‘Donkey Kong Bananza' Review: Have A Banana
The latest entry in the Donkey Kong series is a banana-fuelled blast, and may be one of the best platforming games in recent years.
The main setup of the game has you control the titular Donkey Kong as he tackles the evil Void Company while venturing to the core of the planet to make things right.
Developed by the team behind Super Mario Odyssey, Donkey Kong Bananza has a lot of functional and structural carry-overs from that game.
Each new level, as you venture deeper into the planet, has distinct biomes and is effectively a mini-open-world layout.
Now, in Super Mario Odyssey, you collected coins and moons to progress, whereas in Donkey Kong Bananza, it's more open-ended with additional currencies to choose from.
The skill upgrades are as numerous as they are helpful.
The currencies are also more functional here and are spread out over different areas of gameplay. The gold you mine goes into buying items, whereas fossils give you different clothes (which also afford differing attributes).
The 'moons' in this instance are massive Banandium Gems, and these are used to upgrade a large and varied skill tree.
This is because this game is as much about exploration as it is about destruction. The last game that nailed this kind of setup was the original Dragon Quest Builders, which still holds a fond place in my heart to this day.
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Anyway, destroying an area in a fit of monkey rage is deeply satisfying and also gives you the currency for all the aforementioned upgrades.
You also have fun challenges dotted around each area and tasks you have to complete in order to thwart the evil Void Company.
Even as you tunnel underground, the camera keeps up fine.
Boss fights are also ingenious and again help you satiate your banana-induced monkey rage.
The game is also entirely massive and has a huge amount of replay value, as you go back and search for items and more Banandium Gems, so you definitely get your money's worth on this one.
There's also a great musical component to the game, as Donkey Kong and Pauline sing songs, which makes for a lovely and characterful experience.
As this is a new Switch 2 game, it does look lovely and runs very smoothly considering all the deformable terrain at work here. Controls are also very fluid, and the camera handles all the crazy bespoke tunnelling you do pretty well.
Overall, Donkey Kong Bananza does what Super Mario Odyssey did before it: offer one of the best platforming games available on a new system. The fact that the bulk of the game is about wanton joyous destruction is also another big bonus. So, if you want to tunnel to the center of the planet and destroy most of it along the way, Donkey Kong Bananza is your kind of platformer.
Donkey Kong Bananza
Platform: Nintendo Switch 2
Developer: Nintendo EPD
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 17th July 2025
Price: $69.99
Score: 9/10
Disclosure: Nintendo sent me a copy of this game for the purposes of this review.
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