A rare collectible rainbow coin was found in the platformer game Donkey Kong 64, 17 years after the game's release.

The coin was found by a speedrunner known as Isotarge on the Fungi Forest level. Rainbow coins, usually one per level in Donkey Kong 64, were a hard to find collectible often buried underground in the game, that gave the player five coins per Kong in one go. Those coins could only be unearthed by using a slam move on a dirt mound found on each level.

The coin is hidden in a mound obscured by tall grass after Isotarge discovered the rainbow coins had incomplete data for the stage. Using an analysis tool to pinpoint the coin, he was able to uncover it without using any glitch devices.

The 977th coin in the game.

The coin is now the 977th coin found in the game, which will now change all data presented for Donkey Kong 64, including speedrunning. Because the rainbow coin can be found without glitches, it is now required for 100% completion speed runs."Many runs were invalidated because of this discovery,” Isotage commented to Kotaku. “It’s one way to keep the community active. I’m looking forward to seeing speedrunners claim back those records."

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The speedrunning community, which has given games like Donkey Kong 64 new life for 100% completion runs, will now have a major adjustment with the discovery of this new collectible.

This is not an unusual situation for older games. Last year, a hacker named Scott Buchanan found a hidden coin on the first level of Super Mario 64. This coin is currently unobtainable, even with the use of glitches.

Quick Take

I enjoy stories like this because it really is interesting to see what kind of secrets older games have. Donkey Kong 64 was already chock full of collectibles, so finding one more that has been missed for years is pretty cool to see.

It will be curious to see who out of the speedrunning community will take the new top spot, considering previous 100% runs are now invalid. The addition of one coin to that list will change speed run strategies, just so players can shave off seconds on their time.

What do you think about this discovery? Leave your comments below.