As Nintendo sets the stage for the long-awaited release of the Switch 2, everything is riding on Donkey Kong Bananza. Nintendo's first major single-player game on the new console, Bananza is under tremendous pressure. As The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild did for the original Switch, Bananza could set the tone and standard and artistic direction for Nintendo's next gen. But opting to lead off with a tie-clad gorilla instead of another Super Mario Odyssey has been divisive among die-hard enthusiasts.

A Platformer That Breaks Through the Norm

But Donkey Kong Bananza quickly dispels those worries—literally. The joy of the game is its frenzied genius. While initially it seems like a typical Mario 64-style 3D platformer, with theme realms and bananas to collect, the game quickly introduces its twist: nearly every surface can be destroyed. Donkey Kong does not simply move through the world—he remakes it.

Destruction as Gameplay, Not Gimmick

Armed with titanic strength and Joy-Con 2-augmented haptic feedback, Donkey Kong flattens hills into tunnels and pristine gardens into cratered battlefields. The joy of destruction is an underlying mechanic. Players pound buttons to punch walls into dust, swing massive hunks of earth like sledgehammers, and even invite a co-op buddy to increase the devastation by firing projectiles off DK's back. As it turns out, a lot rests on Donkey Kong Bananza not just for story resonance, but to establish a new kind of tactile and kinetic gameplay.

A New Twist on the Donkey Kong Legacy

Its breakneck pace is balanced by surprise narrative gravitas. The nefarious mining Kongs—new additions to the Kong clan—are in a hurry to find a hidden treasure buried at the center of the planet. They kidnap Pauline, the same damsel from Donkey Kong's coin-op origins, along the way. But it's no rehash: Pauline is back not as a damsel, but as a musical sidekick whose Latin-pop-infused anthems give Donkey Kong animalistic powers. One particularly infectious tune hymns "the joy of being a zebra," a tribute to the game's skewed, surreal sense of humor.

Evolving Level Design Amidst the Chaos

Level design is a puzzle within itself. With a universe in which the ground can be destroyed at whim, how do you design actual obstacles? The early levels are a bit too free, with treasures stumbled upon by accident rather than design. But the game tightens up as you venture into more hostile territory. Poisonous swamps, icy wastelands, and rivers of lava force you to treat the ground as if it were sacred. Kill too much, and you fall victim to your own hand.

Terrain-Based Combat That Demands Precision

Boss battles are incorporated masterfully by this design, with the landscape being turned into both weapon and hindrance. Some arenas simply disintegrate beneath one's feet, refusing to let Donkey Kong simply bash his way through to the top. Nintendo level designers once more know how to get drama and tension out of whatever situation is at hand—no matter how seemingly one-sided the player is.

Bananzas: Brilliant or Broken?

But it is not entirely banana-smooth. The title "Bananzas"—animal shape transformations that grant powers like flight or super speed—is too much. While they shine on set-piece levels crafted specifically for their special powers, they become "cheat codes" when used in earlier levels, draining some of the tension and cleverness from the game. It's a strange error in a game otherwise full of invention.

A Game That Lives in the Moment

Ultimately, Donkey Kong Bananza doesn't quite achieve that post-game feeling of discovery that made Super Mario Odyssey so wonderful, but it gives you something different: perpetual momentum, joyful mayhem, and a never-ending assault of excellent ideas. It's a game that pays you back in the moment and not in hours of backtracking.

Nintendo gambled with investing so much in Donkey Kong as the launch headliner of its new-generation console. Yet with gameplay so innovative and world design so wild, the gamble appears to be working.

Whether it's the game people had been hoping for, a lot rests on Donkey Kong Bananza —and the big ape bears that burden with resounding success.