Congo Bongo/Walkthrough

Congo Bongo contains four stages. You must complete each stage, one after the other, in succession before starting over again from the first stage at a higher level of difficulty. Below you will find descriptions and strategies on how to complete each stage.

Stage 1: Primate Peak

 * You start at the bottom of the mountain, in the lower left corner of the screen. To start, you must begin climbing the ledges to your left.  Coconuts tossed by Bongo will be raining down from above, so only proceed when you know that it's safe to climb without getting hit.
 * Eventually, you must start to climb up to the right. At higher levels, a green monkey will hang out down here to slow your progress by grabbing your ankle and preventing you from climbing.  When this occurs, it is easiest to simply jump up the ledges.  Immediately after you fully climb up a ledge, you are positioned at just the right distance to jump to the next ledge.
 * When you reach the tall cliff wall in the middle, you must traverse the bridge. Beginning with the first level, a few coconuts may bounce along the bridge, which must be avoided.  At a later level, a snake appears along the top of the bridge.  This snake is later joined by a second snake along the bottom.  These snakes patrol a short length and never leave their assigned areas.  Jump over them when they crawl to the left.
 * When you reach the ramp, you will slide down and come to a stop on the first level because of the green monkey that sits at the bottom. After the first level, there will be nothing to stop you, and if you don't react, you will slide right off the mountain.  In order to survive, you must immediately push up and to the right as you slide down the ramp in order to run along the edge and jump the gap before you fall off the edge.  When you jump over the gap, the ground will collapse behind you, and you will not be able to return (not that you would want to.)
 * Now climb up the next couple of ledges to where the monkeys roam. The monkeys like to jump on your back.  When one or two monkeys are hanging on to you, your jump is significantly weakened, enough to prevent you from jumping over the stream.  You must hop up and down to shake them off of you.  If all three monkey manage to climb on your back, they will overpower you and toss you over the cliff.
 * Jump over the stream when no coconuts are being thrown near that region by Bongo. Then cross over to the far left so that you remain safe from any other coconuts that Bongo throws.  Continue to climb up the ledges and climb up the final ledge on the far left when Bongo is farther to the right, and tossing coconuts with his right hand.

Stage 2: Snake Lake

 * When you begin in the lower left corner, two scorpions will crawl out from either side of you. Contact with them must be avoided at all costs.  They start out slow, but their speed increases with each level.  Immediately begin to run towards one of the islands close to the bank.
 * It doesn't really matter which island you jump to, but the large center island is the one that you can reach the fastest. If the scorpions are getting in your way, it is better to head to the upper left than the lower right.  By the time you get around to the other side of that small water inlet in front of the center island, the scorpions have less chance of reaching you.
 * Once you reach the islands, the blue snakes will begin to home in on you. If a blue snake occupies an adjoining island, it will begin to cross over to your island along the thin strips of land that connect each island.  Only one snake will travel across a strip at a time.  It is during these moments that it is best to cross over the strips in the opposite direction and jump over the snake along the way.
 * If at all possible, lure as many snakes away from the center island closest to Bongo. As the levels increase, more snakes occupy the islands.  It is better to lure the snakes away by moving from the lower center island to an adjoining side island, and then up and over, than to go directly from the lower center island to the higher center island.  Too many snakes may pool into the center island if you try that.
 * At much higher levels, a red snake will occupy the higher center island at all times. This snake can never be lured away, and you must always contend with it when you arrive.
 * From the higher center island, you must hop onto the hippo's back before you can reach the ground where Bongo awaits. Try to jump on the hippo's back since it likes to dunk its head underwater from time to time, and this can kill you.  If you don't have time to safely land on the hippo's back, jump off the hippo's head and on to the ground immediately.

Stage 3: Rhino Ridge

 * This stage takes place on a vast plain where rhinos like to charge. You must avoid contact with the rhinos at all costs.  There are two types of rhinos, ones with a yellow horn and one with a red horn.  There will always be exactly two red-horned rhinos.  These are the rhinos that are a bit smarter and lock on to you when they charge.  The remaining rhinos are the yellow horned rhinos, that charge somewhat haphazardly.
 * To avoid getting hit by a rhino, you can jump over it, or you can drop down into a mole hole. When you climb into the hole, you can press the Jump button to duck down into the hole.  As long as you remain in the bottom of the hole, you can not be trampled.
 * There is a mole that appears infrequently by popping its head out from a hole to see what's going on, before ducking back down. When it ducks back down, it fills up the hole that it appeared from.  The mole may also open up a hole that was originally closed.  If you happen to be crouching in the hole that the mole chooses to appear from, you will be forced out of the hole and suddenly vulnerable to a rhino attack.
 * As you approach Bongo, try not to travel from hole to hole. Instead, try to approach in a zig-zag pattern, luring the red-horned rhinos away from where you intend to make the most progress next.  Pull them to the left, run back to the right, and walk forward again.  When the rhinos stop to reset their charge, start walking back to the left as they pass you on the right.
 * Because the red-horned rhinos track your position more carefully, and because space is very limited towards the top of the stage, it becomes very dangerous to approach the steps that lead to Bongo. If at all possible, it is much safer to jump up to the first step then to climb.  You have a greater risk of being trampled if you climb.  But you must make sure that you are the proper distance away from the ledge to make the jump, or you will bounce off of the wall and be forced back into the rhinos paths.

Stage 4: Lazy Lagoon

 * All that you need to do to complete this stage is to traverse all of the obstacles from one river bank to the other. You can safely jump on top of anything that is floating above water.  Some objects present their own inherent dangers.
 * Even though there are primarily three identical avenues that you can choose from, the easiest path to choose is the far right path. This is simply because it is easier to reach Bongo when you arrive on the far right side of his bank than on the middle or left sides.
 * Lily pads are mildly safe to jump on at all times. They never fully submerge into the water, so their very center is the safest location to stand on.  You must make sure that you are not standing on their edge as they begin to sink.  Jump on to them as they are approaching the bank to be sure that you will land safely.
 * From the lily pads, you must jump onto a neighboring hippo. The hippo are absolutely safe to ride on top of up until they pass the small islands in the middle of the water.  From that point forward, the hippos may dunk underwater if it turns out that they are on a collision course with a piranha.  If that seems to be the case, jump off the hippo and onto the island and wait until it's safe to continue.
 * From the island, you can jump back onto the hippo, which will always swim all the way up to one of the banks for you to jump off to. Alternatively, you can try to rely on the piranhas.  The piranhas never dunk, but they occasionally like to bite their passenger.  They will flash light red just before they bite, so jump to safety if at all possible.  There are two rows of piranhas to jump across, and they swim back and forth.
 * Once you reach the bank, all that you must avoid are charging rhinos. The rhinos never deviate from their path.  They appear at timed intervals in sets of twos.  Wait until you've determined their timing and proceed to the top when it's safe.  Jump over them if you have to, to remain safe.
 * Finally, climb up the ledges to reach a sleeping Bongo, and your explorer will light his bed on fire completing the sequence of all four stages. The game will now begin again at stage 1 at a higher level of difficulty.