‘Donkey Kong: Bananza’ Review (Ramble)
Developer: Nintendo | Platform: Nintendo Switch 2 | Playtime: 22:05 (+ 11:00 Post Game)
The last 3D Donkey Kong title was Donkey Kong 64, which released in 1999. That means it’s been 26 years since the last 3D Donkey Kong game, which is quite a long time in Video Game terms – the Halo franchise is only 24 years old for example. The point here is that Nintendo must have known they were onto a winner if they wanted to make a 3D Donkey Kong so long after the last Nintendo were right – Donkey Kong Bananza is one of the best 3D platformers ever made, not without it's few step back but improving upon Odyssey in many regards. Odyssey with a Donkey Kong skin with Rare stylings and taking the best bits of the modern Zelda's experimenting.
In order to get my full thoughts across, this review will be FULL SPOILERS, detailing both GAMEPLAY and STORY. READER DISCRETION is advised. If you want my thoughts, the top paragraph sums them up well.
I’ll apologise in advance for the number of comparisons to Super Mario Odyssey I’ll make in this review but when you consider Bananza to be a narrative prequel and mechanical sequel to Odyssey, the comparisons make more sense. In short, they’re two games in the same series
Our adventure starts with Donkey Kong working for the Void Mining Company on Ingot Isle. I say working, he seems to be there just for his Bananas, this time in the form of a Banana shaped mineral.s. It’s not long before things go awry and Void Kong, alongside employees Poppy Kong and Grumpy Kong activate a huge mining machine that plummets both themselves and the island underground. The only way out is down, and alongside a suspicious purple stone which happens to be a teenage Pauline, the pair race to the Centre of the Earth to stop Void and his plans.
The game is world based, split into themed “Layers”, accessed linearly but with one split path earlier on to give player some options. I can't help again but to compare it to the Kingdoms and Progression of Odyssey, just with the map going downwards rather than across. It took me until the end of the game to form an opinion on the Layers but I think in the end I quite like them. There are naturally similarities between these layers and the kingdoms but I think the ones here do enough to stand out. Having the Food world be near the end in both games was certainly a choice. I think my issue was that because Donkey Kong is obviously animal based rather than monsters and creatures, the elephants and zebras you meet aren’t quite as exciting as the Tostarenans or the Forks but they did grow on me. There’s also the Fractones, the ever present Rock guys found in each layer that come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours. At first I was annoyed when I realised they were going to be appearing in every layer but I came to enjoy seeing them and the funny things they had to say. Finally is the music. Outside of the returning tracks (and Bananza themes), a lot of the music wasn’t very memorable to me. I could identify any Mario Odyssey song but would certainly struggle here. I have no opinion on it but the Forest Layer and Lost Kingdom music sounds very similar to each other.
Unlike Odyssey, you don't have to collect any of the games main collectibles - the Banana Gems to progress, merely beating the boss allows progress which is certainly an interesting choice given the amount of the collectibles the player will find.
On that topic, of course your main collectible type is the Banana Gems, scattered throughout the world, rewards for challenges and whatnot. Each level has a whole range of them, totally roughly 777 throughout the whole game. There will be people who hated this in Odyssey and admittedly Bananza won't change your mind on this. For me, the constant little dopamine hits still work wonders for me. Interestingly, the Gems require Donkey Kong to hit them 3 times to get, so there's no more dramatic manoeuvres to get a Gem you weren't supposed to get yet. In every layer (save for the one or two intentionally different ones), you’ll find the game wide Banana types – Feeding the tree, Quiz, Fashion, finding Cranky Kong, Hide n Seek, Piece Collection, Chip Shop. Your mileage may vary on these but personally I like them, helps me know that I’ve ticked off that bit of my exploration. Also returning are the sub rooms that have little challenges - sometimes combat, sometimes puzzles but they help add to the world.
There's two main gimmicks at play in Bananza, being the Digging and the Bananza transformations. In an incredibly impressive bit of tech, every layer is near enough fully destructible. Apart from a base later that stops you ruining everything, nearly everything can be dug through and climbed in a free form manner. Different layers have different terrain strength but the different materials (of which there are a large variety each with their own properties) all have different ways to sort them. You can blocks up and throw them for puzzle solving. None of this gets old, even after 30 hours in the game. What Donkey Kong lacks in Mario’s advanced movement he makes up for in sheer terrain traversal.
The other major feature is the Bananza transformations. There's 5 across the game, each offering something different - Gorilla (Like a bigger monkey), Zebra, Ostrich, Elephant and Snake. Each of these are activated by Pauline’s singing and each of them is an absolute banger. I love that each has usage in the world and in specific puzzle locations. Since Bananas aren't used for progression, they can be used to upgrade Donkey Kong’s base abilities like his health but also for a range of the abilities for each of the forms. In the end each is quite diverse in its uses. They're not all equal but it'd be hard to balance six different forms.
An unfortunate low point in the game are the Bosses. They're not very memorable (Unlike Odyssey’s vast range of boss fights) nor are they particularly difficult. In fact, they are quite easy. That is until they’re not – it's all easy up until Void 2 then Void 2, K.Rool 1 and K.Rool 2 are mental. Wait, K.Rool?
The little hints and teases leading up to the K.Rool reveal were great. The primary grunt enemies being Crocodiles was interesting but when the golden dome Banandium Root was pulsing like a heartbeat, I just knew it was him. He looks so good in his latest design and the fake credits sequence, all Kremling-ified got a good chuckle out of me. The ending sequence rising to the surface with Gangplank Galleon followed by K.Rool turning New Donk City into Gotham from Batman: Arkham Knight and becoming a Dark Souls boss was simply incredible. That last fight was a wee bit difficult too, a nice finish point for the game.
That is before the end game, which is much simpler than in Odyssey. Each layer gets a handful of new Banana Gems to collect, Ingot Isle from the tutorial is unlocked and explorable again. On Ingot Isle, you can unlock an enemy gauntlet and boss rush modes.
The Main bulk of your post game content comes from your quest with Pauline to find inspiration for a song she’s performing. To this end, you’ll be visiting the five elders again to take part in ‘Bananza Rehearsals’ which are challenge gauntlets for each of the five Banaza forms. They’re not super difficult but they’re definitely a step or two above what you’ve been doing in the game so far. The final level was a little disappointing though, rarely reaching Dark Side levels of difficulty, let alone Darker Side or equivalent levels.
Despite my very minor misgivings, I couldn’t put Bananza down for the 30+ hours I put into it. The charm is apparent throughout and each moment is as fun or even more fun than the moment prior. 3D platformers rarely get better than this, and it shows the Nintendo Magic isn’t going anywhere. A must have on Switch 2 and probably will be a must have throughout it’s entire life.
