Banana

"Leave no banana behind. If you collect enough of them, you'll get an extra balloon. I'm not sure exactly how many bananas you'll need, because I'm so tough that I only need one balloon!"

- Cranky Kong

The Banana is the most common item featured in the Donkey Kong series. This fruit appears in every single Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Land game, as well as appearing in numerous spin-off games. In the Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Land series, collecting one hundred bananas will give any Kong an extra life. Additionally, bananas often point in the direction of secret areas, hidden items, and the end of a level. It is possible for the Kong Family to collect every single banana that appears in the games.

In Donkey Kong 64, there are five colors of bananas; each color of banana can only be collected by a specific Kong. The bananas come in singles, bunches of five, or balloons of ten. Bananas are needed to feed Scoff in order to allow Troff to open the door to the level's boss.

Banana Bunches
A Banana Bunch is a group of bananas, and are usually worth ten bananas. They were first featured in Donkey Kong Country and also appeared in the the other games in the series. In Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong can find Banana Bunches by pounding the ground. In Donkey Kong 64, Banana Bunches are worth five bananas. Additionally, Banana Bunches in Donkey Kong 64 can only be collected by the Kong that matches the banana's color. Three giant Banana Bunches appear in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat at the end of each level in the Banana Kingdom. When Donkey Kong bites one of these Banana Bunches, juice will pour out, and the level will end. In Mario Kart 64, the Banana Bunch consists of five Banana Peels that can be dropped on the track. In Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and later games in the Mario Kart series, banana bunches only have three Bananas in them. In the Mario Party series, Banana Bunches are worth five bananas and first appeared in Mario Party 5. They are mainly found in Donkey Kong mini-games.