Top 15 Tips for Donkey Kong Bananza Beginners
Donkey Kong Bananza is a blast of a game that encourages you to smash everything in sight – but there's more to succeeding in this subterranean adventure than just brute force. As you embark on DK and Pauline's quest through the underground layers of Ingot Isle, keep in mind some of these handy tips and tricks. They'll help you survive the depths, find secrets, and make the most of Donkey Kong's destructive abilities (and Pauline's special skills) beyond simply punching every wall.
Below, we've compiled 15 essential beginner tips that we (and the Bananza community) wish we knew before starting:
Movement and Navigation
1. Roll to Extend Your Jumps: Donkey Kong can perform a rolling jump that carries him farther. Press ZL in mid-air to have DK roll forward during a jump, giving you extra distance to reach those far-off platforms that would otherwise be just out of reach. Mastering this roll-jump can turn near-misses into successful landings.
2. Use Turf Surfing for Speed: DK doesn't have a traditional run in his standard form. Instead, he can "Turf Surf" across the ground to move faster. Don't forget to Turf Surf when you need to cover a lot of ground quickly – it's the closest thing to sprinting and will save you time when backtracking or traversing large open areas.
3. Climb Everything: Remember that DK is a gorilla – he's great at climbing. In Bananza, Donkey Kong can climb most vertical surfaces unless they are completely smooth or made of metal. That towering cliff, the sides of a giant pipe, or a tall tree? DK can likely scale it. Often, there are hidden collectibles or alternate routes at the top of tall structures.
Resource Management
4. Trade Chips for Gems: Collecting Banandium Chips from smashing objects? If you have extras, head to the Hilltop Layer's Chip Exchange. There, you can trade Banandium Chips for Banandium Gems, which count toward earning skill points. Only the first gem of each type is a unique collectible, but subsequent ones still contribute to your next skill point.
5. Collect Gold – You'll Need It: It's raining coins in Bananza, and you might be tempted to ignore those shiny gold clusters after a while. But don't sleep on collecting gold. Gold is the currency for building getaways and unlocking some Banandium Gems and other upgrades. The costs ramp up over time, so the more gold you have, the better.
6. Use Bananza Forms Freely: Don't hoard your special transformations. The game is generous with resources: gold is plentiful in Bananza, which means you can refill your Bananergy gauge often. So go wild with those Bananza forms (Kong, Zebra, Ostrich, etc.) whenever they'd be useful.
Exploration and Secrets
7. Use the Hand Slap as Sonar: DK's classic hand slap isn't just for stunning enemies. It doubles as a sonar pulse. Smack the ground and listen/look for feedback – this move will reveal nearby hidden items like buried treasure chests, Banandium Gems, or fossils hidden in walls or underground.
8. Upgrade the Sonar Early: One of the first upgrades you should invest in is improving that hand slap sonar range. Extending the radius of your sonar pulse means you can detect collectibles from farther away, making exploration more efficient. It's an upgrade you won't regret because it directly leads you to more rewards.
9. Not Everything Hides Loot: It might be tempting to excavate every last voxel, but not all treasure is fixed. In fact, chests, gold clusters, and Banandium Chips spawn semi-randomly in many areas. So don't feel compelled to dig up every corner of a layer out of FOMO. If your sonar isn't pinging and you've grabbed the obvious collectibles, it's okay to move on.
Combat and Destruction
10. Chunks > Punches: When faced with thick walls or large clusters of blocks, remember that ripping out a chunk of terrain and throwing it can be more effective than punching piece by piece. Grab with ZR to pull out a chunk of wall, then hurl it to carve a big hole. Even after you upgrade DK's punch power, tossing chunks remains faster for clearing space.
11. When in Doubt, Break Stuff: This is Donkey Kong Bananza, after all. If you're stuck on a puzzle or unsure how to reach an area, the answer often involves breaking something in the environment. Sometimes a seemingly dead-end wall may hide a tunnel, or a puzzle might require you to knock down a structure to create a path.
12. Identify Terrain with First-Person View: Unsure about what type of material you're looking at? DK can inspect terrain: pick up a chunk with ZR and hold the button to enter a first-person look mode with a reticle that tells you the material type. This helps because different materials have different properties.
Quality of Life
13. Use Getaways (Build Your Bases): Throughout the layers, you can build little hideaway huts called getaways. Don't skip these! They act as teleportation nodes and as rest spots. Sleeping in a getaway replenishes your hearts, and the more getaways you've built in a layer, the more bonus hearts you get upon resting.
14. Reset the Layer if Needed: Made a mess of a level or wish you could re-explore it from scratch? You can! If you regret how you tore up half a layer, just open the map screen and press the + button to reset the terrain for that layer. This restores all the destructible environment as it was.
15. Dress for Success: Don't ignore the outfits and costumes you can unlock for DK and Pauline. They aren't purely cosmetic – outfits provide bonuses to your abilities. For example, certain costumes might increase the range of your sonar or boost your chances of finding extra treasure.
Bonus Tips
Respec Skills for Free: As you gain experience, you'll unlock skill points to spend on enhancing DK and Pauline's abilities. Don't worry about choosing "wrong" – you can respec (reset) your skills anytime for free by talking to any Elder character.
Use Assist Mode if Needed: Don't let pride stop you from enjoying the game. If you find combat too tough or navigating the layers too overwhelming, you can switch on Assist Mode in the options. Assist Mode provides aim assist, highlights the intended path, reduces damage, and even regenerates health over time.
These tips should give any newcomer a solid footing in Donkey Kong Bananza. Whether you're digging for secrets, brawling with bad guys, or just smashing voxels to your heart's content, keep the above advice in mind and you'll be well on your way to reaching the Planet Core. Now go forth and go Bananza on those blocks – happy smashing!