After greater than a decade-long wait, Donkey Kong fans can smell a sigh of relief. Nintendo Switch announced the following chapter within the long-standing Donkey Kong franchise. And with the gaming technology dynamics, players can expect a fresh experience with this game. First, it should premiere on Nintendo Switch 2, the next-gen evolution of the Switch system. Moreover, the sport incorporates a redesigned Donkey Kong and a few pretty impressive destructible environments. With a launch date already set, let’s provide you with a fast walk-through of the sport. Here’s every thing we find out about Donkey Kong Bananza to this point.
What’s Donkey Kong Bananza?
Platforming game fans can now prepare to relive the Donkey Kong moments in Donkey Kong Bananza. Nintendo announced the sport. It joined the roster of video games expected to launch on the Nintendo Switch 2 later this yr. Just like the games before it, Donkey Kong Bananza might be a platforming game with intense motion and adventure. After a decade-long hiatus since Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, it should mark the primary foremost game within the Donkey Kong series. It’s also the second biggest and exclusive game for Switch 2, although it should not be dropping on Switch 2’s launch day.
Story
When Donkey Kong and his crew of spider monkeys learn in regards to the Banandium on Ingot Isle, they resolve to enterprise into the island’s mines and exploit the fabric. While on this expedition, a special gang of primates referred to as VoidCo appears on Ingot Isle aboard a large boulder and manages to steal the Golden Bananas.
The vessel pushes the island further into the bottom, leading to a storm that sends Donkey Kong and his gang of spider monkeys unconscious. After reawakening, Donkey Kong discovers the ordeal and meets his companion, Odd Rock, the purple stone, who directs him. Along with his newfound companion, they resolve to explore the underworld through the sandbox-like levels to recuperate the stolen gems.
Gameplay
In Donkey Kong Bananza, players are immersed in an open-world action-adventure as they struggle to recuperate the stolen banana-shaped diamonds. You control the playable character, Donkey Kong, moving through the sandbox levels, fighting off enemies, solving puzzles, completing missions, and gathering the bananas.
Odd Rock is your companion who directs you towards achieving your objectives. Travel the underground world, roll, punch, throw objects, collect materials, climb surfaces, and hit the terrain. You’ll be able to collect the Golden Bananas by just progressing the gameplay or running into them in your exploration. Players may also get help or advice from other non-player characters in the sport and even earn Golden Bananas from them. They’re very much like Power Moons for individuals who played one in every of the very best Mario games, Super Mario Odyssey.
The sport environments are destructible throughout your exploration. You’ll be able to smash on surfaces and rip the terrain apart in the hunt for items. Ripped items will be thrown around to destroy foes or used as snowboards. The destructible environments make the sport’s exploration quite dynamic. Your player character can create pathways to latest worlds or dig underground for the Golden items before they reach the bedrock. You furthermore may collect other materials, corresponding to the Banandium, one other gold material used because the in-game currency.
Finally, your exploration may also lead you to secluded areas with unique challenges. From solving puzzles to platforming, mining the Banandium material, and taking down enemies with a limited time. You receive rewards in Banandium or the Golden Bananas upon completing these challenges.
Development
Donkey Kong Bananza is developed and published by Nintendo. It’s created as a 3D platformer, with a powerful emphasis on exploration and destruction. Notably, it’s the primary 3D Donkey Kong platformer for the reason that 1999 Donkey Kong 64. For now, it’s unclear when exactly the event of Donkey Kong Bananza began. It’s the following game after the 2014 hit, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, featuring a redesigned Donkey Kong.
After the previous game, Nintendo partnered with Vicarious Visions to create a brand new Donkey Kong video game called Freedom. It was still a 3D platformer specializing in traversal within the open world. Nonetheless, it was later cancelled in 2016. Later, in 2021, Nintendo Life revealed that the following video game within the Donkey Kong series was in development. Development had reportedly began a while between 2017 and 2018, marking the primary game created internally by Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development since 2004.
Trailer
Nintendo announced Donkey Kong Bananza through the Nintendo Direct presentation that happened on April 2, 2025. The sport reveal got here together with an announcement trailer, which reveals just about every thing about its gameplay. It’s a fast-paced platforming game with Donkey Kong because the only player character, but with a purple rock companion he carries on his shoulder.
It is simple to identify Donkey Kong from the 02:28-minute video, even for gamers of their first encounter with Donkey Kong gameplay. He’s the gorilla character seen moving across the sport world, smashing objects, partitions, and the bottom. All the things in regards to the gameplay will be seen from the trailer because the gorilla runs, scales partitions, jumps, rolls, and snowboards across the sport world.
You’ll be able to see the destructible environment and the way easily Donkey Kong destroys his surroundings and collects the gold gems. All of the motion and adventure occur amid a cool soundtrack and appropriate sound effects that match the gorilla’s smash on different surfaces and its groans. The video also portrays the events that lead as much as the sport’s story when the enemy primates arrive aboard the enormous boulder. But in a bitter twist, the trailer ends with a seemingly troubled Donkey Kong getting crushed by a falling rock.
Release Date & Platforms
After its announcement through the Nintendo presentation, Donkey Kong Bananza also featured within the Nintendo Treehouse: Live Events on April 3 and April 4, 2025. The sport is scheduled for full release on July 17, 2025, for Nintendo Switch 2. Despite being one in every of the foremost games on the roster for the Nintendo Switch 2, Donkey Kong Bananza won’t be among the many launch games. Nintendo Switch 2 is about to launch on June 5, 2025.
