Donkey Kong Bananza Reviews
Mario Kart World was a great introduction to the Switch 2, but Donkey Kong Bananza is the first can’t-miss game to come to the platform. You’d be a fool to pass on this one.
From start to finish, Donkey Kong Bonanza is a riot. I wrapped up my journey to Bananza's credits in a little over 20 hours. Your mileage will vary wildly depending on how much optional content you decide to invest time in, but that's the beauty of it. If you're not big on collectathons, there's still plenty of game here for platforming purists to enjoy. I can't recommend enough taking on the various trials – think Shrines from Breath of the Wild – littered throughout the world, though, especially if you're a fan of 2D Donkey Kong. While performance issues were largely nonexistent in handheld mode, quite severe frame rate drops were commonplace when docked, especially during certain boss battles. This doesn't take into account any day one patches that may or may not arrive on release, and not egregious enough that your enjoyment will be hampered.
By swapping the little plumber for the big ape, Donkey Kong Bananza delivers a potent blend of action, creative level design, and environmental destruction that boldly reinvents the blockbuster Nintendo platformer formula.
“Donkey Kong Bananza” is a perfect crystallization of Nintendo’s game design philosophy. As the debut big adventure for the new console and its increased computational power, Nintendo wants this belief to punch through: Technology for the sake of play, not just for visual pleasure, is king.
Donkey Kong Bananza is another pinnacle game from Nintendo. The amount of new ideas and innovation is truly remarkable. A must have to every Switch 2 owner.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Quote nFunny, beautiful, fluid in almost all circumstances, brilliant in its level design and freedom of approach, Donkey Kong Bananza is a slap in the face and a dopamine hit that constantly stimulates and rewards the player's curiosity.ot yet available
Review in French | Read full review
In short, Donkey Kong Bananza arrives in dazzling form for its (highly anticipated) debut with gamers, once again demonstrating the extraordinary skill and fresh artistic vision of the creative team led by director Motokura, who previously rose to prominence with the splendid Super Mario Odyssey.
Review in Italian | Read full review
But Nintendo's hit rate is extraordinarily high, and when I look back on the Switch 2 era one day, Bananza will definitely be one of those extraordinary titles that I look back on with butterflies in my stomach.
Review in German | Read full review
Donkey Kong Bananza is an incredible iteration and spin on the Odyssey formula creating another incredible first-party experience. The world destruction did rob some of the challenge of the world, but it was a smaller percentage of the time.
Donkey Kong Bananza is a groundbreaking 3D platformer from the Super Mario Odyssey team that pushes the genre to thrilling new heights.
Donkey Kong Bananza marks the first major first-party release from Nintendo since the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.
All in all, Donkey Kong Bananza is an excellent return for the leader of the DK Crew. In the same way that Mario Kart World or Breath of the Wild felt like all-new takes on a classic formula, Bananza feels like it’s doing the same in two ways – for the Donkey Kong series itself, and as a guidepost of what we can expect from the Switch 2.
Smashing and crashing his way to a new generation, Donkey Kong is well and truly back with Donkey Kong Bananza. Each layer is an absolute joy, with largely destructible environments that are jam-packed with secrets and hidden goodies. It's visually stunning, too; incredibly colourful and a true showcase of what the Switch 2 is capable of, with lots of variety. With so many collectables to find and a lot of nostalgic nods to D.K.'s long history, it's a must-have platformer that nails the brief and lives up to the legacy of Nintendo's greatest hits.
With Donkey Kong Bananza, DK is back in a big way. It blends new tech with old-school Nintendo charm for a destructive experience that is both intoxicating and addictive. While Pauline's storyline is underdeveloped, this is easily Donkey Kong at his absolute best. Regardless of some minor blemishes, Donkey Kong Bananza deserves a place in any self-respecting Switch 2 owner's library and, much like Super Mario Odyssey before it, sets an incredibly high bar for all that will follow.
Despite some of its flaws, Donkey Kong: Bananza perfectly fills a niche hungry for a colourful, joyful adventure, which provides a lot of unrestrained fun. The game draws extensively on the ideas from Super Mario Odyssey, with the addition of great mechanics of dynamic destruction. I have my fingers crossed that further games designed for Switch 2 will prove equally successful.
Review in Polish | Read full review
launch support, DK and Pauline adventure is already a great game at day one, albeit too simple even for Nintendo standards. A triumphant level design and a mesmerizing destruction rage will accompany both veterans and newcomers to the center of the earth.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Donkey Kong Bananza is a game so committed to its premise you can't help but revel in the gorgeous, destructive genius of it all. Constantly building to a spectacular finish and incorporating the most comprehensive post-game experience I have seen in a Nintendo game to date, this is a proper benchmark of brilliance for what a first-party Switch 2 title should be. The world is your oyster – so why not punch it into pieces.
Donkey Kong Bananza, however, is a fantastic production that shows how Nintendo can take advantage of the new platform's capabilities to provide great fun.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Donkey Kong Bananza is the perfect launch window title for the Nintendo Switch 2. It highlights the kind of creative whimsy that Nintendo can achieve with its new hardware, demonstrates that the Switch 2 really is more than a slightly bigger Switch… and is just a very fine game on top of all of that. Donkey Kong has finally appeared in a 3D platformer worth a damn.
Following Mario Odyssey is a tall order, and the game should not be solely compared to it, and while this is still a very engaging platformer, it's more surface level than it initially seems.
Review in Arabic | Read full review