A new 3D Mario isn't here to usher in a new generation of platformers for the new console, but we have plenty of fuzzy monkeys and apes to keep us company over the summer months as we bask in the Switch 2 glow. Donkey Kong Bananza is a new direction for the tie-wearing simian, and we got to spend 20 minutes running around the Ingot Mines and surrounding areas.
This is the silliest DK has ever gotten, and the wide-eyed new design is really just the start of it. Given just what you get up to in Bananza, the old style might not have worked well here. DK might have been destructive before, but has he ever punched a hole through multiple layers of a mining mountain?
Well, now you can, and that's exactly what we did. Twice, even. Donkey Kong Bananza lets DK go absolutely bananas in the sense that so much is destructible. DK can punch, uppercut, slam, and even beat on the ground to break rocks, walls, gold, sediment — many different hard materials basically — to collect gold nuggets, coins, and Golden Bananas. Yes, he does say, "Oh, banana!" And while the Bananza will guide you towards your goal with a handy little star icon, you can completely ignore it and punch anything and everything in your sight.
Image: NintendoIt's the perfect stress relief after a long day, hammering at walls with Donkey Kong and digging up secrets and treasures throughout the mines. And given how you can essentially rip your way through levels at multiple instances, it's amazing just how well the game holds up visually.
The stitches on DK's tie and his overalls are clearly visible, and his fur has never looked so soft and glossy. It all ties that goofy new design together, complete with that new level of personality that Nintendo seems to have injected into its modern platformers à la Mario Wonder.
Image: NintendoThe inside of the mines perhaps aren't as joyful as DK himself — though little Easter eggs like red girders and scaffolding, a little reference to his arcade debut add splashes of colour — but those rocky walls hide tons of interactable things. Donkey Kong can climb on certain walls simply by walking up to them — the ones we tried were a bit clunky, with flat stalagmites blocking our progression, but we still let out a little yelp of joy as we suddenly found ourselves clinging to a wall we'd uncovered behind some dirt.
'Secrets' seems to be the key word here, and almost everything is interactable. We might have accidentally punched a little Diddy-like dude or three inside the mines themselves, but it's just too fun not to throw hands absolutely everywhere. That can make it hard to keep track of those gold nuggets and other collectibles, but luckily, you can just slap DK's palms to the ground and collect everything around him all in one fell swoop.
Image: NintendoIn reality, Donkey Kong Bananza feels like it takes many cues from Super Mario Odyssey, from the interactivity with the environments and NPCs all the way down to the movement. Donkey Kong is so nimble and fluid that he might put his one-time rival and Cappy to shame. In addition to rock boarding, DK can roll at incredibly high speeds, tumbling through enemies and terrain like they're feathers. And he can even slide up half-pipes while balled up.
Everything DK uses to destroy the terrain applies in combat, too, which might make it seem a little simplistic, but there's one ability we haven't talked about yet that the first member of the DK crew has; he's able to lift entire slabs of rocks or boulders out from the ground and throw them, and that comes into play when you leave the mountain.
By holding down the 'ZR' button, Donkey Kong can literally rip a piece of the earth out of the ground or wall and put it on his back. He can also pick up normal boulders, too, but where's the fun in that? We want to tear the ground asunder and throw the earth at the enemies.
At first, it's fun to do it with just the sun-drenched rocky pathways, but eventually, you can extract some magma-looking rocks which act as bombs when you throw them at anything. And like your other methods, this can break up a lot of matter — walks, floors, and even materials DK can't break on his own will shatter and disperse to make way for more exploration.
Image: Gavin Lane / Nintendo Life
Images: Nintendo
If you ever cause too much damage and can't reach certain things, however, you can reset/rebuild all of your destruction at the touch of a button on the map screen — and an incredibly detailed, fully-3D map, too. It'll reload your last quicksave, meaning you can essentially change the way you break the boundaries of each environment.
While Donkey Kong has been living on the sidelines for a while now, Bananza truly is his time to shine, and what we got to play around with was a solid and delightfully stress-relieving bolt of silliness that we desperately need right now. We're hoping there are some more jungly levels out in the wilderness, but this could well be DK's breakout game. And he more than deserves it.
