Old King Coal

"Hurrrr! Who dares enter Old King Coal's boiler?"

- Old King Coal

Old King Coal is the boss of Glitter Gulch Mine and is essentially a gigantic living pile of coal inhabiting the boiler of Chuffy the train. He is possessive of his train, Chuffy and thinks that Banjo and Kazooie are attempting to steal Chuffy. After a traditional exchange of lines, he proceeds to fight the duo.

Old King Coal will lumber around the room in an attempt to hit Banjo and Kazooie. His body has no particular weak points and he can be hit with just about any attack. After taking a certain amount of damage, his left arm will crumble and fall off, making him a bit lighter and quicker. He will then start to progressively lose more body parts as he takes more damage including his right arm and his entire top half.

From the moment he loses his first arm, Old King Coal will periodically turn up the heat inside the boiler, making the floor dangerous to walk on and filling the air with suffocating smoke. If the timer runs out (which is highly unlikely), the boiler will be permanently hot and you will have to complete the battle before you suffocate. Pieces of debris amidst the sea of hot coals will offer protection against the heat until it wears off (Old King Coal can't touch them when Banjo and Kazooie stand on those either), but once Old King Coal is down to his last few body parts, the boiler will remain heated indefinitely until he has been defeated, making a quick kill imperative to avoid suffocating. When losing body parts, he initially is unfazed, stating he's at least got another arm, and upon losing that, claiming he won't need arms to beat them anyway. However, once his top half is blown off, he starts showing some concern, when he starts verbally considering that he, Banjo, and Kazooie sit down and negotiate.

While it may be faster to chase Old King Coal and peck him, it may be safer to stay back on the debris and pelt him with eggs, which will still quickly defeat him. It should be noted that he is immune to Fire Eggs. He does however, take extra damage from Ice Eggs.

Upon defeat, Old King Coal lends Banjo and Kazooie usage of his train, as well as a shiny, golden Jiggy. However, he also stated that the condition for loaning it was to not hit anything on the train, as he had just polished it. He speaks on behalf of Chuffy and will even drive the train to them if called from another train station. He also appears in Banjoland as a statue and stands on a pile of crates.

Quotes
(If Banjo and Kazooie try to use the train before battling Old King Coal): (Before the boss battle): (During the boss battle): (Having been defeated): (Having granted permission to Banjo and Kazooie for the use of Chuffy): (If Banjo and Kazooie lose the battle, then return):
 * Are you blind? Chuffy is right in front of you!
 * (approaching Chuffy's cab): This is my train control pad.
 * Old King Coal: Hurrrr! You have to battle me before you'll go anywhere!
 * Kazooie: Huh? Who said that?
 * Banjo: Sounds like it came from that boiler...
 * Old King Coal: Hurrrr! Who dares enter Old King Coal's boiler?
 * Banjo: Ahem, I'm Banjo and this is Kazooie.
 * Kazooie:﻿ We want to use your train.
 * Old King Coal: Hurrrr! You would, huh? In that case, I'll fight you for it!
 * Kazooie: But you're supposed to be a merry old soul...
 * Old King Coal: Hurrrr! Not me pal. But you'll soon be feeling my merry old sole on the top of your puny heads!
 * Hurrrr! Let's see how you cope with a little heat!
 * Arrrrr! No great loss, I've still got another...
 * Arrrrr! But I don't need arms to beat you!
 * Arrrrr! Perhaps we should sit down and talk about this...
 * Okay, perhaps I'll let you use my train after all. But don't you DARE hit anything - I've only just polished.
 * There's no stations for my train to go to.
 * Chuffy and I are loading ore in Glitter Gulch Mine.
 * Chuffy and I are idling on the coast of Isle O'Hags.
 * Chuffy is on freight service to Grunty Industries.
 * Would you like Chuffy to pick you up?
 * Ahhh... Yes, that seems to have cooled my boiler enough! I'll let you take the chuffin' train to the ice side now...


 * Old King Coal: Back for another roasting?
 * Banjo: We still need a train to help with our adventure.
 * Old King Coal: And why might that be?
 * Kazooie: Dunno yet, but we're taking it anyway!
 * Old King Coal: Not unless you beat me first!

Trivia

 * Old King Coal is a reference to the nursery rhyme Old King Cole. Evidence of this can be seen when Kazooie says, "But you're supposed to be a merry old soul..." as well as Coal's sarcastic retort of having his "merry old sole on the top of your [Banjo and Kazooie's] puny heads!", a reference to the line, "And a merry old soul was he."
 * In the Xbox Live Version, beating Old King Coal unlocks the "Merry Old Soul" Achievement, also a reference to the Nursery Rhyme.
 * Apart from Klungo and Hag 1, Old King Coal is the only boss you must defeat to complete the game without glitches, since you need Chuffy to enter Grunty Industries and learn the Claw Clamber Boots, which in turn are needed to get up to Cauldron Keep.
 * On a related note, he also possessed the second-most hit points of all the bosses in the game. Only the Hag 1 has more hit points, which is even the subject of a Tower of Tragedy quiz question during the final boss battle.
 * Old King Coal may bear a resemblance to The Great Mighty Poo who is one of the bosses from Conker's Bad Fur Day.

 


 * Old King Coal was the only working boss in the beta of Bottles' Revenge, but he cannot be controlled using the normal Bottles' Revenge code.
 * Despite his menacing appearance, Old King Coal is considered one of the easiest bosses of all time. This is probably because you need Chuffy the train to advance in the game, and if the battle was too difficult, some players would not have been able to beat the game.
 * Although he is a foe for Banjo and Kazooie, he will be rather friendly to them after the battle against him.
 * Creepily, a small statue of Old King Coal is found in Banjoland in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, and it has the ability to blink, possibly meaning he revived himself with just a small amount of coal left to use, and was later captured as an exhibit.
 * This boss is very similar to and possibly inspired from the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Both of them still fight even after having some of their limbs severed. It is also interesting to note that this movie was made by a British director, and Rare is also based in Great Britain.
 * Old King Coal has the same voice as Chief Bloatazin.
 * In the 2003 PS2 videogame War of the Monsters, there is a monster by the name of Magmo, who may have possibly been inspired by Old King Coal. The only exception being that Old King Coal is made of coal, Magmo is made of lava, and Old King Coal only has 2 arms, Magmo has 4, plus multiple eyes.
 * In the E2 2000 Beta Footage, he used Gobi's head icon as a placeholder, but he still had the same voice as he does in the final game.
 * As noted by Gruntilda's Hag 1 boss quiz sections, Old King Coal had the second-highest HP amount of the bosses (surpassed only by the Hag 1 itself).

Gallery
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