Donkey Kong 64/Minigame strategies

Beaver Bother

There are a few things to keep in mind while playing this minigame:

• Don't just bark constantly; make sure the beaver(s) you're trying to scare is (are) between you and the hole.
• If a beaver is being stubborn and won't go in, move on to another beaver. Once a beaver has decided not to go in the hole, he usually won't change his mind unless you let him be for a while (during which time you can get other beavers to fall in).
• If a beaver is in an unfavorable position, you may want to go after another one. If you decide to try to scare a beaver who is against the wall, try jumping over him.

Big Bug Bash

The key to winning Big Bug Bash is to recognize that the hit detection with the fly swatter is not that good. If you try to hit it with the bottom of the fly swatter the fly will most likely glitch through the swatter and not get smashed. Therefore you should attempt to hit with the top half of the swatter. If you aim a little to low the game will still give you credit for smashing the fly in many cases. If you have no choice but to swing at a fly with the bottom of the swatter you should drag the swatter down while striking.

Jetpac

The fastest way to get 5000 points and collect the Rareware coin is to put the rocket together and fill it up with the fuel but stay on level 1. Stay towards the top of the screen and collect the treasures that drop down. Be careful when going for treasures in the top left of the screen since an enemy can appear there and the treasures will block your shots.

Kremling Kosh

The red kremlings give you 2 points but its not worth it to go for them in the later levels since they will usually won't stay out long enough for you to hit them. Sometimes there will be no kremlings on the screen. This is often followed by several popping out at once so spraying melons around the screen when it is empty can sometimes yield a good result.

Minecart Mayhem

The key to Minecart Mayhem is that the minecarts in a given game will always do the same thing as long as you do the same thing. This means that all you need to do is memorize a strategy and it will work 100% of the time if you do it correctly. There are many such strategies for each game. The same strategy may not work in two different games, though (i.e. a strategy for the Creepy Castle game may not work in the Fungi Forest game, even though they're both two-cart games).

One cart

Make sure that you're always in position to switch tracks and you'll be fine.

Two carts

It's possible to get the two carts in the same position so that they basically function as one cart, but this isn't necessary. The best way to do the two-cart games is just to memorize a strategy for each one. Strategies for both games are shown here. Here are the moves corresponding to those videos:

Fungi Forest

1. switch x 3, stay x 2
2. switch, stay
3. switch x 4, stay x 2
4. switch x 3, stay x 5
5. switch (or brake)

Creepy Castle

1. switch x 6, stay
2. switch x 2, stay
3. switch x 5, stay x 5
4. switch, stay x 2
5. switch x 2, stay
6. brake

Another strategy is described below, using the convention that track 1 is the outside track, track 2 is the next one, track 3 is inside tracks 1 and 2, and track 3 is on the inside:

1. You start on track 1 and there are carts on tracks 1 and 3. Get on track 2 as fast as possible.
2. Brake on track 2 until both carts join you. Wait until the first cart can no longer switch to track 3.
3. Get over to the left of the screen on track 1 as fast as possible. If done right the second cart will stay on track 2.
4. Wait for both carts to switch to track 1 and switch to track 2.
5. Wait till both carts come to track 2 and repeat steps 3-5 until you achieve victory.

Searchlight Seek

The main thing to know is that the klaptrap will NEVER walk straight. Therefore you want to predict where it will be on its turn and shoot out ahead of it so it will walk right into the melon.

Teetering Turtle Trouble

You don't need to wait for the turtles to ask for help to feed them. Just go in a circle feeding them.