Bananza is a bold, bright, banana-filled romp which overwhelms your senses and keeps you coming back for more. While it probably falls just short of the heights of Odyssey, it definitely shares its DNA. Undoubtedly, DK’s most complete adventure, the new music-infused climbing-smashing-exploring platforming, is addictive and unique, making Bananza the Switch 2’s first must-own game.

After hearing that Nintendo EPD (the developers within Nintendo mostly responsible for the 3D Mario games, including Odyssey) were the core team behind Bananza, I was both really happy and a little disappointed. As a huge Mario fan, I was rather hoping that we’d be getting a new Mario adventure early on into the Switch 2’s library. Odyssey is probably my favourite game of all time, and finding out that its ‘sequel’ was still a ways a way, understandably made me a little sad. That being said, I was really excited to see what (arguably) Nintendo’s premier team could do with a DK title. Now, just after a month with the game and having gotten through the credits and started on the pretty hefty post-game stuff, I’m happy to report that once again the EPD team has delivered.

So A-Peel-ing!

Visually, this game is a neon explosion of colours and shapes. DK’s goofy old-school look may not be to everyone’s taste, but I kinda think it fits his ‘lovable oaf’ persona. Throw in a young Pauline’s earnestness and fun design (and the ability to purchase new outfits and fur colours), and it all makes for a spectacle that I think a lot of young kids are going to immediately be drawn to. As expected, the story is not much to write home about (bad guys (monkeys) arrive, do some bad stuff (steal Banadium gems – shiny bananas,) and it’s up to DK and his new, shy but vocally magical sidekick to stop them). However, throw in a fun ‘digging deeper and deeper towards the planet core to catch the baddies AND have your deepest wish fulfilled’, all themed around the power of singing, music and friendship (backed by a good soundtrack and sound design) and you have something that will also appeal to more experience players – especially when you also get into the games mechanics and general gameplay loop.

I constantly found myself saying “ok just one more thing and then I will turn it off” and then two hours would pass.

It is easy to see Odyssey’s DNA running through Bananza; From similar animations when finding collectables to game mechanics and powerups that are introduced and then expanded on in each new area, Bananza feels like it’s both literally and spiritually set in the same ‘universe’ as Odyssey. As you dive deeper into the world new areas featuring snow, jungle or even beach themes burst with personality and charm and most feature new little tweaks to movement or gameplay that just keep you coming back for more – and I constantly found myself saying “ok just one more thing and then I will turn it off” and then two hours would pass.

Monkeying Around Marvellously

In Odyssey, Mario’s movement was all about jumping and moving through the environment vertically and even sometimes horizontally as deftly as possible. Bananza is all about heft (while somehow still feeling frantically fast). The exploration (especially early on) is through destruction – literally using DK to bash through every inch of the world. Thankfully, this new take on a 3D adventure feels just as engaging, and while the occasional clip through walls does happen, the truth is that it’s so much fun to dig and clobber your way around that it never becomes an issue. And I often found myself ignoring the main quest to simply run around the world bashing everything in sight. The addition of a simple skill tree also allows you to tailor your additional abilities, like improving the hand-slap-powered sonar or increasing the power of your punches. Building on these skills, like realising you can use mud to create bridges to certain seemingly unreachable parts of the map, just adds to the fun and encourages you to explore and collect. best of all – each area has unique dungeon-like challenge and battle rooms – and those are often the best parts of the game (especially if you want to collect all the Bananas) featuring mini-puzzles and timed quests that break up the main flow of the game in the best way.

It’s this combination of quick-to-pick-up but insanely high ceiling mechanics that shines in Bananza.

One of the reasons I love Mario games is that the movement feels so responsive and intuitive. And thankfully, while feeling different, DK’s ever-growing list of abilities (both the big showy Bananza Powerups and simple skill-tree-based, like surfing through spiky terrain) means that as you progress through the game, even the bulky Kong becomes similarly balletic in his movements. Using a huge piece of rocky rainbow terrain that DK has just torn off a hill to fly up into the sky, then switching to the Ostrich Bananza and floating through the air just long enough to grab on to another hulking tower which you then can climb, may sound a bit nonsensical – but it is all feels smooth and ridiculously fun to pull off. It’s this combination of quick-to-pick-up but insanely high ceiling mechanics that I love from many of Nintendo’s platformers that shines in Bananza. It means newer players can easily jump in, but fans of the genre who put hours and hours into the game will eventually be able to pull off insane tricks and moves. And, if the videos of area skips and no Bananza Ability runs that are already popping up on YouTube are anything to go by, this is a game the expert speedrunners are going to love for a long time.

Banana Peel Slips

Along with all these great bits, I must confess that the game didn’t immediately grab my attention. The very first world felt a little drab (especially when compared to the later stuff), and it’s only about a third of the way through the around 30-hour main quest that everything really starts to come together (abilities, visuals and new mechanics). However, it’s definitely good enough until then and from that point on its pretty much fantastic. My only other small complaints were that many of the boss fights feel a little too easy, and the final Boss (while a lot tougher seems to lean a little too much into fan service and sort of comes a little out of nowhere. I also wouldn’t have minded a little more variety and a little more encouragement to use a combination of all the Bananza powers within the main quest. However, having hit some of the early post-game stuff it seems that that is dealt with there – and given I enjoyed the game as much as I did, I’m happy to keep playing and therefore that’s not really a biggie.

It’s only about a third of the way through the around 30-hour main quest that everything really starts to come together

On the multiplayer side of things, there’s a mode that allows for a second player to jump in. However, much like Odyssey, it’s seemingly been made as an option to help younger/less experienced players. While one player keeps control of DK, the second player controls Pauline’s voice, aiming words in rock form at everything around you using the Joy-Con (either with the new mouse features or the L-stick). If a young child/less experienced player takes control of DK, then the second player can help quite a lot by digging up the terrain and defeating enemies before they get too close. However, when you do this, the screen becomes even more chaotic, with flying words, big explosions and bits of land flying everywhere. It’s quite tiring on the eyes. That being said, this, plus the Assist Mode, are welcome options. Additionally, from the start menu, you can jump into a sort of artist sculpting mode – here (again using mouse controls) you can colour or even create your own digital sculpture. It works well enough, but I didn’t find it engaging enough to keep spending more than a few minutes in it at a time. No doubt, though, that someone more artistic than I will love this little extra feature.

The Banana Split

All in all, Bananza shows off once again Nintendo’s (and especially the EPD team’s) ability to create fantastically fun video games. It says a lot that my early disappointment that we weren’t getting a Mario sequel quickly dissipated when I started playing Bananza. While the visuals are bold and in your face, and gameplay often looks a little frantic, this is, I think, a game that feels better to play than to watch. It scratches that exploration itch and provides an almost perfect addictive gameplay loop. While Odyssey (which felt like a Masterpiece from the first moment) still feels like a more complete game to me, this is a platformer that gives you much of the same joy as you got playing Mario’s adventure while exploring a different corner of the universe. DK is lovable, and his ‘destroy, climb or surf’ everything move set feels unique and special. It makes me excited for future titles and currently stands not only as the first true reason to own a Switch 2, but also very likely Nintendo’s 2025 Game of the Year and a classic for years to come.

REVIEW CODE PROVIDED BY: NINTENDO

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