To properly encapsulate how I feel about Donkey Kong Bananza, you almost have to start at the finish. No spoilers here, obviously, but I have to say that I think this game has one of the finest finales of any Nintendo game ever. There’s a delightful build-up of adrenaline as story beats and experimental mechanical evolutions are gleefully layered atop each other. It’s difficult to not have a great big smile on your face as the game hurtles towards its finish. It’s pretty masterfully done.
Donkey Kong Bananza reviewDeveloper: NintendoPublisher: NintendoPlatform: Played on Nintendo Swithc 2Availability: Out 17th July on Nintendo Switch 2
Bananza’s late-game spectacle feels like a direct descendant of Mario Odyssey’s wedding set piece, but also exactly the sort of thing that its new-to-Nintendo project lead might bring to the table. Bananza’s director is one Kazuya Takahashi, whose most notable previous work was on Final Fantasy 15 – another game big on spectacle. Some of that FF predilection for flair is present here, in a sense, married to a very Nintendo love for a mechanical climax over a narrative one.
So, yes. I loved that finale. My foot tapped to music during climatic fights. I grinned. I laughed out loud at some of the creative audacity on display. I sent an expletive-laden text – of the good kind – to another critic I knew was playing. I was thrilled. But I wasn’t necessarily always so en route to that finale. That, I suppose, is the story of DK Bananza. When it smashes, DK really smashes. When it doesn’t… Well, it’s no Odyssey, right?
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All of this makes Bananza a tricky proposition on the review front. The truth is, I don’t really love it as much as I think I could’ve or perhaps even should’ve, excellent foundations considered. But it is excellent nevertheless.
The heart of those excellent foundations is Bananza’s destruction tech, which essentially lets DK demolish the world around him. You can’t completely flatten a level – the broad framework is set out in unbreakable material, quite often metal girders reminiscent of the original Donkey Kong’s backgrounds – but vast swathes of the terrain can be obliterated.