by him and moved on and found a big combo to hit. This way, he will move on and soon he'll be next to some other beavers, and you can now get a combo with them. And you MUST get the yellow beaver involved in a combo all three times if you want to break 200. Well, it is possible to break 200 without it, but it's a whole lot harder, nearly impossible. As my high score shows, I've never gotten really great at this game. That's why I've asked for help from some better players. And here is what they said. Here is a little guide that Chris Rayola sent me. Hopefully it'll help you out. Chris has a pretty nice score here, a 208, so he knows a pretty good strat. "Start to go down the middle of the arena then following where the gold beaver goes and make sure you get a good combo, like around 4 or 5 beavers total. After you do that go to the opposite direction of where you went and stay to the wall. The beavers should be lined up next to the wall. Get a combo of them too. If you hit the gold right in the start, then he will appear at around 33 or 34 seconds left. Hit another good combo, hoping to get the beavers next to each other. He will show up for the last time at around 10 seconds left. You will have to hit a third good combo. After that keep hitting combos of blue beavers until time runs out. Although most of this is just luck, this is how they are set up when ever I play the game. ~Chris" Thanks Chris! Also, Alex Penev did help me out a little bit by giving me this advice about 2 things I was wondering about. He says that you should NOT hit the B button or A button or thing else when going after the beavers, it just slows you down. Alot of people think that by hitting the B button, then raming the beavers they make him charge and then save theselves a little time, but actually it doesn't help. Also, Alex says to keep the camera angle as far away as possible. This allows you to see more of the arena, and you'll be able to find out where the beavers are easier. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ V. CREDITS I'd like to thank the following people for helping to make this guide better: Chris Rayola Joaquim Mendes Alex Penev Also, I'd like to thank CJayC for posting this, my very first FAQ. I may know nothing about FTP or how to make .txt files word wrap, but he was able to look past all that and post this High Score Guide. Hopefully it will help some of you out at getting better scores. --- This guide is Copyright © 2000 Jon Barber. If you would like to use it on your website, first E-mail me to ask permission. Mr1166@hotmail.com If you ever see this guide at any site besides those listed below, tell me about it. They do not have permission! GameFAQs - gamefaqs.com Nintendo 64 High Scores - http://surf.to/Nintendo64.High.Scores The Official Jon Barber page - http://jbpage.surf.to Gamewinners - gamewinners.com (and it's partner site) Video Game Strategies - vgstrategies.about.com Copyright © 2000 Jon Barber