Donkey Kong Bananzais quite literally so deep that we will likely continue to make discoveries and push its boundaries for months, maybe even years. However, it has taken less than two weeks for one determined Bananza player to discover you can complete the game without collecting any of its bananas.
You might think that the whole point of Bananza is its bananas, and it kind of is, but that just makes it even more incredible that, if you’ve got the patience, you can make it to the end of the game’s main throughline without smashing up a single Banandium Gem.AKappears to have been the first to have achieved the feat, sharing their accomplishment on Twitter.
Someone has beaten Bananza without picking up any bananas
They’ve also shed a little light on how they managed to achieve a banana-less run, sharing tips with other Bananza players who are trying to push the game, and their own abilities in said game, to the limit. AK notes that they managed to find inventive ways to get around obstacles designed to require the game’s Zebra and Ostrich Bananzas, but other terrain could not be traversed without them.
Mild spoilers ahead for Bananza forms that were not previously revealed via the game’s trailers.
AK recommends waiting until you’ve finished a regular playthrough of Bananza before trying to emulate their banana-less run. I mean, fair play to you if you attempt to avoid bananas on your first playthrough, but I wouldn’t recommend it either. Apparently, the early game is relatively easy, the mid-game is challenging due to absent upgrades, and then the endgame is hard thanks to stronger enemies.
One of the other Bananzas you unlock, for example, turns DK into a snake. Even though AK found inventive ways around using the Ostrich and Zebra upgrades, they couldn’t figure out the same for the Snake Bananza. That’s just for those trying to complete the game without using the Bananza powers, though. You don’t need Banandium Gems to unlock the various Bananza powers, so all of them are fair game in a banana-less run.
If the grind of trying to make it through Bananza while pretending all of those delicious Banandium Gems don’t exist doesn’t sound all that a-peeling to you, there are plenty of other things to do that you probably haven’t discovered yet. You can go back to the beginning and check outthe homage to Tears of the Kingdom you might have missed, or redo one of those retro sidescrolling levels that hasa well hidden Donkey Kong Country easter egg.
