Donkey Kong Bananza is magnificent and the best reason to buy a Switch 2

When I reviewed the Nintendo Switch 2 last month, I said it wasn’t a must-buy. Sure, it’s certainly a decent technical upgrade over its predecessor, but there was only one major launch title, Mario Kart World, and it just didn’t have much staying power. And beyond that, there wasn’t anything that felt truly new to genuinely warrant a purchase. I stand by that review, especially as I’ve seen many other people get a bit tired of Mario Kart in just a couple of weeks.

But things have changed. Now, I can say that the Switch 2 is absolutely worth buying for Donkey Kong Bananza, the console’s second major exclusive. It’s an absolutely magnificent and joyful game through and through, and, in fact, my current Game of the Year.

Admittedly, this won’t be a surprise to those who have been paying attention. After all, it’s the latest game from the Nintendo EPD development team behind 2017’s Super Mario Odyssey, widely regarded to be one of the greatest platformers of all time. Naturally, then, there was so much potential in having those immensely talented developers work on Bananza, the first new 3D DK game since 1999’s Donkey Kong 64. And thankfully, Bananza not only lives up to that standard, but offers plenty of fresh ideas of its own.

That all starts with the premise. The game begins with DK and his fellow primates digging for rare Banandium Gems, only for the villainous VoidCo. to snatch them all and flee underground, forcing our hero to team up with fellow Nintendo icon Pauline (more on her later) and dive into the depths of the Earth to retrieve them. It’s a fun conceit that’s cleverly woven into the central gameplay mechanic, allowing you to wield DK’s giant fists to smash through almost any terrain.

The X, Y and B buttons correspond to upward, horizontal and downward punches, respectively, and using them all in conjunction allows you to create all kinds of environmental destruction. These inputs, alongside the tactile Joy-Con rumbles and stylish slow-mo and shaky camera effects, really convey the earth-shattering force of DK’s blows. At a base level, it’s just satisfying to punch something and see it break into a million pieces. (While the game was originally in development for the original Switch, Nintendo says that moving to Switch 2 allowed it to better realize that vision for expansive destructibility.)

And because this is the Odyssey team, that satisfaction naturally extends to the overall feeling of controlling DK as a whole. Despite his massive stature, DK’s handling is remarkably tight, allowing you to perform fluid rolls, jumps and dive punches within rapid succession. You can even tear off bits of terrain to use as a makeshift weapon, shield or surfboard to quickly descend hills or otherwise hazardous slopes. This is easily the best Hulk game ever made — if Hulk were an endearingly goofy, slack-jawed cartoon ape who was obsessed with bananas.

All of these mechanics come together to create some of the best sandbox gameplay Nintendo has ever created. Naturally, the ability to smash through most terrain means there are all sorts of hidden goodies you can find. The biggest example of these are the aforementioned Banandium Gems, of which there are hundreds upon hundreds. These collectibles are similar to Odyssey’s Power Moons but have the added benefit of netting you skill points with which DK can unlock upgrades, including additional health, mobility options like surfing on water and more powerful punches.

As with the Power Moons in Odyssey, Bananza’s Banandium Gems will easily give you many hours of extra gameplay. For context, I rolled credits after about 20 hours and did a good chunk of optional content, but I’d estimate that I had many dozens of Gems remaining.

Of course, there’s also such a wonderful variety in how you obtain the Gems. A bunch are given to you simply for progressing through the story, while many others are either directly hidden within or behind terrain or obtainable through little challenges or events within the world itself. For instance, small metallic pyramids can start time trials to unlock Banandium Gems, while specially marked gates and holes in the ground will take you to a mysterious shrine for different kinds of challenges — some of which include nostalgic 2D stages that nod back to Donkey Kong Country. And if all of that wasn’t enough, some NPCs will even offer Gems by completing quizzes or paying them (accrued by smashing terrain for Gold and Banandium Chips).

This creates a wholly engrossing loop in which you’re constantly discovering new gameplay activities that are both fulfilling in their own right and provide you with Gems to upgrade DK. Honestly, it feels a bit like Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom in the best way, where there’s always something around the corner and DK can climb practically every surface, except one benefit here is he has no stamina bar.

One great example of all of this is in an early tropical stage. I picked up one of the bombs that are used to destroy concrete terrain that DK can’t smash (one of multiple types you’ll encounter). However, I accidentally threw it and smashed a different wall, revealing a subterranean area housing a Banandium Gem. After going through it and smashing my way out the other side, I stumbled across a little lake area containing giant pipe structures. As I ascended the pipe to get a better view of the environs, I found a hole in the metal revealing a watery tunnel containing another Gem.

And finally, when I got to the top of the pipe, I discovered one of those time trial pyramids that had me quickly blasting through barrel cannons to earn a third Banandium Gem. All of this happened in the span of a few minutes, and it’s a perfect distillation of countless other instances of my exploration being rewarded with something new and exciting.

Impressively, that’s just one of the earlier levels. As you progress through the Earth, you’ll come across different Layers and corresponding Sublayers (basically, worlds and stages, respectively) featuring everything from storm-filled mountains and luscious beaches to winter wonderlands and lava-filled caves. (My favourite that I can talk about: a high-end hotel run by friendly ostriches in a dank jungle overrun by poisonous plants, creating this fun mash-up of luxurious architecture and Poison Ivy-level deadly vegetation).

Besides offering uniquely colourful aesthetics, these biomes also challenge DK in different ways. After all, he can’t simply punch his way through uneasy ice structures or unstable volcanoes. In some cases, this means mixing-and-matching different types of terrain, such as frozen blocks (including cold treats like ice cream), to clear a path through flames. (In an interview, Nintendo told me this was actually one of the elements that was empowered by the higher-powered Switch 2.)

In other instances, DK will have to use special Bananza transformations which evoke the charming quirkiness of Odyssey. These include DK turning into an even larger and more powerful gorilla, an ostrich who, rather oddly, can ascend wind currents and glide or a zebra who can run fast enough across platforms that would otherwise crumble under such a bulky primate. Extremely catchy songs invoking such eclectic genres as rock, salsa and J-pop also play during the transformations to make them even more gleefully over-the-top.

And as a nice touch, it’s none other than Pauline who is singing those songs from atop DK’s back. In a marked departure from her appearance in Odyssey as a successful singer and the mayor of New Donk City, Bananza’s version of Pauline is a bubbly 13-year-old girl who’s much more timid about her vocal talents. This creates a cute coming-of-age arc for her, wherein her adventures with DK slowly help her come out of her shell. Indeed, her interactions with DK prove to be a genuine highlight, with her wide-eyed excitement towards the world adding much-needed personality to complement our silent protagonist.

She’ll even have special lines of dialogue as you rest at special “Getaway” rooms, which you can pay construction worker NPCs to create for you. These have a practical benefit — healing you and giving bonus hearts depending on how many you’ve created on the map — but I also was surprised to find myself genuinely eager to see what Pauline had to say about a given area or story moment. Some of these lines will just be her expressing worry over their current situation, like trepidation over resting in a crane high above a canyon, and her resolve will meaningfully improve over time to mark her growth. Others, meanwhile, are just plain funny, like Pauline questioning how DK can fly as a flightless bird or how he can tie his tie with such comically large hands. Throw in her little victory dance with DK after completing a sublayer, which concludes with them both excitedly beating their chests, and Pauline proves to be a wholesome companion. Bananza’s overall plot is very basic, like most Nintendo platformers, but Pauline elevates it above the rest.

At the same time, Bananza honours Odyssey’s much-needed pivot towards Pauline no longer being the damsel that she was in the original 1981 Donkey Kong game, and so her singing here can also unlock special sealed gates. This, alongside her diegetic songs that trigger your Bananza transformations, ensures that she plays a meaningful role in both narrative and gameplay. And thankfully, she automatically clings to your back no matter what you do, ensuring you don’t have to worry about protecting her.

But while I’m happy that there’s no “escort mission” sort of tedium with Pauline, it does seem as though some more friction should have been added elsewhere. That’s because Bananza is quite easy on the whole. Part of that comes down to just how plain powerful DK is, resulting in many bosses going down in less than a minute. Even outside of combat, though, the platforming sections are largely quite simple, even for someone like me who hasn’t played that many Nintendo platformers.

Thankfully, difficulty does appreciably ramp up towards the end, especially during a series of immaculately designed post-campaign missions that challenge you to use everything you’ve learned in some inventive ways. But even before that, the final stretch of Layers are absolutely phenomenal, offering plenty of fan service for longtime DK fans while also featuring some truly thrilling and audacious level design and setpieces.

It’s not often that many games stick the landing with such aplomb, and Bananza, somehow, manages to maintain those highs throughout. While I do wish it was a bit more challenging overall, there was still hardly a moment that I wasn’t utterly enthralled by what I was doing. From the oh-so-satisfying destruction mechanics and accompanying thoughtful level design that meaningfully limits your abilities to the constant discovery of new side content and more Banandium Gems and DK and Pauline’s sweet and endearing relationship, I wholeheartedly loved my time with Bananza. It’s such a magical experience, and the absolute best reason to buy a Nintendo Switch 2. Now, if you don’t mind me, I have more Banandium Gems to find.

Donkey Kong Bananza launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on July 16. Note that the game costs $99.99 in Canada, $10 more than regular Switch games.

Note: Bananza does feature some unique Switch 2 features, although none of them are all that worth writing about. Similar to how Super Mario Galaxy let a second player aim and fire projectiles with a cursor, a second player can join locally or with GameShare as Pauline and use the Joy-Con 2’s mouse functionality to copy different types of terrain and shoot them out as explosives. This doesn’t really add much, though, so unless you have a little sibling or cousin who really wants to play, too, it’s easy to skip.

The other Joy-Con 2 feature is admittedly more interesting: DK Artist. In this mode, you can use the mouse feature to carve and sculpt different sculptures themed around Donkey Kong characters and objects and customize them with different effects. Personally, this isn’t something I messed around with much, but I can see people doing some creative things with it.

Image credit: Nintendo