Donkey Kong Bananza

[Moonface]

Release Date: July 17, 2025
Platform: Nintendo Switch 2
Official Website: Link

The big guy is back! Donkey Kong swings onto the
Nintendo Switch 2 system with a brand-new action adventure.

DEEPER UNDERGROUND!
Help Donkey Kong make his way through the depths of the Underground World. The deeper he goes, the more amazing places he finds! Break on through this truly destructive adventure; there's no shortage of things DK can pulverize with his powerful punches.

BEHOLD THE GOLDEN BANANAS!
The whole island was buzzing about the discovery of this tasty new treasure. But then, disaster struck! During the chaos, VoidCo stole every breathtaking bunch of bananas. Now Donkey Kong must venture deep underground to get them back!

OTHER MEDIA

• Opening Gameplay | Nintendo Treehouse: Live
  
• Lagoon Layer Exploration Gameplay | Nintendo Treehouse: Live
  
• Alternate Lagoon Layer Exploration Gameplay | Nintendo Treehouse: Live
  

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I was mildly interested in this, but just started watching the opening gameplay video out of boredom and now I'm actually really excited for this game. I love games that reward exploration and seeing you can just bust through a wall and potentially stumble onto stuff is right up my alley!

[queenzelda]

This reminds me more of what a Mario game would be instead of it being a Donkey Kong game. I've never been a fan of the Donkey Kong series after Donkey Kong changed developer hands. Still, looks interesting but Idk if it's worth getting. We don't even know which of the developers did this game at this time.

[Moonface]

This reminds me more of what a Mario game would be instead of it being a Donkey Kong game. I've never been a fan of the Donkey Kong series after Donkey Kong changed developer hands. Still, looks interesting but Idk if it's worth getting. We don't even know which of the developers did this game at this time.

I've seen a lot of comments that this game feels like a Super Mario Odyssey 2 in place of the real thing. For me I've never played a Donkey Kong game, but knowing that Rare did try a 3D title with DK64 that didn't work out well I'm glad the series is at least going to try another 3D entry instead of just taking that one instance as a reason to only be a 2D platformer. If DK64 had turned out better we'd have probably seen more 3D DK games anyway.

As for the developers, I doubt we'll know because Nintendo seem adamant on not saying who works on almost any of their games anymore. Given the similarities though I could see it being Nintendo EPD, who also developed Odyssey.