+- Tendo City (https://www.tendocity.net)
+-- Forum: Tendo City: Metropolitan District (https://www.tendocity.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=4)
+--- Forum: Tendo City (https://www.tendocity.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=42)
+--- Thread: Bananza! (/showthread.php?tid=7597)
Bananza! - A Black Falcon - 17th July 2025
So, about a month after launch, the Switch 2's big 3d platformer is here, and it's fantastic! It's also very highly interesting thematically.
I mean, this game was made by Nintendo of Japan, by a Japanese team, the same team that previously made Super Mario Odyssey back in 2017. Yes, even Nintendo has the 'development times take far, FAR too long now' problem that plagues this industry. They did exceptional work but it seems to have taken a long time.
That team made a game that mixes Mario Odyssey, Donkey Kong Country, the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games, and more all into one. The core gameplay is primarily influenced by Mario Odyssey mixed with a more beat 'em up-focused platformer, while the setting is more an NCL take on Donkey Kong Country and some elements mix in classic DK / Mario vs. DK series elements as well, most notably a version of Pauline. That is not something we have ever seen before! Previously, Japanese DK games were always either a generic theme or a classic series / MvDK theme, while Western-made DK games used the DKC theming. This game mixes all of those with a bunch of Mario, stirs it in a pot, and makes something both familiar and utterly unique with it.
So yes, simultaneously, this game both continues some elements of the MvDK line except without Mario, while also being the first Donkey Kong game since Nintendo sold off Rare that is both Japan-made and goes for anything like a DKC aesthetic. Recall that US-based Retro made the two DKCR games. Their DK was quite familiar to Rare's, but this one is different, while also being similar enough to that DK to make most DKC fans happy. Some DKC characters appear here (I won't say which for spoilers), and so do some MvDK characters, most notably Pauline. We've never had both of those character sets in the same game before. Storyline-wise it seems that no attempt was made to actually make this combination make sense timeline-wise, unfortunately, so we'll probably just need to make something up to explain this away, but ignoring outside titles, the story within the game itself is fine enough.
Visually, this game is both familiar and new. Donkey Kong himself has a redesign. It was inspired by the DKC design but with a cuter, and chunkier, style, perhaps to tie his style in more closely with that of the Mario characters. Personally I think I like the DKC design a bit more than this one, but this design works and fits the character well. Pauline is different as well, though given how this Pauline is younger than any version of the character before -- she's supposed to be 13 but looks maybe even younger than that -- that is no surprise. The other Kongs and monkeys who appear in the game have a distinctly DKC-inspired look but done by a different artist. It's both familiar and weirdly different, if that makes sense.
Really, all around this is pretty fascinating stuff. I know I"m not talking about the gameplay here, but that this kind of thing was made at all is almost as fascinating as the amazing game is! Sure, story-wise this plot doesn't make any sense at all as DK and Pauline's ages do not match with what they should be and nor do other story details, but the attempt they made here at making a new origin story that combines all the past timelines into one is noble. I think that probably counts for more than staying truer to the old DK/MvDK/DKC story timelines would.
However, thinking about this also makes me sad that Nintendo got rid of Rare -- I stand by that losing Rare was Nintendo's worst decision ever -- and in some ways I like the style of those games more than this one, but DK Bananza is a fantastic experience that I am loving. There's nothing like Nintendo, nobody else makes games like this at this level of quality, not even close. There have been many 3d platformers made over the decades but the number that approach the quality of top Nintendo releases like this one is in the low single digits. Donkey Kong Bananza evokes that feeling of wonder and pure fun that the better Nintendo games of the past have. This game isn't 'something familiar done well' like Odyssey, it is something both familiar and new. It is the Mario answer to Red Faction thanks to its semi-destructible world, the Donkey Kong answer to Mario in a way we kind of have never seen before (DK 64 obviously owes a lot to Mario 64, but its more direct inspriration was Banjo-Kazooie...), the Japanese hybrid of Mario's cuter designs with Donkey Kong Country's renders, the first top-flight, big budget 3d platformer made since, well, maybe Mario Odyssey (unless you count Kirby and the Forgotten Land), and so much more... it's something special.
But how does the game work? Well, as DK, with Pauline clinging to your back, you run around and jump, attack, and smash. The core original mechanic here is a voxel engine allowing the destruction of terrain, hence that Red Faction reference before. I could also mention Starfighter 3000 for 3DO here, that's another older title in the destructible-terrain field. As in Red Faction, in DK Bananaza some terrain is destructible and some is not. This ensures that critical stage infrastructure stays there so you can't just rip through stages to easily skip chunks of the game. Metal terrain can't be destroyed, while stone or mud easily can and concrete can but only with a powerup. Also, when you leave a level, or layer of the underground world you are exploring in the game, the game resets all terrain damage, so what you do is not permanent. I'm sure some people dislike this but I like it, I'd prefer to always be able to explore the undamaged version of a stage...
On that note though, while the destruction is fun, I've never been one to really like destroying scenery in games. 'Destroy everything in the Travelers Tales Lego games for bits' never inteerested me much, for example... I don't know, destroying everything sometimes makes me feel bad for the stuff I'm destroying, what is the point of ripping it all apart? Similarly, in this game so far I generally don't want to destroy everything, just some things. Most of the time I've left the stage mostly intact while going for destruction where I see obvious stuff to collect, want to explore a bit, or just I just decide to break stuff for a while for some reason. Whatever playstyle you have on destruction, I think that you'll like this game; you do need to destroy some things to proceed, but don't need to rip the levels apart wholesale to do so.
Regardless of ones' opinion on that, often there is a layer of metal close below the dirt so in some areas there isn't too much to tear apart, but in other areas you can shred large sections of stages. It's a good mix that Nintendo chose to keep this game focused on not just breaking things but also its primary focus, the platform action. Because, while jumping puzzles are not as emphasized in DKB as they would be in a Mario game, there are many platforming challenges, such as 2.5d minigame sections, lots of traversal sections where you are hanging below vines while avoiding obstacles, having to throw objects at enemies in order to defeat them or proceed, and more. The little minigame bits are, I think, a DKC/DK64 callback, as they are done in a different way from how they would have been done in a Mario game. It's great that they are here.
Overall, I'm a few hours in now, and so far every element of this game is brilliantly done and extremely well designed. The levels are great, the controls are pretty much flawless, the graphics are beautiful, and so much more. This is not a forever game, it's a single player title with a limited runtime, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. I am glad I bought a Switch 2 at launch, between Mario Kart World and this Nintendo really is firing on all cylinders with truly special experiences that feel special and new regardless of how many games I have played over the years. Nobody else makes games like Nintendo can.
RE: Bananza! - Dark Jaguar - 18th July 2025
It's curious they made Pauline a kid, but it works for what they're doing with this game. I like that the weird little rock thing is clearly meant to poke fun at the lame "companions" that appear to have been a Nintendo mandate in their games for several years now, by actually just making her a fully fledged character and not just a talking orb or bucket or whatever. It's just odd they didn't decide to make her an original character, but hey we have that cast of villains... who are very... VERY Japanese in their design. They're a bunch of apes! Act like it guys! Don't act like the latest rejected Sonic game villain squad! Oh well, it works for what it is.
RE: Bananza! - A Black Falcon - 30th July 2025
You're right about the villains, they do kind of seem like rejected Sonic baddies. Heh.
As for the game, I started it and it's good, but then I was on vacation and haven't gone back yet, I just keep playing Mario Kart World... I should play Bananza though, MKW can be quite annoying at times of course.