By The Verge | Created at 2025-04-03 16:08:26 | Updated at 2025-04-04 18:11:43
1 day ago
Ash Parrish is a reporter who covers the business, culture, and communities of video games, with a focus on marginalized gamers and the quirky, horny culture of video game communities.
One of the games I had on my personal Nintendo Switch 2 bingo card was a new 3D Mario. We didn’t get one at the Switch 2 hands-on, and at first I thought it was odd that Nintendo would be launching their next big thing without a dedicated title for their number one guy. But after playing Donkey Kong Bananza I realized that, while we’re due for a new Mario game, Bananza is perfectly positioned to fill the plumber-shaped platforming hole.
Donkey Kong Bananza is my personal game of the show. In Bananza, the Kong Kingdom has been hit by a gold rush. Everyone is obsessed with digging in the ground to unearth precious metals and gems, including diamonds suspiciously shaped like bananas. They function like the power moons of Super Mario Odyssey, where Donkey Kong travels the world digging them up out of the ground or fighting monsters who’ve stolen them.
Donkey Kong has a new design that makes him way more expressive and fun to watch as he smashes, punches, and chucks rocks all over the place. I was also really impressed with the literal depth of Bananza’s detailed world. Not only are you platforming above ground, but with DK’s smashing ability on certain surfaces, you can dig below ground to find hidden treasures or to simply smash stuff because it’s fun. Every time you find a banana gem, you get a splash screen with an audio clip that goes “Oooh, banana!”, harkening back to the days of Donkey Kong 64. DK also gets a neat little sidekick, similar to Mario’s hat friend Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey.
From the short demo I played, Donkey Kong Bananza feels like a better, Kong-ified version of Super Mario Odyssey. The same gameplay beats are there – you gotta use your platforming skills to collect a bunch of special “jiggies” while thwarting a cosmopolitan team of very cool looking villains – with some minor tweaks and additions (destructible environments!!) to keep the gameplay loop fresh. I took a survey of the press at the event and everyone said Donkey Kong was the best game there.
I still want a Switch 2 Mario platformer and I’m pretty sure one is coming (Odyssey showed up five months after the original Switch launched). But if it doesn’t, there’s a new Kong in town to take his place.
