The opinions are in for Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo’s first main launch for Change 2 because the launch title Mario Kart World. And for probably the most half, they’re ecstatic.
The sport is at the moment hovering at a rating of 90 on Metacritic, whereas on OpenCritic it is a level greater at 91. On Metacritic, that comfortably places it inside the top five best-reviewed games of 2025.
Doubts had been sown in the course of the first hands-on previews of Donkey Kong Bananza. For instance, Andy Robinson at VGC had initially nervous that “smashing by way of the atmosphere didn’t really feel as tactically satisfying because it must be for a core mechanic”.
However these doubts seem to have been misplaced. IGN’s Logan Plant awarded Donkey Kong Bananza 10/10 in his evaluation for IGN, praising how the sport mixes homages with recent pondering.
“Bananza splendidly balances honoring its star’s numerous incarnations over the a long time – with beautiful nods to each Shigeru Miyamoto’s seminal arcade unique and Uncommon’s traditional Donkey Kong Nation trilogy – whereas additionally fearlessly punching by way of a mountain to forge its personal path.”
Briefly, he mentioned, Donkey Kong Bananza is “among the best 3D platformers I’ve ever performed.”
Dustin Bailey additionally praised the nostalgic nods to previous Donkey Kong titles in his 4.5-star review for GamesRadar+. “You will hear new mixes of traditional tracks going again to the Rareware-era, the fixed chorus of DK64’s ‘oh, banana,’ and even a handful of 2D problem levels paying specific tribute to probably the most memorable ranges of the SNES video games.”
He summed up Donkey Kong Bananza as “a real must-play for Change 2 homeowners”.
Robinson, in the meantime, awarded the sport 4 stars in his evaluation for VGC, saying: “Bananza reinvents Donkey Kong and provides him his most memorable journey in additional than twenty years, with a heartfelt story, and pleasing nods to the traditional video games that made the ape such a beloved character to start with.”
Tremendous Mario similarities
Inevitable comparisons have been made with Tremendous Mario Odyssey, seeing as each it and Bananza come from the identical studio: Nintendo EPD.
“In the event you’ve performed Tremendous Mario Odyssey, you may acknowledge its DNA in Donkey Kong Bananza,” mentioned Bailey.
“You will wander round huge ranges finishing challenges to seize a central collectable – on this case, crystalline bananas – and gadgets that allow you to unlock outfits that provide you with a novel look applicable for every world.”
The story sees DK teaming up with a younger model of Pauline – who not too long ago popped up as a racer in Mario Kart World – with the intention of reaching the centre of the planet.
Bailey loved the dynamic between the pair: “the slowly growing friendship between Pauline and DK turns into downright endearing over the plot’s twists and turns,” he mentioned.
In two-player mode, the second participant takes management of Pauline, who can shout out phrases that “manifest as massive chunks of fabric that may smash the world simply as successfully as DK’s fists,” says Bailey.
“It is just like the modes we have had in Tremendous Mario Galaxy and Tremendous Mario Odyssey,” he mentioned, “however right here the second participant can even have an actual impact on the world.”
However Alex Donaldson, who awarded Donkey Kong Bananza four stars in his Eurogamer review, thinks the sport does not fairly attain the heights that Odyssey did. “When it smashes, DK actually smashes. When it does not… Effectively, it is no Odyssey, proper?”
Nonetheless, he loved the same stage construction: “The open-ended Odyssey fashion design the place a whole lot of collectibles await you implies that many puzzling duties may be accomplished both with their prescribed resolution or by pondering wildly exterior the field.”
However Jim Norman thought that Donkey Kong Bananza exceeds Tremendous Mario Odyssey in some methods in his 9/10 review for Nintendo Life. “On the floor, Donkey Kong Bananza has greater than just a little Odyssey in its DNA, and the comparisons are on show proper from the leap; however as soon as I dug beneath, I realised that is the devs swinging for one thing extra chaotic, extra damaging and – dare I say it – at instances, extra entertaining.”
“Merely put, it is probably the most enjoyable I’ve had with a platformer in years.”
Even so, he concludes that, total, Odyssey nonetheless has the sting. “Can I say that Donkey Kong Bananza is healthier than Tremendous Mario Odyssey? No, I can not. And actually, what’s?”
Fruitful destruction
“At preview, I expressed imprecise issues that the smashing mechanic won’t be sufficient to carry my curiosity over a full sport,” mentioned Donaldson. “That concern turned out to be nonsense.”
Plant famous that “the extent to which Bananza commits to letting you tear by way of its atmosphere is each technically spectacular and a ton of enjoyable.”
“The easy motion of tearing a bit from the bottom – which you are able to do virtually wherever – results in so many dynamic prospects: DK can hurl it at airborne enemies, swing it to interrupt by way of partitions, bounce off it to double leap, or surf on it to get round quicker and safely cross harmful terrain.”
Matthew Fortress, who awarded Donkey Kong Bananza four stars in his review for The Guardian, thought the sport’s absolutely destructible ranges felt a bit off at first. “There’s an preliminary mushiness to worlds that may be excavated from any angle,” he mentioned.
“Generally you blindly mine into rewards supposed for challenges you haven’t but uncovered or parsed, and the haphazardness of those unearned prizes has you questioning, for a second, if the sport’s freeform audacity rings as hole because the caves you’re punching into existence.”
However these worries evaporated additional into the sport with the introduction of extra advanced ranges, the place destructible floor covers lethal poison swaps or lava. “Down right here, land is life, so your therapy of it turns into extra deliberate, your strikes extra surgical,” he concluded.
Like with Mario’s cash, collectibles are used to information the participant. “See a tantalizing gold piece or fossil embedded within the wall?” asks Plant. “Chuck an explosive Growth Rock at it and there’s a superb probability you’ll reveal a brand new path to discover.”
Destroying completely every thing in a stage in quest of collectibles is a viable path, however gamers can take a extra strategic method through the use of DK’s upgradeable sonar skill to assist discover issues buried underground.
There’s additionally technique within the kinds of materials you come throughout, which have completely different ranges of hardness and completely different properties. Thorny materials will should be crushed with one thing apart from DK’s fists, for instance. “Every of the foes you come into contact with can seem in varieties associated to lots of the supplies, turning this tiering right into a think about fight,” notes Donaldson.
Bananza powers
Along with his common strikes, DK can unlock Bananza transformations, which see him morph into “massive, super-powered animals starting from an ostrich to a a lot bigger-than-usual gorilla,” says Bailey.
“These talents allow you to do issues like glide throughout massive gaps or punch straight by way of concrete, and whereas not each one is a winner, the great ones are very satisfying to make use of,” he mentioned.
However Donaldson thought that the Bananza varieties have been just a little hit or miss. “I might argue a superb third of the accessible transformations have extraordinarily restricted usefulness,” he mentioned.
Plant provides that just a few of them are a bit OP. “If I needed to say one thing important in regards to the Bananza powers,” he mentioned, “it’s that typically they’re too highly effective.”
“You may solely enter a Bananza when you have sufficient Bananergy, which is a meter crammed by gathering gold, so in principle, the Bananzas ought to be considerably restricted. Nonetheless, gold is so plentiful that you simply’ll just about at all times earn sufficient Bananergy to rework virtually instantly after spending it.”
Fortress agreed that a few of the Bananza transformations felt too beneficiant, particularly on returning to earlier ranges, once they “turn out to be immediate win buttons, dulling the ingenuity of Nintendo’s platforming designs”.
Gripes
Plant famous that the sport reveals minor body fee drops in locations. “The motion usually stays at a strong 60 fps each whereas docked on the TV and when enjoying handheld, however it could actually briefly dip beneath that once you’re going loopy with the destruction or once you first drop right into a model new stage.”
Nonetheless, Norman notes that the sport is “a first-rate instance of the Change 2’s beefed-up efficiency, operating at a clean 60fps for more often than not.” Nonetheless, he famous that the digital camera can “get just a little squiffy” throughout a few of the extra intense digging sequences.
Donaldson discovered it irritating that tiny bits of fabric are typically left behind by DK’s path of destruction. “That is high-quality for many of the sport,” he mentioned, “however within the late sport there is a heck of loads of super-deadly health-sapping terrain. Miss a tiny piece of this after which stroll into it mid boss battle… whoops, you are useless!”
He additionally disliked the best way every boss encounter is trotted out a number of instances, which he known as “a bit rote”.
Fortress, in the meantime, thought that Donkey Kong Bananza lacks considerably in endgame content material. “I’m undecided Bananza has the identical legs as Mario Odyssey,” he mentioned.
“The place that sport blossomed in a wealthy, post-credit endgame, DK lives extra within the second: shifting ever ahead, chewing by way of new concepts and by no means stopping to pulverise the roses.”
Contemporary concepts
One factor everybody might agree on was the vary of concepts packed into Donkey Kong Bananza. “I used to be shocked on the ingenuity on show as I dove to a few of its deeper, late-game layers,” mentioned Plant.
“After greater than 50 hours, I’m nonetheless discovering new problem rooms that blend and match enemies, supplies, and talents in brand-new methods,” mentioned Plant.
Norman in contrast the discoverable Problem Rooms to the Shrines in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and liked the best way they known as again to “particular DK touchstones like Mine Cart Insanity or Bramble Blast to sensible impact”.
He additionally loved the DK Artist sculpting mode, “which devoured up extra of my time than I used to be anticipating in my crude try and construct DK a Waluigi hat.”
“The instruments are deeper than I had imagined, and it is good to see Mouse Mode in motion, although it does not add a lot to the general expertise apart from the worrying considered what folks will do with that poor banana mannequin.”
Steve Watts at Gamespot praised the “spectacular vary of expression within the redesign for DK” in his 9/10 review, noting that his face “squashes and stretches prefer it stepped out of the animated Mario film”.
“This sport has one of many most interesting finales of any Nintendo sport ever”
Alex Donaldson, Eurogamer
“It infuses the character with monumental persona and coronary heart, which is necessary to ascertain a bond between him and Pauline, as she does all of the speaking.”
Alex Donaldson at Eurogamer reckons Donkey Kong Bananza will get higher and higher because it goes alongside. “I believe this sport has one of many most interesting finales of any Nintendo sport ever,” he mentioned.
He factors out that the sport’s director is Kazuya Takahashi, who beforehand labored on Remaining Fantasy 15. “A few of that FF predilection for aptitude is current right here, in a way, married to a really Nintendo love for a mechanical climax over a story one.”
Then once more, he complained that a few of the sport’s finest ideas are under-used. “Good concepts are offered, and you’ll’t wait to see how that mechanic will evolve… after which it simply does not.”
Verdict
General, Plant concludes that Donkey Kong Bananza is “an excellent successor to Tremendous Mario Odyssey and a smashing return for a traditional Nintendo character.”
“It was a daring option to construct the Change 2’s first 3D platformer round Donkey Kong as a substitute of Mario, but it surely’s confirmed to be the perfect determination Nintendo might’ve made.”
Watts, in the meantime, reckons that Donkey Kong Bananza “deserves to be talked about alongside video games like Mario Odyssey as amongst Nintendo’s finest latest work”. Over at GamesRadar+, Bailey agrees: “The central destruction mechanic is a lot enjoyable, and sensible stage design retains it pleasant from starting to finish with an journey rivaling Mario’s best possible.”
“It is not the type of seminal ‘mega wow’ sport that Odyssey was,” Eurogamer’s Donaldson concludes. “However it’s precisely the type of expertise the place you’ll be able to slip right into a trance-like autopilot, your mind syncing up with the sport’s design, and time simply disappears.”