REVIEW: Donkey Kong Bananza is Nintendo’s finest in years

To keep it blunt: Donkey Kong Bananza had some very big shoes to fill. From the first Switch console’s launch all the way through its lifespan until the Switch 2, Nintendo had been reinventing its approach to creating big, open game worlds, and it could be said that they truly hit their stride in the process. Titles like Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild were captivating, richly crafted experiences that went beyond proof-of-concept, delivering ambitious ideas with impressive success. Flash forward to now, and here we are with Donkey Kong Bananza, the latest entry in this new era of open, player-driven experiences. Even I wondered if they could hit it out of the park with this one. So when all was said and done, did this game manage to deliver on its lofty promise and kick off the Switch 2’s launch year with a bang?

From the moment I was dropped into the game, I felt at home. Responsive movement and carefully tuned controls aside, Donkey Kong simply feels right. As someone who has been playing Donkey Kong games for a very long time, the weight and emphasis on heft felt perfect. Every movement is deliberate, every swing impactful, and yet it all remains smooth and responsive. That wasn’t the only thing I noticed, though. Bananza hooked me almost immediately when I realized how I had spent my first half-hour of playtime: I hadn’t even progressed past the first couple of Banandium Gems. I was too busy smashing everything in sight.

And that’s the core conceit of Donkey Kong Bananza: destruction. Inspired by the feverish era of 90s games obsessed with copious property damage and destructible environments, Bananza taps into a very basic human instinct; breaking things is awesome. It’s commendable how well the game understands this and zeroes in on it. The terrain interactions are intricate, and Donkey Kong’s moveset is so perfectly tuned for this purpose that it never gets boring. What you do in the opening hours is largely what you’ll be doing by the end, but it’s so satisfying that it never wears out its welcome. That’s not to say Donkey Kong’s moveset isn’t impressive; it is, and it expands considerably by the end, but all of it exists to serve one glorious purpose: wreck everything.

Getting lost in all that destruction was easy enough, but Bananza’s real grace lies in how it organizes this chaos into a coherent, rewarding experience. The sonar system is absolutely remarkable, granting you vision through solid surfaces and inviting you to smash and dig with purpose. Hunting for objects never feels impossible, as you always have some kind of guide, even when you’re burrowing aimlessly through dirt and stone. This creates quite an addictive rhythm. More than once, I’d dig for an item, emerge into the open, activate my slap sonar, and suddenly spot a glowing object embedded far away. Time to dig again. You get lost in it, but it never feels aimless. Every hunt leads to progress that matters, whether it’s something small like a fossil collectible or something substantial like a Banandium Gem.

The collectible economy is equally brilliant. While digging up important items is rewarding, it could have easily grown tedious. Bananza sidesteps this by showering you with gold and, at times, treasure chests. Gold gates certain other collectibles in modest quantities, increasing in value as the game progresses, while treasure chests conveniently reveal the locations of fossils and Banandium Gems, keeping the process fresh and engaging. This well-balanced system had me joyfully lost in the first area alone, an impressive feat that I haven’t seen matched by any of Nintendo’s other 3D platformers. Usually, when I find myself wandering aimlessly in a game, it’s just to admire the scenery. Here, I was driven forward by a well-oiled machine of small but meaningful progression.

And the environments themselves? Stunning. Donkey Kong Bananza is a technical showcase of what the Switch 2 can handle. Running at 4K resolution with incredibly detailed areas to leap, roll, and smash through, these stages are the most impressive I’ve seen in a Nintendo platformer. The cost of this spectacle comes in occasional performance dips. While the action typically runs at a smooth 60 frames per second, smashing large objects or collecting numerous items at once can trigger noticeable frame drops, and some boss fights also tax the framerate heavily. It’s a minor distraction considering the game’s massive visual step up, but one that shows up often enough to be a small blemish on an otherwise perfectly ripe banana…or Bananza, if you will.

What truly impressed me, though, was Bananza’s willingness to apply friction to the experience. Many platformers in this style prioritize player freedom over challenge, and while Bananza allows this in its early stages, it gradually escalates its design to ensure you engage deeply with its systems. The challenge courses are appropriately difficult, cleverly hiding Banandium Gems in ways that forced me to fully grasp the mechanics. I died a shocking number of times in these stages and I loved it. The final sequence stands as a perfect culmination of these ideas: it’s not just a tough boss fight, but a gauntlet that puts together all the core mechanics, demanding that you use them quickly and effectively. This trust in the player, combined with freeform level design and structured challenges, makes Bananza stand out. Much like how Donkey Kong Country elevated the challenge over Super Mario World, so too does Bananza elevate itself beyond Super Mario Odyssey.

That friction is backed by excellently designed levels. The sub-layers are vivid and aesthetically unique, but they’re also masterfully constructed. In between digging sessions and carving out my own tunnels, I found that exploring these areas was rewarding even without reshaping them. The game never feels bloated with filler collectibles or like it’s artificially drip-feeding progress. Banandium Gems don’t gate your advancement, and their clever placement prevents you from simply digging them up without effort. This thoughtful design ties the whole experience together, and the seamless transition between terraforming chunks of a level and exploring alternate caves or hidden pathways makes each stage feel organic and alive.

Still, Bananza isn’t without its rough edges. Combat and boss fights are a prime example. While the final boss is one of the best ending sequences I’ve ever played in a Nintendo game (a masterful blend of everything I’d learned up to that point), just about every boss before it felt underwhelming. Enemies are simple, often solved within seconds, and bosses can frequently be trivialized. I even managed to one-cycle a boss completely by accident. Their attack patterns are easy to avoid, and it’s far too simple to lock them into damage cycles and end fights before they even get going.

The camera is another sore spot. It’s handled well enough in most situations, even when you’re burrowed deep beneath the levels, but when trying to reorient for a better view, it’s a coin flip whether you’ll actually get the perspective you need. I often found myself digging horizontally until I stumbled across an exit or unearthed myself vertically just to reset the camera. It’s inelegant, and it comes up often, especially since I spent so much time underground. While it did encourage me to explore surface areas more, I wish the camera had been more reliable.

The Bananza transformations also stumble. Up until the final transformation, each one sees regular, meaningful use and integrates well with the core mechanics, even inspiring clever little challenge rooms. But the last transformation? It feels tacked on. While its abilities are unique, they’re unwieldy, and the game rarely pushes you to use it. Aside from its tutorial and one other hazard, I barely touched it. As the final piece of DK’s transformation repertoire, it’s underwhelming and deserved more attention in the main storyline.

Yet these rough edges give Bananza its charm. They feel like the byproducts of a team brushing against innovative ideas and bold structural concepts, and they don’t detract from the overall experience. The camera issues stem from the flexible level design. The final transformation feels unnecessary because Donkey Kong’s toolkit is already so robust. Even the bosses grow sharper toward the end. This isn’t a game taking half-steps. It walks confidently into its design philosophy, fully aware of the risks, and that confidence makes it all the better.

I’m serious when I say this: Donkey Kong Bananza might be the finest game Nintendo has crafted in a decade. While it lacks the immaculate polish of Nintendo’s other recent hits, its strengths shine so brightly that its flaws barely register. As a technical showcase for the Switch 2, it succeeds. As a bold, creative platformer, it’s phenomenal. I believe this will be remembered as an iconic launch-window title for the console, alongside Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. With an incredible buildup to its finale, excellent pacing, and rock-solid, creatively fun design, Donkey Kong Bananza is simply incredible. If you’re on the fence, take my word for it; this game is worth it.