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Crystal Caves

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This is a sub-page of Proto:Donkey Kong 64/Level Differences.

Main Level (Map 48)#

Kong Exit Doors#

  • Donkey: On the edge of the precipice by the igloo, across from Cranky's.
  • Diddy: Somewhere near Lanky's cabin. A Troff 'n' Scoff portal is here, but not in this exact position.
  • Lanky: On the ground next to the rotating room cabin. Ditto on the portal.
  • Tiny: Next to the tall cabin, by the Bongo Pad.
  • Chunky: On a small ledge in the igloo area, which would later house Bananaporter 3.

Notably, the data for all of these spawn points still exists in the final game.

Squawks Race#

Watch on YouTubeThere's an unused mission near Lanky's Kasplat where you're meant to go race Squawks. You're tasked with going through a series of rings very much akin to the Vulture and Owl races that take place in Angry Aztec and Fungi Forest in the final game, however, unlike those quests in the final game, you're given a 90 second timer to complete this one. Unfortunately, this race is incredibly broken, crashing upon completion or failure of the race. With some memory edits to modify the game code to patch the causes of the crash, the game will spawn a Golden Banana from the water. Most elements of this race survived to the final releases of the game as hidden elements.

  • There are no shops.
  • There is a red cube right behind the spawn point.
  • There are door bars behind the ice wall blocking the Gorilla Gone cave. Instead of a Chunky Pad, there is simply a Golden Banana out of bounds above the ice wall doorway.
    • Another Golden Banana at the end of the cave likely corresponds to the one Chunky gets in the final game.
  • The switch for the slide race is on the upper floor, next to the second Lanky pad. No corresponding switch exists for the puzzle room.
  • The topmost door of the tall cabin has a Trombone Pad rather than a second Guitar Pad.

To do:
Where does the entrance lead?
    • Diddy's candle challenge is C8, making it the last Golden Banana area to be implemented in the final game, so naturally it wouldn't have been in the kiosk version.
  • There is a(nother?) Zinger on the other side of the castle, where a Gnawty normally is.
  • There is no Lanky Pad near the DK Pad.
  • No Tiny Barrel(s) or Bonus Barrel in the area with the DK Door. In fact, there's no evidence of there being a shrink hole in that spot.
  • The boulder switch doesn't have a picture of a boulder on it, nor does it have the metal siding.
  • The Trombone Pad for Lanky's cabin is on the other end of it.
  • There is a random Guitar Pad fairly near the Gorilla Gone cave (roughly where the Bananaporter 5 platform is),
  • There is a blank pad next to the rotating room cabin (where Bananaporter 2 is in the final game), as well as two in the igloo area where the Tiny Pads should be.
  • All(?) Kasplats are Lanky's.

Ice Castle (Maps 52 & 62)#

Watch on YouTubeSlide Race (52):

  • 70 coins are required to win here instead of 50... or so the beetle says, but in reality, there are no coins on this map at all. This count is likely either a placeholder, or a guesstimate as to what an appropriate number would be, based on the 60-coin requirement of the Aztec slide (which does have coins implemented).
  • Just like in prerelease footage, the Orangstand actively consumes Crystal Coconuts. In the final game, they are mercifully made infinite here.
  • There are an extra set of double doors at the finish line that were removed in the final game.
  • The animation Lanky uses for sliding into an Orangstand is a bit different, and more abrupt.
    • He's also lacking an animation for going between a neutral position and sliding forward, leading to some jerky movement on the sliding sections.
  • No cutscene happens after crossing the finish line, so the Golden Banana can't actually be obtained. However, you can freely roam around the track.

Ice Castle (62): Doesn't have anything in it. No buttons, no ice tomato.

Igloo (Maps 54-56, 5F, & 64)#

DK's Section (56): The infamous revolving maze is even worse in the kiosk version-- one hit from it kills you instantly. In other words, the whole thing must be done flawlessly in order to get the Golden Banana. Interestingly, the way it does this is by taking off 64 melon slices at once-- that's 16 times the damage! This was toned down to a single melon's worth in the final game (giving you up to three shots at survival).

The infinite health code 8166861C 2400 can be used to counteract the instakill effect, revealing some coding shortcuts not present in the final:

  • DK doesn't go through his hit animation when taking damage here.
  • The maze is also not programmed to do any more damage past the initial hit, allowing you to waltz in and grab the Banana.

Cabins (Maps 59-5E)#

Diddy's candle room (C8) is not part of this area, as it was implemented later.

Rotating Cabin (59):

  • DK's Simian Slam animates more slowly than in the final, which makes this challenge a bit harder.

To do:
Is it just DK's slam, or is it all of them?
  • There is no Battle Arena Pad here.
  • You can freely move around when the room is rotating, which can be used to cheese the minigame a little (and makes it even easier to fall through the floor). The final game keeps you from doing anything until it stops.