Game Information
Game Title: Donkey Kong Bananza
Platforms:
- Nintendo Switch (Jul 17, 2025)
Trailer:
Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 91 average - 100% recommended - 44 reviews
Critic Reviews
Areajugones - Juan Linares - Spanish - 9.5 / 10
Donkey Kong Bonanza is a must-play gem poised to be one of the Nintendo Switch 2’s greatest titles. Evoking the golden era of Nintendo 64, it bursts with nostalgic charm, infectious fun, and stellar level design. If this is a glimpse of the Switch 2’s future, we’re in for something extraordinary.
CGMagazine - Zubi Khan - 9 / 10
Donkey Kong Bananza marks the first major first-party release from Nintendo since the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.
I'm happy to say that Donkey Kong Bananza is here to whisk you off to multilevel worlds of satisfyingly smashing madness, to cheer you up and give you an excuse to punch the heck out of things.
COGconnected - James Paley - 100 / 100
Mario Kart World was a great introduction to the Switch 2, but Donkey Kong Bananza is the first can’t-miss game to come to the platform. You’d be a fool to pass on this one.
Cerealkillerz - Steve Brieller - German - 9.1 / 10
Donkey Kong's triumphant return to 3D delivers an incredibly fun experience. Minor technical issues are easily outweighed by the creative gameplay, the strong presentation and the perfect dose of nostalgia. This is the system seller the Switch 2 needed.
Checkpoint Gaming - Luke Mitchell - 9 / 10
Smashing and crashing his way to a new generation, Donkey Kong is well and truly back with Donkey Kong Bananza. Each layer is an absolute joy, with largely destructible environments that are jam-packed with secrets and hidden goodies. It's visually stunning, too; incredibly colourful and a true showcase of what the Switch 2 is capable of, with lots of variety. With so many collectables to find and a lot of nostalgic nods to D.K.'s long history, it's a must-have platformer that nails the brief and lives up to the legacy of Nintendo's greatest hits.
Console Creatures - Bobby Pashalidis - 10 / 10
Donkey Kong Bananza is far deeper than I ever anticipated, and it's absolutely one of this year's best games. There has never been a better Donkey Kong adventure than Bananza.
From start to finish, Donkey Kong Bonanza is a riot. I wrapped up my journey to Bananza's credits in a little over 20 hours. Your mileage will vary wildly depending on how much optional content you decide to invest time in, but that's the beauty of it.
If you're not big on collectathons, there's still plenty of game here for platforming purists to enjoy. I can't recommend enough taking on the various trials – think Shrines from Breath of the Wild – littered throughout the world, though, especially if you're a fan of 2D Donkey Kong.
While performance issues were largely nonexistent in handheld mode, quite severe frame rate drops were commonplace when docked, especially during certain boss battles. This doesn't take into account any day one patches that may or may not arrive on release, and not egregious enough that your enjoyment will be hampered.
Digitally Downloaded - Matt Sainsbury - 4.5 / 5
Donkey Kong Bananza is the perfect launch window title for the Nintendo Switch 2. It highlights the kind of creative whimsy that Nintendo can achieve with its new hardware, demonstrates that the Switch 2 really is more than a slightly bigger Switch… and is just a very fine game on top of all of that. Donkey Kong has finally appeared in a 3D platformer worth a damn.
Digitec Magazine - Cassie Mammone - German - 5 / 5
With “Donkey Kong Bananza”, the Switch 2 is getting its next must-play title after “Mario Kart World”. One month after its release, the console already has its first in-house single-player hit.
Enternity.gr - Nikitas Kavouklis - Greek - 8.5 / 10
Donkey Kong Bananza has all the makings of unlimited fun, but it's easy to miss the mark.
Eurogamer - Alex Donaldson - 4 / 5
A brilliant core mechanic and clever design twists make Bananza a delightfully sticky 3D platform adventure topped off with a sweet central character relationship.
Eurogamer.pt - Bruno Galvão - Portuguese - 5 / 5
Donkey Kong Bananza is one of Nintendo's funniest games ever, capable of bringing smiles to children's faces and energizing adults' love of video games. The 3D levels are playgrounds that you can almost completely destroy, in a design that uses simplicity as a launch pad for a huge amount of fun.
Everyeye.it - Italian - 9 / 10
In short, Donkey Kong Bananza arrives in dazzling form for its (highly anticipated) debut with gamers, once again demonstrating the extraordinary skill and fresh artistic vision of the creative team led by director Motokura, who previously rose to prominence with the splendid Super Mario Odyssey.
GAMES.CH - Benjamin Braun - German - 90%
Not only does the game look great and once again shine with a charming and detailed setting, but above all, it's incredibly powerful in terms of gameplay. Even if we could just smash half the world, we'd have tons of fun.
GRYOnline.pl - Adam Celarek - Polish - 8.5 / 10
Despite some of its flaws, Donkey Kong: Bananza perfectly fills a niche hungry for a colourful, joyful adventure, which provides a lot of unrestrained fun. The game draws extensively on the ideas from Super Mario Odyssey, with the addition of great mechanics of dynamic destruction. I have my fingers crossed that further games designed for Switch 2 will prove equally successful.
GamePro - Tobias Veltin - German - 95 / 100
But Nintendo's hit rate is extraordinarily high, and when I look back on the Switch 2 era one day, Bananza will definitely be one of those extraordinary titles that I look back on with butterflies in my stomach.
GameSpot - Steve Watts - 9 / 10
Donkey Kong Bananza is a raucous, wildly inventive, and propulsive platformer that reboots one of Nintendo's most iconic mascots.
Quote nFunny, beautiful, fluid in almost all circumstances, brilliant in its level design and freedom of approach, Donkey Kong Bananza is a slap in the face and a dopamine hit that constantly stimulates and rewards the player's curiosity.ot yet available
GamesRadar+ - Dustin Bailey - 4.5 / 5
Who needs all that platforming when you can just dig there?
Gfinity - Alister Kennedy - 10 / 10
Donkey Kong Bananza delivers a triumphant return for the ape, offering an open-world, destructive 3D platforming adventure on the Nintendo Switch 2. As a spiritual successor to DK64, it blends nostalgic collectathon mechanics with innovative terrain destruction and new animal transformations, making it a must-buy system seller for the new console.
Glitched Africa - Marco Cocomello - 10 / 10
Galaxy moment and one of the best 3D platformers to come out of Nintendo this decade. It is chaotic, random, and at times, one of the weirdest games I have played. But there’s just nothing else like it and I can’t praise this enough. I didn’t think Donkey Kong would ever join the list of one the greatest games ever made but here we are.
HCL.hr - Žarko Ćurić - Unknown - 92 / 100
Donkey Kong Bananza rightfully stands alongside the great 3D Mario platformers and serves as a flagship title for the new generation of Nintendo's consoles.
Hobby Consolas - Álvaro Alonso - Spanish - 93 / 100
As the song goes, "Donkey Kong is here," and he's here ready to rock the boat. The gorilla's new adventure boasts of being one of the first must-have games for Nintendo Switch 2 and a title on par with the Japanese company's greatest series. This is the kind of "Kong content" that deserves a new console.
IGN - logan plant - 10 / 10
Donkey Kong Bananza is a truly groundbreaking 3D platformer, with satisfying movement, powerful abilities, impressive destructible environments, and clever challenges that all come together in complete harmony to create Nintendo’s first Switch 2 masterpiece.
IGN Italy - Andrea Maderna - Italian - 9 / 10
Donkey Kong finds a new identity that embraces and rewrites the long legacy of the character, integrating his musical flair and his love for bashing stuff. It's a long, fun game, full of crazy ideas. It may be a bit too easy for veteran players, especially in the first half, but by now we know that's mostly to be expected from Nintendo.
IGN Spain - Laura Rey - Spanish - 9 / 10
Created by the team that developed Super Mario Odyssey, Donkey Kong Bananza is a celebration of the character, a 3D platformer that finally puts him in the place he deserves. Its colorful and fully modifiable world, its variety of mechanics and its collecting spirit make it a worthy heir to its predecessor.
A well-executed and fun proposal that leaves you with a smile on your face and hooks you from start to finish. It has everything it needs to be a fantastic new beginning for a gaming icon that should never be caged again
Nintendo Blast - Leandro Alves - Portuguese - 9.5 / 10
Donkey Kong Bananza follows the successful formula of Super Mario Odyssey, with great additions like a skill tree, functional customizations, strategic transformations, and intense exploration. It’s liberating to destroy everything in your path, with beautiful and varied layers, charismatic NPCs, and Pauline’s stories that are always worth listening to. The outfits acquired throughout the journey do more than change appearance—they also offer important functionalities like poison resistance, health recovery, and longer transformation durations, which are key to progress. The game can be finished in about 50 hours without feeling tired or bored, and there’s even post-game content. The only downside is the ease of the battles, but everything else makes up for it. Donkey Kong Bananza is a must-have for Switch 2 owners.
Nintendo Life - Jim Norman - 9 / 10
Donkey Kong Bananza is an almighty re-introduction to the world of 3D platforming for DK, and arguably the Switch 2's first absolute must-play. The punching and crashing is a passing novelty that, once you get your fill, quickly becomes just another way of exploring the wonderfully varied and beautifully presented layers.Whether it's smashing through the scenery with a Bananza Transformation or carefully planning a route to a hidden Banandium Gem, you'll have trouble finding more originality and, crucially, more enjoyment from a platformer in recent years. As the DK Rap so wisely said, "Donkey Kong is here." Now let's just hope he stays.
Press Start - James Berich - 10 / 10
With Donkey Kong Bananza, DK is back in a big way. It blends new tech with old-school Nintendo charm for a destructive experience that is both intoxicating and addictive. While Pauline's storyline is underdeveloped, this is easily Donkey Kong at his absolute best. Regardless of some minor blemishes, Donkey Kong Bananza deserves a place in any self-respecting Switch 2 owner's library and, much like Super Mario Odyssey before it, sets an incredibly high bar for all that will follow.
Quest Daily - Mark Santomartino - 9 / 10
Donkey Kong Bananza is an imperfect masterpiece. Its ambition pushes Nintendo’s new console — the Nintendo Switch 2 — up to and beyond its limit; serving as both a technical showcase and a reality check.
SECTOR.sk - Matúš Štrba - Slovak - 9 / 10
A fresh and ambitious 3D platformer that builds on Odyssey's strengths, Donkey Kong Bananza trades tradition for freedom'and mostly succeeds.
Saudi Gamer - Arabic - 8 / 10
Following Mario Odyssey is a tall order, and the game should not be solely compared to it, and while this is still a very engaging platformer, it's more surface level than it initially seems.
Shacknews - Donovan Erskine - 9 / 10
There are sequences in this game that instantly crystallized in my mind as iconic Nintendo moments, and the studio’s expertise in 3D platformers makes for a heap of fun and challenging levels. Beneath all of that, it’s the dynamic between Donkey Kong and Pauline that gives an emotional weight to everything, and drives me towards each new objective.
Siliconera - Jenni Lada - 10 / 10
Donkey Kong Bananza is a constant series of pleasant surprises and shows exactly what the Switch 2 can handle.
Spaziogames - Italian - 8.9 / 10
launch support, DK and Pauline adventure is already a great game at day one, albeit too simple even for Nintendo standards. A triumphant level design and a mesmerizing destruction rage will accompany both veterans and newcomers to the center of the earth.
Stevivor - Matt Gosper - [9 / 10](https://s/
DS 2 fucks and I'm all for the weirdness. Shit writing is def a you opinion thing