Donkey Kong Bananza has seemingly confirmed the demise of many beloved characters in the Donkey Kong Country series thanks to the in-game fossils.
Donkey Kong Bananza seems to be playing things very loose with the timeline, thanks to the inclusion of Pauline as a young girl, despite her being kidnapped by Donkey Kong's grandfather, who features in-game as an old ape. But now that players have their hands on it, there's another huge implication for the lore, that being that some of Donkey Kong's greatest allies are dead.
Donkey Kong Bananza features several types of collectibles, with fossils serving as the currency for the in-game style shop. You find Fossils in each layer of the world, with the main layers having three different types in terms of rarity. While these start as typical fossils like dinosaurs and ammonites, they quickly get sinister.
Oh my god. They killed him. Those sick fucks killed him.
— @scottmccrae.com (@scottmccrae.com.bsky.social) 2025-07-21T10:04:26.491Z
The Forest Layer is where the game starts taking no prisoners, as you'll quickly find the remains of the DKC enemy Gnawty, which I suppose is not a huge deal, considering DK himself dispatched a lot of them in the old days, but I took it pretty hard, to tell the truth.
But then that Layer's medium fossil is Professor Chops, the glasses-wearing pig who helps the kongs out at every checkpoint in DKC Returns and Tropical Freeze (although a Reddit post was quick to say "he won't be missed"). Finally, the giant fossil found on this layer is perhaps the most devastating, as it reveals the massive remains of DKC2's animal buddy, Squitter the Spider, complete with his trainers.
This continues throughout the game as the Tempest Layer features the remains of one of the most beloved friends, Enguarde the Swordfish, alongside the likes of the Banana birds. Not only is it truly devastating to know that some of DK's closest allies are gone, but his finding their remains only makes things that much worse... although trading their remains for new fits has some moral implications I'm not sure I want to think about.
