Review – Donkey Kong Bananza

marks a triumphant return of Nintendo’s most iconic gorilla after more than a decade of significant absence in unpublished titles. DK resurfaces in one of the most creative games of the new generation, marked by charisma, good humor and beautiful art direction. The new title not only honors the franchise legacy, but has surprising innovations, especially by placing alongside Pauline, dividing the protagonism and in a 13 -year version, making mechanics relate to musicality and directly impacting gameplay.

I still remember turning on my Nintendo 64 and playing Donkey Kong 64 thinking it would be the maximum evolution of that franchise that won a legion of fans at Super Nintendo. This same magic happens again, 25 years later with the arrival of Nintendo Switch 2, which lost the chance to have an excellent game as part of its release by fear of being a franchise with a smaller appeal than Mario Kart.

When life gives you bananas, make a bananza

For longtime fans, the continuity of the franchise happens with a lot of respect for the story, as Donkey Kong Bananza evokes nostalgia by inserting references and easter eggs from the classic Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Country, including phases with side progression and the presence of legendary Kong family members. Encounters with Cranky Kong, mentions to Jumpman and DK’s rivalry with Mario, resonate as Fan Service, while expanding the universe and continues to dialogue with the new generations, in an adventurous mood, but without abandoning the essence built since the legendary Arcade.

Donkey Kong Bananza’s narrative manages to surprise not only for irreverence, but for being engaging and fun, even though it is far from the main effort of the same development team responsible for Super Mario Odyssey. DK and Pauline need to go down to the depths of the underground to stop the ambition of Void Kong, president of the corrupt Void Company who, alongside Grumpy Kong and Poppy Kong, threatens ecosystems in search of the planet’s core and its legendary wealth. From this initial plot, you will need to advance over 15 levels, knowing multiple underground biomes and ecosystems, in an epic journey of this adventure to the best collectaton style in search of bananas, as well as solving how to take Pauline back to the surface.

With funny dialogues, moments of discoveries for the protagonists and important revelations that connect Donkey Kong Bananza to Super Mario Odyssey, the journey of Pauline and DK is marked by many amazing moments, innovations in mechanics and freedom to tread your way, making you gradually discover more about the story that wants to be told, in a subtle and pleasant way to follow without becoming repetitive or boring. Even with a level of difficulty far below the franchise, known for several really difficult times in previous games, Bananza values the achievement of goals without complicating the method to happen, but without compromising fun and engagement.

This integration with Super Mario Odyssey, which happens because of various indications throughout the game, also happens in the way Donkey Kong Bananza presents himself, offering freedom of exploitation and with interesting levels, coupled with the new mechanics of destruction made possible by the force of DK. The possibility of destroying virtually all scenarios using the fists, jumps and throws, taking into account the density of the surrounding environment, makes free exploration even more interesting layers and make you get lost for hours around the world in search of banking crystals, as well as optimizing the powers of DK through the progression of a skill tree. Not to mention the inspirations coming directly from the new The Legend of Zelda, with portals that lead us to places that resemble the dynamics of Shrines, with very interesting puzzles and challenges.

When we added the presence of Pauline and his musicality, known as Jump Up SuperStar in Super Mario Odyssey, we have all the style we already know about the Donkey Kong franchise, reinforced by the recent Super Mario Bros movie. to develop the mechanics of DK transformations. With the ancestral power found throughout the journey, you will be able to assume temporary animals, activated with L1 + R1, thanks to the powers of Pauline, to drastically expand the possibilities of exploration and combat. Bananza Kong enhances the strength of her fists, Bananza ostrich allows brief flights, Bananza zebra optimizes her speed, Bananza snakes speeds off, and finally Bananza Elephant offers a devastating arsenal. Each transformation can be improved as items collect, facilitating the conclusion of challenges as we progress in the game.

All this creativity is accompanied, in addition to the potential offered by Switch 2, but with simple, accurate and responsive controls. Even with its size, DK movement is pleasant, while Pauline is playable in local cooperative mode, but your voice can be used as a support in exploration or even part of the battle strategy. Cooperative gameplay is one of the differentials of this title by bringing team work to quick resolution in various challenges and puzzles, promoting fun and amazing interactions for both players.

Sound in the shell, Pauline!

Unfortunately all this magic suffers from a terrible problem that has been with 3D adventure games for many years. The camera suffers during more intense times of destruction or falls in deeper places, making it easy to lose the character from sight, impacting navigation and sometimes accuracy on fighting. Some bosses also lack challenge, being easily overcome thanks to the powers of DK and Pauline, which can thwart more experienced players.

However, the development team knew how to work very well how it could be a simple Bananas collection to become interesting, evolving the legacy of the Banana Coins and Golden Bananas. These collectible items, alongside stones, shells, fossils and others, which work for the system of coins, assume an even greater protagonism in the economy, challenges and mechanics of the game, being direct references to the franchise legacy. Not to mention the way it dialogues with the transformations and, even with camera problems, everything turns out to be more interesting and fun to face.

Donkey Kong Bananza overflows with vibrand feelings, with an art direction that can transport this universe to Switch 2 in style, with colorful, alive environments, full of detail, destructible and textures that impress with wealth. The variety of look follows the evolution of the environment itself after the destructive passage of the player, playing with the physics and density of the materials you can interact with. From the harder to the malleable, going through the grudent or buoy, the look of the game can indicate very well how we can interact with the surrounding environment.

The original soundtrack refers to the tradition of the franchise, mixing consecrated themes and unpublished compositions, with the right musical moments led by Pauline, who steals the scene due to the breathtaking sequences, through the vibrant soundtrack, full of percussion and sophisticated orchestration, and not to mention its importance as part of the power related to its singing. Even alongside several dear characters and the addition of new ones, between mythical beings, villains and NPCs, nothing is a match for Pauline and the work in the sound direction of this game.

Donkey Kong Bananza, manages to steal the scene in this start of Switch 2 and delivers an interesting adventure, with great originality, accessible to the various audiences of the new console, dynamism in its creative mechanics, and deeply fun, with balanced doses of nostalgia, innovation and charisma. Brazilian fans can still have fun with the wonderful location for Brazilian Portuguese, loaded with puns and genius balconies to further increase immersion during the game.

For those who do not know DK and his class, this is the best gateway to fall in love with one of Nintendo’s most beloved characters, while also works perfectly as a gift worthy of the character’s story and the hope of great titles for this new generation of switch.