The Forest Layer has 83 Banandium Gems across SL600, SL601, and SL602, including nine rewards that are available only after the credits. Use the in-game collection menu’s numbering to check your progress: the ordinary exploration, challenge, and task rewards can be gathered as you reach their areas, while gems 39–47 belong to post-credit Bananza Rehearsal. This guide’s detailed location source is Nintendo Life’s Forest Layer walkthrough; a separate Gameranx SL602 walkthrough provides a cross-check for the final sub-layer.
How Forest Layer Banandium Gems work
Banandium Gems can be hidden in walls or ground, as well as awarded for completing ruins challenges. Nintendo says collecting them raises Skill Points, which can be used to improve health or power, or learn skills. See Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Bananza Explore page.
The Forest Layer walkthrough numbers its 83 gems in the same order as the in-game collection menu. Check that menu against the numbered entries in Nintendo Life’s guide rather than treating the list below as a set of 83 independent step-by-step directions: the available source provides representative route descriptions and groups locations by area, but does not establish every individual route in enough detail to reproduce a complete numbered walkthrough here.
SL600: early forest, Bellhop Burb, and Eggshell Hotel
Start by checking the area around the entry point. Early gems include one near the start, a battle challenge behind the starting area, one reached by climbing inside a tree behind the start, and one buried beneath leaves in a tree to the left. The tree-top pickup farther along requires throwing wood at a shifting block, then using a nearby seed to create a path.
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As you explore Bellhop Burb and the Eggshell Hotel, search the tree platforms and hotel surroundings, and complete the area’s challenge courses. Several are easy to miss if you follow only the main route: the “Back of the Brambles” pickup is reached by taking a side barrel after the red bramble; other finds are in the hotel lounge and pool area, in hidden rooms, and in the basement, which you access using a large turnip in the garden. The Thorn Hollow area also contains gems.
SL601: marsh routes and lower forest
Poison level controls access to some routes and rewards here. Destroying the first poison pump lowers the poison enough to reveal a gem beneath a moving platform. Lowering it further exposes additional paths and challenges, so revisit newly accessible ground as the area changes.
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Look for rewards associated with the Ostrich Bananza Flighty Feast course, Rubbery Roost, and the Eggshell Hotel Annex. This stretch mixes course progress and completion, battles, NPC clues, and exploration pickups. If a route or reward remains inaccessible, check whether you have progressed the poison-pump objective or unlocked the relevant traversal ability before searching the same area again.
SL602: final Forest Layer pickups
The secondary SL602 walkthrough lists 11 gems and highlights several distinct routes. The “Tree-Pit Banana Balloons” challenge course is beneath the checkpoint; “Tucked Behind the Tree” is behind a central wooden pillar; and “Top-Shelf Treasure” sits above a challenge entrance. Other finds require Ostrich Bananza or become reachable after lowering the poison. Consult the collection menu and the SL602 route guide to match the remaining numbered entries to their exact spots.
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Three Forest Growtone rewards
Feed gold to the Forest Growtone to grow its branches. The first, second, and third branch rewards are named “The Forest Growtone,” “The Hungry Forest Growtone,” and “The Sated Forest Growtone.” These are separate collection entries, so keep feeding gold and check the menu after each growth.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Post-credit gems 39–47: Bananza Rehearsal
Do not spend time searching for gems 39–47 during your initial story pass: the Forest Layer guide identifies them as post-credit Bananza Rehearsal rewards. After completing the main game and rolling credits, the guide’s stated start condition is at least 400 Banandium Gems. Speak with the Ostrich Elder to begin Bananza Rehearsal, then collect the nine bonus rewards as they become available. The 400-gem threshold is a prerequisite reported by the walkthrough, not a Nintendo-published total requirement for all Forest Layer gems.
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Efficient Forest Layer cleanup
- Use the collection-menu order to identify exactly which number is missing, then match it to the Forest Layer walkthrough’s numbered list.
- Revisit areas after poison drops; changed terrain can reveal both pickups and challenge routes.
- Check trees, foliage, hotel interiors, side barrels, and spaces above or below challenge entrances instead of searching only along the obvious ground route.
- Separate the post-credit entries from the normal area cleanup. If the missing number is 39–47, finish the story, meet the stated gem threshold, and speak with the Ostrich Elder.
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