The Best Things To Buy With Gold In Donkey Kong Bananza

Players will practically be tripping over Gold in Donkey Kong Bananza because of how abundant it is. In the game’s first stage, before Odd Rock, aka Pauline, even appears, Donkey Kong can amass a small fortune. Players may be wondering what Gold is used for, since it will take about an hour or two to get to a shop, depending on how fast they get through the game’s opening stages.

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Like most games, Gold can be used to buy items in Donkey Kong Bananza at the Stuff Shop. However, that’s not the only useful thing about it. Let’s go through the best uses for Gold in Donkey Kong Bananza, as there are other resources in the game to collect as well, such as Banandium Chips and Fossils. Even though there’s a lot of it available, players shouldn’t waste their Gold. It may come in handy when they least suspect it.

5

Items To Get At The Stuff Shop

Always Keep DK Well Stocked

Let’s start with the most obvious use for Gold: the Stuff Shop. The first one will open in the Hilltop Layer, offering a small assortment of disposable items, ranging from maps to restorative items, and the shop’s inventory will increase slightly with each new world visited. Players can find a lot of these items in random chests throughout the game’s levels, so most of the Stuff Shop’s wares are not necessary purchases. However, players should always have a stock of two things: Red Balloons and Apple Juice.

If DK loses all of his hearts, players will have to restart at the last checkpoint. However, if they have Apple Juice, they will be revived on the spot, similar to how Faeries work in most Zelda games. Red Balloons are a callback to Donkey Kong Country; they’re how players gained extra lives. In Donkey Kong Bananza, Red Balloons will save DK if he falls into pits, of which there are many. Finding chests containing these items will be cheaper, but spending a few ounces of Gold on Red Balloons and Apple Juice won’t break the bank either.

4

Go To The Chip Exchange

An Easy Way To Level Up

Besides Gold, there are a few other things players will dig up as they destroy the ground. Donkey Kong Bananza’s Banandium Chips will look like cut-up bananas, and at first, they are useless. Players have to progress to the aforementioned Hilltop Layer to get to the first Chip Exchange counter.

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Here, players can exchange a set amount of Banandium Chips to get Banandium Gems in Donkey Kong Bananza. If players get five Banandium Gems, they will level up and earn a Skill Point for DK, which they can spend however they please. Players will also need Gold to solidify Chip Exchange deals, and the cost increases as players utilize this store more frequently. Exchanging Banandium Chips at the Chip Exchange will eventually cap at 100, with Gold maxing out at 300.

3

Relax At A Getaway

Improve Your Health

What’s interesting about Donkey Kong Bananza is that it doesn’t hold the player’s hand for every little thing, no matter the difficulty they’ve chosen. There are tutorials for learning moves when players absolutely need to use them, but they can also discover moves on their own or by looking at the controller layout in the menu. There are features without tutorials that players may overlook without realizing it, such as a bed in the Lagoon Layer. Players can spend Gold on Getaways starting in the Hilltop Layer, but they can test the free bed out in the Lagoon Layer first as a preview of what’s to come.

Getaways are places where players can change their clothes, listen to music, or catch a nap, all of which will increase DK’s health by one point temporarily, similar to how the food system works in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Getaways are not that expensive, so players should always seize the opportunity when it arises. The more they visit in a set Sublayer, the more temporary hearts will be rewarded after a nap. A butler-like Fractone, named Trustytone, will even appear after a few Getaway investments to simulate shops. Buying Getaways might be the best use for Gold in any given Sublayer.

2

Building Shortcuts And Growing Trees

Banandium Gems Are Everywhere

Beyond Getaways, players will encounter other construction sites. Some NPCs, called Constructones, will offer players a shortcut via a rope, a barrel, or something in between. Although fast travel is quite effective in Donkey Kong Bananza, having an additional shortcut or two is also beneficial.

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Sometimes Donkey Kong Bananza’s Challenge levels can even be unlocked with Constructones. Most of these jobs won’t cost more than a hundred Gold. Additionally, starting in the Canyon Layer, Gold-hungry trees called Growtones will request the player’s Gold. If players dump enough into the tree, it will grow three Banandium Gems. This may cost thousands of ounces of Gold, but by the Canyon Layer, players should have amassed a small fortune.

1

An Explosive Hidden Detail

Gold Can Do That?!

This last tip is a secret not everyone will notice in Donkey Kong Bananza. In the Lagoon Layer, players will learn that purple-colored stones are explosive, which will make leveling out areas easier. These stones are not the only thing that will explode upon impact, though. If players pick up a mound of Gold and toss it at something, it will explode.

If players decide to use Donkey Kong Bananza’s co-op, their partner can target Gold with Pauline’s voice to make it explode, too. Unfortunately, players cannot simply empty DK’s pockets and toss excess Gold at enemies, like they might in the Final Fantasy games. It may not be a tip for how to spend Gold, but it is a good tip on how to use Gold effectively in Donkey Kong Bananza.

Donkey Kong Bananza

Systems

Released

July 17, 2025

ESRB

Everyone 10+ // Fantasy Violence

Developer(s)

Nintendo

Publisher(s)

Nintendo

Number of Players

Single-player

Nintendo Switch 2 Release Date

July 17, 2025

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