Donkey Kong 64 Cheat Codes & Secrets

Cheat Code Access

Donkey Kong 64 does not feature a traditional button-sequence cheat code menu like many of its N64 contemporaries. There is no pause-screen code entry or title screen combo system. Secrets and bonuses are instead gated behind in-game milestones, collectible thresholds, and multiplayer unlocks. The Expansion Pak (required to boot the game) also gates all content — there is no workaround for this hardware requirement.

BananaPort Warp Pads

BananaPort pads function as the game’s warp zone system. Each world contains numbered BananaPort pads marked with a banana icon. Stepping onto an activated pad opens a map of other pads within the same world, allowing instant travel between them.

Important limitation: BananaPort pads only connect points within the same world. There is no cross-world fast travel system — returning to the main hub always requires using the world exit barrel.

Multiplayer Unlockables (Monkey Smash)

Monkey Smash is the game’s four-player battle mode. One hidden character is unlockable beyond the five default Kongs.

Krusha is a large blue Kremling standard enemy in the main game. His appearance in multiplayer is a reward exclusive to players who complete the full Golden Banana collection.

Jetpac Easter Egg (Rareware Coin)

One of the most famous Easter eggs in N64 history. Rare embedded a fully playable version of their 1983 ZX Spectrum title Jetpac inside DK64.

How to access:

1. Collect 15 or more Banana Medals across Adventure mode (Cranky awards one medal per world per Kong when you collect enough of that Kong’s colored bananas in that world)
2. Enter any Cranky’s Lab and speak to Cranky Kong
3. He will grant access to the Jetpac cabinet

What to do:

• Play Jetpac and score 5,000 points or more
• Upon reaching this threshold, Cranky awards the Rareware Coin

The Rareware Coin is not optional — it is one of two special coins required to unlock the final boss fight against K. Rool.

Original Donkey Kong Arcade (Nintendo Coin)

The second mandatory special coin is earned by playing the original 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game, embedded in full within the Frantic Factory world.

How to access:

1. Enter Frantic Factory as Donkey Kong
2. Locate the arcade cabinet in the main factory floor area
3. Enter the cabinet

What to do:

• Complete the arcade game (reach the end of the available stages)
• DK earns the Nintendo Coin upon completion

Both the Nintendo Coin and Rareware Coin must be in your possession to enter K. Rool’s final arena. Missing either one hard-blocks the ending.

Secret Unlockables and Hidden Content

Banana Fairy Photography

Tiny Kong receives a camera from the Banana Fairy Queen. There are 20 Banana Fairies hidden across all worlds.

Photographing all fairies also triggers a short bonus cutscene and is required for full 101% completion.

Snide’s HQ Blueprint Rewards

Returning all 40 blueprints (8 per world, one per Kong family per world) to Snide unlocks a bonus video in his HQ. This is separate from the 101% completion requirement.

Funky’s Weapons and Upgrades

Funky Kong’s armory unlocks progressively as Golden Bananas are collected. No cheat bypasses this — weapon access is strictly tied to banana count thresholds per Kong.

Developer Easter Eggs

The DK Rap

The introductory DK Rap FMV is itself a developer in-joke. Written and performed by Grant Kirkhope (the game’s composer), it lampoons the Kong family in a style Rare staff found deliberately absurd. The rap became iconic precisely because of its earnest cheesiness. A reprise version plays over the end credits.

Jetpac as Preservation

The inclusion of a fully functional Jetpac is a deliberate act of Rare corporate nostalgia — the company was founded as Ultimate Play the Game, and Jetpac was one of their first major hits. Finding it required careful exploration and is a love letter to players who knew Rare’s pre-Nintendo history.

Rare Logo Hidden in Multiplayer Arena

In certain Monkey Smash arenas, the Rare logo appears subtly worked into the background geometry and textures — visible when the camera angle is manipulated or when a player is knocked into a corner.

Beneficial Glitches and Speedrun Exploits

Tag Anywhere

Under specific conditions — particularly near certain barrel entrances and loading triggers — players can switch active Kongs outside of designated Tag Barrels. This breaks intended progression gating, since most objects and pads only respond to one specific Kong.

How it works: Position yourself near a barrel or transition point and initiate the Kong swap at the exact frame a load triggers. The game briefly allows the swap before the area lock reapplies.

Use: Allows out-of-order world completion and skips blueprint delivery sequences.

Snide Skip

Normally, each world’s boss key requires delivering all blueprints in that world to Snide’s HQ first. A timing-based clip glitch at Snide’s entrance door allows players to bypass the blueprint check and access the boss barrel without delivering blueprints.

Difficulty: Frame-precise; inconsistent on original hardware due to variable lag, more reliable on emulator with frame advance.

Early Chunky / Out-of-Order Kong Rescue

The five playable Kongs must be rescued in a specific order in the intended flow. Using Tag Anywhere and wall-clip exploits, speedrunners access the later Kong cages (particularly Chunky) significantly earlier than intended, collapsing large sections of required world order.

Lobby Clip (Helm Early)

Hideout Helm is the final world and requires a large number of collected items to open its lobby gate. By clipping through the gate geometry using a precise angle run against the gate edge, players can enter Helm without meeting the item threshold — bypassing dozens of hours of standard collection gameplay.

Setup: Approach the gate from a hard diagonal angle, hold the movement stick into the gate corner, and repeatedly jump. On the correct frame the collision check drops and DK phases through.

Infinite Banana Hoard Hover (Diddy Flight Extension)

Diddy Kong’s Rocketbarrel Boost normally has a fixed fuel duration. By pausing and unpausing at specific frames during the boost, or by approaching certain geometry that resets the fuel tick, players extend airtime well beyond intended range — reaching platforms and items that should require Rocketbarrel upgrades not yet purchased.

Notes on Save System

DK64 saves to cartridge SRAM automatically. There is no password system and no memory card dependency. Progress is tied to a single save file per slot (three slots available). No known method exists to edit save data on original hardware without a GameShark or N64 transfer pak setup.