This '80s pop icon is back, and it's better than ever
With the Big N solidifying its properties through movies and theme parks, as well as new games, a Donkey Kong reclamation was inevitable. The surprising part is that Nintendo threw its absolute best at the franchise. Donkey Kong Bananza is not only a contender for the best game the series has ever produced, it gives other contemporary games a run for their money when it comes to sheer fun, constant innovation and technological achievement.
In the first year of the original Nintendo Switch, the company reasserted its place among the best game-makers by combining industry trends such as open-world design with its Mario and Zelda franchises to produce unexpected, delightful and utterly inimitable games. And now at the beginning of the Switch 2, Bananza sends the message that it's not slowing down.
Created by the team behind Super Mario Odyssey, it combines elements of Minecraft -like permanent terrain alteration with Mario-level control and acrobatics, an evolved take on 3D platformer collectables, heaps of fresh ideas and plenty of inspiration from the past Donkey Kongs developed by Rare and Retro Studios. It has the climb-anywhere style of the recent Zeldas, but also the cathartic ability to tunnel through and destroy just about anything you see. It also sets a new tone and visual design for the series and character, which feels current but is perfectly in line with the arcade original.
Bananza is set far away from DK Island, where our hero (and seemingly every other ape and monkey) is investigating a massive cache of underground gold. Donkey Kong is more interested in Banandium Gems, special jewels that look and apparently taste like the delicious yellow fruit, but unfortunately the evil Void Kong also has his eye on them. After a dastardly scheme sinks the mine deep into the ground, DK finds himself in a subterranean world populated by all sorts of weird creatures, and partners with a lost tween named Pauline (a young take on the damsel character from the arcade game) to head to the planet core.
DK's abilities seem simple – you can jump, roll, punch forward, down and up, grab stuff, slap the ground and whistle – but it all adds up to a very satisfying arsenal that's easy to deploy. You can smash directly down into the ground, or rip chunks of rock out of the wall. You can combine rolls and jumps to cover huge distances. You can surf on hunks of concrete over hazardous terrain, or use a kind of sonar to detect goodies underground and tunnel right through them. And it feels heavy, crunchy and satisfying, like the very essence of the character's benevolent aggression.
The central loop of the game is pretty simple too. You're steadily descending through layers, each one with a wildly different theme and inhabitants, and each with a number of sub-layers. Most have an elder to meet, who is of course a DJ, and because Pauline has a talent for singing, she can learn a magical song from each one. That's how you unlock transformations for DK. Several of these are just hideously jacked animals with angry faces and all the aesthetic appeal of the worst AFL mascots – an ostrich, a zebra – but intentionally and humorously so, and they come with abilities you will need to explore and progress.
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Orianna's chicken katsu curry is nostalgia in a bowl, the crumbs crisp and golden, the cutlet juicy and springy, the butter-laden mustardy gravy seeping into glistening rice. Surely a dish with 'blanket' in the name is as comforting as it gets: the 'wagyu blanket' is shaved slices of marbled Australian wagyu, lightly cooked, draped over mounds of seasoned rice, and topped with salmon roe cured in sake. It's quirky and surprising – not to mention mind-boggling value at $15 – the meat lightly seasoned with bonito stock and soy, and dissolving in the mouth. Liem's wife, Sintia, is a pastry chef: her chiffon cake melts into creamy air and her chocolate cake is a warm, gooey delight, filled with salted caramel and perfect with coffee or matcha. A liquor license is on the way. Orianna comes from the Latin for 'golden sunlight' or 'dawn'. Liem chose the name because it suggests rebirth, 'something new happening to me', he said. 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Sydney Morning Herald
3 hours ago
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Japanese fusion cafes have swept Melbourne, but this suburban sushi spot goes back to basics
Find affordable omakase and comfort food items at Orianna Sushi Cafe in Murrumbeena. Previous SlideNext Slide Japanese$$$$ What does one of Australia's top sushi chefs do when they start thinking about retirement? Apparently, they open a Japanese cafe in the suburbs, serving incredible food at extremely reasonable prices. The only problem is, Dani Liem's offering is so good that he's not getting pensioned off any time soon. Orianna opened in April, south of Hughesdale station in a sleepy little strip. The 22-seat cafe is in a modern shop with apartments above. If I lived here, I'd be running a tab, coming in the morning for well-made espresso and rice balls, mid-morning for matcha strawberry cake, and back at lunch (and two nights a week), alternating between Japanese comfort food and sushi. Liem was born in Indonesia, but he's cooked Japanese food for 25 years, including a period training in Tokyo in the early noughts. More recently, he was in charge of the omakase and kaiseki (seasonal set menu) offerings at South Melbourne's hatted Komeyui. He's still consulting at new city restaurant Sushi Sho, too, where dinner costs $268. The chef's selection at Orianna is just $38. Granted, it's not as lavish, and the nine pieces of seafood-on-rice are presented all at once on a platter, rather than bite-by-bite as with traditional omakase, but the careful sourcing and the skill behind each mouthful is on par. It's outstanding. You might get kingfish that has been wrapped in kombu for a day to infuse it with umami, beautifully cut and topped with lightly cooked, salted spring onion. Simultaneously delicate and intense, it's draped over perfectly seasoned rice, every grain plump and distinct. Salmon is brushed with nikiri, a bonito-infused soy sauce that adds dimension. Prawn is daubed with buttered soy that's then torched, boosting seafood sweetness with smoky wonder. Scallop is expertly cut, fanned out and paired with a little foie gras. The combination of shellfish and liver dates to the chef's time at Komeyui. I remember eating a steamed oyster there in 2022. It was daubed in foie gras butter, demure and luxurious in a mouthful: there's the same finesse here. Nigiri (fish on rice) and sashimi (sliced fish) are available by the piece as well, and you can grab-and-go onigiri (filled rice balls). There are handrolls for breakfast or lunch on the go, plus sushi platters for the home or office. The comfort food items on the one-page menu are Liem's little pushback to the Japanese fusion cafes that have swept Melbourne. Fusion is fine, but what about old school? In this, he thinks back to early work experiences at key restaurant Izakaya Chuji, which was Victoria's first izakaya (casual Japanese bar) when it opened in 1989, running all the way through to the tough days of the pandemic. Orianna's chicken katsu curry is nostalgia in a bowl, the crumbs crisp and golden, the cutlet juicy and springy, the butter-laden mustardy gravy seeping into glistening rice. Surely a dish with 'blanket' in the name is as comforting as it gets: the 'wagyu blanket' is shaved slices of marbled Australian wagyu, lightly cooked, draped over mounds of seasoned rice, and topped with salmon roe cured in sake. It's quirky and surprising – not to mention mind-boggling value at $15 – the meat lightly seasoned with bonito stock and soy, and dissolving in the mouth. Liem's wife, Sintia, is a pastry chef: her chiffon cake melts into creamy air and her chocolate cake is a warm, gooey delight, filled with salted caramel and perfect with coffee or matcha. A liquor license is on the way. Orianna comes from the Latin for 'golden sunlight' or 'dawn'. Liem chose the name because it suggests rebirth, 'something new happening to me', he said. I love the idea of this pseudo-retirement as a beginning, as well as a gesture towards slowing down. Such good sushi, in a casual cafe setting, at super-keen prices, is certainly something new for Melbourne. Three more new sushi spots to try Sushi Takezo The space that was kaiseki restaurant Matsu's first home is now a six-seat sushi restaurant from Takeshi Murakami, previously head sushi chef at The Langham. He's using connections with seafood suppliers to source premium fish for omakase banquets, served with sake or French wine. 157A Barkly Street, Footscray, Kaiten Sushi Train There are two speeds of food delivery at this Chaddy spot. The slow train trundles on its loop with better-than-average sushi dishes: spy and try. There's also a fast train that hurtles down an elevated track to deliver food you've ordered from a touch screen. That might be premium sushi, rice dishes or fried chicken. Chadstone Shopping Centre, 1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone, Doma Eatery New in the east, this daytime cafe has a serious approach to coffee and a Japanese fusion menu – think soy butter spaghetti and a fried chicken burger with teriyaki sauce – as well as a couple of sushi handrolls. The crumbed prawn roll is smooshed with paprika aioli and tempura batter scraps for extra texture.
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In Shinjuku, Tokyo, a tiny 12-seat diner opens at midnight and closes at 7am. The proprietor, known to all only as 'Master', has a handwritten menu on the wall with only four items: pork miso soup, beer, sake and shochu. But he'll make you whatever you want, as long as he has the ingredients and it's not so complex as to be beyond his skills. Every night, he serves up what is requested, and 25 minutes later, you're filled with a strange and beautiful new perspective on life and most likely in tears. This is Midnight Diner, a Japanese Netflix show that, like the Master's irresistible dishes, is possessed of an exquisite simplicity that brings feelings bubbling up like simmering sauce with a minimum of fuss or action – a stillness and serenity that is almost startling to those of us used to the frantic flailing of stories told by Western filmmakers. It is about food, in a very deep sense, and about life, in an equally deep sense, and it strongly pushes the philosophy that the two are indivisible. There is magic in the air at the Midnight Diner: there is always just the faintest hint that something might be going on beyond our ken.
