Hideout Helm
Entrance requirement	100 Golden Bananas
Boss	None
Boss requirement	None
Trapped Kongs	None
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“You must locate and deactivate the machine in the main cavern. Hurry, or you won't have an island to go back to!”

—Snide,Donkey Kong 64

Hideout Helm is the eighth and final level ofDonkey Kong 64. It is theKremling Krew's battle station located inside the head ofCrocodile Isle. Hideout Helm is the control room of the Crocodile Isle and the location of theBlast-o-Matic. The Kongs must decommission the Blast-o-Matic before it fully charges, whichKing K. Rool plots to blast atKong Isle. The Kongs have a limited amount of time to meet this objective, which is shown from a timer. It counts down from ten minutes by default, butSnide can delay it by a minute for eachBlueprint he has received. There are forty Blueprints in total, meaning that the highest possible countdown is fifty minutes. The timer only pauses when the game is paused, otherwise continuing to tick down even when selecting a Kong from aTag Barrel or during the "Try Again" screen shown after losing a Bonus Barrel challenge. If the timer runs out, the player gets aGame Over, and the associated cutscene plays.

The Hideout Helm lobby is accessible after theKongs unlock Padlocks 6 and 7 onK. Lumsy's cage (meaning the player must collect the Boss Keys inCrystal Caves andCreepy Castle). After K. Lumsy's celebration, the mouth of Crocodile Isle is knocked open, and is where the Kongs can enter the lobby. The mouth can be reached by climbing up the ship, or ifTiny Kong uses herMonkeyport ability from aTiny Pad. To enter the level itself, the Kongs must have a minimum of 100Golden Bananas.

Hideout Helm has few key items unlike the other levels. It only features fiveBanana Medals and aBattle Crown, the former of which replaces theGolden Bananas. TheKong family shops andSnide's H.Q. are not featured. There is only one pair ofBananaporters, the first pad being at the entrance and the other being in the control room.

Hideout Helm has a throne room where King K. Rool is located. It has a door depicting both theNintendo Coin andRareware Coin, which are both needed to open it. The finalBoss Key and twoBanana Fairies are located behind the door. It is possible to capture them without accessing the door, by using theBanana Fairy's Camera from the outer glass window.

Enemies[edit]

• Kritter
• Klaptrap
• Klump
• Kasplat (Battle Arena only)
• Kosha (Bonus Level only)
• Mechanical Zinger (Bonus Level only)

Layout[edit]

First,Lanky Kong must use hisOrangStand technique to get up two slopes. A Kritter and Klaptrap come before the first one while a Klump precedes the second slope. Lanky then ends up in a circular, symmetrical room with another Klump and aPineapple Switch. He must jump into a nearbyTag Barrel and haveChunky shoot the switch. Doing so moves down a stone wall and reveals another pathway. Here, the Kongs must jump between five vines over the lava.

Another circular, symmetrical room appears afterward.Tiny Kong is required in this part, as there is a nearbyTiny Barrel that Tiny must enter to use herMini-Monkey ability to travel through a small pipe that leads to the room with the Blast-o-Matic. This Tiny Barrel somehow grants Tiny indefiniteCrystal Coconut energy. A gate door automatically opens for Tiny just before she exits the pipe.

Tiny must jump into a Tag Barrel to swap out forDonkey Kong. He must walk behind the Blast-o-Matic and then useGorilla Grab to pull a switch. This causes five DK stars to surround the Blast-o-Matic's second floor, and a Diddy Barrel also appears next to the Tag Barrel. There is a 60 second time limit forDiddy Kong to utilizeRocketbarrel Boost and fly through the stars. Doing so successfully opens five doors (which have a roman numeral on them, either 1-5) each leading to a room with a power generator for the Blast-o-Matic.

Each room has a differently colored generator powering a power stream of the Blast-o-Matic with the same color, and must be deactivated by a Kong of the associated color. The generators are protected by a force field, which take away a quarter melon of the Kongs' health if touched. Every room (aside from Diddy's, which can only be reached with his Rocketbarrel Boost) is blocked off by a flimsy gate that can only be removed from Chunky'sPrimate Punch.

Every room has a glass door that prevents the Kongs from entering, and each one can be opened by aMusic Pad. These pads only appear individually, as the next one appears after a Kong has completed their two challenges. The challenges are done in the order of Donkey Kong, Chunky, Tiny, Lanky, and lastly Diddy. Each generator room either features one or two enemies. Donkey Kong's room features a Kritter, both Chunky's and Lanky's have a Klaptrap and Kritter, Tiny's has a single Klump, and Diddy's has two Klaptraps. After every power stream is deactivated, the Blast-o-Matic shuts off, the timer stops, and the door depicting K. Rool's head opens up.

The active Kong must go down the newly-accessible hallway leading to the control room, which has the steering wheel, some computer screens, and the second Bananaport Pad. A single Klaptrap is at the left side, near the steering wheel, while a Kritter is on the right side. There is also a door depicting the Battle Crown and the number 4 on it, indicating a minimum requirement of four Battle Crowns to enter. This leads to the throne room. Just as the door opens, a cutscene shows K. Rool retreating into hisaircraft. The last objective is for the Kongs to obtain the Boss Key behind the Nintendo/Rareware Coin Door.

Bonus Barrels[edit]

Unlike in previous worlds, theBonus Stages take place inside a steel drum with K. Rool's head. Each Kong must complete two challenges, which then deactivates their corresponding color of the Blast-o-Matic. Each Kong wins aBanana Medal for completing both challenges.

Donkey Kong[edit]

• Left Barrel: Jump into theBarrel Cannon and shoot Donkey Kong into three of the four targets in under 30 seconds.
• Right Barrel:Rambi must defeat 18Kritters while avoiding the electrical pylons in under 30 seconds.

Chunky Kong[edit]

• Left Barrel: In a twenty second time limit, Chunky (asHunky Chunky) must break open ? crates with hisPrimate Punch until he finds a lone Kritter, whom he must defeat.
• Right Barrel: From the podium, Chunky has fire at five Kritters in 30 seconds. The challenge is easier with homing missiles, because the Kritters tend to move around.

Tiny Kong[edit]

• Left Barrel: Tiny has to Ponytail Twirl through three DK stars. She is on top of metal boxes and cannot touch the ground, otherwise she loses. The third star is at an extreme angle. After she touches the stars, Tiny has toSimian Slam a switch.
• Right Barrel: Similar to the left barrel, Tiny must bounce off mushrooms and Ponytail Twirl through three DK stars. She also does not lose from touching the ground.

Lanky Kong[edit]

• Left Barrel: Within 25 seconds, he must useOrangSprint to quickly navigate through a maze, hit a switch, and cross the finish line. Lanky must also avoid some Klumps and Koshas.
• Right Barrel: Lanky must shoot down threeMechanical Zingers, who get defeated from three hits each. The homing ammo makes the challenge easier because the enemies move around fast.

Diddy Kong[edit]

• Left Barrel: There are a lot of Kritters in the room. Within 30 seconds, Diddy has to defeat the Kritter who activated the switch, and then press it. A sound effect plays if he defeats the right Kritter.
• Right Barrel: Within 45 seconds, Diddy must useRocketbarrel Boost to go up and fire at four up-arrow switches. Then he must go down, avoid Koshas, andSimian Slam on the blue switch.

Battle Arena Pad[edit]

• Name: Shockwave Showdown
• Time: 90 Seconds
• Enemies: Kritter, Kasplat x2 (a third Kasplat appears towards the end)
• Location: In the Blast-o-Matic room, Diddy must use Rocketbarrel Boost to fly to the top of the machine where theBattle Arena Pad is located.

Profiles[edit]

• Instruction booklet bio by Cranky Kong:You'll find one of the hardest challenges you've faced in here. All five Kongs must work together! Yep, I know it's tough, but find enough playing skill from somewhere, and maybe you'll struggle through to the finish. But even when you get there, it may not be the end after all...^[1]
• Player's Guide:Deep within the gullet of his metal juggernaut, K. Rool awaits the persistent family of Kongs. Despite the danger of a malfunction, he orders his crew to fire up the defective war machine. Unless they can root out the King at his command center, the Kongs are living on borrowed time.^[2]

Gallery[edit]

• 

  Full view of the Blast-o-Matic generator

• 

  First reactor room

• 

  Second reactor room

• 

  Third reactor room

• 

  Fourth reactor room

• 

  Fifth reactor room

• 

  Bonus Barrel interior

• 

  Control room

• 

  King K. Rool's throne room

• 

  Prison cell

Names in other languages[edit]

Notes[edit]

• K. Rool's laughter sounds as the countdown timer goes down. It plays more often as the timer nears zero. It sounds out at the 30 minute mark, the 20 minute mark, the 15 minute mark, the 10 minute mark, the 5 minute mark, and every minute mark after 3 minutes.
• Hideout Helm is the only level where the Tag Barrel theme is absent.
• This is the only level that does not have Wrinkly Kong doors in the lobby.
• A part of the level's theme is based on an unused track inBanjo-Kazooie, also while it was known as Project Dream. The music track was named "Lost 1" by the composer of bothBanjo-Kazooie andDonkey Kong 64,Grant Kirkhope.^[3]

References[edit]

• Fortresses
• Underground areas
• Donkey Kong 64 levels

• Articles with unsourced foreign names