The big ape Donkey Kong was Nintendo’s first superstar – the DK arcade was released in 1981 and the little Jumpman (later: Mario!) had to defeat Donkey Kong to rescue The Lady (later: Pauline). This arcade game was so successful that Nintendo became the first game company after the big Atari crash which fascinated the people worldwide again. And till today Nintendo is the leader of the bunch…

… and Donkey Kong and Pauline have returned in 2025 to work together! In Donkey Kong Bananza, the new great 3D platforming game for Nintendo Switch 2! Donkey Kong‘s behaviour has changed a lot. He isn’t the kidnapper of Pauline, no, she sits on his shoulder and sings songs that show the player which goals you have to reach in the underground stages! Yes, the whole game is in the underground! You go every stage deeper and deeper into the planet to reach the core! And you have to collect hundreds of bandanium gems which look like golden bananas. You find them everywhere – most of them are hidden in the mud and stones of the level structure. And that’s the point now – Donkey Kong Bananza is the modern version of Boulder Dash, yes, you have to dig yourself through the levels. And you can destroy (almost) everything! What a great fun! Punch and dig –that’s Donkey Kong Bananza.

Is that all? No. You can transform Donkey Kong into different animals. The first one is King Kong. Isn’t Donkey Kong Nintendo’s King Kong? – Yes, but as Kong Bananza you are even stronger and can destroy harder stones than before. And there are more animals left – Zebra Bananza, Ostrich Bananza, Elephant Bananza and Snake Bananza. So you can go faster as a zebra, flutter in the sky as an ostrich, suck up chunks and bank them as an elephant – allowing you to spit them back out and use them as you please – and jump higher as a snake. And that’s not all – you can even make your normal DK stronger when you collect the bandanium gems and improve his skills.

The stages are huge – the Super Mario Odyssey team made this jewel of a game and the levels are as a big as in this modern Super Mario classic game. Tons of secrets are to find and tons of challenges are to master – Donkey Kong Bananza is one the biggest and best games Nintendo has ever made.

And it looks so beautiful and sounds so good! A true masterpiece! Nintendo did a really great job.

Is there anything you can criticize? No, not really. Donkey Kong Bananza offers great gameplay, is a beauty and you can very long to get all hidden treasures. And in the end you have to beat the bad monkey Void Kong! His company has stolen all the gems to power their meteor ship. Stop them! Now! Donkey Kong Bananza is a game every gamer should have in his library.

Verdict: The ape cook mixes Boulder Dash and Super Mario Odyssey together and the formula works! One of the games of all time is served with Donkey Kong Bananza!