Donkey Kong Bananza Review
- Kai Taylor
- Aug 17
- 8 min read
Genre: Platformer
Developer: Nintendo EPD
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: July 17th 2025
Available On: Nintendo Switch 2
The Nintendo Switch 2 Direct in April was when everybody saw Donkey Kong Bananza. Nintendo has neglected Donkey Kong for years; his last game was Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze back in 2014. Not only is Donkey Kong back in a brand-new game, but this is also the first time Nintendo has ever developed a fully-fledged 3D platformer with Donkey Kong in the starring role. The last 3D Donkey Kong game was 1999's Donkey Kong 64, created by Rare. All of this excitement made me nervous to play Donkey Kong Bananza, but I am thrilled to say that it is sensational. Aside from Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza is the first proper exclusive for the Nintendo Switch 2, and I am sure that this game will be the one that convinces people to purchase a Switch 2. Bananza is a collectathon platformer that hits a lot of the same beats as Super Mario Odyssey, but it manages to stand out from that game with Donkey Kong's incredible move set and controls. There's a surprising, heartfelt story in Bananza, as well as fantastic bosses, beautiful visuals, and a true sense of adventure.
JUST KEEP DIGGING
Donkey Kong, along with his army of monkeys, is digging for bananas in Ingot Isle. As the Kongs are mining, the evil VoidCo corporation invades their expedition. The leader of VoidCo is Void Kong, the main antagonist, and he reminded me a lot of Stripe from Gremlins. He plans to reach the Planet Core as his means of world domination. As you control Donkey Kong, with the help of Pauline, you journey through vast open levels and collect bananas, complete mini stages and explore every crevice of the map to find bananas and stop Void Kong. You start the game on the surface, and every level sees you diving further down into the earth until you reach the Planet Core at the game's climax.
Mascot platformers have never been the most story-driven genre in the gaming industry, and Donkey Kong Bananza follows this same tried and tested formula. However, I was genuinely surprised by how much I liked the loose story in Bananza. There's so much of Nintendo's signature charm and heartfelt moments to win over even the most cynical gamer. The relationship between Donkey Kong and Pauline is the true star of the story. They are the perfect odd couple, and you can see echoes of King Kong in their interactions and characterisation. I enjoyed the story of Donkey Kong Bananza, and it was much more profound than most Nintendo platformers; it stands on the same shoulders as Super Mario Galaxy.
Along with the remarkable story is the game's soundtrack, which, keeping with Nintendo's track record for great platformer soundtracks, is fantastic. The music amplifies every area of the map. Whenever you're in a darker area, the music becomes incredibly atmospheric, and when you're in desert, forest, or beach areas, the music changes to fit the surroundings better. The music doesn't reach the same heights as Super Mario Odyssey, but it is still a great soundtrack that I found myself going back to during the writing of this review.
NO MONKEY BUSINESS
When Nintendo revealed that the team behind Super Mario Odyssey was behind Donkey Kong Bananza, I knew that the gameplay and collectathon elements would draw comparisons. And the truth is, this is Super Mario Odyssey, just in the shoes of Donkey Kong. That is not a bad thing in the slightest, because Super Mario Odyssey is one of the greatest 3D platformers ever made. However, Donkey Kong Bananza manages to stand apart from Odyssey with its different control feel, move set and the way you progress through the story.
Donkey Kong can move, roll, jump, punch, and use sonar to see nearby collectibles. The weight of his controls is perfect; slightly heavier than Mario, but they never feel sluggish. The controls are smooth, responsive, and incredibly satisfying, thanks to the impressive HD rumble on the Switch 2 Pro Controller and Joy-Cons. Punching is at the heart of what you'll be doing in the game, and you can, quite literally, tear apart 85% of a level's environment to find more collectibles, gold and chests that either have more gold in them, or maps that reveal the location of another collectible. Tearing apart is not only a fun mechanic on its own, but it is integral to progressing through a level and getting the most out of Bananza's magic. You can even tear off a chunk of a wall or the ground and use that projectile to surf your way through the map for quick movement. I did not use this mechanic frequently, unless it was necessary, because the key to enjoying Bananza is to take your time to explore every sector of the map.
Pauline is not only an adorable sidekick, but she also has many tricks up her sleeve. She uses her singing powers to show you where objective markers are on the map, and she can use her singing to open up particular areas that are otherwise inaccessible. The story revolves around Pauline's return to the surface and overcoming her anxiety about singing in front of an audience. However, her singing is not just a helpful mechanic in exploration; that's where Bananza Mode steps in. As you progress through the game, you will unlock different Bananza forms for Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong will transform into various animals, further altering the gameplay. The first Bananza you unlock is Kong Bananza, where Donkey Kong transforms into a much larger gorilla and has more powerful attacks. I will not spoil any of the future Bananza Forms, as they are some of the best parts of the game. These forms can be equipped at any point whenever you've collected enough gold to fill up your Bananergy gauge. The Bananza forms are some of the most surprising, insane, and joyful moments of the game.
BANANA HUNT
Your main objective in Donkey Kong Bananza is to find Banandium Gems, and boy oh boy, you are going to grab A LOT of Banandium Gems. There are 777 Banandium Gems to find in Bananza, and you will find them peppered all over the game's levels. At the end of my playthrough, I managed to find 636 Banandium Gems, and it took me 29 hours to get to the end of the main story. Unlike Super Mario Odyssey, you do not have to collect a certain number of Banandium Gems to progress to the next level; you need to reach each objective and complete each encounter or boss to progress to the next layer underground. Initially, I was disappointed with this mechanic because it left me wondering why I should pursue the Gems to complete the game. However, the more I got through the game, the more I fell in love with collecting the Gems.
You can find most Banandium Gems just by looking around the map, and you can find others in separate mini stages around each level. These mini stages are brilliant, and they remind me a lot of the shrines in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Sometimes the mini stages are puzzles where you have to use all of Donkey Kong and Pauline's moves to find each Gem, other mini stages see you defeating a specific number of enemies within a time limit, and there's even a driving stage featuring Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong for good measure.
Every five Banandium Gems you collect, you are rewarded with a skill point, and you can then upgrade Donkey Kong's move-set. There are dozens and dozens of upgrades in Donkey Kong Bananza, and they range from making Donkey Kong's attack more powerful, giving you an extra heart, or making your sonar clap have a better range. These upgrades are crucial to improving at the game, and they are incredibly rewarding to unlock. Every single time the jingle plays when you collect a Banandium Gem, it gives me such a euphoric dopamine hit. I heard the same jingle hundreds of times in the game, and it never became annoying for even a second.
Incredibly, Banandium Gems are not the only collectible to find in Donkey Kong Bananza; there are also Fossils and Banandium Chips. The Fossils are just as prevalent as the Gems, and they can be used as currency to customise the look of Donkey Kong and Pauline. You can buy different fur colours, ties and trousers for Donkey Kong, and most of them have a utility that makes you stronger in the game. Pauline also has different outfits and hats that she can wear throughout the game. The Fossils you collect do not follow on in subsequent layers of the game, meaning that the amount of fossils you find in one world is exclusive to that region, and the Fossil counter goes back to zero in the next layer. The Banandium Chips are another form of currency that you can give to particular merchants in exchange for Banandium Gems.
ODYSSEY AND BANANZA
Super Mario Odyssey is a fabulous game, but there is only one area where the game falls short: the bosses. The boss battles in Super Mario Odyssey suffer from the same problems as Super Mario 3D World; they're far too easy and do not feel like an actual test of your skills. Donkey Kong Bananza corrects this by not only giving more than twice the amount of boss battles, but each one feels unique from the last. They are not hard per se, but they are much more interesting and varied than the bosses in Odyssey.
However, Donkey Kong Bananza is not a better game than Super Mario Odyssey: I like them both equally, but for different reasons, and Donkey Kong Bananza has a couple of pitfalls that stop it from surpassing its predecessor. As a whole, Donkey Kong Bananza is a beautiful-looking game, and the visuals are stunning for the Nintendo Switch 2. For such a visually stunning game, it is disappointing that its performance is not exceptional. 95% of the time, Bananza runs at 60 fps, but whenever a large amount of animation is on screen or you are travelling across the map at high speed, the game tends to drop in frames a bit. It's off-putting and does hold the game back from being the technical marvel that Odyssey was.
Another minor issue is the excessive texture popping that occurs in the game. The texture popping is not terrible; it's nowhere near as bad as something like Sonic Frontiers, but it does happen enough for me to draw attention to it. Whenever you approach a different area of a map, certain obstacles and enemies sometimes pop into existence in the frame, and they seemingly appear out of nowhere. I only noticed the texture popping past the halfway point of the game, but they do happen frequently enough for me to consider it a flaw.
DONKEY KONG BANANZA REVIEW VERDICT
I am staggered by how good Donkey Kong Bananza is. It stands on the same high pedestal as Super Mario Odyssey, and it does more than enough to exist as its separate entity. The story is surprisingly heartwarming, the controls and Donkey Kong's move-set are fantastic, as are the game's visuals and collectathon aspects. The game does suffer from performance issues, both in handheld and docked modes, and the texture popping does detract slightly from the game's beautiful visuals. However, those little issues fade into obscurity when you're playing through one of the best 3D platformers I have played in ages.
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