I work with Nintendo a lot when it comes to doing reviews and PR stuff so that means that I get a lot of games for free. At first, I didn't go out of my way to get Donkey Kong Bananza, I wasn't planning on playing it, especially considering that I haven't played a Donkey Kong game in more than a decade. But then after the game released, I was seeing videos of gameplay and other stuff and I accidently became so excited to play it that it became the first game of 2025 that I bought with my own money, and it was worth it.

GRAPHICS: 10/10

For this section, I have to blend the graphics with the switch 2 horsepower. The game doesn't just look fantastic, out of all the 3D platformers that I have ever played, it simply runs the best. There’s never any stuttering or frame rate issues, animations are smooth, facial expressions are smoother, and movement is incredibly fluid. You tell DK to do something, and the action is done perfectly within a fraction of a second.

From a strictly visual perspective, the game is great too. The layout of each sublayer looks great and there's a ton of detail. There's also so much color everywhere, the game is just so much fun to look at.

SOUND: 9/10

The soundtrack is okay. There wasn't really any music that stood out to me other than the bananza music, but the rest of the sound design was spot on. The sound that plays when you pick up a banana or level up was engraved in my mind after the first few hours. There's also the occasional voices lines from Pauline or grunt from DK.

ADDICTIVENESS: 10/10

Trust me, I would put this score higher than a 10 if I could. When I first unlocked Boom Rocks near the start, I almost took a detour from the story to clear out the entire level by way of explosion. When I finally got bored of that, I started hunting every single fossil and treasure chest that I could get my hands on. I probably spent around 15 hours on the game before I even made it to the Canyon Layer because I was just having so much fun messing around with stuff.

It actually took me around 60 hours to beat the main game and ever since then, I would occasionally hop on for some fast-paced rock riding or to explode a mountain. It's definitely a pick up and play kind of game that you can get lost in, and it's easy to keep coming back for more.

STORY: 8/10

There is a story, but it takes a backseat to the gameplay. When the game begins, DK is digging for bananas but an evil mining company steals all the bananas and sends DK and the island he was on underground. The only way to get back up is to keep going down. So he teams up with Pauline to reach the core of the planet to defeat the company before things get even crazier. It's a decent story, but again, the gameplay is the focus.

DEPTH: 10/10

Donkey Kong Bananza has a lot going on. Even if you were to speedrun the game, you're still looking at 15 to 20 hours because of how much there is. Each layer is massive and there are more than 40 total sublayers. There's so much to do on each layer between collecting all the fossils, doing the story missions, collecting bananas, completing challenges, or just messing with the environment.

There's also a ton of characters, more bananas than you can count, and a massive skill tree that allows you to do even more. There's even a sculpting more in the main menu that allows you to test out your arts and crafts abilities. On top of that, the DLC you can purchase separately allows you to do even more.

DIFFICULTY: 2

It's not a hard game at all. It's meant for a younger audience and won't be hard for kids either. If something is too challenging to do, maybe you can just come back later when you unlock a certain bananza or when you use some skill points. No part of the game is locked behind any sort of skill. If you can read and have some level of patience, the game won't be hard at all.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Before launch, I was expecting the game to be good. When the game came out, my expectations started going even higher. Then when I got around to actually playing, andnothing could prepare me for how much fun I had with the game. Nothing could stop me from coming back every day to play for a little while. After playing for a few hours, I was hooked and by the time I finished playing, it was cemented as what I believe to be the greatest 3D platformer ever.

Even if you don't care for the Donkey Kong games but still enjoy 3D platformers in general, you're going to want to pick this one up because no matter what expectations you have, Donkey Kong Bananza is going to easily exceed them. I heard so many people complaining about how Nintendo increased the price to $70 for this one. But I genuinely think this is one of the few cases where a game might actually be worth the extra $10. The game easily gets a 9.5 out of 10 from me.