Donkey Kong Bananza hands-on preview – from the makers of Super Mario Odyssey

We’ve played several hours of the new Donkey Kong game for Nintendo Switch 2, and it has many wonderful secrets to reveal.

Mario Kart World has already convinced us that the redesign for Donkey Kong is a good idea. Whatever nostalgia you might have for the stone-faced Rare design, the new look for the king of swing is not only far more expressive but it’s also much closer to the original 1981 game. But then we were never great fans of the Rare games or the more recent Retro Studios titles, like Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Locking one of Nintendo’s most recognisable characters behind a series of old-fashioned, ultra difficult 2D platformers never seemed like a good idea to us. Bananza doesn’t completely divorce itself from that era – Cranky Kong and Rambi look just like they used to, a lot of the old music is included, and there are 2D levels as optional challenges – but the core of the game is completely different.

Nintendo continues to be secretive about it, but in a recent hands-on event we got them to admit that it is by the same ‘team’ as Super Mario Odyssey. They wouldn’t say who the director is, so we’re still not convinced it’s exactly the same people, but the quality and imagination in the game does scream classic Nintendo.

After several hours of play, we learned a lot about Bananza, but we’re still confused by several issues when it comes to the plot. For example, our questions as to why, or indeed how, DK is eating bananas carved out of precious gems went unanswered. The time paradox of a young Pauline meeting Cranky Kong – who is supposed to be the original Donkey Kong, that kidnapped the grown-up version in the original arcade game – also remains unexplained.

Perhaps Nintendo can get Hideo Kojima to write the plot for the next game, and explain it all, but in typical fashion the only thing that matters here is the gameplay and the basic set-up, which seems to involve DK as a miner, working for the evil Void Company, in what seems to be some sort of indentured servitude.

It’s easy to see why DK is a valued employee, as he can smash through solid rock with his fists, tunnel straight down with a jump attack, clap his hands to create a sonar effect to find hidden items, and rip up whatever is in front of him to use as a weapon or, weirdly, ride on it like a surfboard. DK can also climb most surfaces, as well as hang down from the ceiling, making him one of the most versatile platformer stars ever.

One of the key pleasures of the game is being able to destroy almost anything you see, tunnelling through the landscape or just straight up demolishing it. This does play havoc with the camera, which has to do impossible things like follow DK underground, but it copes as best as can be imagined, even if the hated dithering effect, used in so many Switch 1 games, returns to make some objects semi-transparent.

Apart from that one element, Banaza is hugely impressive on a technical level, with a series of large levels that not only feature more destructibility than any Battlefield game but which you can build onto as well. Certain materials, such as sand, can be used to create structures, like bridges, by throwing clumps of them together and while we didn’t see a lot of practical use for this in the relatively early levels we played it’s bound to become more important later.

We started off with a level filled with water at the bottom, but DK can’t swim. However, he does have a skill tree to augment and add to his abilities, and Nintendo implied that he will be able to go underwater later. Either that or they were alluding to the skill that allows you to use the rock surf ability on water.

The goal of the level is to destroy a number of plugs that the Void Company has installed, to reduce the level of the water. At times this involves climbing back up to the previous strata, with the whole game revolving around descending through multiple levels of hollow Earth (or wherever it is that DK lives) in order to reach the core and have his wish granted – which presumably is also what the bad guys are after.

In that first level, DK is on his own but as we’re skipped around the levels he subsequently ends up with Odd Rock on his back, which is then revealed to contain a young version of Pauline. Pauline’s wish is to return to the surface and become a renowned singer, and so she sits on DK’s shoulders and uses her musical abilities to unlock closed gateways and, in co-op mode, fire projectiles.

We had a brief go on co-op in handheld mode and it works similarly to Super Mario Galaxy, where the other character can fire at enemies, or the scenery, in order to help out. It’s perfect for younger kids trying to play along but you can also use the cursor to lock onto any nearby part of the landscape and copy and paste the material it’s made of. If that happens to be concrete, for example, then your projectiles hit much harder, but if it’s sand you can help by building structures.

Although we didn’t get a chance to test it, the co-op feature also works with the Switch 1. This was a bit of a shock when it was first announced but it’s not running natively and is instead being streamed from the Switch 2. Given the game is also running at (almost certainly non-native) 4K at 60fps that’s quite the technical feat and an option that’s already showing up in a number of other games.

Looking at screenshots, the visuals may not seem overly impressive but, as usual, Nintendo isn’t using the horsepower of their console for photorealistic graphics but, in this case, for the destruction effects, which are truly unique. There’s no physics attached though, so if you knock down the supports of an archway, for example, it won’t fall down but remain suspended in the air.

The only technical fault we can find is that despite the game apparently being 60fps the controls feel slightly skittish when on the ground. Or at least they did when we first started. Within an hour we could no longer sense it, but it was also the first thing that we noticed when playing the game back in April, so there’s definitely something going on.

The other big revelation of our hands-on was DK’s ability to transform into versions of various animal gods that he meets. The first is the Kong Bananza form (including much more prominent bum cheeks), which allows him to punch much harder, but there’s also a zebra form that runs faster – that we didn’t get to try – and an ostrich that can flutter jump like Yoshi.

All the Bananza forms can be upgraded with skills, with the ostrich gaining the ability to not only glide long distances but also drop egg bombs on the ground. You can stay in Bananza form as long as its meter is running, but that’s powered by gold, which can be found everywhere in abundance, so it can be kept going for quite a while – or at least quickly charged up again for reuse.

It’s not just about what DK himself can do though, as there’s plenty of interesting Nintendo-esque gimmicks in the game, from obvious things like explosive material, that you can rip up and throw, to level specific ideas, like the forest stage where you can pick up acorns and throw them against any wooden object, then have a leafy bridge immediately grow out of it.

There’s also the general idea that most of the larger enemies are made out of rocks (we think the bad guys are animating them with gold, or something) so you can rip chunks off them and hit them with it. We took on one boss battle, involving someone called Grumpy Kong, and it was a fun mix of mindless destruction and working out how to deal with the parts made out of tougher materials.

All of this is on top of challenge levels, which seem to be split into three broad types: arena style combat against enemies, self-contained puzzle stages, and 2D sections. We played one of the latter and it was quite long, but while it worked very similarly to the Donkey Kong Country games it’s nowhere near as difficult – although still a notch or so above the 3D sections.

Donkey Kong Bananza is a substantial game. There’s also outfits to be unlocked by collecting fossils of different sizes, most of which confer small buffs, like increasing movement speed or your defence. But according to the Nintendo rep, the overall goal was to encourage constant action, as you chain together punches to smash your way through the landscape and enemies.

This works perfectly and not only is there a thrilling sense of non-stop movement but it seems almost every action brings with it an unexpected consequence, with maps absolutely bursting with secrets upon secrets.

We’ve always liked Donkey Kong as a character, but it feels like this is the first game to fully take advantage of him as a lead protagonist. Donkey Kong Country could’ve featured anyone in the lead role, but Bananza could only be the great ape himself.

Formats: Nintendo Switch 2
Price: £66.99 (physical) or £58.99 (digital)
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EPD
Release Date: 17th July 2025
Age Rating: 7

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