Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2)

Donkey Kong was first introduced as a villain in his first game with Mario back in the early ’80s. Despite being a bad guy at first, the character is now a likeable good guy and has starred in many of his own video games since then. 

Developer Rare put Donkey Kong on the map with its excellent Donkey Kong Country trilogy for the Super Nintendo. The Donkey Kong Country games were 2.5D platformers featuring difficult but engaging and memorable gameplay levels. 

It wasn’t until 1999 when Donkey Kong starred in his first 3D platform game called Donkey Kong 64 for the Nintendo 64 console. Fast forward to 2025, and Donkey Kong is finally in another 3D adventure as Donkey Kong Bananza is out now as a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive video game. 

There has been a lot of hype surrounding the release of Donkey Kong Bananza because the game is from the same developer as Super Mario Odyssey. Not to mention, Donkey Kong Bananza was originally going to come out for the original Switch console, but the newer tech of the Switch 2 allowed the game to have more innovative features. 

Before I begin talking about the game itself, let’s discuss the story of Donkey Kong Bananza.  The game starts off with Donkey Kong and his many monkey friends working in the mines searching for banana-shaped crystals called ‘Banandium Gems’. 

Things start to go crazy when an evil group called ‘Void Company’ invades the mines to steal all of the valuable ‘Banandium Gems’ for themselves. They wish to take the gems to the centre of the Earth to make a wish for their own nefarious needs. 

To stop Void Company’s plans, Donkey Kong teams up with a 13-year-old Pauline to gather the’ Banandium Gems’, and also hopes to go back home once their mission is over. Even though the game takes place inside the Earth’s crust, all of the levels have different and diverse-looking biomes. 

The biggest and most innovative feature of Donkey Kong Bananza is the fact that the game includes fully destructible levels. The last time I played a game that had destructible levels of this nature was Red Faction, which came out way back in 2001! 

The reason this game has destructible levels is that Donkey Kong needs to acquire lots of gold and fossil pieces from inside the ground. Gold is pretty much everywhere in this game, and it’s so fun just breaking the literal levels into a million pieces to find what DK needs for currency. 

Gold is important in this game because it’s a currency used to buy several items from Shops. The gold can also be used to build safe houses for Donkey Kong that replenishes his heart health bar. If you die in the game, gold is used as a currency to get Donkey Kong back to life if the player has zero balloons left. Lastly, gold is used to refill Donkey Kong’s ‘Bananza’ form. 

The aforementioned ‘Bananza’ form is another innovative feature because it lets Donkey Kong assume the abilities and appearance of different types of animals. For example, the Zebra Bananza allows Donkey Kong to run really fast across different types of terrain. My favourite is the Ostrich Bananza that allows DK to fly temporarily to get to higher places. In total, there are five bananzas for DK to collect, with each form representing a different type of animal. 

In terms of DK’s own abilities, there are tons of different ways that he can fight back against enemies. The best way to get rid of enemies is with his trusty and powerful punch. His punch can beat up most enemies, and you can use bananas to level up his abilities to make it even more powerful. The punch is also useful in breaking up terrain. 

Another helpful ability in the game is that DK can pick up large pieces of rock and throw them at enemies. Some enemies are tough, so you need to find a tough piece of rock to throw at their weak spots. DK can even use pieces of rock like a skateboard to ride over terrain like he’s Tony Hawk! 

Since DK is a large gorilla, he can also climb on most surfaces too. The only types of surfaces he cannot climb are those that are too slippery for him. Lastly, DK can also jump to reach higher platforms, or use it to punch down on enemies. Overall, the combat in this game is great thanks to the number of different abilities DK has in his arsenal. 

Speaking of combat, Donkey Kong Bananza has lots of epic boss fights that DK has to go through too. Most boss battles have a pattern and weak spots of DK to exploit, but they’re really fun and easy to get through. Don’t expect boss battles to be hard because this game is aimed at being accessible for everyone. 

Graphically, Donkey Kong Bananza looks gorgeous on the Switch 2 console. Despite the game taking place inside the Earth, you will still see beautiful-looking levels like a tropical beach, a forest, and other natural environments. Not to mention, all levels include destructible terrain. 

Performance-wise, Donkey Kong Bananza aims for 60fps and runs at 1080p most times. The framerate does drop a little bit if there’s too much going on, though. The performance dips aren’t game-breaking, and I still think the game looks great both in handheld and docked modes. 

All in all, Donkey Kong Bananza is another excellent Switch 2 exclusive following on from Mario Kart World. The graphics are great, and the gameplay is fun and innovative. This game is a must buy if you’re a current Switch 2 owner. 

Verdict: 9.5/10