Donkey Kong Bananza is an upcoming platform game published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch 2. The player controls the gorilla Donkey Kong as he seeks to recover stolen banana-shaped diamonds from a group of villainous apes. They explore sandbox-like levels while completing objectives, battling enemies, and collecting objects. Bananza features destructible environments; the player can destroy most terrain to create paths and find items.
Bananza is the first major Donkey Kong game since Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (2014) and the first 3D platformer since Donkey Kong 64 (1999). It is scheduled for release on July 17, 2025.
Gameplay
Donkey Kong Bananza is a 3D platformer and action-adventure game that emphasizes destruction and open-world exploration. The story begins when VoidCo., a gang of villainous apes, steals Golden Bananas, banana-shaped diamonds, amidst a gold rush. The gorilla Donkey Kong, the player character, travels underground to recover them. He is accompanied by Odd Rock, an anthropomorphic purple stone who directs him towards objectives.
The player explores sandbox-like levels in the underground world. Donkey Kong can roll, punch, slap the terrain, pick up and throw objects, and climb most surfaces. Journalists have compared Bananza to Super Mario Odyssey (2017), some describing it as a successor. The player completes missions, solves puzzles, and fights enemies to collect Golden Bananas. Golden Bananas function similarly to Odyssey's Power Moons and are obtained by progressing through the story or found through exploration. The player can receive advice from, assist, and obtain Golden Bananas from non-player characters (NPCs), including other Donkey Kong characters such as Cranky Kong.
Bananza is distinguished by its destructible environments: Donkey Kong can smash almost every surface and destroy terrain. He can rip pieces of the environment from the ground or walls and throw them to uncover items or destroy enemies, or use them as snowboards. Destroying environments allows for varied traversal; for instance, Donkey Kong can dig underground and create a path to another area of the world. He can also uncover Golden Bananas by digging. The extent to which the player can destroy the environment is limited by a layer of unbreakable bedrock at the bottom of each level. The player keeps track of their progress in a 3D world map.
Other collectibles include Banandium, a gold-like material that serves as currency, and fossils, which the player can trade. While exploring, the player discovers secluded areas where they must complete challenges including platforming, solving puzzles, defeating enemies within a time limit, and mining for Banandium. They are rewarded Golden Bananas or Banandium upon completion. Some areas contain side-scrolling sections, similar to the Donkey Kong Country games, and minecarts.
Development
The previous major Donkey Kong game, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, was released for the Wii U in 2014. Afterwards, Nintendo and Vicarious Visions, with consultation from the franchise's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, worked on a Donkey Kong game for the Nintendo Switch for six months. Codenamed Freedom, the project was an open-world 3D platformer that emphasized traversal, with grinding on vines as a core mechanic. It was canceled in 2016 after Activision Blizzard, Vicarious Visions' parent company, redirected its developers' focus to the Call of Duty franchise. In 2021, Nintendo Life reported that Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development was developing the next Donkey Kong game, the first developed internally since Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (2004). Development reportedly began in 2017 or 2018.
Bananza is the first 3D Donkey Kong platformer since Donkey Kong 64 (1999). It is the first Donkey Kong game to use a redesigned Donkey Kong since Rare's Donkey Kong Country (1994), similar to his appearance in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). Kouichi Kawamoto, who led the Nintendo Switch 2's development, cited Bananza's destructible environments as an example of gameplay made possible by the improved processing speed over the original Switch.
Release
Nintendo announced Donkey Kong Bananza in a Nintendo Direct presentation on April 2, 2025. It is scheduled for release for the Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17. It will be the first major Donkey Kong game since Tropical Freeze.
Notes
References
External links
- Official website
