I’ll be honest, the last thing I expected out of Wednesday's Nintendo Direct was to be excited about Donkey Kong of all things — I enjoy the character, but apart from Donkey Kong 64 and Donkey Konga (yes, I have the bongos), his games weren’t really for me.
And yet, Donkey Kong Bananza just wowed me in this Nintendo Direct today.
I recently reviewed the Nintendo Switch 2, and one of my suggestions to folks aching to get their hands on the fastest-selling console was to wait. There aren’t many available games worth getting, unless you’re dying to play Mario Kart World. But now…
Listen, Donkey Kong Bananza is just one game, but this game was (reportedly) developed by the Super Mario Odyssey team, and it is the first 3D Donkey Kong platformer since DK 64.
I’m not paying $500 to play Mario Kart, but I’d pay $520 just to play Donkey Kong Bananza. Let me break down the joy I just witnessed.
Donkey Kong Bananza Direct and all its splendor
Donkey Kong Bananza is like if Mario in Super Mario Odyssey was a super destructive monkey.
As Donkey Kong, you can literally destroy almost everything in your path, from the terrain beneath your hand-feet to the massive rock formations in the world around you.
The platforming, combat, and creative solutions you can come up with to solve puzzles feel inspired by both Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
I’m not paying $500 to play Mario Kart, but I’d pay $520 just to play Donkey Kong Bananza.
Putting this much creativity in the player’s hands is the kind of play that humans crave — is that a bit dramatic? Sure, but I can’t help but feel giddy thinking about destroying the environment to find a banana or throwing sticky rocks against each other to get to an obscenely high place and discovering I skipped half the level. Am I going to go back and do the rest of the level? Yes, but I cannot tell you how satisfying it is to overcome obstacles not as intended.
In the Donkey Kong Bananza Direct, Nintendo finally revealed the identity of that weird rock on Donkey Kong’s back. It’s actually Pauline, who first appeared in the original Donkey Kong game back in 1981, and of more recent fame in Super Mario Odyssey as a famous singer and Mayor of New Donk City.
This is such an awesome reunion of these characters that were previously enemies (more like Donkey Kong abducted her, but yaknow). Pauline is no longer a damsel in distress in this duo — her voice helps Donkey Kong navigate throughout the world, and more importantly, she can transform Donkey Kong to make him strong enough to smash tough terrain or even glide through the sky as an ostrich.
You can even play co-op, where the second player controls Pauline to use her voice to blast enemies with different materials that they can copy from the world. One of the coolest things about this is that you can GameShare with another Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch, so you can experience most of Donkey Kong Bananza as a second player on your original Switch.
There’s even a skill tree. As an obsessive RPG fan, there’s nothing I love more than a well-designed skill tree. You can also customize Donkey Kong and Pauline’s outfits, which scratches that fashionista itch inside of me.
When we first saw Donkey Kong Bananza, I was not impressed whatsoever. But after this Nintendo Direct? It sold me on an entire gaming console. Cut to me lurking on our Nintendo Switch 2 restock pages until I can find one available (insert weary face here).
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