Nintendo finally released a new livestream showing off three Donkey Kong transformations in Donkey Kong Bananza. This new Donkey Kong Bananza will be the first new game of the franchise in 11 years since the release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for the Wii U and Switch in 2014. The Nintendo Donkey Kong Bananza Direct showed us many new features this game will have, like several Donkey Kong transformations and Pauline from the Mario games.
Let’s explore all the available Donkey Kong transformations in Donkey Kong Bananza.
How do Donkey Kong transformations work in Donkey Kong Bananza?
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Donkey Kong Bananza will be the first game in the series to feature several Donkey Kong transformations. Throughout the game, you can collect gold by destroying rocky surfaces and defeating enemies.
For every piece of gold you collect, the Bananergy meter in the bottom-left corner of the screen will slowly fill. Once this meter is full, you can then transform Donkey Kong for a limited period using Pauline’s singing skills.
After some time, Donkey Kong will eventually revert to his original form. As such, you must keep on collecting gold to ensure you can transform in situations you want to. Moreover, once you are in a transformed state, you can switch between all three transformations infinitely since they share the same Bananergy bar.
Also read - Can you play Donkey Kong Bananza as a newcomer to the series?
All Donkey Kong transformations in Donkey Kong Bananza
1) Kong Bananza

Kong Bananza is a more enraged and powerful form of Donkey Kong. When you transform into Kong Bananza, your destructive prowess increases, allowing you to smash through hard surfaces your base form cannot break.
Moreover, all your base attacks — punch, slam, throw, and more — become more powerful, allowing you to deal more damage to enemies. For example, Donkey Kong’s punch attack now becomes more powerful, allowing you to hit multiple enemies in a line.
2) Zebra Bananza

Zebra Bananza will be the second transformation Donkey Kong will unlock. In this form, he becomes a buff zebra, gaining better traversal abilities. For example, this transformation allows Donkey Kong to run faster, sprint over water, and even dash through breakable floors and platforms where you otherwise would have fallen in your base form.
Also read - When is Donkey Kong Bananza releasing?
3) Ostrich Bananza

Out of all Donkey Kong transformations in Donkey Kong Bananza, Ostrich Bananza is the most ridiculous. Here, you become an ostrich-gorilla hybrid, giving you the ability to fly.
Throughout the levels, you will come across many updrafts that let you move up and fly in this form. However, you can only fly over a limited distance, making this ability seem more like Batman gliding from tall skyscrapers in the Batman Arkham series of games. Moreover, you can now drop egg bombs from the sky as you fly, which deal lots of damage. These egg bombs replenish over time, letting you carry a maximum of two at any given time.
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