"Donkey Kong Bonanza" Is the Anticipated Launch Title for Switch 2

Players who bought the Nintendo Switch 2 with the laser focus of playing Nintendo’s exclusive titles may have been disappointed that the sole first-party experience available at launch was Mario Kart World. You won’t have to sit on your hands for much longer—Donkey Kong Bananza, set to release on July 17, might just be the best reason to own a Switch 2 this early in its life cycle.

I played around 2.5 hours of the upcoming game starring Nintendo’s raging gorilla, and I couldn’t stop punching at the air like there was a big rock monster standing in my way. Donkey Kong Bananza is the kind of game that’s a reminder why people keep coming back to Nintendo, even if it may not be a game that shows off the full graphics and performance power of the Switch 2.

Nintendo told Gizmodo that Donkey Kong Bananza was developed by some of the people who worked on one of the games that helped define the original Switch, Super Mario Odyssey. The 3D platformer was a game that married many legacy elements from past titles on Nintendo platforms. It was, at its heart, a Banjo-Kazooie-style collect-a-thon featuring Mario’s tight jumping moveset. The developers sprinkled in a huge variety of unique mechanics through the ghost-hap Cappy and its ability to possess various creatures in each level. Odyssey was a celebration of all things Mario, but Donkey Kong doesn’t have nearly as long of a star-studded career, despite how both characters were introduced to players in the same 1981 arcade game.

While the mood in Super Mario Odyssey was celebratory, the tone Nintendo is setting for Donkey Kong Bananza is a party where you’re expected to fully let loose. Other than the button used to jump, the other three face buttons are mapped to different types of punches—either straight forward, above, or below. These three separate buttons for attacks mean you can hit enemies from practically any direction, and you’re fully expected to hang onto their heads and pummel them into the dirt. It also means Donkey Kong can deform the terrain in any direction you choose. You can whack a tunnel through most of the map, but unlike in Deep Rock Galactic with similar amounts of terrain deformation capabilities, Nintendo doesn’t expect players to carve out a mountain like an ant colony taking over a terrarium. Players are expected to go wild, and the game rewards you for going apesh*t.

Compared to Donkey Kong’s depiction in that awful 2023 The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where he was a hot-headed youth with daddy issues, DK in Bananza is the epitome of a stumbling brute. He has a one-track mind that can occasionally get steered in a more productive direction depending on the whims of those closest to him. Donkey Kong’s first and main focus from minute to minute is finding where his next banana is coming from. He’s not completely devoid of empathy—especially to Odd Rock (the purple rock form Pauline takes in the beginning of the game) and, later, Pauline—but DK is an incredibly expressive and incredibly silly beast who just happens to be so strong he can punch his way through a mountainside without breaking a sweat.

Donkey Kong’s personality informs the gameplay in such a striking way that more often than not, you feel like your brute tactics are somehow pushing you forward on the right path. As Nintendo highlighted in its recent Donkey Kong Bananza-centric Direct, hitting an enemy at the right angle can send them flying into walls and reveal some secret, like the eponymous “Banandium gems” that essentially act as Power Moons from Odyssey. These you can use to unlock more health for DK or more moves, such as a double jump when holding onto a rock. There’s a whole heap of DNA shared between the two games, but where Mario would move from level to level in bumbling yet heroic fashion, Donkey Kong is flying by the seat of his pants—suspenders and all.

The team that created Super Mario Odyssey designed each level so even basic jumps would be enough to get around. At the same time, the move set could get so complex that skilled players could skip entire sections of levels with precise throws of Cappy and an expertly placed dive. Donkey Kong Bananza has similar levels of depth. DK can grab sections of the terrain and use them to glide along the floor at high speed (different terrain types may have different effects if you’re gliding on water or a fiery floor). Along with a quick roll maneuver, you can climb The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild-style, though without any hindering stamina gauge to keep you from traversing where you want.

What will get especially interesting is how all the various moves combine together with the “Bananza powers” granted by the various “Elder” animals centric to each level. These let DK turn into a bigger, more ferocious ape, but they also let him transform into a zebra and an ostrich. Nintendo hinted there may be more Bananza powers we haven’t seen yet, but already I was finding ways to use the double “chunk” jump with the ostrich flight to skip tricky jumping puzzles.

While DK is the brawn of the game, Pauline (yes, the same one from the original Donkey Kong game who returned for Odyssey as the mayor of New Donk City) is the human face to all of the big ape’s antics. Her singing is what grants DK the power to transform, but her musical talents are what let DK enter various challenge maps and access other secrets. Pauline is also the character that a second player can take on, similar to how a second controller could control Cappy in Odyssey. Instead of flying around an autonomous hat, players use the young lady’s impressive vocals to blast holes in the world with incredible force. She can spit bars like a machine gun, enough that she will likely make some bosses way too easy.

Pauline is also the only instance where players can use the Switch 2’s mouse controls for aiming. DK, even when aiming rocks, will only ever work with joysticks and the gyro-based motion controls. Donkey Kong Bananza isn’t making much use out of the Switch 2’s specific features, other than all the extra power under the hood that’s going toward handling the terrain deformation. Bananza is an expression of what Nintendo does best: make games that are true joys. There are other big Nintendo releases slated for 2025, including Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which will offer aiming with mouse controls. But Nintendo knows what defines a platform isn’t just controls or gimmicks, but what must-play games you can’t find anywhere else.