Alolan_Apples
“Assorted” Collector
The first level of DK64 seems to have the most fitting theme for Donkey Kong since he lives in a jungle, but the jungle in Jungle Japes is not DK's home. And even if the game has inconsistent difficulties (easy and hard Golden Bananas on all levels), this one does show it's at the bottom of the difficulty curve. Regardless, I will cover the details for this level.
One thing to note is that all five kongs have an A, B, C, D, and E golden bananas, where A and B are identical (or almost identical) to each other, but the other kongs do not have any similar golden bananas. The C golden bananas are within the same area (or close to each other), but the kongs have their stuff to do. The D golden bananas are all within the same building or earned for doing the exact same missions with every kong. Finally, the E golden banana is the one you have to defeat a Kasplat and take the blueprint piece and redeem what you collected.
Also, instead of collecting 100 bananas for completion and 75 for banana medals, the bananas are only for stats replenishment while banana medals are needed to access a boss stage. It sounds weird to a veteran to DK64, but it's better than excessive collecting.
And one more thing before I enter the suggestions. I forgot to talk about the Bananaport pads. They are a good idea, but instead of having two in a matching pair, it would be better if there were six bananaport pads and pressing L (the new Z button) would open a dialogue box on choosing where you want to go. I'm sure it can work.
Missions to be removed:
Like I said before, each kong has A, B, C, D, and E golden bananas. Since the blueprint one is the same all along, we only want to focus more on the A, B, C, and D golden bananas. In this level, Donkey's A and B bananas involve freeing Diddy, Diddy's A and B bananas are in the tall mountain with a mine, Lanky's involve climbing slopes, Tiny's are in the small jungle area with a shell, and Chunky's are near and through the X mark. The D golden bananas are behind bamboo gates and cannot be obtained without Rambi's help.
Missions to Change:
Other than the five missions I suggest removing, this level has aged well. However, if there's any edits to be made, I would remove the boulder in the cave behind the Rambi wall and swapping Donkey's switch with Chunky's switch since Donkey Kong has a golden banana under a bamboo gate instead of behind a bamboo gate.
And no blueprints need to be relocated either.
Banana Medal Locations:
This is new to Donkey Kong 64 just like how the Shiekah Stone was to Ocarina of Time (in the remake). Now you collect banana medals individually. To access the boss of this level, you only need to collect one.
Other Changes:
In the same tunnel with two Kasplats, there should be a new tunnel added. At the end is a gate with five or six shooter switches (six if we have Dixie). A golden banana is behind this.
Bonus Golden Banana:
To show that all five or six kongs are unlocked, there should be a gate with a golden banana behind. All five or six switches must be hit to lower the gate and collect the bonus golden banana.
One thing to note is that all five kongs have an A, B, C, D, and E golden bananas, where A and B are identical (or almost identical) to each other, but the other kongs do not have any similar golden bananas. The C golden bananas are within the same area (or close to each other), but the kongs have their stuff to do. The D golden bananas are all within the same building or earned for doing the exact same missions with every kong. Finally, the E golden banana is the one you have to defeat a Kasplat and take the blueprint piece and redeem what you collected.
Also, instead of collecting 100 bananas for completion and 75 for banana medals, the bananas are only for stats replenishment while banana medals are needed to access a boss stage. It sounds weird to a veteran to DK64, but it's better than excessive collecting.
And one more thing before I enter the suggestions. I forgot to talk about the Bananaport pads. They are a good idea, but instead of having two in a matching pair, it would be better if there were six bananaport pads and pressing L (the new Z button) would open a dialogue box on choosing where you want to go. I'm sure it can work.
Missions to be removed:
Like I said before, each kong has A, B, C, D, and E golden bananas. Since the blueprint one is the same all along, we only want to focus more on the A, B, C, and D golden bananas. In this level, Donkey's A and B bananas involve freeing Diddy, Diddy's A and B bananas are in the tall mountain with a mine, Lanky's involve climbing slopes, Tiny's are in the small jungle area with a shell, and Chunky's are near and through the X mark. The D golden bananas are behind bamboo gates and cannot be obtained without Rambi's help.
- Donkey Kong - Talking to Diddy Kong: The four golden bananas you can get with Donkey Kong are talking to Diddy, freeing Diddy, the first barrel blast challenge, and opening the floor bamboo gate near the end of the first tunnel. I like the idea of having all five Kongs do the same thing, and I don't want to devalue the barrel blast challenge, so if I have to remove a golden banana, it has to either be talking to Diddy or freeing Diddy. I would suggest keeping the latter because I do like the idea of earning golden bananas for freeing the kongs, but do we need an extra golden banana just for simply talking to Diddy?
- Diddy Kong - Opening the small cave: Like I said for Donkey, I would prefer not to remove the smashable huts or the golden bananas behind the bamboo gates. Of the other three, the two I would like to keep are the one that requires crossing a limited time plank and the minecart challenge. The other one is too simple to obtain. In fact, that whole cave with this golden banana needs to be removed from the level. Granted, it would make this tunnel less interesting, but it's just an unnecessary section.
- Lanky Kong - Mad Maze Maul: While I would prefer not to encourage laziness to by removing the bee shooting mission in one cave, I would suggest removing this bonus barrel mission because if the whole cave is removed, everything in it (including the Troff 'n' Scoff portal) should be removed.
- Tiny Kong - Splish Splash Salvage: This appears to be even another golden banana in that cave that should be removed.
- Chunky Kong - Smashing the Boulder: Not only this is a stupid way of earning golden banana since he crushed other rocks before and not get anything out of it, but this one is way too simple of a mission.
Missions to Change:
Other than the five missions I suggest removing, this level has aged well. However, if there's any edits to be made, I would remove the boulder in the cave behind the Rambi wall and swapping Donkey's switch with Chunky's switch since Donkey Kong has a golden banana under a bamboo gate instead of behind a bamboo gate.
And no blueprints need to be relocated either.
Banana Medal Locations:
This is new to Donkey Kong 64 just like how the Shiekah Stone was to Ocarina of Time (in the remake). Now you collect banana medals individually. To access the boss of this level, you only need to collect one.
- Donkey Kong - inside the lake cave where one of the banana fairies was.
- Diddy Kong - inside the mine cave on top of one of the barrels.
- Lanky Kong - on top of a slope in the same cave as his blueprint piece was, but on the opposite slope as the bonus barrel.
- Tiny Kong - inside the little shell.
- Chunky Kong - inside that cave where a golden banana and blueprint piece can be achieved.
Other Changes:
In the same tunnel with two Kasplats, there should be a new tunnel added. At the end is a gate with five or six shooter switches (six if we have Dixie). A golden banana is behind this.
Bonus Golden Banana:
To show that all five or six kongs are unlocked, there should be a gate with a golden banana behind. All five or six switches must be hit to lower the gate and collect the bonus golden banana.
