Banana

Banana
	; Artwork of a banana from Donkey Kong Country Returns
First appearance	Donkey Kong Jr. (1982)
Latest appearance	Mario Strikers: Battle League (2022)

It has been suggested that this page be split into the following: Banana, Banana Peel. (discuss)

"Banana Peel" redirects here. For Diddy Kong's special move in the Super Smash Bros. series, see Banana Peel (move).

"Bananas" redirects here. For the microgame in the Gamer minigame in Game & Wario, see Bananas (microgame).

“Oh, sweet, creamy, potassium-rich irony! I hate bananas anyway!”

—King K. Rool, DK: Jungle Climber

Bananas are common tropical fruit from the Mario, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong franchises. Bananas have various functions throughout the games: Banana Peels are used as hazards, most notably in the Mario Kart series, Mario Party minigames, and various Mario sports games, and are also collectibles similar to coins in the Donkey Kong and Mario Party franchises.

History

Donkey Kong franchise

Donkey Kong Jr.

A Banana Bunch lying under a vine is among the fruit Donkey Kong Jr. can drop on enemies in the first stage of his debut game. Like every other fruit in the game, this Banana Bunch awards the player 400 points if touched.

Donkey Kong Country series

Artwork of a banana from the original Donkey Kong Country SNES trilogy

A Banana from the Donkey Kong Country series

Bananas are the ubiquitous items appearing in every Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Land game to date. They work similarly to the Coins from the Mario franchise. In these games, for every one hundred bananas collected, the player is granted an extra life. Banana Bunches, which are worth ten regular bananas, appear very frequently as well.

In Donkey Kong Country, bananas and Banana Bunches are common within Bonus Areas, even having a type specifically featuring them, "Collect the Bananas!". Throughout the game, Donkey Kong can sometimes reveal a Banana Bunch by using Hand Slap in a specific location. Additionally, hoards of bananas can be seen in the boss areas.

In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, some groups of bananas are in the shape of an arrow, pointing at a wall. Breaking the wall reveals the entrance to a Bonus Area. Sometimes a single, standalone banana in an higher area represents the location of either a hidden object (such as a Barrel Cannon or a hook), a hidden item (such as an Extra Life Balloon), or even a Bonus Barrel. This also occurs in the sequel, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! In both games, some bananas are arranged in the shape of a controller button, indicating the button that the player must press in that moment. One such example is in the Donkey Kong Country 3 level, Bobbing Barrel Brawl, where a group of bananas shaped as a "Y" tell the player to press for Ellie to draw over a TNT Barrel stuck between two red Buzzes. In the Game Boy Advance port, the arrangement of these bananas were updated to match with the appropriate Game Boy Advance button.

Bananas appear in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, reprising their role from the earlier Donkey Kong Country games. Additionally, there are winged bananas that float around in certain areas (mostly Bonus Areas), which are worth five bananas. In the Golden Temple, there are enormous, floating bananas (amongst other fruit) that serve as platforms for Donkey and Diddy Kong.

In Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and its Nintendo Switch port, collecting one hundred bananas will enable the Kongs to perform a Kong POW, aside from receiving an extra life. Flying bananas are followed by trails of regular bananas and will turn into an important item, such as a Banana Coin or a Puzzle Piece, when all bananas behind it are collected.

Diddy Kong Racing / Diddy Kong Racing DS

In Diddy Kong Racing, bananas are a collectible that will increase the vehicle's top speed. The player can collect up to ten bananas at a time, each one increasing the vehicle's overall speed. If the player is hit by something, they lose two bananas. The banana counter resets to zero at the beginning of each race. Bananas are replaced with coins in the DS remake.

Donkey Kong 64

The different colored Bananas from Donkey Kong 64

In Donkey Kong 64, bananas are featured in five different colors. Each color can only be collected by a certain Kong: yellow for Donkey Kong, red for Diddy Kong, purple for Tiny Kong, blue for Lanky Kong, and green for Chunky Kong. There are exactly 500 bananas (100 per color) in each of the game's seven levels, for a total of 3,500 bananas in the entire game. The bananas are required collectable items, as the Kongs must feed them to Scoff, who slowly grows larger for each banana that he eats. Eventually, Scoff becomes large enough to stomp his platform, allowing Troff to reach the key in the boss door.

Unlike the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, Banana Bunches are worth five bananas. A Banana Balloon is worth ten bananas, which the Kong can obtain by sniping their associated Banana Balloon.

Aside from this, bananas, or rather, their peels, played an important role in the final battle against K. Rool, more specifically when fighting him as Lanky Kong. Due to K. Rool being blinded due a light fixture falling on him, Lanky uses barrels containing giant banana peels to place one on the ring, and then deliberately play music to K. Rool to lure him over to the banana peel so he will slip on it.

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

"Beat" redirects here. For the Mega Man character and one of Mega Man's custom special moves in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, see Mega Man § Rush Coil.

Normal bananas and Banana Bunches also appear in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, where they are part of a scoring system called beats (or banana points^[1] in the New Play Control! version). In this game, Donkey Kong's banana total acts as his overall health (in the New Play Control! version, they only act as his health for boss battles); losing all of his beats results in a Game Over. Normal bananas are worth one beat, and bunches are worth three, but stringing together multiple combos and clap grabbing multiple bananas increases the amount of beats they are worth. Lastly, there is a minigame after said levels involving Donkey Kong eating as many bananas as he can in the allotted period of time, to increase his beat total for that level.

DK: King of Swing

In DK: King of Swing, up to 300 bananas can be collected. Donkey Kong can then use the bananas to heal his health or become invincible.

Mario Kart series

Official LINE sticker for Mario Kart 8. This one is a reference to the Super Mario Kart artworks.

LINE sticker of Yoshi spinning out on a Banana

The Banana (also known as the Banana Peel^[2] or Banana Skin^[3]) is one of the most common items in the Mario Kart series and has appeared in every game of the series. A Banana causes a kart to spin out if the vehicle touches the slippery item, slowing them down. Bananas can either be placed behind a kart, or be thrown forward down the track. It can also be held behind the kart as a defensive countermeasure against homing Red Shells and, to a lesser extent, Green Shells. Bananas can also come in threes, known as Triple Bananas. When used, three Bananas automatically attach themselves to the back of the kart. Like many other items in the Mario franchise, the Banana has eyes and a mouth. The Banana also appears as the emblem of the Banana Cup.

Super Mario Kart

In Super Mario Kart, Banana Peels are used by Donkey Kong Jr. if he is CPU-controlled.

Mario Kart 64

A Banana Bunch from Mario Kart 64

In Mario Kart 64, along with single Bananas, there are Banana Bunches, which grant five normal Bananas. In this game, if a Banana is hit while a racer is driving straight, they will skid for a while before spinning out. However, the Banana's effect can be nullified by braking at the right time. The game also introduces the Fake Item Box, which acts similarly to Bananas, but it cannot be tossed forward and can float in midair, and in later games, items can phase through it.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit

Bananas return again in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, but only the single variation is available, and the Banana Bunch is absent.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

A Giant Banana from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

Bananas return in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, alongside a larger variant called the Giant Banana, which Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong can use, and also Petey Piranha and King Boo, since the latter two can use any special item.

Mario Kart DS

Triple Bananas from Mario Kart DS

Bananas return in Mario Kart DS. The Triple Bananas are also introduced in this game, acting like the previous Banana Bunch, except it only gives three Bananas that line up behind the kart.

Mario Kart Wii

A standard Banana from Mario Kart Wii

Bananas appear again in Mario Kart Wii, behaving like the previous two games. The Triple Bananas also return from Mario Kart DS. Single Bananas are obtainable in the top five positions in this game; the best chance of getting this item is in 1st place, with a 37.5 percent (15 out of 40) chance of getting it in said position.

Mario Kart 7

Bananas and Triple Bananas return again in Mario Kart 7, and unlike the previous three games, when a Banana is struck, the racer spins out for slightly longer.

Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Bananas and Triple Bananas return in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe; however, rather than following behind the vehicle, the Triple Bananas orbit it, similarly to Triple Green or Red Shells. The duration of spinning out from touching a Banana is further increased to a comparable duration to that of the Giant Banana in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and the POW Block in Mario Kart Wii. A single Banana appears on the adverts for BaNaNa Boy. In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the ninja Shy Guys that appear as obstacles in Ninja Hideaway can sometimes transform into Bananas.

Mario Kart Tour

Bananas reappear in Mario Kart Tour. The Giant Banana also returns, with the same function as in previous games. However, unlike in previous games, the Giant Banana is exclusive to Donkey Kong, Yellow Toad (Pit Crew), Morton, and Mario (Sunshine). Diddy Kong and Funky Kong's new exclusive item, the Banana Barrels, shoot out Bananas in front of them for a certain amount of time. Triple Bananas also return as an exclusive item for Daisy (Swimwear), Dixie Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. (SNES), and Waluigi (Bus Driver).

The following gliders increase the chance of getting Bananas and points for hitting racers with one.

Special skill	Gliders
Banana Plus Increases your chances of getting a Banana. Using one will get you more points.	+10 points

	+20 points

	+30 points

Club Nintendo comics

In the Club Nintendo comic "Super Mario Klemp-Won-Do: Muskeln sind nicht alles!", Mario used some bananas to make his opponent Blanka slip and fall.

Being the Kongs' favorite food, bananas serve as the main victuals in the comic "Donkey Kong in: Banana Day 24" when Donkey Kong and his friends travel to Outer Space in order to stop aliens from pulling Earth away from the sun. As it turns out, the culprits just erroneously took the planet for a huge coconut, a fruit their species adores. Diddy suggests to give bananas to the extraterrestrials as a compensation to get Earth back. This plan works, and the aliens are enthusiastic about the bananas' taste.

Their use as weapons in the Mario Kart series was referenced in the comic "Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All," when Mario and Luigi dropped some Banana Peels in front of Wario and Bowser, as they were competing to find a Nintendo 64-like spaceship.

Yoshi's Story

Bananas are the favorite fruit of Yellow Yoshis in Yoshi's Story, along with the universally loved Melons. Bananas can also be seen growing from the top of the Super Happy Tree.

WarioWare series

Donkey Kong collecting bananas in the Donkey Kong Country microgame

WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase

Bananas appear in WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase, in which a microgame called DK Country has Diddy Kong getting shot out of a Bonus Barrel and collect six bananas, whilst avoiding a Zinger.

WarioWare Gold

In WarioWare Gold, Bananas appear as obstacles in the Super Mario Kart microgame, where the player must stay on Rainbow Road. They also appear in the Donkey Kong Country microgame, where Donkey Kong must be fired from a Barrel Cannon into a row of bananas.

WarioWare: Get It Together!

The banana in the microgame

In WarioWare: Get It Together!, the Mario Kart series banana peel makes a cameo in Shadow Sports.

Mario Party series

Bananas in Mass A-peel, a minigame from Mario Party 5.

Bananas have made various appearances in minigames in the Mario Party series such as in Tree Stomp in Mario Party 4, acting as hazards (along with golden variants that increase the speed of any player that collects them). Players tripping over banana peels also determine which path is taken in Koopa's Seaside Soiree in Mario Party 4. Bananas are prominently featured in Donkey Kong minigames in Mario Party 5, 6, and7, where they are worth one, two, or three coins depending on a random multiplier determined by whoever has landed on a DK Space before the minigame starts. In these games, there are also Banana Bunches, which are worth five bananas each and also mainly found in Donkey Kong minigames.

Mario Party 9

In Mario Party 9, Bananas replace Mini Stars in the unlockable board DK's Jungle Ruins. On this board, the players' goal is to collect the most Bananas. They can be won on this board in all the same ways that Mini Stars can be won on other boards. Z-Bananas also appear on this board as a counterpart to Mini Ztars.

Mario Party: Star Rush

Bananas appear in Mario Party: Star Rush as obstacles in Bowser's Shocking Slipup, where they appear as one of only two items on the roulettes. They stun the player for a few seconds if touched.

Super Mario Party

In Super Mario Party, Bananas appear in the minigame Trip Navigator as the main obstacles. If a player touches one, they are stunned for one second.

Luigi's Mansion series

Luigi's Mansion

In Luigi's Mansion, Garbage Can Ghosts will throw banana peels on the floor. Luigi can slip on these peels, damaging him with 5 HP taken away (10 HP in the Hidden Mansion). They can also be found lying on the ground in the Dining Room, where Mr. Luggs resides.

Luigi's Mansion 3

In Luigi's Mansion 3, Banana Peels can come out of trash bins. If Luigi or Gooigi walks on a banana peel, they slip and lose 1 HP. Regular Bananas also appear in the game.

Super Smash Bros. series

Kirby slipping on the Banana Peel in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

A Banana Peel in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Bananas are one of many food items in Super Smash Bros. Melee, where they restore 5% damage. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, bananas appear in the Tortimer Island stage, and restore 3% damage. The Banana Peel also appears as an item in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and subsequent games. Once thrown, anyone who walks over it will trip and fall onto their back. It is also used in Diddy Kong's down special move. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, an offensive item known as a Banana Gun also appears.

Super Mario series

Super Mario Sunshine

A banana as it appears in Super Mario Sunshine

In Super Mario Sunshine, Bananas grow throughout the Isle Delfino and are sold in Delfino Plaza's market sector by a street vendor. A local woman took enough interest in them to request Mario's help in gathering them. In Ricco Harbor, a supply of bananas and other fruit are stored in a gigantic tank used in the episode "Yoshi's Fruit Adventure". Hotel Delfino in Sirena Beach sell the fruit at fruit bars as well. The Yoshis on the island turn pink after eating them, allowing them to spit Juice of the same color that turns enemies into pink ascending platforms. They also fall faster and have more friction than other fruits.

Super Mario Maker

In Super Mario Maker, a peeled banana appears in the Diddy Kong costume's pose when is pressed (or when the left is tilted up).

Mario Tennis series

Mario Power Tennis

In Mario Power Tennis, in the mode where players can hit the balls through Item Boxes, the banana tends to appear, known as "Slippery Danger" within the game. The player has to hit the ball with the racquet in order to use the item. When used, the banana will be attached with the ball until it stays still on the ground in the case the ball bounces. Also, the Garbage Can Ghost in the Luigi's Mansion stage throws bananas that have the same function as the regular bananas as a stage gimmick.

Mario Tennis Open

In Mario Tennis Open, plenty of bananas are seen on the DK Jungle court. The banana is the emblem for the Banana Cup and appears on its trophy. Tennis gear for Miis are designed based on this item.

Mario Golf series

Mario Golf: World Tour / Mario Sports Superstars

In Mario Golf: World Tour, bananas are seen in food bowls on some tables of the Castle Club's Royal Room, as well as inside barrels, which are the tee markers of the DK Jungle course. Golf gear is designed based on this item and available for use by Miis. In Diddy Kong's animation for getting a bogey, he eats a banana while lying down and throws it on the ground. He does the same when he gets a double bogey or worse, but then he tries to get up and walk, only to slip on the banana. This animation is reused in Mario Sports Superstars.

Mario Golf: Super Rush

In Mario Golf: Super Rush, bananas appear as obstacles. They only appear in the Battle Golf mode inside clear spheres. If a player steps on one, they lose coins. There are also multiple bananas inside the spheres which surround the player with bananas.

Mario Strikers series

Banana icon in Super Mario Strikers

In the Mario Strikers games, the banana acts as an item that players can collect. Once used, the player will drop three or five banana peels behind them, which will proceed to knock over any player who runs into them. This includes both the opponent, and the user. If used near an edge, only a few bananas will stay on the field, as the other bananas will fall off the stadium. A similar item is the Giant Banana.

During Diddy Kong's ground entrance, he pulls out a banana, and whacks it on his hand, which is used to say that he is going to crush his opponent.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story / Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey

In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and its remake, bananas are used by Crawfuls as part of one of their attacks. The Crawful throws the banana in front of it and slips towards the character currently being used, who must punch it away or hammer it respectively.

Mario Sports Mix

Shy Guys throwing Banana Peels from their train

Banana Peels reappear in Mario Sports Mix. They can either stop opponents for a short time, or power up the ball or puck. When used as an item shot, the ball will make a curved path, a reference to the face that bananas themselves are curved, and can cause opposing players to slip if they touch it. In Western Junction, a train with cars full of Banana Peels may drive through the court, and Shy Guys on board the train will throw Banana Peels on the court so any player may slip over them.

Nintendo Land

In the Nintendo Land attraction Donkey Kong's Crash Course, the objective is to collect bananas and reach Donkey Kong and Pauline.

Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

In Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Bananas appear in Snow Day Street Hockey on the Market Street Rink. When the puck hits a banana seller's stand, banana peels will temporarily scatter over the rink and cause those who hit them to slip and be stunned. The banana peels use their design from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Bananas reappear as currency exclusively in the Donkey Kong Adventure mode of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, replacing coins from the main game.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

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A bunch of bananas can be seen beside Cranky Kong's throne in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, from which Cranky picks a banana as Mario is punched repeatedly by Donkey Kong in the stadium duel.