Donkey Kong Bananza is a blast, in the literal sense of the world. Where formerly, Donkey Kong was a monkey of finesse, trampling through jungle stages, riding in barrels, with a degree of precision to his every leap, here he is transformed into a one-monkey wrecking ball. Your job in this game is not so much to reach the centre of a magical realm, completing quests and rescuing strange beings, it’s more about smashing as much of the world’s terrain as you can, terraforming landscapes as you crash-land into each new stage.
Or at least, that’s the way I was playing. Donkey Kong Bananza is sandbox in form, encouraging you to play how you’d like. A loose narrative follows your journey – you want bananas, with this quest only lightly disrupted by the arrival of a human child named Pauline – and this guides you along strange pathways, through worlds filled with beings in need of aid. Along the way, you’ll meet ancient animal elders, and harness the power of the musical ‘bananaza’ to gain new powers, which aid traversal.
This is an adventure that feels entirely new for Donkey Kong, with the platformer action and quest-based banana gathering feeling more akin to a 3D Mario platformer. It’s to the franchise’s benefit, as it opens an entirely new frontier for the titular monkey. Even so, it doesn’t drift too far away from the beloved Donkey Kong formula.
Read: Donkey Kong Bananza: Everything you need to know
Even when you’re charting ice cream or lava realms, there’s still plenty of classic DK flavour in each new world, and in each creature you meet. It’s not only the appearance of characters like Cranky Kong or Diddy Kong that gives flavour, but also the vibe itself. The series hasn’t lost its sense of identity in switching format, and there’s plenty for more nostalgic players, with certain levels even replicating more traditional Donkey Kong levels.
That’s part of the joy of this game. You wander these big open spaces, smashing environments and collecting bananas, and if you look closely, you’ll find special hidden levels and challenges that allow you to stretch your monkey muscles further. That includes bite-sized side-scrolling platformer levels, and timing-based barrel challenges, as well as boss fights against towering skeleton creatures. These aren’t strictly necessary, and you can miss a lot if you want to blast through the main story, but they add a welcome variety as you roam.
And when you’ve conquered the latest challenge and added to your banana horde, you can head back to your nearest ‘sublayer’ to continue your smashing antics.
Donkey Kong Bananza is simple and joyous
By design, Donkey Kong Bananza isn’t a very complex game. While there is challenge in certain stages, it’s more concerned with the fantasy of embodying Donkey Kong, and setting his powerful fists against the world. Free of complexity, players are invited to cause chaos as they wish – fists flying ahead, and terrain crumbling in response.
Pauline acts as the voice of reason in this setup, riding on Donkey Kong’s back and providing words of encouragement or excitement, as the voice of the player. She also serves to elevate the game’s musical aspects, in bright segments where she overcomes performance anxiety to power up Donkey Kong, and help save the world.
Where previously, the DK franchise lacked a human element, she adds a sense of relatability – and cuteness – to proceedings. Helping Pauline also feels like a driving impetus for Donkey Kong’s journey, and a way to make his quest for bananas feel slightly less selfish.
Of course, you’re not only travelling through layers of a mysterious underground world to add to your banana horde, right? You’re helping Pauline to escape to the surface, and that makes the quest entirely noble.
So you can set forth through each world with a pep in your step, and purpose behind your punches. No enemy will stand in the way of your quest to get Bananas rescue Pauline from the clutches of the evil mining group, VoidCo.
Bananza transformations are a new twist for Donkey Kong
Another new twist on the Donkey Kong formula presented in Bananza is the arrival of those magical Bananza transformations, which add to Donkey Kong’s skillset and allow for more complex traversal in later stages. Wielding the power of Pauline’s voice, DK is able to embody various hybrid creatures: a zebra-monkey, an ostrich-monkey, and more. Each form has its own specialty skillset, allowing for flight, fast running across falling surfaces, sucking up dangerous surfaces, and more.
Frankly, the designs of the Bananza transformations are a bit horrific, but in a way that remains fun and light-hearted. Kong Bananza, for example, gives DK a camera-facing ape-like bum which hangs out as he stomps through landscapes, wielding his powerful fists. Zebra Bananza looks incredibly goofy, with DK gaining muscles in strange places, and rocking an angry zebra-like head. Ostrich Bananza takes that one step further, with DK’s tiny little ostrich face looking hilarious in motion.
It all elevates the bouncy, carefree humour of this game.
Whether it’s Pauline’s asides or watching DK desperately flap his little wings in Ostrich Bananza form, Donkey Kong Bananza is a fun and funny little game. Everyone you meet has some light-hearted banter or gag. DK himself is responsible for a good portion of the humour, with silly body language and exaggerated expression (one benefit of the character’s new design) giving players an entry to this occasionally bizarre new adventure.
What elevates Donkey Kong Bananza most of all is its commitment to being a pure video game. Nintendo’s games are typically brightened by a sense of exploration and play – the idea that you can hop in and experience something novel, memorable, and delightful. The older you get, the harder it is to harness that sense of play, and to indulge in the feeling of being in a game, letting it guide you along. Donkey Kong Bananza does very well to engage that sense of childhood innocence and exploration. To encourage a playful curiosity that’ll drive you onwards.
While a loose structure and light story elements means there’s a lack of push for progress, Donkey Kong Bananza allows that feeling, and provides ample reasons to take your time, to smash everything in sight, and to see what you might uncover. It’s best played without a sense of time limit, to open your eyes to the possibilities of your journey.
As a new chapter in the Donkey Kong story, Bananza is a bright, refreshing adventure that gives you every reason to be swept away.
Four stars: ★★★★
Donkey Kong Bananza
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch 2
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: 17 July 2025
A copy of Donkey Kong Bananza was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.
