Donkey Kong Bananza (2025): The Review

Overview

What begins as a simple platforming adventure soon shows itself to be one of Nintendo’s most inventive and delightfully experimental outings in years. Donkey Kong Bananza shines with clever level design, brilliantly executed mechanics, and a satisfying sense of chaos that never wears thin. Sure, the main story wraps up a little too fast and a few performance stumbles crop up along the way, but there’s still plenty to enjoy if you’re ready to peel back its many layers (pun absolutely intended).

Score: 9,5 out of 10

The Positives ✅

Donkey Kong Bananza is Nintendo showing off just how playful they can be. It finally lets DK feel like the raw force of nature he was always supposed to be. The core gameplay loop is rock solid (pun fully intended), and the layered level design ensures that every trip back through the stages feels like you’re peeling away new secrets. This isn’t a platformer you just sprint through once, it’s built to reward curiosity, and every time you double back, you’re bound to stumble into something fresh.

The toolkit Nintendo hands you here is wild. Everything DK does feels heavy, satisfying, and just a bit unhinged in the best way possible. Whether you’re smashing through rock walls, hurling slabs at enemies, or improvising platforms under your feet, the game keeps finding new ways to make destruction fun. It’s basically Nintendo saying, “Here’s the toybox, now break it however you want.” And the beauty is that the game actually wants you to break it. It’s a platformer with the soul of a sandbox.

On top of that, the art direction hits like a boulder. Every biome bursts with personality, from layered underground cities to crumbling caverns dripping with atmosphere. The boss fights especially shine, they’re wild, chaotic spectacles with particle effects flying everywhere, and while that sometimes makes the screen a mess, it also makes the fights unforgettable. Add in a soundtrack that swings between funky riffs, tribal beats, and Pauline’s ridiculously catchy vocal tracks, and you’ve got a game that sounds as good as it looks. Her transformation anthems are basically instant earworms.

Replayability is another huge win. While the main story takes about 20 hours if you stick to the path, the real magic comes from going back with the full Bananza toolkit and tearing through earlier stages in completely new ways. There’s a ton of side content, collectibles, and secret Challenge Stages that push your skills to the limit. This is a game that doesn’t just tolerate replays, it begs for them.

And finally, the story, surprisingly heartfelt for a DK adventure, benefits hugely from Pauline. Her partnership with DK gives the campaign a sense of momentum beyond just chasing Banandium Gems. Their contrasting goals (his obsession with gems versus her need to get home) give the journey emotional weight. By the end, the two of them feel like a genuine duo, and that dynamic elevates the whole experience beyond a silly romp.

The Negatives ⚠️

For all its strengths, Bananza isn’t without cracks. The most obvious? Frame rate dips. When the action gets really chaotic, bosses throwing debris, particle effects exploding all over, the game sometimes stutters. It’s never game-breaking, and Nintendo fans are no strangers to this, but it’s noticeable enough that it takes you out of the flow in big moments.

The boss fights themselves, while visually spectacular, don’t always hold up mechanically. Too many of them boil down to repeating a simple action a few times before smashing the weak point until it’s over. They’re inventive in presentation, but once you’ve seen past the flashy effects, they can feel too easy and shallow, especially for more experienced players. For younger or casual fans it might be fine, but for anyone expecting a challenge, it’s a bit of a letdown.

Another issue is that, for all the sandbox-style creativity, the difficulty curve is pretty forgiving. The game often encourages wild experimentation, but it rarely punishes mistakes in any meaningful way. While that makes it more accessible, it also means the stakes can feel low. Even when you’re improvising solutions, you don’t feel like you’re risking much. That lack of tension makes some sections blur together.

And of course, the price tag is a sticking point. At $70, it’s hard not to feel that sting, especially when the main story can be finished in about 20 hours if you’re not hunting for every collectible. Sure, the replay value is there for those who want it, but not every player is going to dive back in after the credits. For them, the value proposition might feel thin.

Lastly, while DK and Pauline are great, the supporting cast doesn’t get much love. The villains are more functional than memorable, and outside of a few references that tug at Rare-era nostalgia, there isn’t a lot of character depth. The game focuses so much on the spectacle and systems that it misses the chance to flesh out its world with stronger personalities.

The Experience 🎮

Playing Donkey Kong Bananza felt like rediscovering DK after years of him being sidelined. This wasn’t just another Donkey Kong Country, it felt like his Odyssey moment, where Nintendo finally gave the big ape the kind of expressive, systems-driven adventure that Mario’s been hogging for years. Smashing through walls, throwing chunks of rock, and experimenting with Bananza forms constantly had me grinning like an idiot.

The pairing with Pauline worked way better than I expected. At first, I thought she’d just be there as a novelty, but her presence gave the story actual heart. Their banter, her songs, and her more grounded goals balanced out DK’s chaotic energy perfectly. By the finale, I was fully invested in their shared journey, which is something I never thought I’d say about a Donkey Kong story.

I also got completely sucked into the exploration loop. Even when I intended to just push through the main path, the game kept distracting me with glimmers in the environment or suspicious cracks in the wall that practically begged to be punched. It’s that same magic that made Zelda’s open worlds so addictive, you can’t help but follow your curiosity. Challenge Stages, hidden collectibles, and Banandium upgrades kept me doubling back long after I thought I was done.

Sure, the frame dips were annoying when the screen got overloaded, and a few of the bosses didn’t hit as hard as they should have. But in the moment? Smashing through layers of the world as DK, with Pauline belting out a hype track in the background, felt too fun to care much. The game has that rare quality where even its flaws kind of fade behind how much joy it delivers in motion.

By the time the credits rolled, I wasn’t done. I immediately wanted to dive back in, not out of obligation, but because the game had hooked me with its systems. Even knowing some of its flaws, the thrill of experimenting, smashing, and uncovering secrets outweighed the negatives. Donkey Kong may have taken decades to get here, but with Bananza, it finally feels like the big ape has a modern classic to call his own.