Playing Donkey Kong Bananza recently at a hands-on event in New York, I started to question: Does Donkey Kong have the juice? Yes, Donkey Kong’s new action-adventure game looks great running on Nintendo Switch 2, and the level of environmental destruction made possible by DK’s meaty paws is very technically impressive.
But after beating my first boss, a cakewalk of an evil (Grumpy) Kong who I smacked around so mercilessly I kinda felt bad for the guy, it still wasn’t clicking. Everything was too easy. Ape punch too strong!
Then I started digging deeper into Donkey Kong Bananza — quite literally, since Kong and sidekick Pauline are venturing toward their planet’s core in order to reach the surface — and found a wellspring of juice I’d been looking for. Things got just a little bit harder. When the challenge ramped up, and Donkey Kong’s toolkit expanded, I started to have faith in Nintendo’s great ape to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mario as a 3D action star.
We can thank the Super Mario Odyssey team, which is behind Donkey Kong Bananza, for leveling up Donkey Kong.
I played sections of four layers of Bananza, starting with the Ingot Isle mines where players are introduced to Donkey Kong’s thirst for Banandium, collectible banana-shaped gems that are this game’s equivalent of Super Mario Odyssey’s Power Moons. In Ingot Isle, I quickly learned how to carve through and under the fragile environment, creating tunnels and ad hoc platforms. Smashing things is great fun, and occasionally a little disorienting. Much like what my colleague Russ Frushtick experienced during an April preview event, I found the standard camera settings pretty uncomfortable, and adjusted them to be less chaotic.
From there, I dove deeper into the Lagoon Layer, a water-logged level filled with grates and storage containers, where I met my first Great Elder ape; the Canyon Layer, a rocky, desertlike environment inhabited by delightfully weird gem people; and the Forest Layer, where Donkey Kong Bananza really started to shine. (As an aside, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Bananza’s designers had borrowed some influence from the recent Godzilla/Kong movies’ Hollow Earth concept, which has underground layers that somehow look as if they’re lit by sunlight.)
The Forest Layer was where Bananza started to sink its teeth into me, in part due to its clever level design full of platforming puzzles and its ramped-up level of difficulty. The whole level is surrounded by poisonous waters, so making a bad jump can be deadly. And spike-covered enemies ensured that I couldn’t just smack everything with my fists if I wanted to get ahead. I had to use more of Donkey Kong’s evolving set of powers.
Image: Nintendo
By this stage of the game, this meant I could transform into two different forms: Kong Bananza, a sturdier, meaner-looking version of DK with a banana headdress, and Ostrich Bananza, a flying transformation with very limited flight time and the ability to drop egg bombs. Both transformations help DK and Pauline get around the winding, danger-filled map, which is full of secret side missions and dozens of hidden collectibles. And after experiencing those two Bananza forms, I’m extremely curious to get hands on with the others, discovering new areas of the game’s maps and crossing every collectible off my list. I genuinely hope Bananza follows the precedent of games like Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario Odyssey, offering a satisfying, challenging list of stuff to find and super-difficult endgame levels where my platforming skills will be tested.
But I also appreciate the breezy two-player co-op action available in Donkey Kong Bananza. Like past 3D Super Mario games (and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker), Bananza will let a second player pitch in, giving them control of Pauline, who can shout words of encouragement and excitement at enemies and the environment to blow things up. It’s a lot of fun being that second player, and maybe the best example yet of giving player two something to do without detracting from the primary player’s experience.
Based on my first couple hours with Donkey Kong Bananza, it feels like the second half of a great Switch 2 launch lineup when paired with Mario Kart World. But unlike the so-so collectathon in that kart racing game’s free roam mode, Bananza’s big levels full of gems, treasure chests, and side missions feel incredibly compelling to explore. I can’t wait to dig into Donkey Kong’s new adventure at my own pace, peeling back every layer and challenge along the way. The juice is down there, and I must drink it.
Donkey Kong Bananza will be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17.
