After waking up early and standing in line with dozens of people to buy a Switch 2, the first game I downloaded and played wasn’t Mario Kart World. I didn’t bother with any other Nintendo games that got boosted for the new console, either. You see, rumors had been floating around that perhaps we’d finally get a glimpse at Hollow Knight: Silksong, the sequel to the 2017 indie Metroidvania where...

In Donkey Kong Bananza, you’ll need to find fossils on the Lagoon Layer if you want to buy any swanky clothes or fur dye for Donkey Kong and Pauline. While fossils like ammonite are just about everywhere (and using DK’s sonar clap will help you find tons of them), there are some harder-to-find fossils that may evade you if you’re not keeping your eye out. The Lagoon Layer is home...

The Kong Bananza: City Smash challenge in Donkey Kong Bananza is a little confusing initially, courtesy of the fractone running the challenge telling you absolutely nothing about what to do. Smashing concrete is only part of the job. If you want all three Banandium Gems from this challenge, you’ll have to power through it with some well-timed punches. Below, we explain how to get all the Donkey Kong Bananza Kong...

In Donkey Kong Bananza, The Divide is the fourth layer that’ll you descend into, and its full of pink and blue goo — and a few Banandium Gems (golden bananas). The Divide is a fairly short level, so it’s extremely easy to blitz through and miss all of the bananas hidden inside. Make sure to look up and down as you traverse the area or else you’ll miss out on...

I owe the data analysts at Nintendo an apology. My first 20 minutes of Donkey Kong Bananza were spent in the tutorial room with the “Press Y to punch” message persistently, or desperately, reminding me to follow instructions and proceed with the game. Please understand, Nintendo. The tutorial was clear and effective, and I wasn’t stuck. I was systematically demolishing everything in sight and hoarding as much gold as possible. ...

In Donkey Kong Bananza, the Canyon Layer is the third layer that you’ll crash land onto. It’s full of your crystalline friends, but now some of them are shaped like giraffes! The Canyon Layer is home to warehouses full of Banandium Gems and smokestacks towering into the sky. The bananas in this layer are particularly difficult to find as you’ll need to weave your way up and down through the...

The Hilltop Layer is the second full layer you’ll visit in Donkey Kong Bananza. This area is much smaller than the previous Lagoon Layer, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t tons of Banandium Gems to collect. The Hilltop Layer is filled with nice crystal-like creatures who are experts in the art of turf surfing. They’ll encourage you to skate around the flat-ish, but also hilly area, grabbing gold and Banandium...

In Donkey Kong Bananza, you can scan amiibo to add an extra flavor to DK and Pauline’s journey into the underground. The game supports new Donkey Kong and older amiibo figures that, once scanned, give you special clothes and powered-up objects to help you smash through the terrain. Below we list what the amiibos do in Donkey Kong Bananza and how to use them, plus explain how to get the...

Many players will likely spend a good deal of Donkey Kong Bananza’s opening testing just how far the Switch 2 game will let them go. Much of Bananza is made up of destructible voxels, and DK can crumble this merry world with the abandon of a toddler playing with its food. Eventually, though, most of us will get back to the objective: there are bananas to find, fossils to collect,...

How many layers are in Donkey Kong Bananza is a slightly more complex subject than you might initially think. Every layer is structured differently, some with multiple sublayers, and all with varying numbers of Banandium Gems to grab. The way Bananza is structured means that you’re free to tackle it all at your own pace, though, and can (usually) hop back to an earlier layer to grab collectibles you might’ve...