Donkey Kong Bananza review: Switch 2 finally has its must-play system seller

If there's one thing you can count on for a Nintendo console, it's a 3D platformer that breaks new ground, which it's been doing ever since Super Mario 64. To be fair, there's not a lot of competition when you also consider the genre's a bit of a dying breed, with the exception of last year's Astro Bot, which even Team Asobi admits takes a lot of inspiration from Nintendo.

Yet for the Nintendo Switch 2, it's not Mario who's taking the spotlight this time but his old rival Donkey Kong, albeit still from the creative team behind Super Mario Odyssey. It's something of a risky bet given how synonymous this iconic ape is in his 2D side-scrolling guise, and he hasn't had a 3D outing since Donkey Kong 64 over 25 years ago, which is usually derided for its overwhelming world record number of collectibles. But as someone who was never too fond of the unforgiving nature of Donkey Kong Country's platforming, I was more than open to this new in-house direction.

I mean that in terms of visual direction as much as gameplay. You could say DK's been at the forefront of groundbreaking graphics when Rare pioneered with creating him as a prerendered 3D model in Donkey Kong Country for the SNES, while more powerful tech in the GameCube era gave him more realistic fur. For Bananza, the thing that stands out the most about DK is just how expressive his face is.

Donkey Kong's new design has been controversial. Some might argue he comes across looking a bit dumber (arguably, this is actually in line with his original arcade form when Shigeru Miyamoto designed him to be a dumb and humorous antagonist as opposed to, say, someone evil like Bowser or Ganondorf), but I would say his very goofy expressions make him very lovable.

We've seen more expressive cartoony animations in other recent Nintendo games like Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Mario Kart World, but I think Bananza does an even better job, and I can't get enough of tapping into photo mode to get a good look at DK's face as he's performing an action.

A Nintendo game with Disney storytelling

It's a Nintendo magic that also feels Disneyesque, not least because DK finds himself paired up with a sidekick in the form of Pauline, reimagined as a pint-sized tween, with the pipes of a Disney princess. Indeed, you can't help but see them as a mirror of Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope (that titular 'bad guy' was, after all, a very overt analogue of the original Donkey Kong).

The bond that grows between the two, as Pauline's perched on DK's shoulder using her singing to either guide you on the right path or transform DK with new powers, gives Bananza a kind of emotional storytelling that's been largely absent in Nintendo games that prioritise gameplay over narrative, helped by the fact that all of Pauline's dialogue is fully-voiced.

Nonetheless, Bananza is still first and foremost about fun. Unlike Odyssey, which had you flying around to different sandbox destinations, you're actually journeying deeper and deeper into different layers of the planet. In practice, however, it doesn't mean it's all subterranean locales and instead throws logic to the wind. I wouldn't try to interrogate why you are falling into underground layers with their own sky and themed biomes in the same way you really shouldn't break your brain figuring out what timeline this DK and Pauline belong in.

These are simply big, bright, imaginative, and fun sandbox levels to explore, as you collect hundreds of precious Banandium Gems, the game's equivalent to Odyssey's Power Moons, which also unlock new abilities for DK in a menu that's thankfully not as fussy or convoluted as most skill trees in games.

But this isn't strictly just a 3D platformer either. Compared to Mario's freewheeling jumps, Bananza opts to lean in on DK's brawn, with three of the face buttons dedicated to punching up, below, and forward. Which isn't to say you are primarily Hulk-smashing your way through levels, although it does mean boss fights are actually about whittling down your opponent's health bar instead of the Mario formula of stomping on a weak spot three times.

DK's ability to punch through terrain means you can actually dig up your own paths and find secrets this way. You can even open up a 3D map that shows what you've terraformed in real-time, as well as have the option to reset it all in case you've destroyed so much of it that you're having trouble reaching a location or you're stuck.

This isn't to say there isn't any level design, quite the opposite in fact. There are still elements like metal that DK won't be able to punch through, and an unscrupulous mining company called VoidCo has also sealed up parts of the world with an unbreakable purple material. Many layers you visit follow a structure of helping restore the locals' home that VoidCo has messed up, sending you off on mini objectives, though the pacing can differ to the extent that a few layers act as very chill palette cleansers, albeit still teeming with Banandium Gems and other goodies to find.

A smashing good time

At its most primal, breaking stuff is just lots of fun. The voxel-based destruction mechanics provide satisfying visual feedback, while they serve a gameplay function as opposed to the mere eye candy sensation of knocking things over in Astro Bot, with every bit of the terrain you're interacting with having its own material properties. Sure, sometimes it can get to the point where even the new Switch 2 hardware can't maintain the smooth 60 FPS frame rate, but it ultimately doesn't get in the way of the impactful fun.

Bananza fortunately, also comes up with different ways you can make use of terrain so that it's not all one-note destruction. You could rip out a chunk of terrain and use it to smack things with, aim and throw it in a given direction, use it to double-jump, or even ride it like a surfboard, and the strength of the terrain will determine how long you can use it for. Some more malleable material like sand or mud, can even be chucked together to form a makeshift bridge. And that's just the more realistic kind of materials because things get a lot weirder too, while you'll also encounter more hazardous terrain that creates a bit more of a challenge as you don't want to smash into just anything and want to avoid getting hurt by the environment.

Then, of course, there's DK's transformations that are fuelled by Pauline's singing and resources you collect that charge up your Bananergy. There are five transformations in total, and while Bananza Kong simply makes him stronger with a charging punch, the others give him new abilities along with a ridiculous animal transformation, like a zebra that can sprint, an ostrich that can fly / glide, or an elephant that sucks up terrain with its trunk. While you can freely switch between forms, it can get confusing juggling the different movesets, so thankfully, most challenges you encounter are designed with a specific transformation in mind.

In short, Bananza is just bursting with delightful ideas, and the expressiveness extends to being able to buy new costumes for both DK and Pauline that bestow some stat buffs. My favourite purchases were, however, the purely cosmetic kind, as you can change DK's fur into all the colours of the rainbow.

But even with all these new ideas, it's also great to see that this time Nintendo also celebrates the rest of DK's history, whether that's with hidden challenges that adopt a side-scrolling perspective, the cameos from characters from the Country series, while even reworking mechanics like Jungle Beat's hand clap, which is a great way to instantly absorb nearby resources. By the time you reach its show-stopping conclusion, I'm positive no DK fan will be disappointed.

Dispelling any doubts for fans after a new 3D Mario or a new side-scrolling Country game, Donkey Kong Bananza wonderfully reinvents its original mascot into a lovable and expressive hero who has as much heart as he does brawn. If you've yet to buy a Switch 2, this is the kind of game the console needs to convince you, maybe, Nintendo is back on top.