Donkey Kong Bananza review: The loud and messy reason to get a Switch 2

Donkey Kong Bananza is the game that feels almost purpose-built to justify why you’d buy the Nintendo Switch 2 in the first place. Donkey Kong hasn’t had a proper starring role in ages – at least not one that wasn’t a retro revival or a party game cameo – so Bananza feels overdue, even if we didn’t get a Mario or a Zelda game during the new console’s launch window. This Donkey Kong is bombastic, unashamedly chaotic, and oddly addictive in ways I didn’t expect.

The opening minutes set the tone. You’re thrown into a world where almost everything can be smashed, punched, or dug through. I tried restraint at first, but very quickly found myself in the classic “what happens if I punch this wall?” loop. It turns out the game encourages that behaviour. Maybe you’ll unearth fossils that can be traded in for costumes. Maybe you’ll find gold. Or maybe it’s just another crystal banana, which fuels the skill tree of abilities. Even when I found nothing at all, the sheer satisfaction of breaking terrain apart was reason enough to keep doing it. It reminded me of the first time I realised in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that I could roll boulders down a hill into a mob camp, except here it’s distilled into the core loop.

Bananza was developed by the Super Mario Odyssey team, and you can tell straight away. The sub-levels are reminiscent of Odyssey’s kingdoms: compact but open enough to invite exploration. Unlike Breath of the Wild’s (and by extension, the sequel Tears of the Kingdom) sprawling overworlds, these spaces feel more manageable, but still layered vertically, encouraging you to climb, burrow, and carve your way through. The story is textbook Nintendo weirdness — a meteor awakens a rival ape tribe who burrows into the Earth’s core, dragging Kong into a subterranean showdown. Honestly, the plot is just background noise. What stuck with me was surfing down slopes on chunks of stone I’d just ripped out of the ground.

Pauline’s return is another twist. Instead of just being a background character, she’s fully playable in a co-op mode where her power is, quite literally, throwing her voice. A second player can aim words like projectiles, absorb powers from rocks or objects, and disrupt enemies in ways that make battles feel less repetitive.

The spirit transformations keep the gameplay unpredictable. Collect enough gold, and Kong morphs temporarily into a new form: a zebra sprinting across icy lakes, an ostrich dropping egg bombs, or a stronger version of himself with souped-up punches. Not every form is equally useful though, but pulling one out in the middle of a tense encounter never stops being entertaining. They also make exploration less formulaic, since you’re never quite sure which spirit power might help you crack open a hidden route.

There’s also a subtle persistence that surprised me. You can establish little home bases, swap outfits (which provide buffs like stamina recovery or resistance to cold), and revisit old locations with new abilities. Thankfully, it doesn’t fall into the trap of bloated quest logs like Breath of the Wild, but it’s enough to make Bananza feel more “lived in” than Mario’s usual worlds. I’ve always enjoyed the density of Odyssey’s levels, but Bananza takes that and sprinkles in just enough quest-like structure to make it feel fresh.

If Odyssey was a theme park tour and Breath of the Wild was a grand expedition, Bananza sits somewhere in the middle. It’s not as whimsical as Odysseyn or as sprawling as Breath of the Wild, but the pacing is punchier. There were plenty of moments where I’d plan to chase the next boss fight only to spend half an hour tunnelling sideways through a cavern out of sheer curiosity. Sometimes the detour paid off with fossils or gold; sometimes it was a dead end. But the game rarely punished me for straying, and that’s what kept me hooked.

However, not everything in Bananza lands. The repetition of digging and fossil hunting sets in after a while, and a few sub-levels reuse mechanics in ways that feel less inspired than Odyssey’s wilder set pieces. There’s no online multiplayer, which feels like a missed opportunity given how well Pauline’s co-op plays out. And while the spirit transformations are fun, some forms feel more like novelty than necessity. Still, these flaws are minor compared to the overall momentum the game builds.

Donkey Kong Bananza isn’t trying to dethrone Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Widl or reinvent Mario Odyssey. It’s simply Nintendo’s blockbuster comfort food: a game that mixes destruction, exploration, and just enough unpredictability to stay interesting. It feels both familiar and new, like the perfect summer movie – loud, a bit silly, and endlessly entertaining. And yes, it’s absolutely a system-seller.

Donkey Kong Bananza is now available for the Nintendo Switch 2 and is distributed by Convergent.