Did I go bananas for Donkey Kong's radical Switch 2 reboot?
Like most online discourse, the furore is extreme, but not much has actually changed. Yes, DK has had a Disney-like glow up. His eyes are closer together and his snout is shorter, which makes him look less angry and more cartoonish, but he's also more expressive. His goofy personality beamed through during my three-hour appointment with Donkey Kong Bananza, his forthcoming adventure on Nintendo Switch 2.
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It's the first fully 3D DK game since Donkey Kong 64 (1999) and there's a lot riding on it for Nintendo. With no new 3D Mario or Zelda game on the horizon, it's thrusting DK into the spotlight for its first release since the already record-breaking Switch 2 came out in June. Can the hyperactive ape maintain the console's momentum?
Bananza, developed by the same team at Nintendo that made 2017's Super Mario Odyssey, is shaping up to be another fantastic action platformer. The game starts in a mine on Ingot Isle, where DK and a bunch of other primates are working. They've discovered golden bananas for the first time but a bunch of dastardly crooks have stolen them. After being sucked into a void, DK and a girl called Pauline venture to a strange planet's core where it's rumoured visitors will be granted their greatest wishes.
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Almost everything in Bananza's environment can be destroyed by smashing the ground and walls with DK's mitts. Failing that, you can just lob an explosive rock at stuff — it feels wonderfully therapeutic if you've had a bad day. Doing so will give you treasure, gold and bananas, which can be used to upgrade DK's abilities through a simple and effectively designed levelling-up system.
As with most Nintendo games, there's an array of puzzles and missions: in my preview I had to unblock several giant taps to increase an area's water supply while slapping a bunch of critters. Each world is diverse too. DK can traverse vertically between different stages and every one has its own quirk (I visited a jungle with a poisonous floor). This is Donkey Kong's time to shine and, so far, he's (quite literally) smashing it.
Donkey Kong Bananza will be released on Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17
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