By Matt Gosper
Who’s ready for some Red Faction Gorilla?
It was honestly a shock when Donkey Kong Bananza was announced 鈥 as someone who didn鈥檛 grow up with Nintendo consoles pre-Wii, I鈥檇 never had the formative experience of being DK and had been very hit or miss with the newer games as a result.
In Bananza though, Donkey Kong is striking out in a relatively new direction: the third dimension. The first 3D adventure for Donkey Kong since Donkey Kong 64, Bananza comes to us from the same development team as Super Mario Odyssey. Just as that team brought Mario into a new open-level world, it鈥檚 looking to bring the same revolution to Donkey Kong.
At a preview event hosted by Nintendo, I was lucky enough to go hands-on with Donkey Kong Bananza for a few hours, exploring the game鈥檚 introduction and a few early layers of its underground adventure. Beginning in the mines of the Ingot Isles, I was able to utterly decimate Donkey Kong鈥檚 workplace 鈥 huge sections of the walls, floor and even ceiling are destructible to a depth I was immediately surprised by. Combined with DK鈥檚 ability to climb walls at will, there鈥檚 little to stop you from pushing for maximum destruction before anything else.
Layers can also be reset to a pre-destruction state as needed, so you can carry on with the story, or start the process all over. Even in the prologue, before any kind of skills are discussed or unlocked, DK is immediately able to wreck everything with little resistance. It鈥檚 easy to get lost in the joy of it and avoid moving on 鈥 as I was guilty of doing in this preview.
While it definitely felt easy to get comfortable running and rolling around as Donkey Kong, I鈥檒l admit the button layout took a second to get used to. Given the pedigree of the developer, I naturally defaulted to B as my jump button; but for the Kong himself, his jump has moved to the A button, while X-Y-B become his upwards, forwards and downwards punches respectively. Thinking of this layout in terms of a fighting game鈥檚 high, mid, and low attacks certainly helped me to recalibrate in the session, and after a few minutes鈥 play I could barely remember stumbling over the controls.
Outside of these basics, a lot of DK鈥檚 fun new skills are accessible straight away, like the ability to tear chunks out of the earth to use as a melee weapon, projectile 鈥 or even a surfboard, as needed. It鈥檚 a joy to take control and immediately have a full toybox to play with as Donkey Kong; while other moves and skills can be unlocked in the skill menu, you immediately feel fully equipped 鈥 like being handed the fully-activated Purah Pad at the start of Tears of the Kingdom. Pauline鈥檚 vocal stylings also come in handy in multiple ways, creating music in the air that can lead you to your next goal, or unbind objects that have been locked up by the evil Void Corporation.
In two-player co-op mode, the second player can also shout as Pauline to send giant 3D words smashing into the world, helping or hindering their partner player in equal amounts. Using the Joy-Con 2 as either a pointer or in mouse mode, you can also copy the makeup of any object in the world to use for your shouts 鈥 testing the mode on one of Canyon Layer鈥檚 minecart rails, Pauline was able to copy the material of the Bomb Rocks DK was holding, and send extra explosives hurtling around the world to cause more chaos.
While it definitely feels a lot more engaging and active than similar 2P modes in past Nintendo games like Super Mario Odyssey or the Galaxy games, it鈥檚 very easy to make things worse whether it鈥檚 by accident or not. I鈥檓 not sure that co-op will end up being the most productive way to play, but it鈥檒l definitely be the most laugh-out-loud funny.
In my time with Bananza, I was able to play across three of an unknown number of layers: the Lagoon Layer, Canyon Layer, and Forest Layer. Each had their own different focus, beyond hunting down the giant Banandium Gems as well, from the blocked plumbing in the Lagoon Layer holding back water from the lower levels, to the distant islands and winding minecart tracks of the Canyon.
Each world is specifically detailed and decorated, too; the Forest Layer seemed to be the home of the ostrich Elder, the giant creature who grants DK access to the Ostrich Bananza form, and the whole area has an ostrich theme to it. From the ostrich designs on fences around the map, great trees of the forest carved into ostrich heads, even a hotel shaped like a giant golden egg 鈥 it鈥檚 clear every corner of this game has been lovingly put together.
On top of this, the game is DENSELY packed with things to discover, from puzzles to hidden Banandium Gems, buried chests and deposits of gold currency or challenge rooms, you鈥檙e practically guaranteed to find something cool whether you climb over the mountain, or punch your way straight through it. And with plenty of places to spend your currency on new routes through the world, building rest stops for Donkey Kong and Pauline, or buying new Style items to dress them up 鈥 I was always rewarded for smashing my way around to save up some cash.
The Bananza forms also open up new pathways as you unlock them, and during my Bananza time I was able to try out both the Kong and Ostrich Bananzas; the Kong Bananza can smash through bigger and tougher objects with ease, while the Ostrich can glide across the map. New skills also unlock for these forms too 鈥 even in my short time with the game, I was able to upgrade the Ostrich鈥檚 glide to take me further and unlock new pathways through the Forest Layer level as I explored.
Each of these very different Surface Layers also had multiple sub-layers to be explored too, with great chasms allowing you to drop from one to the next 鈥 or rocket back up with an explosive barrel. On top of this, the punderful 鈥淭-eel-eports鈥 can move you between sublayers with ease, or their mama can warp you between the major layers entirely.
It definitely feels like Bananza encourages you to criss-cross back and forth as you unlock new ways to traverse the world. I鈥檓 definitely excited to experience how the Zebra Bananza 鈥 not playable in our demo session 鈥 and any other skill trees might expand my reach in ways I鈥檓 not even aware of yet.
This early taste of Donkey Kong Bananza definitely left me excited to see more, given how much variety was on show even in such a small slice of the game. With only a few short weeks before the full game arrives, I can鈥檛 wait to see what other goofy fun is in store as the duo get closer to their goal at the planet鈥檚 core.
Donkey Kong Bananza heads to the Switch 2 from 17 July 2025.