Donkey Kong Bananza hands-on impressions: DK meets Minecraft in a brutal platforming adventure

Although Nintendo remains reluctant to officially confirm what we know - that this is the new platformer by EAD Tokyo and not a new 3D Mario - it was much easier to tell when I sat with the Nintendo Switch 2 launch (window) title yesterday at the Premiere event in Paris. You just can see and feel its roots in the style, the rendering, the camera, the world design... it's as if Mario Odyssey went through a years-long transformative surgery to become something much more brutal, and vertical. Something that belongs more to his old pal/foe DK.

You see, Donkey Kong Bananza combines traditional platforming elements with mining mechanics. You could even compare it with Minecraft, or with SteamWorld Dig, but obviously with the remarkable personality and endless ideas of the aforementioned dev team.

And what does this mean? That more than jumping around, from the get-go you're thrown into the game focusing on destruction and digging. What is destructible, how, and where can I dig deeper, were the things the game made me think about, while I stormed through the environment and laughed at the renewed humour.

The 15-minute demo consisted of two sections. A tutorial intro within the mines at the Ingot Isle, then the Lagoon Layer, another area further into the game where you unlock the Boom Bomb ability. You can watch some excerpts of my time with the game here:

If you, like me, try to press B for jump, you'll be wrong. In a way, DKB takes a note from Zelda: Breath of the Wild's book, as the controls are mapped vertically in a logical manner so that upper X means "upward punch" while B below means "downward punch", with A for jump and Y or Joy-Con shake for say same-plane punching action. Then you can combine A+B for the smashing Dive Punch prominently illustrating the game's box art.

What else? R is for Hand Slap to collect nearby items within a circular area, with ZR allowing you to literally tear off rocks from the environment with your bare hands. Then you can examine the environment materials and throw them around aiming with the gyro, or perhaps use a piece of land as a surfing board, in Funky Kong fashion. And L? Well, we're talking about the king of the... rhythm, aren't we? With L you make music you can follow to the beat and it helps you find your way through the levels.

The game is very fast-paced and almost everything seems breakable. Speaking of notes from Zelda's book, and coming from the team who made Odyssey's endgame completion secret hunt so enjoyable, I'm already looking forward to unearthing hidden treasures in the final game. This demo was a declaration of intent about dealing with the terrain and trying to find secret entrances (or exits) to other areas or even levels in a layered design, which inevitably reminded me of Tears of the Kingdom's caves.

I really dig that they're exploring the mining side of the DK world beyond your typical minecart levels, as it feels refreshing coming from the more obvious jungle settings, and putting this exploitable facet from the character's lore to new uses is the best approach to a reboot, if you ask me. This is after all "far from DK Island", and now you're looking for Golden Bananas or, more technically, Banadium Gems, which seem to be like edible gold and work like Odyssey's Moons.

This means you don't leave the area when collecting one. For instance, you can see in the video above how I got 4 Golden Bananas before leaving the introductory mine at the Ingo Isle. Then, instead of Mario coins you of course excavate Banadium Chips as currency as you punch your way through walls, grounds, and ceilings, which in turn can be exchanged for more bananas at Chip Exchange.

But there are two fresher things to seek in the collect-a-ton side of Donkey Kong Bananza. One are fossils (!) which make perfect sense given the premise. And the other are cosmetics, which couldn't miss the party again coming from Mario Odyssey. To get the latter, you invest the former at the Style Shop.

We could also say that little purple buddy Odd Rock is to DK what Cappy was to Mario in his last 3D adventure, but believe me when I say that, other than the studio's trademark traits, this is a game that plays differently judging by the demo, and that proposes different things.

Another inevitable comparison everyone is making, and has been ever since the new DK design was unveiled in both the film and the kart game, was versus the Rare games. And for anyone still thinking that Japanese Nintendo hates the DKC saga, I would say just the opposite: they respect, acknowledge, and embrace that era, from side-scrolling tributes, to life-saving red balloons, not to mention Diddy-lookalike mine workers or exploding barrels.

Mechanically, I want to see how combat and traversal evolve with new climbing and digging abilities, as the worlds shown in the trailer beyond what I played got me hyped. Narratively, if that's what you're here for, I was promised "returning friends" at the event, so we'll see what hilarious story the guys who almost married Bowser and Peach came up with next. I could say those 7-8 baddies shown in the trailer will act like the Broodals in this game, but I also said I wouldn't compare more.

If Mario Kart World was the most fun I had in company with a Switch 2 in Paris, Donkey Kong Bananza meant the same for single-player. I smiled, danced to its jungle beats, felt destructive and brutal like a furry wrecking ball. A bold reboot move that Nintendo has been building towards with its Universal movie and theme park deal, but for it to strike gold, the game itself has to deliver. This July, it'll need to make up for the inferior character appeal with pure, genuine fun.