Headscratchers / Donkey Kong 64

• Why didn't K.Rool blow up DK island with the Super Weapon from the game over screen to begin with?
  • I guess the viewers didn't want to show something that dramatic during that time period. Becomes Hilarious in Hindsight where DK Isles is techically shown to be blown up during K. Rool's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
  • Because it wasn't working at the time and was being repaired. The scene occurs because the Kremlings managed to fix it.
• Why is there a teleport platform in Kreepy Kastle which takes Tiny to a room containing absolutely nothing?
  • It probably was going to contain something before Rare either changed their mind or ran out of time. A case of What Could Have Been.
• After this game, why was Tiny redesigned as a teenager? Her name is TINY Kong, so she's supposed to be small. There was nothing wrong with her original look.
  • Perhaps in response to the complaints of her being a replacement of Dixie, wanting to distinguish her further from Dixie in the future.
  • Doylist answer: they needed a new heavyweight to replace Banjo in Diddy Kong Racing DS. This of course leads to "why didn't they use one of the other Kongs?", which I don't really have an answer for (personally, Kiddy or even Chunky would've made more sense to me).
• Why does Scoff need to be fed in order to allow Troff to open the doors to the bosses? Just switch places in the teeter-totter!
• And while we're at it, what's the point of the Kongs going on a quest to recover their bananas, if they're going feed them to Scoff?
  • The quest is to get back DK's collection of GOLDEN bananas. The normal bananas are just there.
• Why did King K.Rool want the Kongs off DK Isle before he could blow it up? Wouldn't it make his life easier just to destroy it on the spot? And for that matter, why doesn't he fire the weapon when the Kongs were inside of "Frantic Factory"? It's not even the last level, nor is it on DK Isle!
  • The Blast-O-Matic was damaged by the crash shown in the intro, and the Kremlings needed time to repair it, so they stole the banana hoard and Golden Bananas and kidnapped all the Kongs besides Donkey to buy time. The Blast-O-Matic only became functional again when Hideout Helm was unlocked.
    • And even then, it was hardly functional. K. Rool just ordered the weapon be fired immediately so that it could go off before the Kongs could deal with it. All of the guys testing it said that it wasn't safe to fire, and could very well go boom and kill them all.
    • And, as with many video games, events that shouldn't be dependent on your progress inexplicably are, like a Broken Bridge, but broken on his end. I imagine he hoped the Kongs would remain in their cells on DK Island (except Chunky, who's imprisoned kremside in Frantic Factory instead) and get blown up along with the island once he finally gets it to work. They only manage to start the countdown right as you enter Hideout Helm.
• Why would K. Rool lock K. Lumsy in a cage using keys that have Donkey Kong's monogram on them?
  • Maybe the cage and keys were originally DK's, and then he stole them one day?
    • That must answer the early question above, though the bars are VERY widely spaced apart. Maybe DK found that oversight (despite the game saying he's a doofus) and ditched it.
• Why do Cranky, Candy and Funky charge you for potions/ instruments/ weapons? It'd be one thing if they had no stake in the Kongs' success, but Kong Isle is their home, too. Considering the fact that the island will be vaporized if the Kongs fail, you'd think that they'd be willing to give their upgrades away for free. Well, maybe not Cranky, but definitely the other two.
  • Probably the same reason that the residents of Isle Delfino make Mario play their games and bring them fruit, instead of just forking over the Shine Sprites they have directly, or why Jamjars refuses to teach Banjo all his moves in one go, even though Grunty is trying to zombify the island. Those sorts of characters are just inclined to Be as Unhelpful as Possible.
• Troff and Scoff. In order to unlock the door to each boss, Troff, who starts out the heavier one each time, stands on the platform under the key and lock, while Scoff, who starts off the lighter one each time, stands on the other platform. I understand that this is to give you some sort of reason to collect some ever-increasing percentage of the normal bananas in each level, and not doing it this way means that Rare might as well have had an unlocked door with neither Troff nor Scoff involved, but thinking of it from the perspective of "these guys ostensibly want to help", wouldn't it have made more sense for them to have Scoff on the side with the key and Troff on the other, weighing his side down so Scoff could reach it?
  • Because Troff is probably too fat in the first place to get on the other platform.
• In every single artwork that features him, including in-game cutscenes, K. Rool has always been shown to have three toes. But during Tiny Kong's portion of the final battle, he suddenly has four! I know the other Kongs have to hit him four times, but couldn't they have made the last hit be the bottom of his foot?
• That TV of K. Rool's. It's almost completely wrong! Look at what happens when DK gets his first Golden Banana. What actually happens: DK agrees to help K. Lumsy, K. lumsy dances, the rock in front of Jungle Japes' lobby breaks, DK goes to where it was, and there's a Golden Banana on the ground. What the TV shows: DK is under a Golden Banana, and he can't reach it, despite being able to jump that high, surely. He slams the ground, and it falls to where it was. And I'm not even getting into Lanky Orangstand Sprinting around the inside of the barrel where it looks like he is, or Diddy flying as nimbly as he does. What purpose does it serve to show something almost completely different from what happens, aside from result?

---