For one of Nintendo’s most famous characters, Donkey Kong has had a rough decade. His last mainline game was Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which released way back in 2014 on the Wii U. A phenomenal game, to be sure, but one that released on a console no-one bought. Since then, he’s been relegated to a mere side character in series like Mario Party, Kart, Tennis etc. He even missed out on Super Mario Odyssey, despite it featuring a whole city named after him.
The scent of change has begun to creep into the air ever since the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023. I suppose Seth Rogen’s star power cannot be constrained. Then there’s the addition of a Donkey Kong Country area to Universal’s Nintendo theme park. Which brings us to the present day with the release of Donkey Kong Bananza for the Nintendo Switch 2.
DK is living a simple life working as a miner on Ingot Isle when the nefarious Void Co. appears, obliterating the entire area with their gigantic drilling machine. They are plotting to drill their way to the planet’s core to find the banandium root, which will apparently grant the wish of whomsoever comes upon it. DK rescues and is subsequently joined by the 13-year-old girl Pauline, whose magical singing powers perfectly compliment Donkey Kong’s love of smashing everything in sight.
Thus begins your journey, chasing down Void Co. deeper and deeper into the planet. Instead of moons or stars, you’re collecting bananas, or banandium gems, to be precise. Instead of ‘worlds’ the game is made up of different underground ‘layers’. These are far more than a series of caves and tunnels; there’s the Lagoon Layer, Hilltop Layer and even a Resort Layer. Each time DK and Pauline break through to the next stage of their journey is an absolute treat, as you never quite know what is waiting around the corner.
Before I get to the gameplay, I need to talk about the visuals. Donkey Kong Bananza pops. The colours, character art, and animations all burst from the screen, and at a close to solid 60fps for the duration. DK is sporting his reworked Mario Kart World design, which in turn seems heavily influenced by his look in the movie. There are a wide range of underground denizens to meet, from monkeys to the crystalline fractones, to zebras and ostriches and more. All the character designs have a Donkey Kong feel to them, while also managing to encapsulate a distinctly fresh vibe.
Playing as DK feels absolutely fantastic here. Everything from running, jumping, climbing, punching, throwing, falling and smashing is immediately tactile, intuitive and responsive. Pauline, for her part, is a cute and endearing companion. So often in games like this, the chipper, yapping sidekick becomes annoying fast. I never found that to be the case here, Pauline chiming in with a “look, a banana!” or “you did it, DK!” was always welcome.
Each layer of the underground world is more enticing than the last. They’re expansive and varied, and best of all, they feel like actual places with their own characters and gameplay mechanics to uncover. A number of these layers change in a rather significant way as you progress through them. In the Lagoon Layer, for example, the water level rises with every big Void Co. plug you destroy. The higher the water level, the more new areas you can reach.
Adding greatly to the thrill of exploring each layer is DK’s ability to smash through almost anything. By punching walls, ceilings or slamming the ground beneath him, DK can create a path through, around, or under nearly any obstacle in his path. The degree of freedom and fun this provides is a hard thing to convey with words alone. There are areas made up of materials impervious to DK’s fists, but for the most part you can find a way to smash through everything. This encourages and fosters a creativity in the player, reminiscent of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Nothing is off the table when it comes to working out how to reach your goal.
Populating each layer are a plethora of banandium gems, fossils (used to buy outfits for both DK and Pauline) and music discs to collect, challenge rooms to conquer and more. Similar to the way moons worked in Super Mario Odyssey, bananas can be found everywhere in Donkey Kong Bananza. Acquiring some of these is as simple as digging a tunnel, while others might require a bit more finesse. The aforementioned challenge rooms are reminiscent of the shrines from Breath of the Wild; self-contained ideas that don’t overstay their welcome.
As DK and Pauline’s descent to the planet’s core continues, they will encounter various Elders who grant DK the power of their ‘bananza’. These allow DK to transform into garish, muscly versions of various animals (zebra, ostrich etc) for a limited time. The zebra bananza allows DK and Pauline to sprint across water, and bridges that would otherwise crumble under their weight, while the ostrich bananza enables them to fly for a brief time, and glide slowly to the ground.
These limited time power-ups are a lot of fun to unlock and muck around with, but feel somewhat underutilised in the main story. There are certainly specific layers and boss fights designed around the use of these bananzas, but it only ever feels like a surface level of understanding and skill are required of you. In the post-game, there are challenges where each bananza does get put through its paces, but I would’ve preferred to get more of this complexity in the main game.
Donkey Kong Bananza well and truly heralds the triumphant return of Nintendo’s goofy gorilla mascot. The visuals are gorgeous and colourful, the environments are a joy to explore, and smashing, crashing and bashing everything in sight as DK never gets old. The titular bananzas may not reach their full potential in the main story, but this is nowhere near enough of a problem to tarnish what has immediately become one of the best 3D platformers ever made. Donkey Kong’s time has finally come (again).
Donkey Kong Bananza was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 with a code provided by Nintendo.
Rating: 9.5/10