Bramble CountryinDonkey Kong Bananza’sForest Layeris a throwback in all the best ways. It’s one of manyChallenge levelsthat sees the game revert toa 2D sidescrollerwhere Donkey Kong and Pauline must overcome more traditional platforming obstacles to reach their goal.
However, reaching the goal is not the only aim here. You’ll also want to hunt high and low forhidden Bananadium Gems, which will mean thinking outside the box (or maybe the barrel).
Donkey Kong Bananza is full of references to Donkey Kong’s rich history, but maybe none more obviously so than the fantastic Country Challenge levels you can find scattered across the map.
Where To Find The Middle Bananadium Gem In Bramble Country
We can cut to the chase on thefirst Bananadium Gemin Bramble Country, which isunmissable at the halfway pointof the course, and thelast Bananadium Gem, which isunmissable at the end. The really tricky one is thecentral Bananadium Gem, which you won’t even see on your trek through Bramble Country via regular play.
When you make it towards theend of the level, you’ll come to a sequence of barrels that fire directly into each other. Except, to theupper left of the grid, there will bea barrel that seems impossible to reach. It’s surroundedabove, below, to the left, and to the rightby barrels that constantly shoot around it diagonally.
This is the barrel that sends you towards the Bananadium Gem, so you’ll need to figure it out. But thankfully, you won’t have to figure it out. Because we already did! You just have to read on, you lucky duck you.
Anyway, fire yourself intothe barrel directly above the central barrel. When in here,push ZLand you willdrop outof the barrel, directlyinto the one below. This then fires you into the screen on the 3D plane to take you deeper into the level, to a platform you couldn’t ordinarily reach. And wouldn’t you just know it, that’s where the missing Banandium Gem is.
Once you grab it, use the barrel nearby to shoot back across and finish the level. If you’re replaying after missing the Gem the first time, you can just leave the Challenge here and the gem will still be collected.
