DONKEY KONG BANANZA REVIEW: A SMASHING START TO THE SWITCH 2 ERA
PLATFORM: SWITCH 2
HOURS PLAYED: 25
When I reflect on my time with Donkey Kong Bananza, I can't help but think about my Astrobot experience. Astrobot is nearly flawless in my opinion, radiating with a level joyful creativity and awe inspiring polish that puts it into a league of its own, and a game whose quality bar all 3D platformers that follow it should seek to match. But is it really fair to compare one of the best 3D platformers of all-time in Astrobot to Nintendo's first DK centered 3D platformer in over 20 years? Well, absolutely, it's Nintendo! They should be held to the highest standards possible when it comes to 3D platformers, because they're who the entire industry seeks to emulate when it comes to this genre. Where Donkey Kong Bananza doesn't quite match Astro's polish and quality of level design, I feel it makes up for it in its incredible destruction-based gameplay. Everything from DK and Pauline's wholesome relationship, to the addicting punch-centric gameplay and the surprising inclusion of an RPG system, DK Bananza feels tight, restrained, realized, and above all, focused on the fun factor. However, despite these hallmarks, DK Bananza suffers from the same shortfalls that Astrobot does -- (mostly) forgettable boss fights and repetitive objective design. Nevertheless, this is where the comparisons to Astrobot end -- it's time to judge DK Bananza on its own merits.
Gameplay: A Smashing Good Time!
Before you do anything else in DK Bananza, you punch, a mechanic that the entire game goes on to center itself around. From the first swing of DK's massive fists, I quickly became addicted to the feeling of smashing through anything and everything. In fact, I spent the first 10 minutes of gameplay smashing through everything in sight, seeing what I could smash and seeing how far through walls I could push through. As you make your way through the game, you encounter many different types of surfaces you can smash through, each with their own level of strength designed to keep the act of punching fresh. Punching gets taken a step further with Bananza abilities -- special powers that augment DK's strength in varying ways. The first of these abilities that you receive is the "Kong Bananza", which is essentially a beefed up version of DK who can blast his way through walls and enemies dizzying strength. Nintendo was smart to have this be the first Bananaza ability you gain access to, as it essentially serves as an extension of the addicting punching mechanics you would have just been introduced to. More punch = more fun! Other abilities you gain access to are based off of various different animals, whose abilities are designed to compliment a specific type of level. For example, the Ostrich ability which gives you the gift of flight is introduced in a level (otherwise known as layers) whose platforming design demands that you fly between its structures in order to traverse it. Despite being given access to a suite of awesome abilities, wherever possible, I preferred to stick with the Kong Bananza because punching through everything like it were melted butter feels too fun not to indulge in all the time. Just like how the Bananza abilities augment DK's base powers, both of THOSE abilities are augmented by the surprising inclusion of a fleshed out RPG system.
Why is it surprising that Donkey Kong Bananza has an RPG system? Quite frankly, the impression I got from the trailers combined with my overall understanding of Nintendo platformers led me to believe this would be as mechanically straightforward of a game as possible -- in a good way of course. Nevertheless, I have mixed feelings about its inclusion into the DKB formula. Both of your base and Bananza abilities are augmented by skills that can be unlocked through a skill tree. While you can use this skill tree to upgrade your health, increase the range of your sonar, or upgrade your various Bananza abilities to make them more useful for whatever situation you may find yourself using them in, I never really felt the game needed this system of upgrades. In a game like Donkey Kong Bananza, I never found myself wanting to spend time thinking about whether I wanted to upgrade the power of my punches vs upgrading how far I could fly while in Ostrich Bananza form. Similarly with the outfit system -- you have the ability to unlock new outfits for both DK and Pauline, all of which offer different unique abilities. For example, unlocking the Banana tie allows DK to collect more banandium gems per punch, however, I never felt like my gameplay experience would have been worsened by not having this ability. If anything, I saw the outfits primarily as a way to make DK and Pauline look cool, with their special buffs serving as a secondary purpose. Despite my feelings about it, objectively, there's still fun to be had with these systems. Afterall, the skill tree isn't nearly as egregious as there are in many other RPG's, and best of all, their upgrade paths encourage finding as many banana's as possible which is where the real fun is.
Good, But Not Great Boss Encounter Designs
The fun of punching through walls extends to punching through enemies, as DK Bananza features a nice variety of normal enemies that force you to adapt to their unique abilities. The boss battles however, fall short of their potential. For most of game's boss battles, you can essentially punch your way to victory without much thought -- with evidence of that being the fact that I plowed my way through 90% of these encounters using the Kong Bananza. Some of the game's later bosses do force you to adapt with gimmicks that require the use of specific Kong abilities, but by the team I got to them, I felt it was too late for my opinion on the variety of these encounters as a whole to change. Additionally, the Void Company villains, as dastardly as they are, came off as a bit generic, and never seemed to impose any real sense of threat. However, even though the bosses weren't memorable, what was memorable is the fun I had slamming my fists into their faces. I won't be forgetting that any time soon!
Level Design - Fun Beneath The Surface
For me, DK Bananza's level design shines more with what lies beneath the surface rather than what's on top of it. Don't get me wrong, I had fun with each level's design, as the platforming challenges are tight and well-constructed, but ultimately, they didn't really feature anything I haven't already experienced in other 3D platformers. Sure, each level features obstacles specific to the theme of that layer, but generally speaking, this is a mechanic that has been used many times before, and one I would have liked to have seen taken in a new direction in DK Bananza. The bigger issue I have with this game's levels however, are its objectives. In each layer, you're tasked with finding an elder, who then tasks you with locating a series of broken record pieces when once returned, reward you with a new Bananza ability which you then take to the next layer to take on a boss with. This structure in and of itself is very fun to experience, but by the time I got to the Forest layer, I began to feel the repetitiveness of its formula start to set in. With each new layer I would descend to, I would find myself hoping that the gameplay loop would be different, but it wasn't until the end of the game that things started to vary, and by then I was already burnt out on the formula. So, that's what's on the surface, what about what's beneath it?
Despite the repetitive level and objective design, I was able to find endless fun punching my way through the surface of each layer, searching for bananas and finding what felt like and endless amount of gold and treasure. In fact, I had so much fun with this, that rather than head towards the first objective of whatever new layer I had just arrived to, I would spend the first five minutes of my time there just punching through stuff -- a method I would use to get myself acquainted with that level's terrain. From there, I would begin completely terraforming the level, searching every nook and cranny for every banana, fossil, and piece of gold that I could find. This experience reminded me of how Elden Ring's open world is designed in a way to tempt you to search every crevice for something, even if you didn't know what you were looking for. Most of the time there was nothing to be found, but the idea of happening upon some random object that could transform your build, or uncovering a hidden door completely by chance is what resulted in a profoundly deep level of curiosity that kept players endlessly searching for things. That same feeling is present in Donkey Kong Bananza, except whereas most of your searching for things in Elden Ring will leave you empty handed, punching through everything in DK Bananza will leave you absolutely loaded with items -- a feeling of satisfying addiction that nearly redeems the game's repetitive level design. What's more, the act of finding a banana is perhaps the most satisfying thing I've experienced in any video game. They're never too difficult to find, but searching for them is just challenging enough to feel a sense of reward when uncovering them. So, while I had a decent time grappling with the levels, I had way more fun breaking from the golden path and smashing my way through as much terrain as I could and hunting down bananas -- mostly so I could hear the "OH BANANA" line as often as possible.
While I am a bit down of the repetitive level design, I did have a great time interacting with the game's puzzles. They're equally as fun as they are inventive, and they make use of DK's abilities in really smart ways. For example, when punching my way to the bottom of the canyon layer, I came across a puzzle piece that had lost some of it's smaller pieces in the terrain. To get the lost puzzle pieces to follow you back to the main puzzle piece I had to guide them via a smooth surface, rending the straightforward path through the area's water unusable. So rather than go straight through, I punched a tunnel through the back of the area and around to the main puzzle piece, creating a smooth path for the mini puzzle pieces to walk on. DK Bananza is filled with puzzles like these that utilize the terrain in tandem with its destructive mechanics in clever ways, creating countless AH-HA moments that I'll surely remember for quite some time.
DK and Pauline - Nintendo's Coolest New Duo!
I'll be honest, going into DK Bananza, I wasn't expecting much on the story front. I think that speaks less to my opinion of DK and more to my opinion of how Nintendo handles the "story" writing of the Mario franchise. With that said, while DK Bananza doesn't feature the deeply complex narrative layering of something like Kingdom Come Deliverance, what is here is alot more than what I was expecting. DK Bananza is a surprisingly emotional story about friendship, facing one's fears, and achieving one's dreams. Sure, the ultimate goal is to stop the Void Company from enacting their cartoonishly evil plot of conquering the planet's core, but that feels more like a b-plot to the story surrounding the endearing and unlikely companionship of DK and Pauline.
Watching Pauline slowly place her trust in DK as he becomes her partner and protector was a deeply heartfelt character progression to witness. Initially, Pauline is afraid to sing in front of people, but as her and DK grow closer through overcoming the challenges of their adventure together, she begins to grow more confident in her abilities thanks to the confidence DK places in her. You might be asking then, how does a Gorilla who can't talk help build Pauline's confidence? Well, their relationship is one that is felt rather than heard. Pauline's dialogue with DK is straightforward, yet, always comprised of thoughtful statements, while DK's emotions can be understood through his expressions and gestures. I really enjoyed the design of these interactions, because it shows that Nintendo trusts their audience to pick up on the subtle nuances of their interactions. They do the thing that all games with great stories do -- they refrain from spelling out every story intricacy with long conversations and over-use of dialogue..and DK Bananza is better off for it.
The Verdict
I can understand why Mario Kart World was chosen as the big Switch 2 Launch title. After all, It's the safest bet Nintendo could have made given the legendary success of the franchise. However, while I do believe positioning Donkey Kong Bananza as the launch title instead of Mario Kart World would have resulted in less upfront sales of the console, I do believe it would have resulted in more positive player sentiment in that initial launch window. Launch window conversation aside, DK Bananza is a definite system seller for those who were on the fence about buying a Switch 2, and an absolute must play for those already in the ecosystem. Even though I felt the level design was lacking, and the objective structure was repetitive, the destruction mechanics that make brilliant use of the Switch 2's impressive new tech almost completely make up for those other shortfalls. And Even though the game's boss design and boss encounters feel lacking, the endearing quality DK and Pauline's relationship is what ultimately helped carry me through those experiences, as I was always looking forward to the story beats that would consistently follow. DK Bananza has made a powerful case for the Switch 2, and if this is the quality bar that future Switch 2 first party titles will be reaching, then we're in for one hell of a new generation with Nintendo.
