GAME CLEAR No. 238 (?) -- Donkey Kong 64
video games game clear donkey kong nintendo rare n64Donkey Kong 64 (1999, N64)
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Nintendo
Clear Version: N64
Clear Platform: N64
Clear Date: 6/24/25
| Why should I care? |
|---|
| You can pick up a boulder with relative ease. |
Memory expansion included
This is a weird one. I was talking to a friend recently about Donkey Kong 64, which he is revisiting with a modded version of the game that allows him to swap Kongs on the fly (addressing one of the major criticisms of the original release). I mentioned to him that to the best of my recollection, I had definitely gotten to the final boss of the game as a kid but had no memory of actually beating him. I decided to make sure and loaded up the game and kicked K. Rool’s ass once and for all. Or was it twice? Had I done this before?
A lot of fun little things are happening here, in any case. If it is the first time I’ve beaten the final boss, then it is by far and away the most time that has passed between me starting and finishing a game (not counting games I restarted entirely, and even then probably still the longest). But it’s also not the case that I sat it down from c. 1999 til yesterday. Beating this one was simply too much for me as a child due to its notoriously onerous final-boss requirements. I gave up on it as a boy and moved onto other things, but I did revisit it at some point in my adolescence, all too aware that it was unfinished business.
Specifically, one of the hurdles I had to clear was to get the Nintendo Coin, which is required to free the imprisoned K. Lumsy. Doing so opens the path to the final boss fight. Earning it requires you to beat the original Donkey Kong arcade game on level 2 difficulty with just 2 lives. No simple task!
Anyway, I distinctly recall taking the time to do that, but I don’t recall actually fighting K. Rool and in fact have generally carried a faint feeling that I did not do so — that it was this lingering childhood to-do.
My memory of getting the coin and freeing K. Lumsy was proven correct when I loaded my save file yesterday. After fighting K. Rool, I’m still not sure if I’d done it before.
Memory is a funny thing, y’know. I remember some things about the fight but not all. This isn’t unusual, though, as I had the guide (in magazine form, as a was the style at the time) as a kid and flipped ahead to the final boss fight many times hoping I’d eventually get to tackle it. I also remember some of the associated cutscenes and have no recollection of others. Do I remember them from YouTube? Or did I fight this bastard? I don’t know!
Now, really, this only matters as it relates to my neurotic navel-gazing and bookkeeping regarding my gaming. For one thing, this GAME CLEAR label is only to be applied to new-to-me games. Games I’m revisiting I write about under the seldom-used CHALLENGE AGAIN! title. For another, I track my newly finished games on a yearly basis and want my stats to be right! I’m sure you agree this all matters very much.
An objective look at the body of evidence probably suggests I did beat it when I revisited it as a teen. I have memories of the fight, and after all, why would I punish myself by getting the Nintendo Coin and then not go immediately fight the much easier final boss to finally put a bow on this game? Additionally, when I created my Backloggery back in 2009, I added the game to my collection as Beaten. Having said that, I also did that with a couple N64 games I definitely didn’t beat (and have since marked as such). I don’t remember what I was thinking at the time. Maybe I was giving myself credit for time served (e.g., I have a monstrous 114 hours on my Donkey Kong 64 file. I could get a lot of mileage out of games in those days.).
Still, why have I carried around this feeling that I never actually beat K. Rool if I did? I couldn’t tell you.
If nothing else, that doubt has been laid to rest. I have now definitely, unequivocally beaten Donkey Kong 64 on the save file I started two and a half decades ago.
Amusingly, it occurred to me immediately after the fight that I could’ve just checked the cutscene theater to see if the end credits were unlocked. That would’ve answered my question. Now I will truly never know!
Anyway, I hope you weren’t expecting me to actually talk about this game. Over 99% of my experience with it is from a quarter century ago! I sure did like it as a boy, I suppose. And the D.K. Rap is funny.