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 and thinks that a curious Banjo and Kazooie are attempting to steal it. 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 right 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 other 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. 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.

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 kill him. It should be noted that he is immune to Fire Eggs. He does however, take extra damage from Ice Eggs and Grenade Eggs.

Upon defeat, Old King Coal lends Banjo and Kazooie usage of his train, as well as a shiny, golden Jiggy. He speaks on behalf of Chuffy and will even drive the train to them if called from another train station.

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...", a reference to the line, "And a merry old soul was he."
 * A model of Old King Coal appears in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in Banjoland on top of the boxes.
 * Apart from Klungo and Hag 1, Old King Coal is the only boss you must defeat to complete the game, 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.


 * 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.
 * Creepily, a small statue of Old King Coal 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.

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