In Donkey Kong Bananza, you’ll hit the Radiance Layer as your 12th zone. It’s another big area filled with Banandium Gems. Some of the sublayers only have a few bananas, so don’t fret too much when you see that this place has a whopping five sublayers.
The Radiance Layer is home to snake people and it’s where you’ll get your last Ancient Bananza Power: Snake Bananza. You’ll need to leap up high using your coiled body to solve a ton of the puzzles on these floors, while also utilizing some of your older Bananza abilities, too.
Below, we list where to find all of the Banandium Gems in the Radiance Layer we’ve found so far in Donkey Kong Bananza. We’re still updating this guide with more golden bananas as we find them.
Sublayer 1200 Banandium Gems
We’ve found three Banandium Gems in Sublayer 1200 in the Radiance Layer.
#1: Beneath the White-Sand Landing
Right next to the Shedlight Cave teeleport spot begin digging down and you’ll find this banana. You can use DK’s Hand Slap sonar to help locate the banana.
#2: Alighted in the Radiance Layer!
These three bananas will be sitting in the snow when you first drop into the Radiance Layer.
#3: Deep Down in Shedlight Cave
Past the hole down to the next sublayer is another concrete pillar. Destroying it creates an opening for light to shine down and digging directly down in the light will lead to this banana.
Transform into Kong Bananza and destroy the concrete floor below the concrete pillar to find the banana.
Sublayer 1201 Banandium Gems
We’ve found 18 Banandium Gems in Sublayer 1201 in the Radiance Layer.
#4: Ssslithered Past Shedlight Cave!
You get this banana as part of the story when you drop on to Sublayer 1201.
#5: Shifty Smash: A Thorny Situation
From the place you land on Sublayer 1201, go to your left and jump from the edge. Below, you find a cave and inside of it a Shifty Smash challenge. Complete it to earn this banana.
#6: A Light Snack
Once you turn the sun back on in Sublayer 1202, head to the Glowboa Grotto Getaway and follow the path behind the getaway. Punch down on the light-activated door to find this banana.
#7: Revealed by the Light
This banana is right next to the Glow Stone Vein tuning fork and can be found with DK’s Hand Slap sonar. It’s behind a wall that two snakes are trying to break, but they complain about not being able to see. Pull the material from the glowing vein nearby and then bring it to the blue coil to open the door and claim your banana.
#8: Glowing Fruit in the Darkness
This banana is inside the Radiance Layer Challenge Course, Dim Lights in the Darkness. To find its entrance, start from the Glow Stone Vein tuning fork and jump from the platform to your left to the lower part. The door to this challenge is under the bridge. This banana is located in plain sight after the first set of platforms.
#9: Sharp Eye for a Banana
During the challenge, when on the platform with the crockoid, grab a piece of the glowing stone and throw it at a coil to the left of the platform. It will make two platforms appear, one of them containing this banana.
#10: Guided by Glowing Fruit
Finish the Radiance Layer Challenge Course 2 to find this banana.
#11: Adrift in Glowboa Grotto
From the Glow Stone Vein tuning fork, walk down the hill and turn to the right. Across the glow stone lake, you’ll spot the tip of a Banandium Gem sticking out of a pile of sand.
#12: Battle: Some Light Smashing
You earn this banana after completing a battle challenge. You find this challenge by going down the hill from the Glow Stone Vein tuning fork and going to your left. There’s a wall with an opening there. Inside, you can talk to a Constructone and pay 600 gold to open the path to the challenge.
#13: Sitting on a Snake’s Head
Use Snake Bananaza’s charge jump to land on top of the giant snake hallway’s head to get this banana.
#14: Over the Elder’s Head
This banana is found on top of the zipline platform located above the Snake Elder. To reach the banana, go on top of the hill above the Elder’s Back Getaway and transform into your snake form. Do a charge jump into the air and quickly transform into your ostrich form, gliding the rest of the way.
#15: Bathing in the Essence of the Sun
Head into the room to the left of the Snake Elder, which is where you found one of the four record pieces. On the very first platform inside, you’ll find a large spider-like enemy on top of a bed of lava. Transform into your elephant form and suck up the lava to reveal a hidden room that contains a banana. Defeat the enemy by destroying the concrete on top of it and collect your banana.
#16: Atop an Unlit Landing
While ziplining to receive the piece of the ancient record behind the Snake Elder, you’ll run into a segment where you have to constantly swap ziplines to make it to said record. Near the middle of this segment, you’ll see this banana next to the far right zipline.
#17: Sneaky Room under Sand
This is the first banana in the challenge course Snake Bananza: Charged Climb, which you can reach from the top of the snake structure. As the name implies, you’ll need to be using Snake Bananza to start this course.
As you’re making your way through the challenge be on the lookout for a patch of snow on the ground. You can dig down through it and find this banana.
#18: Springing off Sandy Steps
In above challenge course, if you found the previous banana, this banana will be right after it as soon as you take the barrel.
#19: Swift and Shocking Ascent
This banana is the end-of-course reward for the above challenge course.
#20: The View Beyond Glowboa Grotto
After you turn the sun back on in Sublayer 1202, use Ostritch Bananza to glide (literally requiring the Glide skill) to this opening from the top of the Constrictor Corridor. Follow the path to find this banana.
#21-29: ???
These bananas are skipped on the collection screen, meaning that they may require you to beat the game to unlock. We’ll update this guide once we can confirm how to get these bananas.
#30: Radiance Chip Exchange
In Sublayer 1202, you’ll find the Radiance Layer’s chip exchange in the initial hub area. You can get this banana early by exchanging your chips to the concierge NPC at a getaway instead.
Sublayer 1202 Banandium Gems
We’ve found 15 Banandium Gems in Sublayer 1202 in the Radiance Layer.
#31: Unveiled in the Sculptors’ Studio!
This is another story-based banana that you’ll get for dropping onto the sublayer for the first time.
#32: Battle: Shining Through
After turning the sun back on, you can head back to the little town hub area and break this door open to unlock this combat challenge.
#33: Ceiling Swingin’ Snack
After you teeleport to Sculptors’ Studio in Sublayer 1202, turn to the right to find a snake in front of a large crystal. Break the crystal and fall into the hole to find a Fractone and climbable ceiling grates. Transform into your snake form and charge jump to the ceiling. Make your away across the grates and drop onto the banana behind the fence to collect it.
#34: Staying Fresh in the Storeroom
After you’ve turned on the synthetic sun, return to the Sculptors’ Studio waypoint. Punch through the shining door located behind the waypoint and follow the path to find a banana.
#35: Battle: Dive-Bombing Run
When facing the Chip Exchange in Sublayer 1202, turn to the left and look up to spot a floating island with a battle challenge on it. Transform into your snake form and charge jump onto the island. Head inside to find three trapantuloids and a bunch of liftoff ore. You can either use the liftoff ore or turn into a snake to get on top of each enemy. Break through the liftoff ore on top of each trapantuloids to complete the challenge.
#36: Perfectly Preserved in Crystal
This banana is encased in crystal behind the storeroom that contained banana #34.
#37: Shifty Smash: A Dark Climb
After you’ve turned on the synthetic sun, drop down to the bottom of the Sculptors’ Studio to find the lit up door. Head inside to find a shifty triangle, but before you start, make sure to fill up your bananergy by hitting the nearby melon. Transform into your snake form and hit the challenge to start it. Charge jump your way to the top and destroy the block to get your banana.
#38: Soaking in the Essence of the Sun
After you jump off Sculptor’ Studio and enter the tower, head towards the small lava pool where the flaming barrels are landing. Suck up the lava in your elephant form to find a banana hidden underneath.
#39: Warmed by Flaming Barrels
As you climb up the first part of the barrel wall, look to the right to see this banana hanging along the path where the first barrel drops.
#40: Safe in the Barrel-Free Zone
This banana is partially covered by a wall where two barrels roll down on each side. Use Snake Bananza’s glare ability to slow down the barrels to carefully past them to this banana.
#41: Summitted the Solar Control Tower!
You’ll grab this banana as part of the story. Once you finish turning the sun lamp back on, open the door with the light shining out of it to access this banana by the tuning fork.
#42: Hidden in the Girders
In the Ancient Country challenge course, about halfway through the challenge you’ll find a platform of dirt that doesn’t have the slap indicator on it. Slapping here raises the platform and you can find this banana.
#43: Jumpin’ like Jumpman
This banana shows up a little over halfway through the Ancient Country challenge.
#44: Climbing to a High Score
This is the last banana rewarded for completing the Ancient Country challenge.
#45: Wishing on a Synthetic Sun
After you leave the Solar Control Tower, turn around to face the building’s snake-like head. Transform into your snake form and charge jump onto the roof. Keep walking ahead to find a banana on top.
Sublayer 1203 Banandium Gems
We’ve found 26 Banandium Gems in Sublayer 1203 in the Radiance Layer.
#46: Settled Upon Serpent Sands!
You get this banana as part of the story when you drop down to this sublayer for the first time.
#47: Balloons under the Dunes
For this banana, you’ll need to pop five balloons found under the starting point in Sublayer 1203.
The first two can be found in trapantuloids on the bottom floor. Either chunk jump or charge jump in snake form to land on top of them and punch downwards to defeat them. The rest of the balloons can be found on the second level, so make your way up to the higher platforms.
The third balloon can be found in a trapantuloid under a thorny roof. Transform into your elephant form and suck up all of the thorns to defeat the trapantuloid and collect the balloon.
The fourth balloon is in a trapantuloid hiding behind an ice and concrete wall, so be prepared for a jump scare!
The fifth balloon is hidden inside a dark hallway, whose entrance is lit up by the glow stone ore. Head inside to find another trapantuloid and bring them under the sunlight in the middle of the arena to stun them. Jump on top and punch downwards to defeat them. After you got all five balloons, return to the middle of the bottom floor to collect your banana.
#48: Obssscured in a Dune Cave Nook
On the second level of the dune underneath the starting point in Sublayer 1203, you’ll find a hallway full of thorns along with a trapantuloid inside. Transform into your elephant form and suck up the thorns to easily defeat the enemy. Under where the trapantuloid used to be, you’ll find a patch of glow stone. Break it and drop into the hole to find a banana hiding inside.
#49: Deep in a Dune Cave Hallway
After you drop into the dune below the starting point, climb up the snowy path into the hole in the wall to find this banana.
#50: Bloomed in the Radiance Layer
Use Kong Bananza to break the concrete around this flower so it’ll bloom. Once it does, talk to it to get the banana.
#51: Battle: Shadows and Sunlight
Break through the teeth of the Void Kong sculpture to drop on this combat challenge. Once you’re in the challenge, lure the purple scorpions into the light and the red scorpions out of the light, punch them, and then claim your banana.
#52: Shifty Smash: Timing is Everything
Hit the shifty triangle to start the challenge, and then use Snake Bananza to perform a well-timed charge jump through all four shifty squares at once to get this banana.
#53: Radiance Fragmentone Recovery
Dig down in this snake sculpture’s mouth to drop onto a Fragmentone that needs your help. You just need to escort the fragments back along this path in the dark, so grab a chunk of the nearby glow stone to light the path. The only big obstacle are moving walls that will push the fragments off, so move quickly past them. You’ll get this banana for bringing back one fragment to the Fragmentone.
#54: Radiance Fragmentone Restoration
You’ll get this banana for bringing back all three fragments to the Fragmentone.
#55: Battle: Vaulting Virtuoso
Jump into this hole and then dig past the sand by the snake that says, “Digging through sand is sssimple!” Keep punching forward (using your Hand Slap sonar if you feel like you may get lost) towards a battle challenge portal. Once you arrive, use your Snake Bananza, enter, and take out the two molevoloids to get your banana.
#56: Radiance Smashin’ Stats
Jump into this hole and follow the path to find our buddy Smashintone, who will give you a banana if you’ve smashed 70,000 cubic meters of crystal in the layer. Keep in mind that crystal is the glass-looking terrain you can find around the Window Viper, not the ice-like stuff that the snake sculptures are made of (that’s actually technically stone).
#57: Lit-Path Switchback
Drop into this hole across from the blocked-off ruins to find the Constructone who will open up the ruins in exchange for 1,000 gold. These ruins are tricky, as you’ll need to Turf Surf using the bodies of the gloominoids, but since their structural integrity worsens so heavily in sunlight, you’ll want to avoid the sun as much as possible when skating through.
To get this banana, surf straight down towards the checkpoint. Drop down and pick up an illumoid (the red scorpions that are strengthened by sunlight). Turn around and carefully surf back up the thin path on the side, making sure to stay in the sun this time, to find your banana.
#58: Shadow-Path Rest Stop
This banana is at the halfway point for the above challenge course.
#59: Shadow-Path Finish Line
This banana is the usual end-of-course reward by the exit barrel.
#60: Tip o’ The Stone Snake’s Tongue
This banana will originally be covered by void goop. Follow the path of the void stuff into the snake sculpture’s mouth, punching until you find the source of the purple goop. Break it and then you can break the banana freely.
#61: Hanging Out beneath the Oasis
This banana is in a lava-filled cave under the oasis, as the name implies. Use Elephant Bananza to suck up the lava beneath the banana and then use Snake Bananza to charge jump into it.
#62: The Radiance Growtone
Feed the big and greedy Growtone gold to get this first banana.
#63: The Hungry Radiance Growtone
Feed the Growtone more gold to get this second banana.
#64: The Sated Radiance Growtone
Feed the Growtone even more gold (4,000 total) to get this third and final banana.
#65: Grown beneath the Growtone
Right under the Growtone, there’s a banana stuck in the ceiling. Use Snake Bananza’s charge jump, but also punch upwards at the top of the jump to break this banana.
#66: Cranky’s Radiance Rant
Cranky and Rambi are standing on the top of snake-shaped sculptures by the oasis. Just climb up and talk to the old monkey to get your banana.
#67: Under the Viper’s Chinny-Chin-Chin
This banana is practically right under the Window Viper tuning fork. Use the viper’s “tongue” to climb around to the banana, which is dangling from a roof road that you can use.
#68: Battle: Open the Window
Break open the cracked wall to find and complete this combat challenge for your banana. You’ll need to defeat five crockoids that have to be exposed to light first to win.
#69: Head in the Shade Clouds
Use Snake Bananza to charge jump up this structure to get your banana.
#70: Pillaged from a Shade-Cloud Pillar
Use Snake Bananza to charge jump up to the climbable part of the second tower among the shaded clouds. From the climbable part, charge jump again up on top of the tower and punch the light door down to drop directly on this banana.
#71: Walkin’ on Shade Clouds
From final platform with a tower on it, carefully pick up a chunk and throw it towards the lamp. It may take a few tries, since it’s so far, so prepared to aim upwards a bit. Once you hit it, the path to this banana will become shaded, allowing you to walk on it.
Sublayer 1204 Banandium Gems
We’ve found five Banandium Gems in Sublayer 1204 in the Radiance Layer.
#72: Crashed the Crystal-Cobra Den!
You get this banana as part of the story when you drop down to this sublayer for the first time.
#73: Hidden in the Moving Wall
This banana is hidden in the Strong, Shady Clouds Ancient Ruins just along the wall of this small sublayer. This entire level requires you to travel in the shadows of thorn walls and break said walls occasionally to create paths forward.
To get this banana, you’ll want to take a left path rather than the right path towards the banana in the open. Following the left will lead you to a huge wall with thorns in it. Use the ice balls being thrown by the buzzoids to break the thorns open and claim your banana.
#74: Sticking to the Shadows
This banana is a reward for making it to the halfway point of the above ancient ruins.
#75: Through Shadows and Thorns
This is the usual end-of-challenge banana hanging out by the barrel of the above ruins.
#76: Swallowed by the Snake
This banana is in the body of a crystal snake by the getaway on this sublayer. Smash the snakes body open to grab the banana.
Monkeying around in Donkey Kong Bananaza? We have guides to help you plow through this collectathon, including where to find Banandium Gems on Resort Layer, Tempest Layer, and Landfill Layer. We also have guides on how to unlock music discs and explainers on the various Ancient Bananza Powers and the skill tree.