Summary
- Zebra Bananza form is limited in use, not the best investment for upgrades in Donkey Kong Bananza.
- Snake Bananza provides a double jump ability and time slow-down feature for boss fights.
- Ostrich Bananza offers flight, able to reach high areas, and drop eggs as an attack.
Donkey Kong Bananza is Donkey Kong at his most powerful. It’s wild to see him go from the Donkey Kong Country franchise to this, with a power boost as if he drank Captain America’s Super Soldier serum. Beyond his fists, players can also unlock special abilities throughout the story called Bananza Powers.
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.
With Bananergy, Donkey Kong can transform into a few different animals. For players jumping into Donkey Kong Bananza for the first time, they may not want to be spoiled on these gifts. There will be a warning, but this will be a ranking of all the Bananza Powers in Donkey Kong Bananza featuring how they come into being, how they work, and why they are useful.
Spoilers Ahead for Donkey Kong Bananza.
5 Zebra Bananza
Fleeting Fun
When players make it to the The Divide in Donkey Kong Bananza, they will have a choice. One path will bring them down to the Freezer Layer where they can get the Zebra Bananza form, and the other path will lead them to the Forest Layer where the Ostrich Bananza form awaits. Players should go to the Forest Layer to get the Ostrich Bananza form first, because the Zebra Bananza form doesn’t have a lot of uses. Once transformed, DK will move faster. Certain platforms will crumble if players move on them too slowly, which is how the Zebra Bananza form will factor into a few puzzle types later on.
The Zebra Bananza has a few upgrades that will add moves to its base form, like a better charge attack and a drift-like attack as well. In certain, more open Sublayers of Donkey Kong Bananza, like the Hilltop Layer, the Zebra Bananza form does have its uses. Most areas are not well-suited for this power though. It’s not bad, but players should not waste too many Skill Points on upgrades, as there are better Bananza Powers for DK to master.
4 Snake Bananza
Bounce Up, Super Star
The Snake Bananza form will be the final one players unlock, and is located in the Radiance Layer. It’s a fun callback to Rattly the Rattlesnake, one of the mounts players can find in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, who excelled at high jumps. The Snake Bananza can give DK a double jump ability, and players can charge up the snake’s coil to bounce even higher. It can slow down time too, which is cool trick and useful for boss fights. Most upgrades will either make charged jumps faster or go higher, so there are not a lot of big extra moves to acquire here.
All Donkey Kong Bananza Amiibo Rewards
Donkey Kong Bananza has Amiibo support and even its own dedicated Amiibo figure, but what exactly do they do?
One upgrade in this form’s Skill Tree can make the downward punches in the Snake Bananza form stronger. Like the Zebra Bananza form, the Snake Bananza transformation has its uses, but they are not as widespread as the other forms. Also, it’s a bit hard to get around in this form unless players just use their double jump constantly. Perhaps if players could use the Snake Bananza form earlier in the game, it would be a better transformation with its skill upgrades, but it simply comes too late in Donkey Kong Bananza.
3 Ostrich Bananza
Fly, You Fool!
The Ostrich Bananza awaits players in the Forest Layer, as previously mentioned. This form is a game-changer because of its main ability: flight. Once players get the right upgrade, they can fly and glide over large areas. It can kind of break the game if players get to a high enough point, but that’s one of the best things about an open-world game with a flight mechanic.
Most of the Ostrich Bananza’s upgrades will boost the form's flight capabilities, but there’s also an odd attack upgrade wherein the form can drop eggs on enemies. It’s funny to use a few times, but it’s not the most useful attack power in the game. Overall, the Ostrich Bananza form is not that strong physically as a Bananza Power, but the ability to fly alone makes it a good middle-of-the-pack unlock. It can definitely help players to hard-to-reach places in Donkey Kong Bananza.
2 Elephant Bananza
Suck Till You Drop
The Elephant Bananza form can be found in the Tempest Layer. When players begin Donkey Kong Bananza, they will be surprised by the impressive physics in this open-world game with destructibility. They will be blown away again with the Elephant Bananza form because its main ability lies in its trunk, which can suck up materials in the blink of an eye. Those materials can then become objects that players can launch at enemies.
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.
For example, players can suck up explosive materials like Gold or purple rocks to then launch for a chaotic effect. The ability to suck alone can create endless hours of fun. Most Skill Tree nodes will upgrade the trunk’s power, boosting its range and how fast it can vacuum up materials. The only downside is its flexibility, as it is the slowest Bananza form to move around in.
1 Kong Bananza
Going Ape
The Kong Bananza form will be the first upgrade players get for DK. This is also how Pauline gets freed from her Odd Rock form in Donkey Kong Bananza. It may not be as exciting as the ability to fly or suck up objects, but the Kong Bananza transformation is the strongest in the game by far. Some of the hardest rock layers can only be destroyed when DK is in this form.
For a game that's all about destruction, the Kong Bananza ability will give players exactly what they need. Once unlocked, it’s much more fun to go around destroying walls while looking for treasure. Upgrades aren’t that fantastical in the Kong Bananza's Skill Tree, but they will make the form better at destroying things, and that's what counts. There’s also an armor upgrade if players truly want to turn DK into a fuzzier version of The Hulk, which is useful against some of the game’s stronger bosses.
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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
