Ready to dive into the wild voxel-filled adventure of Donkey Kong Bananza on Nintendo Switch 2? Before you start punching through terrain and collecting bananas, these 23 beginner tips will equip you with essential tricks-from mastering terrain resets, upgrading your hand slap sonar to uncover hidden treasures, to unleashing powerful transformations that turn digging into pure fun. Get ready to go bananas and conquer the layers smarter, faster, and more skillfully than ever!
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.
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.
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 skillsfor 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!
How can mastering terrain management speed up my progression in Donkey Kong Bananza
Mastering terrain management in Donkey Kong Bananza speeds up your progression by enabling you to dig smarter, avoid getting trapped in dead ends, and efficiently farm resources like gold and treasure chests. Knowing how to reset the terrain via the map (+ button), you can restore valuable gold deposits and open up new digging opportunities without wasting time going back through areas you’ve already cleared. Additionally, understanding the toughness and behavior of different terrain types helps you prioritize where to punch and when to use terrain chunks as weapons or platforms, which makes advancing through layers faster and less frustrating. Smart terrain management also helps with combat by allowing you to throw terrain chunks for heavy damage or use them to clear paths quickly. Coupled with timely use of transformations and skill upgrades, this approach turns tedious digging into a streamlined, fun experience that accelerates your overall progress in the game.
Key points to speed progression via terrain management:
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Reset terrain to refresh resources and paths.
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Learn terrain types and toughness to optimize punching and chunk use.
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Use terrain chunks as weapons and platforms.
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Farm gold efficiently for upgrades.
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Combine terrain tactics with transformations for faster layer completion.
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Avoid digging into dead ends and wasting time backtracking.
By controlling the terrain wisely, you maintain momentum and access valuable materials that fuel your upgrades and abilities, resulting in a faster, more enjoyable gameplay experience.
How does resetting terrain help me find hidden paths faster in DK Bananza
Resetting terrain in Donkey Kong Bananza helps you find hidden paths faster by restoring the original map layout and refreshing gold deposits, treasure chests, and destructible terrain. When you reset terrain from the map screen (by pressing the + button), any broken paths and dug-up areas revert to their initial state, giving you a fresh chance to explore areas that might have been blocked or buried under rubble from previous digging.
This reset is particularly useful if you accidentally destroy crucial paths or dig yourself into a dead end, as it resets the terrain so you can try new routes or rediscover hidden passages without being forced to backtrack excessively. It also replenishes valuable resources like gold and treasure, which you can then dig through again for new opportunities and shortcuts.
By renewing the terrain, you gain more material to interact with-such as chunks of terrain to throw at enemies or use as platforms-which can help reveal and access hidden routes efficiently. Overall, using terrain reset smartly keeps your exploration flexible and speeds up finding secret paths that might otherwise be missed or unreachable after heavy terrain destruction.
In summary, resetting terrain:
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Restores all destroyed terrain to its original layout.
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Refreshes gold deposits and treasure chests.
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Gives you a clean slate to find hidden paths or areas you missed.
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Prevents getting stuck by clearing removed or blocked passages.
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Provides more terrain chunks to use strategically in exploration and combat.
This makes terrain resetting a powerful tool for speedy exploration and uncovering secrets in Donkey Kong Bananza.