A magical platformer and the Switch 2 System-seller.
Going into Bananza, all I’d heard is rave reviews and people claiming this is GOTY material. I was skeptical of these claims for as long as they’ve been made, but now that I’ve played through DK, I can confidently say that people are right. Bananza is an INCREDIBLE platformer, up there with 2024’s GOTY winner, Astro Bot, as one of the most creative, joyful, and outright innovative platformers you can experience right now.
Bananza’s big innovation is destruction. Donkey Kong can break almost everything in the environment; you can absolutely clear out entire levels and dig them down to bedrock if you are dedicated enough. The game keeps all the destruction in memory as well. At first, I thought this could be just a gimmick that gets old, but it just never does. Nintendo put an insane level of thought into destruction and how exactly it feels; the combination of the sound design and rumble makes breaking stuff just feel great to do. There’s something weirdly satisfying about it, and it all comes down to the amount of care that was put here to make every punch feel as strong as possible. There are entire levels that are made out of dirt that you have to break down and through to get to your next objective. Destruction is constantly used in the game all the way up until the end, and it genuinely never got old.
Another aspect of the gameplay is what the game is named after: Bananzas. These are special transformations that you unlock throughout the game. Each one is wholly unique and opens up new ways to tackle puzzles and levels. It was always exciting and interesting how you could almost “break” the game by utilizing these Bananzas in unique ways to skip entire puzzles. You can tell every single thing was tested by the developers, and each level is designed to be unique and introduce some new mechanic that you aren’t familiar with. It kept the game fun throughout the ~35-hour experience for me.
There is a ton of content for completionists here, and I must admit that for me personally, I did start to get tired of the grind to collect bananas by the end. I wish you could skip the “Oh, banana!” scene every time you pick up a banana. By the ~500 bananas mark, I was basically done with seeking them out and focused mainly on progressing the levels to the end. I doubt I’ll ever go through the grind of finding all bananas, but maybe I will dedicate myself to that one day.
I really wish Bananza offered more challenge in its main path. Boss fights are a breeze (except the final boss), and you get through sections with pretty much little resistance. The side stuff post-story at least provides more challenge, thankfully. I would’ve preferred more challenging bosses in the main game.
Graphically, DK Bananza is nothing mind-blowing. It performs at 60 FPS with occasional drops during massive destruction moments, but these never hindered the gameplay experience, as they only last a second or two. I love all the character designs, especially DK himself.
In terms of story, there isn’t much of it. You get the occasional cutscene, which I did love, as they felt like watching a great Pixar movie, but there’s nothing memorable about it EXCEPT the last few hours. The last few hours of this game are insane, and I don’t want to spoil them, but they absolutely are an amazing way to end this game.
FINAL VERDICT:
Overall, Donkey Kong Bananza is a fantastic platformer that every owner of the Switch 2 should pick up. It’s fun, innovative, and a great technical showcase for the console.
If you liked Astro Bot, you’d love this one.
DK Bananza – 9/10 – MUST BUY