Donkey Kong Bananza: Everything We Know

After more than a decade-long wait, Donkey Kong fans can smell a sigh of relief. Nintendo Switch announced the next chapter in the long-standing Donkey Kong franchise. And with the gaming technology dynamics, players can expect a fresh experience with this game. First, it will premiere on Nintendo Switch 2, the next-gen evolution of the Switch system. Additionally, the game features a redesigned Donkey Kong and some pretty impressive destructible environments. With a launch date already set, let’s give you a quick walk-through of the game. Here’s everything we know about Donkey Kong Bananza so far.

What is Donkey Kong Bananza?

Platforming game fans can now prepare to relive the Donkey Kong moments in Donkey Kong Bananza. Nintendo announced the game. It joined the roster of video games expected to launch on the Nintendo Switch 2 later this year. Like the games before it, Donkey Kong Bananza will be a platforming game with intense action and adventure. After a decade-long hiatus since Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, it will mark the first main game in the Donkey Kong series. It’s also the second biggest and exclusive game for Switch 2, although it will not be dropping on Switch 2’s launch day.

Story

When Donkey Kong and his crew of spider monkeys learn about the Banandium on Ingot Isle, they resolve to venture into the island’s mines and exploit the material. While on this expedition, a different gang of primates known as VoidCo appears on Ingot Isle aboard a massive boulder and manages to steal the Golden Bananas.

The vessel pushes the island further into the ground, resulting in a storm that sends Donkey Kong and his gang of spider monkeys unconscious. After reawakening, Donkey Kong discovers the ordeal and meets his companion, Odd Rock, the purple stone, who directs him. With his newfound companion, they resolve to explore the underworld through the sandbox-like levels to recover the stolen gems.

Gameplay

In Donkey Kong Bananza, players are immersed in an open-world action-adventure as they try to recover the stolen banana-shaped diamonds. You control the playable character, Donkey Kong, moving through the sandbox levels, fighting off enemies, solving puzzles, completing missions, and gathering the bananas.

Odd Rock is your companion who directs you towards achieving your objectives. Travel the underground world, roll, punch, throw objects, collect materials, climb surfaces, and hit the terrain. You can collect the Golden Bananas by just progressing the gameplay or running into them in your exploration. Players can also get help or advice from other non-player characters in the game or even earn Golden Bananas from them. They are very similar to Power Moons for those who played one of the best Mario games, Super Mario Odyssey.

The game environments are destructible throughout your exploration. You can smash on surfaces and rip the terrain apart in search of items. Ripped items can be thrown around to destroy foes or used as snowboards. The destructible environments make the game’s exploration quite dynamic. Your player character can create pathways to new worlds or dig underground for the Golden items before they reach the bedrock. You also collect other materials, such as the Banandium, another gold material used as the in-game currency.

Finally, your exploration can also lead you to secluded areas with unique challenges. From solving puzzles to platforming, mining the Banandium material, and taking down enemies with a limited time. You receive rewards in Banandium or the Golden Bananas upon completing these challenges.

Development

Donkey Kong Bananza is developed and published by Nintendo. It’s created as a 3D platformer, with a strong emphasis on exploration and destruction. Notably, it’s the first 3D Donkey Kong platformer since the 1999 Donkey Kong 64. For now, it’s unclear when exactly the development of Donkey Kong Bananza began. It is the next game after the 2014 hit, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, featuring a redesigned Donkey Kong.

After the previous game, Nintendo partnered with Vicarious Visions to create a new Donkey Kong video game called Freedom. It was still a 3D platformer focusing on traversal in the open world. However, it was later cancelled in 2016. Later, in 2021, Nintendo Life revealed that the next video game in the Donkey Kong series was in development. Development had reportedly started some time between 2017 and 2018, marking the first game created internally by Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development since 2004.

Trailer

Nintendo announced Donkey Kong Bananza during the Nintendo Direct presentation that happened on April 2, 2025. The game reveal came along with an announcement trailer, which reveals pretty much everything about its gameplay. It’s a fast-paced platforming game with Donkey Kong as the only player character, but with a purple rock companion he carries on his shoulder.

It’s easy to spot Donkey Kong from the 02:28-minute video, even for gamers in their first encounter with Donkey Kong gameplay. He is the gorilla character seen moving across the game world, smashing objects, walls, and the ground. Everything about the gameplay can be seen from the trailer as the gorilla runs, scales walls, jumps, rolls, and snowboards across the game world.

You can see the destructible environment and how easily Donkey Kong destroys his surroundings and collects the gold gems. All the action and adventure happen amid a cool soundtrack and appropriate sound effects that match the gorilla’s smash on different surfaces and its groans. The video also portrays the events that lead up to the game’s story when the enemy primates arrive aboard the giant boulder. But in a bitter twist, the trailer ends with a seemingly troubled Donkey Kong getting crushed by a falling rock.

Release Date & Platforms

After its announcement during the Nintendo presentation, Donkey Kong Bananza also featured in the Nintendo Treehouse: Live Events on April 3 and April 4, 2025. The game is scheduled for full release on July 17, 2025, for Nintendo Switch 2. Despite being one of the major games on the roster for the Nintendo Switch 2, Donkey Kong Bananza won’t be among the launch games. Nintendo Switch 2 is set to launch on June 5, 2025.