Nintendo simply wrapped up its Nintendo Direct for Donkey Kong Bananza, and there’s no different solution to say it — this recreation is completely bananas. A far cry from the unique reveal for the sport, which was fairly surface-level, it seems like Donkey Kong Bananza can be one in every of Nintendo’s greatest and most ingenious video games in years.
We noticed within the unique trailer that destructible terrain and environments had been on the core of the sport, and that also appears to be the case now. Donkey Kong can smash by way of absolutely anything, punching holes by way of the panorama and throwing rocks into enemies to defeat them, however there’s much more depth to the system now, too.
Along with with the ability to destroy terrain, DK can now additionally use softer terrain to construct buildings, like a bridge to get throughout a ravine, or journey a big rock as if a surfboard, sort of like defend browsing in Breath of the Wild. You’ll be capable of unlock a number of talents to do extra with terrain as you progress by way of the sport – it seems to have a reasonably deep quantity of RPG parts, which may be very sudden for a recreation like this.
Odd Rock, the little purple rock that we noticed alongside DK within the preliminary trailer, appears to have largely been a ruse, too. Within the Direct, we noticed that Odd Rock was truly a younger Pauline in disguise, and he or she’ll be becoming a member of the chief of the DK Crew on his journeys, utilizing her magnificent singing voice to help the ape all through their journey. This has fascinating ramifications for DK lore, and we don’t actually know if this Pauline is only a youthful model of the Pauline we all know with a revised timeline, a descendent of the Pauline that’s the mayor of New Donk Metropolis, or a de-aged Mayor Pauline — we’ll have to attend and see how that pans out within the recreation.
Pauline’s singing voice additionally helps Donkey Kong tackle unimaginable new transformations, together with a strong Kong Bananza type, which sees him develop in dimension and energy, in addition to a zebra type that may dash quick sufficient to cross oceans with out sinking and an ostrich type that may soar by way of the air. It’s actually fairly unimaginable how a lot is happening right here, and there’s undoubtedly a lot extra to find, too. We didn’t even get to the Breath of the Wild-like shrines and 2D platforming segments, both, so that you’ll want to observe the Direct in full if you wish to see all the things the sport has to supply.
Donkey Kong Bananza can be launched completely on the Nintendo Change 2 on July 17, 2025.
