Donkey Kong Bananza

Donkey Kong Bananza is nothing short of a revelation and revolution about what DK can be as a character and how his games can be different from Mario’s, Kirby’s, and others of his platforming ilk. He and Pauline are the epic “dynamic duo” that Nintendo can rally around to start the Switch 2 age, and you’ll love this game from start to finish…then go back for even more.

Every time I’d get to a new layer, I’d immediately ignore the story objective and spend a half dozen hours just smashing things around like a toddler in a sandbox.

Donkey Kong Bananza is one of the most unique and immensely enjoyable games that I've ever played. Plus, behind its chaotic open-ended gameplay and incredibly imaginative worlds, you'll find a lot of heart.

It’s a little messy and definitely has a few missed opportunities, but the core gameplay is so much fun that I couldn’t put it down. It captures the thrill of exploration that made Odyssey so compelling while taking the gameplay mechanics in a completely unique direction that kept developing in ways I didn’t see coming, and that’s exactly why I love Nintendo’s fun-first approach to design so much. If you’ve been waiting for a reason to buy a Switch 2, it’s just arrived.

Bananza sets out to act as a fresh start for new and old fans alike, taking a fresh twist on what a Donkey Kong game feels like.

Innovative, refreshing and incredibly entertaining: Donkey Kong Bananza inspires with new ideas without forgetting its roots.

From start to finish, Donkey Kong Bananza is a riot. I wrapped up my journey to Bananza's credits in a little over 20 hours. Your mileage will vary wildly depending on how much optional content you decide to invest time in, but that's the beauty of it. If you're not big on collectathons, there's still plenty of game here for platforming purists to enjoy. I can't recommend enough taking on the various trials – think Shrines from Breath of the Wild – littered throughout the world, though, especially if you're a fan of 2D Donkey Kong. While performance issues were largely nonexistent in handheld mode, quite severe frame rate drops were commonplace when docked, especially during certain boss battles. This doesn't take into account any day one patches that may or may not arrive on release, and not egregious enough that your enjoyment will be hampered.

Die Entwickler haben für mich nochmal einen draufgesetzt. DK Bananza bietet so viel Nostalgie, einen wunderschönen OST und ganz viel Liebe der Entwickler. Ich hab es zu Release gekauft, hatte hohe Erwartungen, aber diese wurden sogar übertroffen.

Look at first the concept of a platforming game where you can break everything in the environment seemed cool at first, but after a while I would just find myself mostly digging around for bananas and fossils rather than doing actual platforming, and I feel this game lacks a lot of platforming. It's not a bad game and it feels very fun the first time, but after a while I find it kinda tedious.

7 - Great. Bananza doesn’t stop ramping up the creativity from level to level. I’ll say the terrain smashing lost its novelty but it’s not the focus of the puzzles and traversal most of the time. There’s tons of postgame content and it felt like a natural 100% for me. I appreciate this game a lot for what it does different.

As someone that’s been a lifelong fan of the series, this game was a major letdown. I played the demo a few times before finally committing to the big purchase, and I feel like most of my time playing was pretending I was having fun, rather than having fun itself. Everything that Bananza does, Odyssey does better. The banana gems don’t incentivize progression, so completing missions and actually advancing through a level falls solely on how many stats you want. Often these stats don’t even matter or make a difference and virtually none of them are required to progress (whether it be transformation upgrades, or basic things such as health and punch strength). Take Odyssey for example; the moons (while there is an insane amount to collect); a portion are required to advance to the next area. It makes sense to say “hey stick around, complete some challenges, enjoy the world, and when you’re ready you can move on” as opposed to shoe-horning progression into ANOTHER collectible with no rhyme or reason. A lot of the sub layers are forgettable at best, with one of them feeling like a standard tutorial for the game halfway through your playthrough. Painting DK and giving him new colors was cute in the beginning, but as you progress the colors seem to repeat themselves or struggle to differentiate from previous ones you unlocked (including multicolored patterns). I’m almost positive I have 3-4 shades of purple, all extremely slight shades brighter or darker. Unnoticeable in game. The smashing is tiresome, it’s recommended by a lot of players NOT to smash everything you see for a better experience, but at the end of the day that’s saying “hey don’t play the game, just play the game”. I don’t know what this game was aiming for, but aside from a few nostalgic nods this feels like an underperforming tech demo that fails to awe people with the “impressive design” it boasts when it fails CONSTANTLY to retain frames and performance while playing it. At the tempo we receive games in this day and age, it’s safe to say this might be the main representation of Donkey Kong for this generation. And if that’s the case, I’m signing out of the franchise for good. I can’t beat my chest any longer to a game that’s outclassed by platformers that game nearly 30 years before it

I love Donkey Kong, but I don’t like donkey Kong bananza. The gameplay is boring. But the game looks very nice, I just don’t have any fun in this game.