Donkey Kong Bananza Reviews
A brilliant core mechanic and clever design twists make Bananza a delightfully sticky 3D platform adventure topped off with a sweet central character relationship.
Donkey Kong Bananza is a truly groundbreaking 3D platformer, with satisfying movement, powerful abilities, impressive destructible environments, and clever challenges that all come together in complete harmony to create Nintendo’s first Switch 2 masterpiece.
Donkey Kong Bananza is a fantastic platformer with a lot of ideas hidden inside of its barrels, but falls short of the perfection it aims for by playing a little safe.
Who needs all that platforming when you can just dig there?
Donkey Kong Bananza is a raucous, wildly inventive, and propulsive platformer that reboots one of Nintendo's most iconic mascots.
Donkey Kong Bananza is a joy to play from start to finish thanks to the game's destructible environments and unique visuals. It's the 3D Donkey Kong game fans of the character have always wanted and it lives up to the hype, even if there are a few minor issues with its camera here and there and far too many Banandium Gems to collect in a single playthrough.
Donkey Kong Bananza is an almighty re-introduction to the world of 3D platforming for DK, and arguably the Switch 2's first absolute must-play. The punching and crashing is a passing novelty that, once you get your fill, quickly becomes just another way of exploring the wonderfully varied and beautifully presented layers.Whether it's smashing through the scenery with a Bananza Transformation or carefully planning a route to a hidden Banandium Gem, you'll have trouble finding more originality and, crucially, more enjoyment from a platformer in recent years. As the DK Rap so wisely said, "Donkey Kong is here." Now let's just hope he stays.
Donkey Kong Bananza is perhaps the best 3D platformer of the 2020s so far. It has immaculate movement, mountains of incredibly fun content, challenges that genuinely test your skill, and a style so charming that you'll be thinking about it for weeks.
Donkey Kong Bananza is a confident subversion of the 3D platformer.
A triumphant return to centre court for Donkey Kong, with the best destruction effects in gaming and mountains of bizarre and wonderful ideas – and a surprising amount of jank when it comes to the camera.
A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage.
As the song goes, "Donkey Kong is here," and he's here ready to rock the boat. The gorilla's new adventure boasts of being one of the first must-have games for Nintendo Switch 2 and a title on par with the Japanese company's greatest series. This is the kind of "Kong content" that deserves a new console.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Donkey Kong Bananza is a must-play gem poised to be one of the Nintendo Switch 2’s greatest titles. Evoking the golden era of Nintendo 64, it bursts with nostalgic charm, infectious fun, and stellar level design. If this is a glimpse of the Switch 2’s future, we’re in for something extraordinary.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Donkey Kong Bananza is an intoxicating cacophony of brawling, digging and platforming. It's a new style of 3D platformer from Nintendo that, for better and for worse, embraces the destructive chaos of letting players tunnel through and deform the world.
There are sequences in this game that instantly crystallized in my mind as iconic Nintendo moments, and the studio’s expertise in 3D platformers makes for a heap of fun and challenging levels. Beneath all of that, it’s the dynamic between Donkey Kong and Pauline that gives an emotional weight to everything, and drives me towards each new objective.
Given that its hero can smash through any barrier – which is delightful fun in itself – Nintendo's new 3D platformer has a surreal freeform audacity
Falling short of Odyssey’s genius, Donkey Kong Bananza is still a top tier Switch 2 platformer from the masters of the genre. A heartfelt story and pleasing nods to DK's past make this the ape's most memorable adventure in many years.
The open-ended nature of the game is key.
Donkey Kong Bananza’s core campaign is certainly substantial – even with a fairly lean and focused playthrough, it took me around 16 or 17 hours to roll credits. Of course, like Mario Odyssey, there’s a seemingly-infinite amount of extra stuff to collect and some specific incentives for doing so. You're going to be tallying everything Bananza has to offer for some time.
An action-platformer with a high-rate of destruction and fun. Donkey Kong Bananza succeeds in not making us miss a true 3D Mario on the Switch 2. It can easily be considered one of the best exponents of the genre since Odyssey and sits proudly next to Galaxy in terms of variety, eccentricity, originality and fun.
Review in Italian | Read full review