The big main thing you want to do in Donkey Kong Bananza is smash everything, but even as you shatter various layers of the planet into thousands of tiny voxels, you may realize there’s more to life than smashing. On your quest to reaching the surface (and getting more bananas), you should know there are ways to solve problems other than just running and punching.
Below, we’ve listed a bunch of beginner’s tips that we wish we knew before starting Donkey Kong Bananza.
1. Press ZL to roll during a jump and cover some extra distance to hit those platforms that are just out of reach.
2. Don’t forget to Turf Surf if you need to cover a lot of ground fast. DK can’t sprint in his standard form, so Turf Surfing is the only way for him to pick up the pace.
3. If you have spare Banadium Chips and want to work toward a skill point faster, head to the Hilltop Chip Exchange to trade for a Banandium Gem. Only the first goes into the collection, but the rest still count toward earning a new skill point.
4. Use DK’s hand slap as a sonar tool to suss out nearby treasure chests, Banandium Gems, and fossils that might be underground or in a wall.
5. And make improving that hand slap sonar one of your first skill upgrades, too! The extra range is an upgrade you won’t regret.
6. Outfits not only make you look cooler, they also provide you with bonuses, like increasing the range of your sonar or increasing your odds at finding treasure chests.
7. Use a chunk to tear through walls, even when you level up DK’s punch. It’s faster and clears out more material, which helps the camera behave more appropriately.
8. Use your Bananza forms with abandon. Gold is hilariously plentiful in Donkey Kong Bananza, so there’s no reason not to transform! After all, if your gauge is full and going unused, then that’s just wasted Bananergy.
9. Chests, gold clusters, and Banandium Chips don’t have fixed location spawns underground, so don’t feel pressured to dig everywhere just to avoid missing them.
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
10. If you’re not sure what the different terrain types are, use ZR to pick something up, and hold the button down. You’ll enter a first-person view with a reticle that identifies terrain types.
11. Breaking things is a viable — and sometimes the only — solution to a puzzle, so if you’re stuck, see if a bit of destruction might open a new path.
12. If you regret tearing up half a layer or want to do it all again, press the Plus button when the map screen is open to reset the terrain!
13. Take your time and explore at your pace. Once you hit Sublayer 200, most layers from then on let you summon a giant eel who can transport you back to previous layers.
14. Yes, build those getaways! Not only will they serve as teeleporter spots, but sleeping in these bungalows will yield you extra hearts — and the more getaways you’ve built on a layer, the more extra hearts you’ll get.
15. Don’t sleep on collecting gold (for money reasons). You’ll need the gold to build more aforementioned getaways and even unlock a handful of Banandium Gems, and you don’t want to be thinking regretfully about all those gold structures you passed on while your wallet is empty.
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
16. If you’re looking for quick gold, check out your “Smashin’ Stats” tab in the Collection menu to get some free gold. You’ll get bonus gold for completing various challenges, many of which are of the “smash X amount of Y material” variety that you’ll accomplish just by playing the game naturally.
17. See a fossil that’s out of your range? Throw a chunk at it until it breaks to collect it!
18. Dig yourself into a rut? Can’t figure out how to get back to where you were? Teeleporters are your friends! Fast travel to any tuning fork, getaway, or gong across sublayers to save yourself some time.
19. Don’t forget that Donkey Kong can climb most surfaces! That huge cliff, the giant pipe, the tall smokestack — those are light work for Donkey Kong. You may even find a few hidden collectables at the top.
20. Respec your skills for free by talking to any of the elders. You’ll receive all of your skill points back, allowing you to test any and all of your abilities.
21. Save the moment by taking a photo! There are a lot of funny moments that you’ll run into as you play Donkey Kong Bananza, so why not capture them. Press down on the D-pad to enter Photo Mode and take a picture.
22. If you’re having a hard time defeating enemies or just progressing through Donkey Kong Bananza, there’s no shame in switching to Assist Mode in the options!
23. On the flip side, if you think Donkey Kong Bananza is a little to easy and you’re looking for more of a challenge, try not to use any of your skill points. Avoid any upgrades improving your damage or health to increase the difficulty a bit.
