On May 9th, we visited the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience in Amsterdam and spent quality game time with everyone’s favorite hairy, redesigned monkey. Yes, I’m talking about Donkey Kong, and we got to play two of the levels from the upcoming Donkey Kong Bananza game! Let’s dive (or burry?) in.
The demo we played started with the start of Donkey Kong and his friends’ new (?) career. They are mining for bananas, not just bananas; these are made of rare materials and are worth a lot of money. In addition to digging for bananas, DK and his friends struck gold, and lots of it. The game guided me through a large mining facility with lots of stuff to break, dig up, and climb towards. It felt alive in the mine, and good to move Donkey Kong in a 3D setting again. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good old 2D Donkey Kong game, and they are most of the time tough as nails, but I longed for a new 3D DK game since DK 64… and that was a long time ago.
Controlling Donkey Kong felt smooth, and literally everything that DK touches can be destroyed by either a big punch, a floor drum, or an airborne dive attack. So, when I destroyed most of the mine, I could continue to the second level of the demo, which pushed me a little into the future and showed Donkey Kong on the island we also saw in the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct. This is where things became interesting. The world feels like Mario Odyssey, but even more open? Think Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom combined with the Mario Odyssey series, IN Donkey Kong style + Minecraft mechanics, and you scratch the surface of what the new Bananza game has in store.
While I went on to destroy yet another world, I found a ton of collectibles. DK can collect gold, vinyl records, fossils, and much more. Along the way, hidden levels often challenge you to beat a certain number of very tough enemies in a certain amount of time, resulting in another Gemnana (gem-banana, get it?). The first one was in plain sight, but the Nintendo Employee at the booth told us that most of them are well hidden within the game, so it’s time to dig a hole and search beneath the surface for hidden treasure and hidden levels. Oh, and we met up with an old friend in the form of Cranky Kong… always good to see him in the Donkey Kong games.
Donkey Kong packs a punch, combining a bunch of ground pounds, punches, and aerial moves to beat enemies into pulp and find new ways to progress. He can dig up rocks and use remarkable purple rocks to find new pathways. And if you think ‘Oops, I went a bit too far with destroying this world’ – Nintendo has got you covered. You can remake the island, which will return you to your last checkpoint of the session. The demo ended with a small boss fight, which mainly focused on using the abilities learned in the demo level and felt pretty okay regarding difficulty. I can’t wait to see what else is in store for this title; and I highly recommend playing it, even if it’s just for the colors and vibrant vibes coming through the screen in both docked and handheld mode.
