The Hardest Pauline Outfits To Unlock In Donkey Kong Bananza

Summary

Collecting Banandium Gems allows for leveling up Donkey Kong with new abilities or stat boosts in Donkey Kong Bananza.
Costumes with bonuses can be found and purchased for Pauline in Style Shops to enhance Donkey Kong's performance.
Special outfits like the Tempest Coat or Gold-Mining Gear can extend Bananza power time and boost Gold discovered, with challenges across various layers.

This Donkey Kong game has more RPG elements than any game in the franchise to date. Players can collect five Banandium Gems to level up Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong Bananza and give him a Skill Point. They can then give him new abilities or boost his stats. That’s the biggest RPG addition, but Donkey Kong and Pauline can also find and purchase costumes in Style Shops that have bonuses attached.

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By Tristan Jurkovich

Even though Pauline isn’t a playable character, unless players jump into co-op in Donkey Kong Bananza, she can still help Donkey Kong out with her clothing bonuses. Let’s go through Pauline's best costumes, what bonuses they grant the party, and how hard they are to find.

6 Neon/Pastel/Prime Feast Apparel

Recover Health While In A Bananza Form

Location: Feast Layer

There are three versions of the Feast Apparel outfit, all of which can heal players if they go into one of their Bananza Power forms in Donkey Kong Bananza. These costumes will make Pauline appear like she jumped out of an Archie comic, and all of them can be bought with Fossils in the Feast Layer.

The Feast Layer is a delicious world filled with salt, fries, cheese, and more lying all over the place. It’s not the hardest Sublayer to traverse, but it will take some time to fully upgrade these Feast Apparel costumes for Pauline by collecting Fossils.

5 Berry/Mint/Taffy Freezer Jacket

Extends Zebra Bananza Time

Location: Freezer Layer

Players can get all three forms of the Freezer Jacket outfit in Donkey Kong Bananza’s Freezer Layer. This cold tundra of a Sublayer is mostly covered in snow, which makes finding things tricky without a map. There are later sections with lava that aren’t much easier to traverse until a certain Bananza Power is unlocked.

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By Tristan Jurkovich

Between the frigid lakes and molten lava, it’s a pain to get to the Fossils needed for these outfits. Their base power will extend how long DK can spend in the Zebra Bananza form, which is not the best Bananza power in the game, but it has its uses. It’s recommended to unlock at least one Freezer Jacket quickly to make getting around the Freezer Layer with the Zebra Bananza quicker.

4 Black/Blue/Yellow Tempest Coat

Extends Elephant Bananza Time

Location: Tempest Layer

The Elephant Bananza transformation is a top-tier Bananza Power that unlocks in the Tempest Layer. That said, exploring the Tempest Layer to get Pauline the cute and useful Tempest Coat outfits is nightmarish. On the top layer, lightning will periodically strike players, similar to how Lightning works on metal weaponry and armor in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Below, there is a golden liquid that can harm players if they touch it, much like lava. Plus, this liquid will rain down on them constantly unless they have a chunk hovering above DK and Pauline. As such, while collecting Fossils for the Tempest Coat collection, which boost the time players can spend in the Elephant Bananza form, is not easy, it is worth it simply because the Elephant Bananza form is fun to use in Donkey Kong Bananza.

3 Gold-Mining Gear

Doubles Gold

Gold-Mining Gear costume in Donkey Kong Bananza

Location: Ingot Isle Cave-In (Awarded After Beating The Game)

Gold-Mining Gear can only be acquired if players beat the game, which is in itself a challenge without a doubt. Once they do, DK will be back in the Ingot Isle Cave-In, mining for Gold and Banandium deposits before meeting up with Pauline again.

Once they reunite, players can put this costume on her, which will boost all Gold discovered in Donkey Kong Bananza. The best place to get Gold will be the Planet Core, so if players need to amass a small fortune, head there with Pauline in this outfit.

2 Arcade/Family/Lady Dress

Extends Bananza Transformations

Location: Planet Core

There are a lot of things that unlock after completing the game. Banandium Roots will sprout up all over Donkey Kong Bananza’s Sublayers, and some stores will even stock new inventory. In the Planet Core, players can buy three Dresses that put Pauline in old costumes from past games, like the 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game, complete with a blonde wig.

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By Tristan Jurkovich

Finding Fossils to fully unlock these dresses in the Planet Core is not easy, since the islands are so spread out and small. Plus, beating the game’s final three bosses is quite the accomplishment. All three versions of the dress can be upgraded to boost Bananza Power time, which is undoubtedly useful. Of the three, the Arcade Dress and Lady Dress costumes stand out because of the blonde wig Pauline wears.

1 Diva Dress

Finds Records More Easily

Diva Dress costume in Donkey Kong Bananza

Location: Radiance Layer (Elder Quest Reward, Post-Game)

Technically, the Diva Dress is one of the easiest costumes to get for Pauline if players are willing to pay money. Donkey Kong Bananza’s tie-in Amiibo will unlock the costume automatically, but where's the fun in that? Non-Amiibo fans will instead have to beat the game and then finish a series of challenges for the five Elders in the post-game to unlock it.

These are some of the toughest levels in the game, but the Diva Dress is a nice callback to Super Mario Odyssey, and it can make finding records in the ground easier, so there are valid reasons to unlock it. Records can be played in Donkey Kong Bananza's Getaways, which players can build, and they're a relaxing way to listen to both new music and classics, like an abridged version of the "DK Rap" from Donkey Kong 64.

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