Way back in his arcade game beginnings, Donkey Kong was a baddie: a big ape who kidnapped the pretty Pauline and chucked barrels at Mario as he tried to rescue her. In the decades since, the chest-thumping simian has taken on a more civilized role and donned trousers and a tie.
And with 2025’s Donkey Kong Bananza, he carries one of the new Switch 2 console’s first major game releases on his brawny, heroic back. Together, he and Pauline set off to save the world. Gamers play as a young and heavy-fisted DK who’s bashing his way through walls of rock in search of gold and banana-shaped gems, as well as other items.
But then he and his fellow prospector monkeys realize that something is off. An opposing mining company called VoidCo (led by the greedy, lemur-like villain Void Kong) is wreaking havoc on their little Ingot Isle. Void Kong is upsetting the world’s equilibrium as he carelessly digs down into the planet’s core in search of a wish-granting Banandium Root.
To save everyone from destruction, Donkey Kong will have to make his way down through 17 environmentally different layers of the Earth; meet the various residents of each level; fix problems left behind by VoidCo; defeat Void Kong’s powerful minions; and gain new powered-up abilities through Banandium Gems he finds and gobbles along the way.
And what’s up with Pauline, you ask? Well, early on, DK finds a strange, purple rock-like creature that gives him some directional help. In time, that rock turns out to be a foully transformed Pauline. After DK releases her, the teen girl climbs up on DK’s shoulder and lends her lovely singing voice to aid the good-guy ape at key points in his quest.
Gameplaywise, Donkey Kong can literally smash his way through about 80% of the rocky world around him. And areas that he can’t climb or demolish with his fists can be bested through new animal forms of DK that are gained along the way.
The bigger, stronger Ultimate Kong form, for instance, can beat down walls that normal punches won’t scratch. Zebra Kong can quickly run across flimsy, breakable pathways. Ostrich form lets DK glide and drop egg bombs. Etc. Those forms are gained for short periods of time.
Besides helping residents solve problems on each biome level, DK and Pauline must also figure out the environmental puzzles that are hindering them from proceeding, fight any bosses and destroy the level’s Void Stake—a large purple structure modeled after Void Kong.
Players can engage offline in single-player mode or play local co-op with a friend who uses one of the Joy-Con controllers. Gamers can also team up with a co-op player online (one player controlling Donkey Kong and one playing Pauline). Online play only requires one person to own a single copy of the game, thanks to a new Game Share feature.
Players are saving endangered residents of each particular biome layer—including icy, watery, lava-filled, music-focused, speed-focused biomes, etc.—that they dive into. The fossils they discover along the way can be traded in for new outfits for DK and Pauline that help with the environmental challenges.
In general, this game is very colorful and accessible to kids of nearly every age. The co-op feature, for instance, will allow an older sibling to control DK while a younger participant plays Pauline in a “machine gunner”-like, button-mashing role. And all but the lowest levels are very navigable by all ages.
A ground-bashing move helps players gather scattered gold and locate hidden items. And, if turned on, the game will display directional arrows to point younger players toward the next point of interest.
The story and dialogue are problem-free as well.
There are third-person battles against enemies in the mix (ape minions, rock bug monsters, lizard foes). And besides bashing enemies with DK’s fists, players can rip up chunks of rock, turf, and an explosive substance to throw. But apart from the percussive nature of battle, there’s no mess or goop. (Frankly, the attack-repeating nature of a co-op controlled Pauline can make most battles pretty quick and easy.)
It’s not really a content concern, but the biggest frustration for younger players may be each level’s environmental puzzles. They’re not intensely difficult, but they often require exploration and examination of the in-game map that might test some younger gamer’s observation skills and patience.
Donkey Kong is back, gobbling gem-like bananas and throwing his fists around with joyful abandon. And the Switch 2’s newest title is a game that parents or older siblings can enjoy with little family members, too.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
