Banana

The banana is a fruit that primarily appears within the Donkey Kong series as the primary collectible item.

Information

Despite being ordinary fruit, bananas are highly valued by Kongs and Kremlings in particular. Donkey Kong was known to have a massive banana horde that was kept in a cavern beneath his house. Those bananas were stolen by K. Rool and his Kremling forces on several occasions, such as Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Land and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. In Donkey Kong 64, it was instead a horde of Golden Bananas that were stolen, although normal bananas still appeared within the game. In Donkey Kong Country Returns, it was instead the Tiki Tak Tribe who stole the banana horde, and they used the bananas as a power source.

In most Donkey Kong games from Country onwards, bananas are common items found strewn throughout every level. There are both single bananas and bunches (which equate to ten bananas in the original series and five in DK64 and later games, although the revival series also has a second type of bunch containing ten bananas). In games where the player has numbered lives, the player earns an extra life for every hundred bananas that are collected. In Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze: Tropical Freeze, collecting bananas also allows the characters to perform a special move known as a Kong POW.

There is also more to the bananas in Donkey Kong 64. In addition to the standard yellow bananas, there are also bananas of different colors that can each only be collected by the Kong associated with the color in question. Additionally, in each world, bananas must be fed to Scoff to make him big enough that Troff can open the boss door. Each Kong can also earn a Banana Medal in each area by collecting 75 bananas of their respective color in that area.

Banana Peels are also featured as recurring items in the Mario Kart series, since the series started with Super Mario Kart. Banana Peels are left on the ground to slip up other players. In most games, it is also possible to get a set of three banana peels to use. There was also a giant version of the banana peel in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! that could only be used by Donkey Kong and Diddy. Similar banana items have appeared in Mario Power Tennis (known as Slippery Danger), Super Mario Strikers, Mario Strikers Charged and Mario Sports Mix.

Within the Mario Party games, bananas have appeared as collectible items for Donkey Kong minigames, and bananas also replaced Mini Stars as the collectible items at DK's Jungle Ruins in Mario Party 9.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In the Super Smash Bros. items, bananas and banana peels appear as recurring items, as well as a Banana Gun (which turns into a banana peel after being used) in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Bananas are among the fruits that can be consumed to restore health, while banana peels (present from Brawl onwards) can be thrown around for other fighters to slip over. Diddy Kong can also throw a banana peel as one of his moves. Additionally, Bowser stole Donkey Kong's banana horde to lure him into a trap in "The Subspace Emissary". A trophy for the banana peel appears in Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U. In Brawl, there is also a sticker of a banana bunch (from Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat and a banana peel (from Mario Kart DS).
• In the Donkey Kong's Crash Course game within Nintendo Land, bananas are present to be collected by the player.
• In Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, bananas replace coins as the game's currency during the Donkey Kong Adventure mode.

See Also

• Banana Coin

Trivia

• Bananas originally played a different role in Donkey Kong Jr., where a banana bunch could be dropped from a tree in the first level to defeat some enemies. This would later be repeated in Mario vs. Donkey Kong.