The Nintendo 64 is a beloved piece of hardware that many will fondly remember as one of the last great cartridge consoles before the arrival of disc-based gaming in the mid-90s. From games such as Donkey Kong 64 to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to Goldeneye 64 (arguably one of the greatest FPS games of its generation), there's a lot of love to give to the console and fans are still reliving the nostalgia to this day.
With the likes of Donkey Kong 64, there are still things being discovered about it even after all this time. Fans have recently uncovered a new secret that has gone undetected for more than twenty years. This hidden developer code allows players to enter a level using a lower amount of required Golden Bananas to unlock. What usually happens is levels are locked off from players until they have a certain number of bananas that they've collected. What this cheat does is lower the amount needed.
A Twitter user by the name of Tom Ballaam posted a video recently of the Donkey Kong cheat code which outlines what players need to do in order to activate it. The twenty-second clip shows the character Chunky Kong approaching a barrier that requires 100 bananas to enter. After activating the code - which involves a button combination on the controller - the number changes to 80 instead. Chunky then proceeds to enter the level.
It's unclear as to why this new cheat has only just been discovered and also how it's managed to remain elusive for all this time. In fact, this isn't the first time that gaming cheat codes have evaded fans for decades. Just recently, there was a code in Street Fighter Alpha 2 that was found more than twenty-five years after the game was released. It seems that no matter how old games get, there's always going to be something new to bring it back into the limelight.
In an era of DLC and unlockable content hidden behind paywalls, it seems classic cheat codes and devices like Game Genie are a relic of old school gaming. Donkey Kong 64 is one of those gems that has been largely forgotten by the video game community. As newer generations of gamers come into the mix, previous eras become a part of history never to be touched again except by those who remember such golden ages. Luckily, with codes and secrets being found all the time including some games like Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game bringing back classic cheats, old fans can relish in the nostalgia while new players become exposed to how things used to be back in the earlier days of gaming.
Donkey Kong 64 is only available on the Nintendo 64.
Source: Tom Ballaam - Twitter