It has been gaming’s greatest mystery over the past few months: Who is developing Donkey Kong Bananza?
Well, maybe it wasn’t much of a mystery. When Donkey Kong’s latest game was revealed during April’s Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, fans were pretty positive that it was the latest project from the team behind Super Mario Odyssey. The open-ended collect-a-thon gameplay seemed like a dead giveaway, but Nintendo refused to confirm it. Now, gaming’s worst kept secret is finally out. At a hands-on preview event last week attended by Digital Trends, Nintendo confirmed that Bananza is indeed by the same studio that brought us Odyssey.
But frankly, Nintendo didn’t need to tell me that at all; my two-hour demo was confirmation enough. The extended playtime revealed another natural link in the evolution of Nintendo platformers, one that doubles down on player freedom and powerful traversal tricks. It’s a chaotic romp that’s destined to make one of Nintendo’s oldest mascots feel young again.
Getting in the flow
When I demoed Donkey Kong Bananza back in April, I only got the chance to pound around one biome for around 20 minutes. This demo was much more expansive, showing off three different areas, two of DK’s new Bananza forms, and even a bit of multiplayer. It didn’t take me much time to pick up where I left off in April. Within seconds, I was punching my way through a cave in search of banana gems and drilling into the floor to mine for gold. That destruction remains immediately cathartic thanks to heavy punches that tear through any and all terrain.
The difference this time around was that I got a much better sense of how the whole thing flows together. After a repeat of the game’s opening sequence, I was dropped into a sublevel just a bit further ahead. While I had the freedom to roam around, there was a specific goal ahead of me: unclog three pipes scattered around the compact map. I’d have to do some platforming challenges to reach each one and eventually raise the water levels enough to reach a new area where I could chat with an elder. That bit of structure made it clear that Bananza isn’t just a free roaming sandbox where new levels only open up once you’ve collected enough items.
There are a lot of items to collect, though. As I worked towards my main objective, I started pounding through the environment as much as I could. By doing so, I discovered hidden caves containing gems, treasure chests buried deep in dirt, fossils, records that I could play at unlockable camps, and more. At one point, I found an enormous set of whale bones that I had to pummel to collect. Anytime I’d smash into a patch of ground that didn’t look all that special, I would always find something, even if it was just a bit of gold.
All of that collection feeds into different progression systems. Gathering five bananas gives me a new skill point, which I could use to boost DK’s health, give him new moves, or upgrade his Bananza powers. Fossils, on the other hand, could be used to purchase new clothing items. Some of those come with passive perks that can be buffed by trading in even rarer fossils. There’s a whole lot of structure to Bananza — perhaps more so than Odyssey — meant to keep players feeling like they’re progressing even while messing around.
Chaos reigns
The next two areas I popped into had similar flows, but each revealed more depth. The second biome I saw was more of a sandy canyon that eventually led into a magma mine. Nintendo recommended that I stick closer to the mainline story here, which took me through two traditional boss fights. The highlight there came when I hopped into a minecart and had to take down a floating boss by throwing stones to break down the shield walls around him. Moments like that almost felt more like those in Splatoon 3 than Odyssey, a vibe that I felt multiple times through my very musical session.
I also got a good introduction to Bananza transformations there. Once DK has enough gold, I can press both shoulder bumpers to activate a special form. The first one I could access was a giant ape that has more powerful punches. I utilized it in a few challenge rooms that tasked me with clearing out a certain number of enemies within a time limit. When I got to the third area, a forest biome that reminded me of Odyssey’s Wooded Kingdom, I got access to a flying bird that allowed me to bypass some tricky platforming routes by gliding over them.
That’s the other way that Bananza really follows in Odyssey’s footsteps. In Mario’s last big adventure, speedrunners had a buffet of high-level movement options that allowed them to totally bypass intended puzzle routes. Bananza ratchets that idea up and takes it in literally every direction it can. Why jump up the side of a tree when I can burrow into it from its underside? No two players will have exactly the same playthrough, I suspect.
There are some tradeoffs that come with that approach. The third-person camera has a hard time dealing with the fact that DK can burrow himself into narrow passages deep below ground. I’d often end up with a camera that wasn’t even focused on the ape at all, as it struggled to find some place it could sit. Performance was a bit spotty here and there too, though I’m hoping that’s just expected from a build that wasn’t quite finished cooking. It would be a shame for the Switch 2’s first big test to already push the system to its limits.
And you can really push those limits. I found that out when trying out Bananza’s multiplayer mode, which is the last clear tell that the Odyssey team was involved. Here, I got to control Pauline as she sat on DK’s shoulder. Using mouse controls (though she can be played with standard controls too), I pointed a reticle at the screen. Holding down my trigger while aiming at a surface allowed me to copy that material and pressing the same button let me launch off projectiles made from that material. It’s a simple helper tool built for young kids, not unlike Super Mario Galaxy’s Luma-launching multiplayer mode, but it’s a chaotic blast.
Pauline is, hilariously enough, significantly more powerful than DK, with the ability to spam the attack button and destroy terrain much faster. Every time I hammered the button, a giant word bubble would flash on screen as particles went flying. I got through a boss fight that would have taken me a few minutes solo in seconds by rapid-firing shots. She is a cacophony of sound and fury in the wrong hands, digging DK into deep tunnels whether player one wants to be there or not. It’s not just perfect for kids who want to feel like they’re doing a lot of destruction without actually controlling a complex character; it’s great for full-grown griefers who want to drive their friends batty.
There’s still so much more I could say about Bananza, highlighting well-designed challenge stages that had me getting around a hallway of thorns in clever ways or finding a way to navigate a sort of hamster wheel. I could speak to the surprising environmental puzzles that require me to throw seeds at wooden surfaces to build pathways in the forest. And, of course, I could tell you about the nods to old Donkey Kong games, which includes new arrangements of classic songs in gold collecting bonus stages.
You’ll just need to see it for yourself, though. And when you do, I’m sure you’ll find a dozen things I didn’t see at all in your first two hours. This is a dense adventure disguised as a primal power fantasy. It gives players sublevel after sublevel of secrets to discover, buried deep within every inch of dirt. It is Super Mario Odyssey with the volume turned all the way up, and that’s one heck of a pitch for DK.
Donkey Kong Bananza launches on July 17 for Nintendo Switch 2.
