Golden Temple

Warning: Major plot details spoiled below.

Golden Temple is the lost world in Donkey Kong Country Returns. It is unlocked by completing the game. However, in order to gain entrance into the temple, the player must "discover eight rare orbs to taste the secrets of the golden temple". Each orb is located in a hidden Key Temple of which there is one in each world. The Key Temples can be accessed by collecting the K-O-N-G Letters in every level of the world.

Spoilers end here.

Key Temples

 * 1-K: Platform Panic
 * 2-K: Tumblin' Temple
 * 3-K: Shifty Smashers
 * 4-K: Jagged Jewels
 * 5-K: Blast 'N' Bounce
 * 6-K: Perilous Passage
 * 7-K: Treacherous Track
 * 8-K: Five Monkey Trial

The level
Once all orbs are obtained, the Golden Temple is unlocked. A cutscene follows in which Donkey Kong enters the temple, which consists of a large room lined with palm trees, and its floors flooded with bananas. The Kongs take the elevated pathway up to a raised golden platform with two golden Donkey Kong statues, and a large golden banana. Donkey Kong, excited, shakes the banana down, peels it, and eats some of the pulp. He then begins to sparkle, and the magic from the golden fruit teleports him to the final level.

The level consists of large various floating fruits suspended from the sky, including bananas, blueberries, strawberries (all of which are used as platforms), cherries (which explode soon after they are touched), and oranges (which fall from the sky and hurt Donkey Kong). Like all other hidden levels, there are no checkpoints, and like most of them, there are no DK Barrels; however, a few hearts do appear within the level. In addition, the level is long. To add to the challenge, there are various enemies, such as birds, drums, Tiki Seekers, and Kowallees that cannot be passed without being destroyed by their own bombs. If Donkey Kong makes it through this tough level, he will earn a mirror as a prize. This unlocks Mirror Mode, a harder mode in which left and right are reversed (similar to most Mario Kart games), Donkey Kong will not receive any help from Diddy, cannot use items, and will only have one heart.

The music in this level is a remix of the various tunes in Donkey Kong Jr.

Trivia

 * Unlike in Donkey Kong Country Returns, the Golden Temple is the last level in Cloud Gateway in its remake, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D