Game: Donkey Kong Bananza
Genre: Action, Platformer, Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch 2
Developer | Publisher: 1-Up Studio, tri-Crescendo, Nintendo EPD | Nintendo
Age Rating: US 10+ | EU 7+
Price: (Digital Download) US $69.99 | UK £58.99 | EU € 69,99
Release Date: July 17th, 2025
Review code used, with many thanks to Nintendo Europe.
We last saw Donkey Kong on the Nintendo Switch, in Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, a visually-enhanced remaster of the Wii and Nintendo 3DS releases. This time he returns in a brand new adventure for a brand new console in Donkey Kong Bananza.
Donkey Kong Bananza breaks away from the traditional platforming we see in previous Donkey Kong games, and gives us free to roam worlds, the ability to smash through the landscape, and an unlikely companion to help Donkey Kong realise his true potential. If you think there are similarities to Super Mario Odyssey, then you’d be right, as many of the team who worked on the Super Mario game were central to the development of Donkey Kong Bananza.
Let’s stop aping around! Will Donkey Kong Bananza be ground-breaking?
In the Beginning of Donkey Kong Bananza
You start your Donkey Kong Bananza adventure on Ingot Isle, where the titular character has discovered prospector monkeys mining for banandium gems – golden, glittering crystal bananas. And we all know how much DK likes his bananas!
As well as banandium gems, the mines are full of gold and banandium chips, slices of banana which can be traded for a banandium gem banana. In later areas, there are fossils to collect, which can be exchanged for outfits, some of which have added benefits for Donkey Kong and his companion. There is so much to collect!
The whole opening sequence is an interactive tutorial, explaining not only the backstory to Donkey Kong Bananza but also allowing you to learn and practise the movements. You’ll learn how Donkey Kong can punch through the terrain, bang the ground to collect gold and look for hidden objects, and tear off chunks of the ground to swing or throw. More abilities and skills will unlock as you progress, each clearly explained.
The prospector monkeys (like most of the NPCs) shout hints and amusing comments as Donkey Kong bashes his way through the layer. However, before he can get his fill of golden bananas, a terrible vortex caused by the Void Company starts sucking up all the banandium gems and forcing Ingot Isle below the ground.
Punching his way through the cave-in, Donkey Kong finds himself deep underground, and key areas of the mining town have been encased in Void Company metal. Whilst investigating this metal, DK befriends a young girl called Pauline, and together they combine their strengths to break the Void Company machines and eradicate the purple metal.
However, the Void Company are still causing trouble, and the only way to stop them is to journey to the Planet Core of the Donkey Kong Bananza World.
Exploring The Sublayers of the Underground World
As Donkey Kong and Pauline dive down through the sublayers of the vast Underground World, they encounter amazing environments, from lush forests to icy tundras, from resort worlds to food-filled extravaganzas. Each layer is inhabited by animals and creatures who are also being plagued by the Void Company. Help out the locals and DK will be rewarded with a banandium gem.
Banandium gems can also be collected by venturing into one of the many ruins. Triangular doors or circular pits leading into a Legend of Zelda shrine-like arena: some timed battles, some puzzles, and some good old-fashioned platforming. Running low on hearts? Then you can take a well-earned rest in a comfy Getaway bed, not only restoring your health, but getting some extra hearts as well.
Within each of the Underground World layers, there are Void Company monsters which need defeating before you can move to the next layer. Unsurprisingly, the monsters get stronger as you descend the layers; however, collecting banandium gems will gain skill points, which can be used to increase health, punch power, sonar range, etc. You can travel back to previously completed areas and layers to search for more gems if necessary.
In five of the layers of the Underground World, there are elders who teach Pauline a song which will awaken an inner strength in Donkey Kong. These five Bananza skills allow Donkey Kong to transform into the animal of the elder, and utilise a specific skill, like the incredible speed of the Zebra Bananza or the super strength of the Kong Bananza. However, the transformation will only last a short time before needing to be recharged by collecting gold. With the Bananza skills enabled, DK will be able to access new areas and have extra power when defeating the bosses.
The gameplay loop is explore and collect, clear the Void Company machines, battle the bosses and then dive down deeper. However, none of it seems like a grind, just a joy of playing how you want, when you want.
DK Artist
An additional feature of Donkey Kong Bananza is DK Artist. A clever, if somewhat bizarre, sculpting and painting game. You can choose from a handful of existing sculptures, and then add or carve away aspects to create something new. Your masterpiece can then be painted, using the texture colours of the Donkey Kong Bananza terrains. You can use the Pro Controller to move the cursor, but it’s a great opportunity to test out the Joy-Con 2’s mouse functionality.
Needless to say, with my artistic ability (or rather lack of it), this is not a part of Donkey Kong Bananza, which I will be exploring further!
Co-op Play in Donkey Kong Bananza
You can play co-op in Donkey Kong Bananza, whereby player 2 will join as Pauline, unleashing her voice to break away terrain and help attack enemies. The co-op can be played locally, by sharing Joy-Con 2 controllers, or via GameShare. My gaming buddy and I tested out local GameShare, and it worked seamlessly, but my penchant for bashing and blasting meant that, as Pauline, I was destroying far too much terrain. Luckily, though, it’s possible to reset the landscape, and no one will ever know about those massive chasms I created!
Gameplay
The controls are clearly given on screen, with the option of remapping the jump and downward punch, as well as inverting the camera. Donkey Kong Bananza plays well in docked or handheld mode, although there is no touchscreen functionality.
There are two game modes: normal mode and assist mode, where you take less damage, and have permanent guiding notes to show the way.
There are various checkpoints on each layer to save progress in Donkey Kong Bananza, as well as a manual save via the menus. There are three game slots in which to save your progress or have multiple playthroughs.
There is no time of day associated with Donkey Kong Bananza, some layers are bright and colourful, others are darker as they are based within tunnels. If you aim for just getting to the credits in Donkey Kong Bananza, then you are looking at around 10 hours. However, if you explore the layers more thoroughly, collecting fossils, gold and banandium gems, and focus on increasing your skill points, then it will take considerably longer. Either way, there is plenty of post-credit gameplay to keep you entertained for at least 50+ hours.
Conclusion
Donkey Kong Bananza is a truly magnificent game. There are some lovely nods to the classic Donkey Kong games, and obvious vibes from other Nintendo franchises.
For someone who no longer enjoys relentless platforming, Donkey Kong Bananza brings together so many of my new gaming passions: the ability to bash and smash through the terrain, collecting everything which is revealed; large areas of land to roam and explore, spotting NPCs with a quest; and puzzling arenas to test my observation skills in finding that final hidden banandium gem. I can even harvest some vegetables!
For some Donkey Kong purists, the Bananza transformations might be a change too far, but for me, Donkey Kong Bananza is a ground-breaking winner.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up 
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