Donkey Kong Bananza - Red Faction Gorilla (Review)
- James Stephanie Sterling
- 1 minute ago
- 9 min read
Donkey Kong Bananza
Released: July 17th, 2025
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Systems: Switch 2
This review is being posted much later than I’d planned because I’ve been playing a game in which I can perfectly cleanse an area of dirt and grit. What was I supposed to do, not waste hours perfectly cleansing an area of dirt and grit?
For someone with a disorder involving obsessive compulsions, Donkey Kong Bananza’s a frighteningly magnetic prospect - getting to smash a world right down to its bare skeleton deeply scratches a psychological itch. Admittedly, it worsens the itch at the same time, as once I start smashing, even the littlest trace of earth is an unbearable bit of mess until all is oblivion.
This itch only got itchier when I acquired an ability that turns Donkey Kong into a living vacuum cleaner. This game is an OCD dream. This game is an OCD nightmare.
That hairy banana fancier Donkers is part of a mining company in which he and his monkey chums batter the everloving rock out of everything - they’ve presumably lobbied the government to permit what is essentially a fracking operation of global proportions. Naturally, he’s digging for bananas because bananas are ore now, but he’s still eating them after shattering the things into glassy shards and probably tearing his gums to ribbons.
DK’s efforts are scuppered by Void Company, an evil outfit led by an Orangutan mechanic, a disturbingly sexy chimp girl, and a discount Mojo Jojo from Powerpuff Girls. After they steal the bananas, our lovable mineral muncher runs into a living rock that actually turns out to be a 13-year-old Pauline. Yup, this is the prequel to Donkey Kong that nobody really asked for but nobody really minds!
Decent plot setup for a cute story. The relationship between Donko and his young ward is rather sweet, as is Pauline’s arc about getting the confidence to sing in front of an audience. It’s otherwise a fairly throwaway story that is essential only insofar as giving players a basic goal, but it has its moments and Pauline’s voiced really well.
It couldn’t be clearer that Donkey Kong Bananza was brought to you by those responsible for Mario Odyssey. The DNA of that utter classic is all over this one, especially with the freeform level design and emphasis on item hunting. Like Odyssey before it, Bananza takes the Mario 64 structure and stuffs it with dopamine hits. It’s not quite as great, but DK’s adventure may well hit a player’s happy triggers even more since the rewards are nonstop and audiovisually satisfying.
Destructible terrain is the star attraction, with DK able to destroy huge amounts of it in ways not seen since Red Faction was a thing. Environments have a basic framework of unbreakable metal to ensure a general sense of layout, but much of that metal is buried under so much earth you can dig around for ages. As you break things, you’ll constantly expose pockets of gold, banana chip tokens, and treasure chests.
It’s a veritable golden shower deep in Donkey Kong’s holes.
The sheer volume of terrain that can be battered is impressive. This includes mountains, caves, many of the buildings, a lot of the material that gives environments their shape and detail. I appreciate that Bananza isn’t precious about any of this, allowing you to disappear the majority of detailed, thoughtfully crafted maps.
This isn’t to say that exploration is trivial, as plenty of hurdles are put in place to add some navigational challenge. Dangerous terrain such as thorns or lava are common hazards that require maneuvering around or breaking in ways other than punching. Concrete can’t be busted with a mere fisting but it shatters if hit with something explosive. Stuff like ice, rubber, or crumbling terrain offer extra variety too.
DK doesn’t just smash things apart. Breakable terrain can also have chunks torn out of it for to throw at stuff or ride like a surfboard. Unless it’s explicitly slippery, most material can also be climbed on with all the expertise of Spider-Man, though doing so close to ceiling or nearby walls can mess with the camera and confuse one’s controller.
As is custom with these types of games, much of the content is optional but hard to pull away from because of what a well designed playground each level is. Maps are filled with those big breakable bananas, adorably named Banandium, which Kong eats and converts into Skill Points. Not until the postgame are bananas essential to progress - you can breeze through the game by focusing purely on the basic story missions if you want, though you’d be missing out.
Bananas are found in a myriad of ways, with a whole load of them hidden across the map while others are rewards for bespoke challenges. Breakable as the world is, collectibles can be just about anywhere, many found hidden in caves or just buried in the dirt waiting to be found.
Kong can clap his hands to generate a sonar effect and briefly highlight any collectibles within range. This is one of the abilities you can upgrade via Banandium and it’s worth investing in early. Being able to locate pickups through walls is a vitally helpful thing.
There’s a consistent balance throughout the game between easily found bananas and ones that require some effort to reach. You’ll stumble across a whole load by pummeling around and clapping your hands, which keeps you feeling rewarded while you go for the conspicuous ones nefariously out of reach or held in some indestructible architecture.
Challenge courses are also prolific, specially designed mini levels that usually throw more conventional platforming and puzzling into the mix. Small arena battles require Kong to destroy enemies within a time limit, and when I say small I mean it - they’re completed in seconds, even ones that try to up the ante with a puzzle element.
As well as bananas, fossils litter the world. They’re used to buy cosmetics and gear from a Style Shop. Ties, britches, and Pauline’s outfits each come with a boost to a single stat or ability, such as reducing damage from specific hazards or increasing the odds of treasure chests spawning. It’s a shame passives are locked to gear, meaning you can’t just wear what you want if you care about the genuinely useful bonuses.
Luckily, DK’s range of fur colors are purely visual. They’re great, especially later on when you start getting gradient and metallic effects.
All of that gold you collect can be spent on a variety of items, such as balloons to counter pitfalls, healing items, or treasure maps for bananas and fossils. Most items are easily found in the world, including maps, though buying them is convenient when you’re drowning in currency. Gold will also be needed to buy certain shortcuts or unlock Getaways that let DK heal, but these amounts are nominal.
Bananza works hard to keep its gameplay entertaining in the face of what could easily become a one-note slog. While much of the time is spent wildly destroying geometry, the thoughtful use of unique terrain behavior and clever reward placement keeps things feeling fresh. New ideas are consistently and digestibly presented to players right up until the endgame, and the weird themes of each Layer really help to maintain interest.
In a world so comprehensively malleable, it’s inevitable that not every banana has to be acquired via one intended method. It’s always amusing to stumble on one while indiscriminately excavating and then discover the intricately planned challenge route leading to it. Savvy use of materials, such as clumping sticky dirt together to build bridges, can lead to plenty of sequence breaking, and it feels within the spirit of the game to pull off such tricks.
Varied though the world is, the constant smashery is going to have limited mileage varying by player. There came a point where my pummeling was more habit than joy, the aforementioned compulsive behavior taking over while my brain got kind of exhausted. I never grew bored per se, but I did get tired at points and I started rushing through the final portions of the main story because I’d had my fill.
I can't say I cared for the majority of boss fights. They're either unable to cope with Kong's abilities and get steamrolled, or they compensate by being a mess of projectiles, AoE, and a target that flies around everywhere. The latter can be quite unpleasant in a sensory regard, just throwing nonsense and noise around. Due to Kong's beefiness, none of them are difficult, but a fair few are tediously beefy themselves and none of them are aesthetically interesting either. There are a few good ones, chiefly the series of battles against the very final boss, but otherwise they feel like they're there just to tick a box on a game feature checklist.
While we're on the negatives, the camera I mentioned earlier needs some extra attention. In fairness, it does a pretty good job of tracking Kong underground, most of the terrain visually disappearing to show the monkeyman and whatever tunnel he's in the process of carving. It's not so good when he's climbing exterior surfaces, hanging from ceilings, or trying to fight swarms of smaller enemies. Not only can the camera get confused about its positioning, the controls sometimes join it to make DK move in opposition to your input. It's not so consistent as to prove ruinous, but it does crop up enough to be an irritant.
To spice things up, Donkey Kong accesses a series of freakish transformations during his descent through the planet. These titular Bananzas grant him new abilities to interact with the world in unique ways, hybridizing Kong’s regular body with another animal like he’s a kind of fucked up Wuzzle. It’s some real Doctor Moreau shit that manages to be cool and disturbing all at once.
You’ve got the Kong form, which crosses a gorilla with a gorilla for double the gorilla and extra punching power. The Ostrich form haunts my nightmares with its muscularity and allows for gliding and floating on air currents. The Zebra is likely someone’s fetish and increases DK’s speed, while the borderline eldritch Snake offers high jumps at the cost of awkward springy controls that I don’t like at all.
These forms can be fun and interesting but they are mere appetizers for the Elephant. Its trunk-powered suction is a genuine game changer and the reason I eventually got far too absorbed in mindless destruction. Slurping up the environment so mightily is immensely pleasing, and I found myself unable to stop vacuuming up the world to its foundations at times.
Donkey Kong Bananza really wants you to engage with its titular transformations. Although they’re temporary, all it takes is picking up gold to recharge them, which means you pretty much have endless access. On the very rare occasion gold is unavailable, DK can also carry melon juice consumables that let him trigger them regardless.
I appreciate a game that doesn’t arbitrarily restrict access to its cool toys. Bananzas can be quite important for dealing with the environment, but they’re also just plain fun, and limiting access to them would make for a less enthralling time. While this does mean DK’s humble punching becomes almost obsolete once the Elephant becomes available, it’s a late unlock and it’s so damn satisfying I can’t complain.
Naturally, there’s absolutely loads of game to get through, should you choose. The unrestricted nature of progress means you can just have as much videogame as you want, with hours upon hours of fully optional banana hunting. Even just casually looking around for them will net you more worthwhile playtime than almost every other game existing at this price point. For those who equate length to quality, this is upper tier stuff.
Then there’s the presentation, which is unsurprisingly fantastic. DK is gorgeously animated, with a wonderfully expressive face. Despite supposedly being underground, every level is bright and colorful, enemies are just as vibrant, and the entire saturated thing is my exact idea of looking good. The catchy soundtrack is just icing on top.
Nintendo’s been a seedy dumpster of late, and Donkey Kong Bananza alone won’t redeem it, but it is a reminder that the company still houses some of the best talent in the game making business. It doesn’t quite have the variety and spark of Mario Odyssey, though it does offer a lot of the same rewarding collectathon structure. Unlike most of the ground beneath DK’s feet, it’s really solid stuff.
8.5/10
