Donkey Kong Bananza has been one of my most anticipated games for 2025. I loved the brief section I played at the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal event, and I'm a fan of the rich Donkey Kong history it celebrates. And now, after playing Bananza for several hours at a dedicated preview event, I appreciate its freshness even more. Bananza continues Nintendo's recent design trend by implementing gameplay mechanics influenced by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game, which launches July 17, may be the best Donkey Kong title in quite some time.
DK, Your Way
Many of the most acclaimed modern 3D platformers, including Astro Bot and Super Mario 3D World, rein in their ambition in pursuit of being polished. They offer clear goals and crisp, straightforward mechanics. Although there's plenty of imagination on display, much of the joy comes from execution rather than deep exploration.
In contrast, my initial hours with Bananza featured messy exploration and barely contained chaos, with concrete goals typically an afterthought. Playing as Donkey Kong, you're dropped into levels that only suggest what you should do, like seeking out ancient animals to receive their wisdom. But the journey—full of secrets to discover, enemies to smash, moves to master, and bananas to eat—becomes the real reward. In that way, Bananza's world feels closer to Zelda's dangerous caves than Mario's relatively safe courses.
Comparing Donkey Kong Bananza with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild admittedly sounds odd, especially when there are other recent Nintendo blockbusters with similar DNA. For example, after weeks of speculation, Nintendo finally confirmed that Bananza is the next big 3D platformer from Super Mario Odyssey's developers. Looking at the game in motion, full of bouncy animations and colorful vistas very reminiscent of Mario's prior adventure, there was never any reason to believe otherwise. Yet, the Zelda elements also shine through.
(Credit: Nintendo)It helps that Bananza, with its increased action-adventure elements, is surprisingly generous with the tools and options it gives you. There are many ways Donkey Kong can interact with his surroundings—indeed, way more than what you need for most scenarios.
But Bananza's not a totally freeform game like Minecraft. In fact, it's not even an open world. But its content is structured loosely enough that you don’t feel forced to tackle the next objective in one particular way. As in Breath of the Wild, you're encouraged to get creative. And Bananza gives you many tools to do so, starting with its controls.
Donkey Kong’s core moveset makes use of nearly every button on a Switch 2 controller. You can jump, climb, roll, hang from ceilings, punch in front of you, beneath you, above you, or leap into the air for a ground smash. Pounding your chest activates a sonar wave that detects collectibles.
At times, the many gameplay systems risk becoming too complicated. For example, in this demo, I barely engaged with DK's powerful new animal transformations or the optional additional abilities unlocked by earning points on the skill tree. But the more puzzling sequences are offset by the mindless pleasure of destroying everything in your path, which is also a valid solution for many problems.
(Credit: Nintendo)A Link to the Past
Bananza's level design branches out in Zelda-esque directions, too. Because Donkey Kong's moves extend beyond jumping, stages often require more of you than simply getting from one place to another.
For example, since the game takes place within various layers of an underground world, verticality takes on new importance. In one layer, I had to go back and forth between the upper and lower levels, with my actions on one affecting the other, just like in a Zelda dungeon. This sequence wasn't as thrilling as a Mario gauntlet, but it was deeply satisfying. As with Zelda's shrines, optional challenge rooms are a break from larger goals and provide quick bursts of excitement. In those rooms, you can pummel foes or clear tricky Donkey Kong Country-style 2D side-scrolling courses.
The fact that every stage is also made of terrain with unique properties that Donkey Kong can rip apart is itself ludicrously ambitious, similar to Breath of the Wild’s in-depth physics and objects that catch fire or conduct electricity. Chunks of terrain give Donkey Kong instant projectiles or a new platform to surf on or leap from. This all pushes the game toward immersive sim territory, a genre famous for encouraging players to solve problems in ways that were perhaps never intended.
Some terrain explodes. Throwing a nut at grass causes a new path to grow from the surface. You can circumvent certain obstacles just by digging underneath them. Like building Ultrahand contraptions in Breath of the Wild's follow-up, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the mechanics are so cool I didn’t care about the slight frame rate drops needed to pull them off (hopefully these will be ironed out before the release).
(Credit: Nintendo)I'll try not to spend too much time speculating on what Donkey Kong Bananza means for the overall Donkey Kong canon (which, to be clear, doesn’t actually exist or matter). Teaming up with young singer Pauline most likely sets up a Super Mario Odyssey connection, but that's probably it. When it comes to the plot, Bananza seems primarily interested in the duo's evolving relationship, and the way that the story gets told has Zelda-like vibes.
When Pauline isn't blasting enemies by singing in co-op mode, she encourages Donkey Kong to keep digging deeper. You can purchase camps throughout each level, and while sleeping at these camps, scenes play out where Pauline speaks to Donkey Kong. These bonding moments are unobtrusive but sweet, and feel earned because they happen at your pace, when you decide the team deserves a rest. It reminds me of advancing Zelda's story by finding memories in the overworld, something that's not required but that you will be glad that you did.
Donkey Kong Picks Up the Zelda Baton
There's plenty of precedent for cross-pollination between Nintendo franchises, and not only when it comes to Super Smash Bros. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was developed alongside Super Mario 64, as Nintendo was figuring out 3D game design. Whether it was handy camera tricks or making the best use of open space, Nintendo carried key lessons from one game to the next. That pattern of games developing in tandem continues.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild isn't just a masterpiece; it’s a shining example of the AAA goliaths that dominate all gaming these days. So it only makes sense for Nintendo to build on that success to help its future games keep pace. In many surprising ways, Donkey Kong Bananza has intriguing ideas that turn this hollow Earth into its own kind of Hyrule.
Donkey Kong Bananza isn't the only Nintendo Switch 2 game to get the Zelda magic. Mario Kart World dazzled me with a theme park-esque open world, a place featuring the same entertaining principles seen in Hyrule. It's no coincidence that Mario Kart and Zelda's open worlds were developed with help from Monolith Soft, a studio that delivers massive worlds in the Xenoblade RPGs. Pokémon Legends: Arceus shook up the Pokémon formula with open-world action-adventure elements inspired by Zelda, and the sequel, Pokémon Legends: ZA, will hopefully push even further this holiday season.
Let's keep it going. Add the Zelda touch to upcoming releases like Kirby Air Riders and Splatoon Raiders. Make Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment feel like a true Zelda game, not just a spin-off.
Breath of the Wild's excellence needn't be the domain of one game or franchise. It proved that by fostering creativity and freedom, you can make a wildly entertaining, next-generation epic that leverages the added scope instead of being bloated and burdened by it.
I still need to play more of Donkey Kong Bananza, but right now, I say the same about it. I love the big ape, so I was already onboard. But if you're on the fence about Bananza being Nintendo's other flagship Switch 2 launch-window release, know that Link is here in spirit, guiding the gorilla to glory.