Summary
- Customizing DK and his partner, Pauline, in Donkey Kong Bananza includes outfit boosts like ties and helmets.
- Certain outfit pieces, such as the Banandium Chip Bolo and Yum-Yum Tie, provide unique benefits to gameplay.
- Donkey Kong Bananza has hidden items like the Invisibility Tie, which adds challenges post-game for completionists.
It seems bizarre to see in a Donkey Kong game, but Donkey Kong Bananza has legit RPG elements. Finding Banandium Gems will grant DK Skill Points, which can then increase his stats and help him learn new moves. Players can also customize DK and his partner, Pauline. DK’s fur can be dyed, but it does not affect gameplay.
Shorts and ties, which are separate pieces of gear, do offer stats boosts, though. The following are the trickiest gear items to collect for DK, which may or may not also be the best gear for DK in Donkey Kong Bananza. Admittedly, most of the hard-to-get costume pieces are the ties, as they require the most Fossils to upgrade, but there may be one or two surprises in here, too.
For those who want to discover these outfits themselves, be wary of Donkey Kong Bananza spoilers.
7 Dig-It Neckerchief
Restore Bananergy By Destroying Terrain
- Location: Freezer Layer
Destroying the world is half the fun in Donkey Kong Bananza, as much as it is in any open-world game with destructible environments. Players can find various resources, and with the Dig-It Neckerchief, they can also restore Bananergy by tearing up the ground. Bananergy typically gets restored by collecting Gold or eating melons, but this tie will make it easier to stay in top physical condition.
Bananergy is required for DK to transform into his various Bananza Power forms, such as Kong Bananza and Ostrich Bananza. The Dig-It Neckerchief can be purchased and upgraded in the Freezer Layer, which is not an easy one to navigate due to the ice-covered peaks and molten-baked valleys.
6 Apple-A-Day Tie
Apples Restore More Health
- Location: Tempest Layer
DK loves bananas, so it would make sense that he would prefer a random banana to restore his health in the game. Instead, Donkey Kong Bananza gives players various forms of apples to heal DK, between random apples found in the ground, Apple Juice containers players can purchase at the Stuff Shop, and giant apples typically placed before one of Donkey Kong Bananza’s many boss fights.
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They may verge on body horror, but DK's Bananza Powers in Donkey Kong Bananza are both powerful and versatile in the right hands.
The Apple-a-Day Tie, found within the Tempest Layer, will make the random apples heal more of DK's health. Donkey Kong Bananza is not the hardest game on the planet for most of the journey, but anyone worried about their health should keep this tie in mind. It’s another challenging one to upgrade because the Tempest Layer will shoot lightning bolts and rain lava across various parts of the Sublayer.
5 Banandium Chip Bolo
Significantly Increase Banandium Chip Collecting
- Location: Radiance Layer
The Banandium Chip Bolo is the most important piece of clothing players can collect for DK. To level up, players need to find Banandium Gems, and collecting five of those will grant them a Skill Point to spend on DK's many skills in Donkey Kong Bananza.
Players can also find Banandium Chips in the ground, which are randomized in the game, and players can then turn them into Banandium Gems at the Chip Exchange store. The Banandium Chip Bolo will give players a chance to double those Banandium Chip points, which will speed up the leveling process. Players can get the Banandium Chip Bolo in the Radiance Layer, which is spread out and filled with hard-to-traverse terrain.
4 Yum-Yum Tie
Eat Food-Based Terrain In The Feast Layer To Restore Health
- Location: Feast Layer
The Yum-Yum Tie is similar in design to the Apple-A-Day Tie, but with a more limited use. The Feast Layer, where players can buy and upgrade this piece of gear, is made up of food, such as giant mountains of fries. Players can eat the terrain if it is made out of food to restore DK's health.
That makes this tie useful while exploring the theme park in the Feast Layer, but nowhere else. Enemies are pretty tough in this Sublayer of Donkey Kong Bananza because poison-based slugs can hide in plain sight, so it isn’t a bad idea to have as many ways to restore health as possible.
3 Soggy Cravat
Reduce Lava And Lava Rain Damage With Cooling
- Location: Planet Core
The Soggy Cravat is a strange name for a piece of clothing, and it’s also most useful outside of its purchasable location, the Planet Core. The Freezer Layer has lava, and the Tempest Layer has lava rain. The Soggy Cravat will protect against both of those things, which is nice, but a little too late unless players haven't finished exploring those areas by the time they reach the Planet Core.
The Planet Core is the last Sublayer in the game, and it’s a doozy to navigate because of how spaced out the islands are. Plus, there are spikes everywhere, with death almost a certainty around every corner. The Soggy Cravat is not a great necktie to upgrade, but those who want to 100% Donkey Kong Bananza need some luck to do so.
2 Mining Helmet
Just DK’s Trusty Mining Hat
- Location: Ingot Isle Cave-In
There are two striking things players will notice about DK when they start Donkey Kong Bananza. He has a mining hat, and he is wearing suspenders and shorts. It's strange, considering this aesthetic suggests that he's fully nude (except for his tie) in most Donkey Kong games. Players will not have the hat for long as it will get swept away during the tutorial phase of Ingot Isle.
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For Donkey Kong Bananza players who find the core game too easy, these Challenge levels will put their DK level-destroying skills to the test.
However, they can obtain the obviously-named Mining Helmet after completing the game and returning to the Ingot Isle Cave-In. Sadly, the Mining Helmet does nothing for DK stat-wise, and even though there is a new hat-based category in DK’s gear menu afterward, that’s the only one players can find for now. Hopefully, more hat-based gear for DK is on the way in the form of updates or DLC. It should be noted that completing the game is time-consuming, as Donkey Kong Bananza is a large game.
1 Invisibility Tie
Now You See DK, Now You Don’t
- Location: Ingot Isle Cave-In
Sometimes, a game can add a costume or piece of gear that is beyond baffling. That’s what the Invisibility Tie is in Donkey Kong Bananza. It will turn both DK and Pauline invisible, but will have no gameplay benefit for players, which is what makes it truly bizarre.
Enemies can still see DK, for example, but players will have a harder time tracking their own movements. For anyone who wants to challenge themselves beyond belief, they should check out the Invisibility Tie. To obtain it, players must complete the game and then invest in three projects for Grumpy Kong, which will cost over 100,000 Gold in Donkey Kong Bananza. After that, Poppy Kong will give DK the Invisibility Tie in the Ingot Isle Cave-In.
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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
