Journey to the Banana of the Earth

Rarely, very rarely, a game will come out and seem like it's "for me." Not just a new Zelda or another crime sandbox, I mean: occasionally it feels like a game has targeted me, personally. So while I really hadn't intended to splurge on a Switch 2 so soon, this collectathon platformer sandbox with destructible terrain forced my hand.

Donkey Kong Bananza absolutely lives up to the promise implied by a Super Mario Odyssey follow-up. Like Odyssey, every time Bananza reveals a new "sub-level" - a layer of strata on DK's way to the planet core - the environment is always joyously imaginative, visually delightful, and richly stuffed with details to discover.

Bananza very quickly establishes that its downward journey is about much, much more than dirt and magma; layers have their own flora and fauna, lakes and waterfalls, even simulated skies and suns. (The beach resort layer is one of my personal favorites.)

And like Odyssey, Bananza's continuous surprises and delights include a seemingly endless supply of game mechanics: every sub-level introduces new types of terrain which may be uniquely helpful or hazardous, teaching you new traversal techniques; and new enemy types which move and attack in fresh ways, teaching you new tactics.

The titular "bananza" abilities, where DK hulks-out (using bananergy) into a super-buff animal with special powers, are practically underwhelming compared to the crazy variety of game elements happening around DK.

And, of course, the collectible bananas and fossils littering the world can be used to unlock skills - and outfits! - which addictively feed back into that classic collectathon game loop of exploring, collecting, exploring more, collecting more, exploring...

Oh yeah, destructible terrain! Bananza's Red Faction-esque twist, despite being one of my favorite features in any game, is easy to forget because it's so embedded in Bananza's core gameplay.

Digging tunnels through the map isn't (just) a way of exploiting the terrain's intent, nor is it a shallow excuse to hide collectibles underground; DK's punch-based terraforming is an intrinsic part of environmental puzzle solving, those puzzles continuously evolving as new terrain types and terrain-combination reactions come up.

Donkey Kong Bananza is a compelling iteration on the 3D Mario formula, full of creatively awesome levels and mechanics, supporting a wealth of collectible-filled worlds to explore and conquer. AND THEN it slips in a ton of grin-inducing references to Donkey Kong Country history: familiar background theme music, Cranky's tedious rants, side-scrolling challenge levels...

The genuinely shocking reveal of the "real" final boss, and subsequent fake-out ending, and "really finally real" final encounter, had me groaning and smiling the whole time. What an incredible homage to the SNES games' own fake-ending bullshit.

Aside from occasional camera awkwardness when punching through tunnels - and I mean, that's pretty understandable - it's hard to cite any shortfall or disappointment in DK's deepest, punchiest adventure.

Better than: Super Mario Odyssey
Not as good as: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, I guess?
All I want now: is more content! ... but, no, not this content.

Progress: 1000 bananas