Is Donkey Kong Bananza the Super Mario Odyssey-sized adventure the Switch 2 needs? That’s the question players have been asking ever since the 3D sandbox smasher was first revealed earlier this year. Based on early reviews, it just might be. With rave assessments and perfect scores from some outlets, Nintendo’s first big single-player adventure for the new hardware sounds like the GOTY-contender Donkey Kong sequel fans have been waiting for.
Structured around destroyable maps and collectible-fueled transformations, Donkey Kong Bananza is a classic Nintendo 3D platformer, yet evolved in new ways to take advantage of the company’s most powerful console yet. It was created by members of the Super Mario Odyssey team, which shows in the varied mashup of colorful landscapes, clever mechanics, and big boss fights on display in trailers and Nintendo Direct deep dives. According to the first reviews, that spirit is evident throughout the 20+ hour adventure.
Currently sitting at 91 on Metacritic and OpenCritic, Donkey Kong Bananza received perfect 10/10 scores from IGN (“truly groundbreaking”), Inverse (“genre-defining”), and The Washington Post (“a perfect crystallization of Nintendo’s game design philosophy”). Even the more tepid reviews from Eurogamer (“occasionally it feels like it gets a bit lost”), VGC (“can occasionally feel quite workman-like in its design”), and The Guardian (“not sure Bananza has the same legs as Mario Odyssey”) don’t have scores that dip below the 80s.
While some reviewers felt Donkey Kong Bananza showcased the best of Nintendo’s playful design sensibility, others wanted to see some of its gameplay ideas, including DK’s powerful transformations, explored more deeply. The consensus seems to be that the game ends much more strongly than it begins, and that despite all of the large open spaces and detailed level destruction, the next-gen game generally performs satisfactorily, even if there are still substantial framerate drops in some places as well as other visual flaws, especially in docked mode. Here’s what else reviewers are saying.
IGN
Bananza never stops pulling fresh ideas right off the vine over its 20+ hours. Without spoiling anything, I was stunned at the ingenuity on display as I dove to some of its deeper, late-game layers. There are tons of different material types that make up the world, and there are set rules to how they all interact with each other. A simple example is how throwing ice onto lava creates a hardened rock platform, but the chemistry and interplay between different elements gets more complex as you progress, and learning these relationships and using your knowledge of them to solve increasingly smart puzzles is supremely gratifying. — Logan Plant
GameSpot
Donkey Kong Bananza offers a new start for Donkey Kong that is distinct from the Donkey Kong Country games. The focus on destructability captures what makes DK different from other platforming characters—his titanic strength—and giving him a cute sidekick grants the game unexpected emotional depth. As part of the launch line-up for the Switch 2, this nicely fills the gap for one of Nintendo’s signature substantial single-player adventures. But more importantly, it’s an excellent game in its own right, and deserves to be mentioned alongside games like Mario Odyssey as among Nintendo’s best recent work. — Steve Watts
Eurogamer
To properly encapsulate how I feel about Donkey Kong Bananza, you almost have to start at the finish. No spoilers here, obviously, but I have to say that I think this game has one of the finest finales of any Nintendo game ever. There’s a delightful build-up of adrenaline as story beats and experimental mechanical evolutions are gleefully layered atop each other. It’s difficult to not have a great big smile on your face as the game hurtles towards its finish. It’s pretty masterfully done. — Alex Donaldson
The Guardian
The only fumble in these later stages is the overpowered nature of the Bananzas themselves. These animal transformations imbue DK with speed, flight, strength and more, and when contained in the challenges or levels built for them they sing. You are reminded of Mario’s Odyssey possessions and how perfectly realised each of those physical sensations was. But taken out of that context – when returning to earlier stages to mop up collectibles, for example – they become instant win buttons, dulling the ingenuity of Nintendo’s platforming designs. — Matthew Castle
The Washington Post
“Bananza” is the first Donkey Kong game developed internally by Nintendo in more than two decades, now staffed by the team that created the award-winning 2017 Switch title “Super Mario Odyssey.” This game adopts Mario’s trademark powers of transformation. Instead of wearing different superpowered hats, Kong can transform into different animal “bananza” forms that allow him to fly (ostrich), punch through steel (ape) and sprint through thin ice weightlessly (zebra). While these powers run on a limited meter, a few sections allow extended use of them. The game soars when it demands usage of every single form, becoming a symphony of mechanics and player response. — Gene Park
Inverse
One moment in Donkey Kong Bananza felt like a revelation – like seeing the image of the Mona Lisa for the first time. I’d simply punched my way straight down a mountain and landed on a Banandium Gem. Sprawled behind me was a lengthy platforming puzzle. My wanton destruction had let me punch my way out of doing an entire puzzle, and now the possibilities seemed endless. — Hayes Madsen
Gamesradar
Smashing things is fun, and Donkey Kong Bananza understands that fact better than any other video game I’ve ever played. Forget about “See that mountain? You can go there.” Now it’s “See that mountain? You can obliterate it.” Bananza’s destruction isn’t just a flashy gimmick for the Minecraft generation, it’s one of the best inventions Nintendo has had in years. — Dustin Bailey
The Verge
Bananza is a dad game the same way The Last of Us is a dad game. Same world-trekking adventure with a big strong dude protecting a powerful little girl. But where TLOU makes you have big sad feelings about all the people the game forces you to kill, Bananza presents you with a slight alternative — what if you could use your powers to fuck shit up and not be a dick about it? DK smiles often. People are happy to see him. That friendly rock I mentioned earlier? When you punch him or any NPC, it turns into a high five. All that destruction is welcome because it’s helping restore the world. — Ash Parrish
Digital Foundry
Image quality in handheld is a lot better than what we see in docked mode. But performance is where things get perhaps a little more interesting. So, in the direct for Donkey Kong, we spotted a ton of slowdown. And unfortunately, that has not been fully eliminated, but it is a little bit better than I had hoped. It’s just that the way it manifests is somewhat unusual. You see, most of the time, the drops are not sustained. Rather, they occur only during very specific animations, such as when picking up a banana or on certain camera cuts. It’s a bit distracting, but it doesn’t impede on gameplay that often, which is good. I say that often because there are situations where it can drop pretty hard and stay there, like this boss fight where the frame rate dips down to 30 FPS and sticks there for most of the fight. Something made worse by the somewhat choppy looking destruction effects. — John Linneman
VGC
By the time the credits rolled, the transformations felt like one of numerous ideas introduced in Donkey Kong Bananza that it never truly capitalizes upon. At one point, progression seemingly expands with a branching path, only for it never to be used again. Similarly, other unique ideas are introduced and then never meaningfully fleshed out. Like most of Donkey Kong Bananza, then, if you start digging beneath the surface, you find flaws in its construct. But combined, its foundations form an adventure that’s genuinely greater than the sum of its parts. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the moment-to-moment of its campaign, even when I kept noticing the parts of its design that could’ve been executed better. — Andy Robinson
The Gamer
It’s worth going back to that Astro Bot comparison, by way of Super Mario Odyssey. In the very last level of Astro Bot, the game throws a new power-up at you. It has been constantly tossing out old ideas and replacing them the whole time, and every time it does, you’re amazed at where they keep coming from. When you get fresh ideas in the later stages of Donkey Kong Bananza, you feel more like ‘oh we should have had this earlier, that would have made everything better’. — Stacey Hanley
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