Summary
- Donkey Kong Bananza is full of Easter Eggs from past games, including legacy levels inspired by classic Donkey Kong games.
- Players can find hidden secrets like a DK treehouse with Easter Eggs and references to Super Smash Bros. And Banjo-Kazooie.
- The big surprise in Donkey Kong Bananza is facing off against King K. Rool in boss fights with references to past games.
While Donkey Kong may not be a rabbit, he sure does love planting little Easter Eggs in Donkey Kong Bananza. There are secrets calling back to Donkey Kong’s first appearance, Donkey Kong the arcade game, from 1981. Fans who have been following the big ape for decades will be pleased by the references, but most of them aren’t easy to find.
7 Beginner Tips For Donkey Kong Bananza
Start your time in Donkey Kong Bananza’s underground world the right way with these helpful pointers for the early game.
Donkey Kong Bananza features giant open-world areas, and players will literally have to dig to uncover some of these Easter Eggs. Are they worth digging through dirt for hundreds of hours? Let’s go through some of the biggest Easter Egg revelations and explain their significance to the Donkey Kong franchise as a whole. The following Easter Eggs only lightly touch upon what Donkey Kong Bananza has to offer, and more discoveries will assuredly be revealed the more time fans have with the game, similar to Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’s slow drip of Easter Egg-related discoveries.
The final entry contains major story spoilers for Donkey Kong Bananza.
6 The Legacy Levels
If Only There Were More Callbacks
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was the last big new game starring Donkey Kong, and its was a Wii U game from 2014. So, the release of Donkey Kong Bananza is a celebration of his return, featuring tons of new things along with callbacks to the olden days. The best examples of this include four Challenge levels that players can find throughout the game.
Nostalgia Country, in the Hilltop Layer, and Mine-Cart Country, in the Resort Layer, are throwbacks to non-specific levels in Donkey Kong Country. Arcade Country, in the Radiance Layer, is staged like the 1981 arcade game. Finally, Donkey Kong Bananza’s Bramble Country is based on an infamously hard series of levels in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest. This Challenge level can be found in the Forest Layer.
5 An Extra Case Of Hidden Nostalgia
Going Home Again
Nostalgia Country has an additional secret that only fans who have played Donkey Kong Country will think of trying. When players exit the first stage in Donkey Kong Country, they can go backwards and climb into DK’s treehouse to see some Easter Eggs and collect a Red Balloon. Players can do that in Donkey Kong Bananza’s Nostalgia Country, too.
All Voice Actors in Donkey Kong Bananza
Donkey Kong Bananza may not have a huge amount of dialogue in it, but there's still a cast bringing its characters to life.
Inside this treehouse is a poster featuring DK, Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky Kong. Perhaps the most obscure Easter Egg is the red TV, which isn’t even a callback to a game. It’s the same red TV that DK and Diddy are watching when Super Smash Bros. Revealed King K. Rool was joining the roster in a trailer, and later when they revealed Banjo-Kazooie.
4 Pauline Easter Eggs
What’s Up With Those Dance Moves
Pauline was the original damsel in distress for Mario/Jump Man in the 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game. She reappeared in a big way in Super Mario Odyssey as the mayor of New Donk City and has also appeared as a playable character in spinoffs like Mario Kart World. A version of her returns in Donkey Kong Bananza as DK’s trusty partner, albeit de-aged to be a thirteen-year-old girl, a turn of events which is never addressed by the ending or secret ending of the game.
As for Easter Eggs, players can unlock Pauline's Super Mario Odyssey outfit, called the Diva Dress in Donkey Kong Bananza, with an Amiibo or through a post-game quest. Players can also unlock a classic Pauline outfit that makes her look more like the 1981 version of the character, complete with blonde hair. Speaking of the original version, players may not recognize that Pauline’s dance moves during Bananza Power cutscenes in Donkey Kong Bananza are reminiscent of the side-step animations she does in the arcade game. She does this during “Jump Up, Super Star” in Super Mario Odyssey too, making it one of the most obscure references in Donkey Kong Bananza.
3 Racing Layer Nods
A Short Sublayer Full Of Nostalgia
Players will encounter the racing layer about halfway through the game, and the only thing players need to do to complete it is win one race. This Sublayer is ruled over by Diddy and Dixie Kong, who appeared in several Donkey Kong Country games. Their racetrack involves riding Rambi the Rhino, who was a mount in the first Donkey Kong Country.
The name of the trial in Donkey Kong Bananza, Rambi Rumble, is a reference to a specific level in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, which is the game in which Diddy and Dixie were paired up as dual protagonists. On the racetrack, players may spot the words “Double Trouble” on the rim, which is part of the subtitle of the third game, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble. Sadly, these two Kongs don’t have a huge role in Donkey Kong Bananza beyond the Racing Layer.
2 Fossil Maps
Amazing Attention To Detail
This next series of Easter Eggs is simply stunning, and unless players pause Donkey Kong Bananza and enter Photo Mode, they may never catch it. There are a few different currencies in Donkey Kong Bananza, with Fossils being used to buy costumes for DK and Pauline. Most Sublayers have three different forms of Fossils, all of which reference a specific character or species from Donkey Kong games. For example, Banana Birds are a Fossil type found in the Radiance Layer, and these birds first appeared in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble.
Donkey Kong Bananza: Best Things To Buy With Gold
Dig through and smash up the open world in search of Gold so you can spend it on these wild items in Donkey Kong Bananza.
Enguarde the Swordfish is another mount from Donkey Kong Country who appears on a giant Fossil within Donkey Kong Bananza’s Tempest Layer. Finally, players can buy or stumble upon treasure maps to find Fossils in each Sublayer. The giant icon on these maps is a generic fossil not referencing anything, which means most players won’t investigate them further. However, the light drawing behind the fossil is the world map of Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble, which is a truly astonishing little detail that will likely go unnoticed by many players.
1 King K. Rool
The Big Boss Returns
The crème de la crème, or more krème de la krème, of Donkey Kong Bananza’s surprises are tied to a secret character reveal: King K. Rool. Void Kong is set up to be the big bad of the game, but then he gets dethroned right before the last Sublayer of Donkey Kong Bananza, which is a very cool surprise. Players will then have to face King K. Rool in three boss fights, each of which contains a reference to a previous boss fight in the Donkey Kong franchise. In the first round, when King K. Rool is defeated, there will be a fake-out complete with fake credits and “The End?” Before the mighty lizard gets up again. This is a reference to how the first Donkey Kong Country boss fight ends.
In the second fight, King K. Rool is using a flying machine like the one seen in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble. The final encounter takes place in a ring reminiscent of the boxing ring from Donkey Kong 64
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 91 /100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- July 17, 2025
- ESRB
- Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, In-Game Purchases
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo EPD
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
WHERE TO PLAY
. Also, in almost every boss fight, King K. Rool is using a gun like the one he has in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest. His re-staged version of New Donk City contains a lot of references too, mostly tied to these examples, like a boxing glove appearing next to his name in neon.