Donkey Kong Bananza can be played online with only one copy of the game

One of the new things revealed in the Donkey Kong Bananza Nintendo Direct this afternoon was the local multiplayer mode. In the style of Super Mario Odyssey, one player can control Donkey while Player 2 controls Pauline, shooting "vocal blasts" using the mouse controls and assisting DK in other, smaller ways.

This mode, as Nintendo's website confirms, is only local (Single System), meaning you can play in one TV, the second player with a Joy-Con.

But you can also play it in local multiplayer with two consoles using GameShare. If only one person owns the game, the other player can download the game from their Switch 2... or their original Nintendo Switch (of course, only in this co-op mode, with the real game being played on the host Switch 2 while the other is streamed to the other console).

And the best part is that you can also play this online... but only through GameChat. For that, you have to create a GameChat session with you friend and then invite him to play Donkey Kong Bananza. Your friends needs to have a Switch 2 (it doesn't work with the original Switch in this case) but even if he or she doesn't have the game, you'll be both playing together (assuming both have a stable Internet connection).

So, while technically Donkey Kong Bananza doesn't have online multiplayer (no matchmaking or anything like that), you can still play it online with a friend... even to the point of playing online with only one copy of the game. And even without Nintendo Switch Online... at least, until March 31, 2026: GameChat is necessary for that, which is currently free, but will be part of the NSO subscription starting April 2026.