Donkey Kong Bananza demonstrates Nintendo's 3D platforming chops at its most bonkers and bananas

For those looking for something to play on their brand-new Nintendo Switch 2, Donkey Kong Bananza is shaping up to be a must-play exclusive well worth the price of entry.

The best thing I can say about Donkey Kong Bananza is that immediately after my three-hour hands-on preview session I went home to play Super Mario Odyssey and quickly made note of how different both games are from one another (despite, yes, being made by the same creative team). Because while this is a 3D action-platformer from one of the best first-party development houses to ever do it, that doesn't mean Nintendo is resting on its laurels or repeating the same old tricks that have worked before.

In fact, what Donkey Kong Bananza does best is to unabashedly be Donkey Kong, leaning into the character's inherent destructive strengths like never before, and using them to have players explore, collect, and bash around in a whole new way. So far, from what I played, the 26-year wait for a full-fat Donkey Kong game has been more than worth it.

As noted from my time playing the game during the Nintendo Switch 2 experience event, picking up rocks, throwing them at enemies and scenery, and merely digging into the surrounding surfaces is fun at its purest in Donkey Kong Bananza. What I left that short demo still wondering was what else Nintendo had up its sleeve to make pulling off such destructive acts meaningful?

We’ve had a Nintendo Direct deep dive since then, where it was revealed it’s a younger Pauline joining DK on this adventure to descend into this planet’s core, with additional gameplay-changing Bananza forms brought into the mix, and multiple reasons to seek out the seemingly never-ending pile of Banandium Gems.

This time around during my hands-on, I was given the chance to explore three different layers – Lagoon, Canyon, and Forest – all of which riff on a different environmental theme and present so many excuses to stay distracted from the main path; Chief among them is the core act of destruction itself, whereby DK isn’t in anyway limited by (pretty much) any obstacle before him thanks to the ability to smash forward, dig down, and throw out heavy chunks of rock.

I was pleased to discover that such malleability isn’t endless in that Minecraft sort of way, though. Every major layer has a beginning and end with multiple sub-layers and challenge gates to explore in between – it’s not merely chaos for chaos’ sake. That simple wouldn’t be Nintendo’s style.

The first layer, Lagoon, is definitely more of a starter tutorial area, but this isn’t to say it doesn’t have its own worthwhile allure. At this point in the game DK hasn’t even realised that the purple rock companion on his shoulder is little Pauline yet, which means its easy to bandy about from the starting mining area, and up through the seaside-like surface as you see fit, helping all of DK’s monkey co-workers to unleash three spouts of water to wash away most of the purple gunk underneath plaguing the lagoon. Doing this gave me a great excuse to get used to climbing, swimming, and working out exactly which surfaces I could break through easily versus those I couldn’t.

Although I got to play Donkey Kong Bananza for three hours, I lost count of how many times I had to remind myself to progress to main objectives since there’s so many opportunities available elsewhere, all vying for your attention. I felt this most when exploring the Canyon layer, which is as about as dusty and cavernous as you’d expect in visual terms, but was absolutely caked in hidden fossils to discover, shops where you can buy new outfits for DK and Pauline, and of course, specific challenges.

The ultimate goal of any layer is to foil the plans of new enemy group, The Void Company, but on a systems level it’s worth trying to seek out as many Banandium Gems as possible, as for every five you collect, you gain a skill point which can be used to upgrade either vanilla DK or one of his Bananza forms.

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Going bananas

Speaking of which, I got to test out two (of the five teased) and am pleased to report that both Kong and Ostrich transformations have their uses. The latter comes in useful when wanting to glide to hard-to-reach areas from high-up locations, while Kong makes it much easier to bash and crash through Cement – one of the hardest of materials – and take on bigger enemies much faster.

Bananaza transformations can only be activated after gathering up enough gold, which seems like a fine (if fairly unexciting) use for the currency since there is always so much more gold ore to pick up – I was never left wanting. Sure, some is lost upon death, but even that comes rarely in a game where you can dig and climb to almost any platform.

The Canyon Layer is capped off with two back-to-back boss fights, which though a tad simple – this is ultimately a family game, after all – were pretty inventive in terms of how to take them down. The first was against a fellow miner called Grumpy Kong, wherein I was challenged with breaking through multiple layers of the podium on which he stood to get in plenty of punches.

A bit more cinematic, meanwhile, was the giant Mad Mixer, which saw me forced to circle it via minecart while launching large chunks of rock between its defences. Both set piece sequences were relatively straightforward, but it didn’t diminish the thrill of taking them down using the new skills I acquired.

Finally, while the Forest layer certainly looked appealing, this was the area I explored the least, although it did give me the chance to sample a handful of 2D sequences. They definitely pay tribute to the classic Donkey Kong Country days of the series (mostly evidenced by the return of blasting barrels) but the fact you maintain the ability to dig down and break off lumps of rock for throwing definitely help gives them a new flavour.

If nothing else, it’s a sign that Donkey Kong Bananza will have a good amount of variety in all of its bite-sized challenge levels that sit within each layer, both in terms of perspective as well as gameplay mechanics.

Though it might sound like hyperbole, I came away from my three-hour Donkey Kong Bananza preview the most excited I’ve been for a first-party Nintendo game in a long time. While there’s been plenty of greatness added to the Switch library in recent years, very few have been able to match this upcoming game’s sense of invention, creativity, and pure unbridled joy. It’s a game about destruction, yes, but the amazing things it can lead to are almost always something wonderful.

There are things to find and reasons to explore sprinkled around every corner. And really, who are we to prevent gaming’s most beloved ape from finding his banana? For the first time since 2017, the Nintendo 3D platformer has seriously levelled up.

Donkey Kong Bananza is set to release on Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17, 2025.