Topic: Donkey Kong Bananza

@FishyS
I was thinking about that. So far I have 3 heart upgrades, 2 Sonar upgrades and 3 Bonanza time upgrades, plus 1 or 2 for punch power and 1 for double jump... pretty sure thats all of them. I'll try again when my Surf Turf lasts way longer.

But

One thing DK Bananza has going for it is how it's actually a little challenging in single player mode. Mario Odyssey never became challenging until the post-game.

The coop mode was not balanced at all, though. Totally trivializes everything, which sucks if you're playing with someone younger.

Got all the bananas for the building one on the third try. Focus on destroying the pillars asap. You don't have to trash everything.

@Ralizah
The Grey gates? Or the brick pillars along the frame?

I tried just doing the Grey walls and once I got to the top I only had 87%. As I started destroying the brown brick sections it started adding to my total, so I concluded everything had to be demolished.

@JaxonH You need to destroy the brick walls and the concrete pillars, that's it. That should be enough to get to 100%.

As for Turf Surfing, my main issue is how wobbly the Turf Surf controls are which makes precise movement extremely difficult. It took me at least an hour to beat the Thorny Hill Speed Surf challenge (the Turf Surf race in Hilltop Layer) going for the second Banandium Gem (where you had to beat it with at least 20 seconds left) because I would almost always fall off at the last shortcut, moving both at a high speed and in a straight line while Turf Surfing is a nearly impossible ask. Much harder than you would expect from a challenge level in what's basically World 2.

@JaxonH To be clear, I'm referring to the first instance of this challenge type in the.... Canyon Layer, I think it's called? Like the second layer or so. Where you're demolishing a building. There's actually harder version of this challenge later in the game.

I know to get that last timed banana I destroyed the pillars and then some of the walls on the way. I think it'd be near impossible to destroy everything in the alloted time. To be clear, you really need to be using your Kong Bananza ability if you're not already.

The timing is actually pretty forgiving if you're doing it right.

@Ralizah
Ya I use Bonanza. But there's Grey holographic walls, grey pillars, and brown brick outer walls.

I tried just doing the grey pillars and grey walls but got stuck at 87% once at the top and destroyed the central grey stack that goes all the way to the bottom. Hit a few brown brick walls and the % went up which seemed to indicate I needed to destroy the brown brick walls also.

@Bolt_Strike
That challenge was super tough- I gave up on that 3rd banana. But I appreciate the difficulty and skill level- gives me a bar to strive for. Even if Im not confident I'll ever get good enough.

Just finished the last things in Bananza. Now I have every skill and every getaway unlocked. I was also listening to every music track and enjoyed some of them. My Donkey Kong is now sitting in the shadow of a palm tree in the beach layer and he is enjoying his vacation, together with Pauline.

Edit: When you unlock every skill, you can not buy bananas anymore.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to give up with just 2 bananas missing. I just cannot complete the Battle Rush challenge and, after many, many failed attempts, it's no longer fun.

It's a pity as I've absolutely had a blast with this game and enjoyed every minute of it.

just got a 100% on dkb! three stars! i havent gotten a 100% on another game except mario kart 8 deluxe, so i am rather proud of myself! the post game content was incredibly fun, this game was worth every penny. heart of gold on nintendo music now please? 😻

@OctolingKing13
Well done! Bananza is a fun game to 100%.

After a little more time with the game (still far from finished) a few more thoughts:

• the “controversy” about the design and how much Nintendo “hates” and wants to erase the Rare DK design… yeah… DKB nails some of the design sensibilities of late 90’s Rare. Honestly I’m very surprised at how much Nintendo has made it feel like a Rare game. It’s easy to imagine that the Rare of Banjo Tooie and DK64 might have eventually made something like DKB if they’d continued to iterate and develop on more powerful hardware.
• the game also, in practice, has a gameplay loop a bit reminiscent of the new Zelda games. There’s always something nearby to find, the ability to climb most surfaces changes how you have to see the world.
• the nostalgia play for DKC is far less successful overall than the same team was with Mario Odyssey IMO. I also think the deliberate clash of visual styles doesn’t work as well here as it did in that game.
• I’m sure I’m not the only one - I’ve seen others commenting the same - but the game does occasionally make me feel a little motion sick. That’s very unusual for me (at least since the N64 days). I’m not sure what it is - whether it’s the specific camera or something with how the graphics are being rendered.
• it does feel experimental for a big and substantial first party game in 2025. It also feels like there’s a lot of ideas still on the cutting room floor that might show up in future Mario (or DK) games.

Is there something to do with these spots in the game where glossy gold brick-like tiles rise from the ground about a foot or two? Other than smash them to collect gold?

(edit: added glossy to the descirption. They're not explosive, like jhena asked. I'll try and get a screenshot to post.)

@WoomyNNYes
Can you grab it and use it as an explosive? I can not remember.

@WoomyNNYes They're basically just for gold. If you can grab them they can also be used as an explosive (all gold chunks are explosive, so they're good if you don't have boom blocks around), but other than that it's just for gold.

I picked up the game a few days ago and despite having only played a couple of hours, I already know this is going to be utter bliss from beginning to end!

I’m on layer 6 now at the boss. How close am I to finishing? Im just interested in the story not 100%ing. It’s starting to become less enjoyable now. Rather repetitive.

@norwichred You're about halfway through the game, although several of the layers from here on out are fairly short so it may be more like 2/3 of the way. But no, you're not even close to finishing, there's still a lot of layers left. The game does unfortunately tend to drag later in the game and every time it "feels" like the game is almost over, it just keeps going and going.

Cheers mate. Appreciate it……

So I bought Bananza because everyone and their uncle kept telling me I was missing out. I've played for ~2 hours, gotten to sub-level 101, and I honestly wish my gut was wrong this time, but it wasn't. This isn't for me.

It's just an endless stream of effects and micro rewards, like a slot machine that never stops blinking and making noise. It's honestly mind-numbing to play, because there's practically no highs nor any lows, it's just an endless drizzle of dopamine. It's extremely polished, and looks amazing in motion, but it's fast-food that makes my mind go numb. If this is the way Nintendo's game design is heading I'm honestly out this generation. I don't like it.