DK! Donkey Kong! DK! Donkey Kong is… almost here!
We’re just a few weeks away from Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo’s first major single-player exclusive for the Switch 2. The game was previously shown off at Nintendo’s Switch 2 Experience events, and in a recent Direct presentation. Plus, there’s a demo currently available in some retail stores, if you just can’t wait to get your stinking paws on it.
At a recent preview event, I got to go hands-on with the game for about two hours. My playthrough took me to some familiar areas from past demonstrations, as well as some brand new ones. If you’re looking to peel up as much info as you possibly can, hopefully my preview will shed some light on a few new aspects before the game’s imminent release. Read on to learn all about Donkey Kong Bananza’s traversal, transformations, story, outfits, and more.
One thing that’s obvious after my time spent with Donkey Kong Bananza: There’s plenty of new here. It’s still paying homage to the series’ history, but for the most part, they’re breaking a ton of new ground in this game (pun intended).
One of the things that sets Bananza apart (at least in its early stages) is a bigger focus on story. Up until now, Donkey Kong has always played it pretty safe and simple with its plots; DK wants bananas, DK gets bananas; DK meets bad guys, DK beats bad guys. Both of those concepts are definitely still present in Bananza, but there’s a bit more depth to it now.
The biggest factor driving the narrative focus is Donkey Kong’s new-ish sidekick, Pauline. This younger version of Pauline rides around on DK’s back, presumably throughout the entire game, and she adds a lot of personality to the proceedings. While most of the NPCs you encounter in the game speak in traditional text boxes, Pauline was fully voiced throughout my demo. She’s excitable, a little unsure of herself, and just generally acts like you’d expect a kid to act. I’m predicting that a lot of players are going to fall in love with this version of the character.
The two major through lines of the game’s story seem to be Pauline’s relationship with DK, and her aspirational singing career. In one cut scene, Pauline is required to sing at a microphone (in order to gain the favor of a massive Elder Kong), but she’s too nervous to perform. The way the scene plays out is with a series of jump cuts, with Pauline appearing in a new location/pose every time you press A. She keeps stalling while in the background, DK gets increasingly frustrated. It’s a really cute and funny moment that goes a long way toward establishing the dynamic between these two. Between moments like these, and DK’s new, more expressive face, this might be more personality than we’ve ever seen DK have in a game before.
It seems like that charm and sense of humor will be present throughout the entire game. Even when you rest at a bed to recover some health, Pauline will chime in with a bit of dialogue, idly chatting with DK, or keeping him up rambling about something she sees on the ceiling. There’s clearly an emphasis on character and comedy in this game that hasn’t been there in the past. I also saw some hints at a larger story relating to some shadowy villains lurking in the background. I’m eager to learn more about what exactly is going on there, because it feels like we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg so far.
Speaking of shadowy villains, the enemy design in Bananza is unhinged in the best way possible. I know we’re all still mourning the loss of the Kremlings (and I’m still hoping they turn up), but the baddies you’ll be facing here are just as creative and fun to go up against. The aesthetic of the enemies and NPCs in this game lies somewhere between Pixar and ancient mythology. I encountered a pretty big variety of them, and they all had appealingly wacky looks, not quite like anything I’ve seen before.
There are enemies just about everywhere you look. Flying creatures hurl explosive rocks at you from the sky. Green, snakelike monsters extend their bodies through the grass, where you’ll need to destroy their body segments to defeat them. Many larger enemies require you to first take out their outer layers, revealing animated golden skeletons underneath. Nothing that I encountered was anything like what I expected to find. I don’t know if they can keep that variety up throughout the entire game before repeating themselves with slight variations, but I love what I’ve seen so far.
That variety can be found in the environments as well. I got to check out a few different areas, from mines, to a cliffside desert at sunset, to a poison-filled jungle. They all felt distinct from one another, not just in look and atmosphere, but in gameplay as well. Each area houses its own variety of Kongs, shiny rock people, and even lizards and other incidental animal life crawling in the background. They all have their own special flair that helps define the identity of each location.
If it wasn’t obvious already, I should clarify that playing Donkey Kong Bananza is a blast. Donkey Kong has perhaps his most versatile moveset ever, though a few of them are just different punches at the start. You use the face buttons to punch forward, up, or down. You can also roll around, or grab chunks of rocks to slide on top of. The expertly executed traversal is a key part of what makes Bananza so enticing to play.
There are secrets, collectibles, and bonus levels hidden everywhere in this world, and you’re going to be able to sink hours into roaming around trying to find them all. It was a real struggle for me playing this demo to remind myself that I should actually progress forward in each area in order to see more of what the game had to offer, rather than stay in one place and try to clear it out completely. You can hardly roll two feet in any direction without stumbling over a pile of goodies just asking to be explored.
Naturally, you’ll be destroying a good portion of the levels as you go, as destructible environments are one of the biggest selling points of Bananza. It feels great to let loose as a big ape, crushing everything in sight. This also makes for some hilarious moments of chaos, as the world will anticipate and react to your destructive tendencies.
For example, one level features a couple of Kongs having a fishing competition on a boat in the water. Of course, I swam up, and without hesitation, smashed their boat into tiny little pieces. This left them stranded in the water, as one remarked that now they were having a swimming competition.
I also laughed out loud every time I came upon a friendly gem-like NPC and instinctively punched them into pieces (don’t worry, they respawn immediately, unharmed). If you’re someone who finds joy in games like Grand Theft Auto, where you’re free to run around and wreak havoc, Bananza will feed that itch as well, though it masks all the chaos all with a much warmer, friendlier tone.
Something else that I was able to appreciate more after spending more time with Bananza is how it balances those moments of destruction with more measured actions. I ran into several areas that forced me to curb my rampaging instincts. This isn’t designed to be a pure, wild punch-a-thon, and you will come across environments that require more finesse.
For example, in the jungle/forest area I played, the ground is covered with poison. I learned more than a few times that it wasn’t safe to just burrow a hole straight down into the ground, because if you’re not careful, it’s easy to shoot straight down into harmful purple goo. The same principle applies to the giant trees in that level. I was gleefully punching my way straight through the middle of these massive tree trunks, only to go flying off a cliff on the other side because I wasn’t paying attention. Environments like this are one way the game will keep you from smashing your way through every single obstacle without thinking.
Another major aspect of traversal that doesn’t involve your fists is climbing. It feels like the Bananza team took a healthy amount of inspiration from Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Most surfaces in the game are fully climbable, and DK doesn’t have a stamina meter, so you can scale hills and walls to your heart’s content. Doing this gave the game a very different, more vertical feel, and it was a nice way to break up the constant punching action.
You’ll also come across mesh nets which you can hang from in order to cross gaps. Don’t worry, you’ll still have access to your attacks while climbing or hanging, and there will be enemies you’ll need to deal with while doing so. These enemies provide their own mini-puzzles of figuring out how to avoid and defeat them while hanging and navigating. If anyone was worried that Bananza was straying from Donkey Kong’s platforming roots, rest assured that there’s no shortage of things to jump, climb, and navigate your way around.
In addition to Banandium Gems, Banandium Chips, and gold pieces, a big motivating factor in exploring is to find hidden bonus stages. These stages can have a wide range of activities in them, from mazes, to battle arenas, to platforming sections. One I encountered featured a bunch of hidden proximity mines, requiring me to punch extra carefully in order to avoid creating any explosions. Some stages will present you with different surfaces and obstacles which will require you to find exploding rocks to tear down.
One stage that every longtime Donkey Kong Country fan will get a kick out of is a throwback challenge course called Bramble Country, a clear tribute to Donkey Kong Country 2’s Bramble Scramble. This is a fully side-scrolling level, complete with barrel blasts and nostalgic tunes.
Courses and nods like this one make it clear that Bananza wants to show respect to Donkey Kong’s heritage. While the game is a complete departure in many ways, they’re not forgetting about what got them to this point. Even better, Bramble Country is more than just a nostalgic throwback, it also requires you to learn a few new tricks. For my money, it’s the perfect blend of old and new elements.
Perhaps the biggest, newest component I got to play with in this preview was Donkey Kong’s transformation ability. Over the course of the game, you’ll unlock new transformations, which you’ll be able to activate at any time thanks to Pauline’s magical singing voice. In order to stay transformed, you’ll need to collect gold pieces, which fill up your transformation meter. Luckily, those gold pieces tend to be spilling out all over the place, so the time limit rarely feels too restrictive. As long as you’re careful, you can enjoy being a transformed Kong for as long as you need to.
The first transformation I got to try was a bigger, stronger Kong Bananza version of DK. Essentially, this was like going Hulk mode. It was great for areas where I wanted to punch through mountains quickly, or where surfaces were too hard to get through for regular old DK. In this form, your attacks are much, much stronger, and you can really feel how much more swiftly you break through walls, which is saying something considering how powerful the game already makes you feel from the start. You can also charge a punch up in this form in order to unleash a super attack on enemies (or mountains, as the case may be).
More bizarre, but no less fun, was the Ostrich Bananza transformation, which turns DK into a strange Kong/bird hybrid. In this form you can flutter and glide around levels. This really comes in handy when you’re up high and need to make your way to a distant point of interest (another inspiration from Breath of the Wild perhaps?). Later on, you can upgrade this form so that you can fly indefinitely while transformed, as well as drop egg bombs on enemies. Playing in Ostrich form gives you an entirely new perspective on the game. I think there will be some very unique experiences to be had in each area depending on which form you approach them in.
If you’re wondering how you’ll be upgrading your different forms, the answer is with a skill tree, of course! Those Banandium Gems aren’t just there to satiate DK’s endless hunger for potassium. Every few bananas you find will grant you a skill point to spend on new abilities, or enhanced versions of old ones.
One of the criticisms I remember hearing about Super Mario Odyssey was that there were too many moons to collect, and as a result they felt less special. I think that Bananza smartly avoids this issue by tying the Banandium Gems directly to your skill tree. Now, collecting them rewards you with new moves, which makes it easier for you to collect more stuff, to get more moves, and so on. It’s a terrific feedback loop that encourages you to keep playing and exploring. The same goes for just about every resource you can find, everything has a purpose, so you’re not just collecting things for the sake of it.
Some of the options on your skill tree can be used to upgrade your basic moves. This could be increasing the strength of your punches, or giving yourself more hearts. The more interesting skills come in the form of entirely new moves. One useful one allows you to use a chunk of rock to do a double jump off of.
Your transformations have even more enticing upgrades available, such as the aforementioned egg bomb and flying powers for the ostrich. There seem to be quite a few actions and button combos available to you, but because they’re doled out gradually via the skill tree, it shouldn’t feel overwhelming.
Another big new feature that was introduced in the recent Donkey Kong Bananza Direct is the custom outfit feature. Throughout each area you’ll be able to hunt down different types of fossils, which can be traded in for new outfit pieces at village shops.
Each wardrobe item comes with a buff. For example, one piece might lessen the amount of damage you take, increase your transformation time, or give you a 10% buff to swimming speed (I’m once again reminded of recent Zelda entries). In addition to being useful, these outfits are just hilarious to behold. I never thought I’d want to dress DK up in a colorful bowtie and suspenders, but I’m so glad I was given the opportunity. (You can change his fur color as well, but it has no effect on his stats or abilities.) You can get new outfits with their own bonuses for Pauline too, including the ridiculous little circus performer getup pictured above.
Clothing shops can be found inside local villages, along with a few other places for you to spend your hard earned resources. You can trade in Bananandium Chips for full Banandium Gems, or purchase helpful items with your gold. These items include balloons, which protect you from falling into pits, and temporary extra health packs. Gamers who might be concerned about difficulty will no doubt be helped by these locations.
The final thing I got to experience with my demo was the co-op multiplayer mode. In this mode, one player controls Pauline with a second controller, while the other stays in control of DK. Using the Joy-Con 2 mouse functionality, Pauline can aim around the level and use her voice to send vocal onomatopoeias flying through the air. These onomatopoeias act exactly like the rocks that DK can throw, breaking through parts of the environment, opening new pathways, and uncovering collectibles. Pauline can even absorb different textures from the environment to change her attacks and make them stronger.
There’s no limit to how frequently Pauline can hurl her destructive words into the air, so depending on who’s in control of her, I could see this getting tiresome. The world doesn’t have quite the same level of quiet splendor when every half-second a child is filling up your screen with the physical embodiment of screams.
This mode can definitely make your job easier though, as it’s quite useful to have the extra firepower on hand. It’ll help you bust through walls or make short work of enemies and bosses. In spite of that, I don’t think this is the primary way most people are going to want to play Bananza. It functions well enough, but it can get annoying quickly, and might even make the game too easy for some players.
To me, this feels like an option tacked on for kids to play with their parents or vice versa, and not like a fleshed out multiplayer mode worth playing in its own right. Still, it does show off the Switch 2’s mouse functionality, and it’s cool that it can work with a second Switch or Switch 2 using the new GameShare mode.
Donkey Kong Bananza is shaping up to be an expansive adventure with plenty of variety. So far I’ve only had the chance to play it in short bursts, which might not give the most accurate impression of the game as a whole. There’s so much going on in every corner of the world, and it can feel like a bit of a whirlwind. It was hard for me not to get distracted by so many shiny objects, and my desire to clear out every corner for resources and secrets. I’m looking forward to seeing how the game experience fares when I’m able to really take my time exploring each level, giving each objective its due.
I’m also interested in understanding the overall challenge level of the game. Past Donkey Kong games have a reputation for being on the tougher side, but it’s not clear to me how far that’s being carried over here. I did run into some tricky puzzles and tough enemies during my play session, but I’m not sure how much of that was just me getting used to the controls, or not having taken the time to fully upgrade my skill tree.
Regardless, I think it’s safe to say that this is going to be Switch 2’s major hit of the summer, and probably a system seller throughout the rest of this year. Get ready, because we’re only a few weeks away from visiting the world of Donkey Kong after a long time away, on July 17th, 2025.
