Donkey Kong Bananza Review – Monkey Business Perfected

Donkey Kong Bananza Review

Donkey Kong Bananza is a simple premise, perfectly executed. You’re smashing things and finding banana gems on your way to the planet’s core. All the other systems, mechanics, and narrative elements are in service to this central activity. Each one of DK and Pauline’s powers ties into this same essential idea. Heck, even DK’s job (before the story begins) is that of a miner. It’s all about those tasty(?) gems, baby! I haven’t played a Donkey Kong game this good since 1994. Our boy has simply never been more back.

The premise is a pretty simple one. DK is mining for the (somehow edible) banandium gems when the entire mining town is shoved into the dirt by a giant meteor. Shortly thereafter, he meets OddRock, aka Pauline, who gives him an actual purpose. She wants to get back to the surface. Of course, this means it’s time to head directly to the planet’s core. Look, I’m not gonna argue with this logic if it means more smashing things. Destroying terrain for gold and loot is incredible fun that absolutely never gets old. Right up until the end credits, I found myself constantly distracted by the destructible environment.

Can’t Stop Breaking Stuff

You’ve got so many ways to destroy every level. Regular skills, Bananza moves, and chunks of terrain all serve as useful tools in your endless quest to smash it all. Better still, so much of every layer can be destroyed. If you’re patient, persistent, and a little obsessive, you can totally change the look of most maps. And you’ll be handsomely rewarded for doing so! If you don’t uncover every fossil and gem this way, you’ll find maps that lead you to these missing items. I haven’t actually done this for any levels yet. But, I can easily see myself getting this uhhhh, invested in smashing without realizing it. I can’t overstate how compelling this mechanic is.

Taking the stages apart to find all the hidden bananas is a real Zen experience. I’m gonna find every single banandium gem, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. I do wish there was more fanfare when you fully finish a given layer, but the sight of the completed checklist is still pretty dope. It took me longer than it should have to beat the game, just because I kept getting distracted by those checklists. Especially if there were just a few items missing. What harm in taking a tiny detour to find a few banandium gems? Never mind that I ended up smashing most of a layer into tiny chunks while doing so. What’s a couple extra hours on the runtime, you know?

Always More To Find

My only little grievance is about Pauline’s voice. She sounds like the star of a big-budget children’s show. There’s just something about her diction that’s off-putting to me. Maybe it’s about how deliberate and clear her delivery is. She’s supposed to be 13, but she looks seven and sounds 31. And honestly, I understand this decision. Pauline talks a lot in DK Bananza. You constantly hear her remarking on what you experience and encounter. To give this role a more childlike cadence and tone could have been catastrophic. Instead, there’s just a little uncanny valley in her delivery. It’s not enough to really detract from the overall experience, but I couldn’t help noticing it. Maybe I’m just extra sensitive to that sort of thing.

There are a lot of serious bangers in the soundtrack for DK Bananza. The music for the Lagoon Layer is a particular highlight for me. There’s just something timeless and compelling about this track. It really embodies the sunshine and clear waters that make up the stage. I loved it so much that I used it as the backing track for my video review. But the stage music is only half the story. Pauline has a whole bunch of songs in this game, and they are all fantastic earworms. My only complaint is that they’re often playing during periods of intense activity. There’s not many chances to really soak up these songs. I can’t wait till the official soundtrack drops, is what I’m saying. I’m not always in love with Pauline’s spoken dialogue, but her singing voice is downright flawless.

Gorgeous From Top To Bottom

Bananza looks amazing from top to bottom. All the character models are incredibly slick, the stages are beautifully crafted, and the colors are shockingly vibrant. Even the Canyon Layer, a simple desert, is gassed up with rainbow exhaust spewing from every machine in sight. Digging through the dirt rewards you with explosions of gold. Boss fights are towers of color shattering into waves of relentless beauty. Even Void Kong’s environmental obstacles are lush, gorgeous smears of adhesive spread over every surface. Destroying these roadblocks is, obviously, also lovely to behold. Nothing looks quite as good as DK himself, though.

DK’s fur looks so soft, I want to run my fingers through it. You get so used to a certain kind of Nintendo polish, it’s shocking when they branch out so well. His fur is so glossy that it looks like he has a rigorous shampoo/conditioner routine. Like, every time you dye his fur, the appointment includes a wash/rinse/blow-dry session that spares no expense. He should be in a slow-motion commercial talking about this shampoo. It’s insane. I’m also enamoured with how expressive DK is in Bananza. The huge goofy grins, the tongue always out, the bananas in his eyes, and his exaggerated movements feel incredibly lively and vibrant. You don’t have to imagine DK in a high-budget animated feature because you’re seeing it in this game.

Nintendo Polish At Work

DK and Pauline have a whole bunch of delightful outfit variants in Bananza. They all look great, make sense for the characters, and are useful enough for you to seek them out. It’s just one more reason to scoop up as many fossils and gems as you can, beyond simple completionism. While a lot of collectibles are just buried somewhere in the stage, many are in isolated little challenge stages. These are an excellent diversion that is also the hardest part of the whole game. I do wish the main game were a tiny bit harder, but these bonus worlds are a great antidote for this minor problem. Really, I just wanted to spend more time playing Bananza. Which I can totally do! Finding every collectible is gonna take a while, and I’m honestly thrilled about it.

So Many Amazing Ties

I just realized I forgot to talk about the Bananza powers that the whole game is named after. Oops! Anyway, they’re amazing. Whereas the old Donkey Kong Country games had you enlist various animals to access these abilities, Bananza mode has DK transform instead. Each one is totally distinct, and you can switch between them seamlessly. Plus, the songs Pauline uses to activate them are all wonderful. All her outfits are tied directly to said transformations, and most of your skill tree revolves around them as well. The whole game hinges on these powers in a fluid, organic manner that feels simple yet brilliant.

Bananza is pretty much the pinnacle of Donkey Kong I’ve been waiting for since the 90s. This game is so good, it’s changed my whole outlook on DK as a character. He was always second-string, at least for me. Now, DK has been bumped up to A-rank, and it’s all thanks to Bananza. This game is beautiful, with an incredible soundtrack, seamless mechanics, relentless pacing, and brand new levels of Nintendo polish. Mario Kart World was a great introduction to the Switch 2, but Donkey Kong Bananza is the first can’t-miss game to come to the platform. You’d be a fool to pass on this one.

***A Nintendo Switch 2 code was provided by the publisher***