Donkey Kong Bananza review
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The Nintendo San Francisco store is holding its third major event since it opened in May with the launch of “Donkey Kong Bananza.” The game marks the popular character’s second foray in a 3D platformer, and it’s also the second major first-party game built specifically for the Nintendo Switch 2.
A DK movie is just the icing on the cake for Kong. The fan-favorite character is having quite the year, with the highly anticipated upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 game, Donkey Kong Bananza, coming out on July 17, 2025. The game follows Kong and Pauline as they set out to recover stolen banana diamonds from a gang of evil apes.
As many previews for the game have pointed out, Donkey Kong Bananza seems to have some performance issues thanks to its modular environment destruction system. However, it appears that the development team at Nintendo is well aware.
Donkey Kong Bananza’s street date has been broken, and significant game spoilers are beginning to circulate online. Multiple social media users posted images showing they’d obtained early copies of the Switch 2 game over the weekend, and screenshots of unannounced game content are already being shared.
As a longtime fan of games Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and 1994 Game Boy game Donkey Kong, I’m going to approach the events of Bananza as the next major milestone in that fran