You play Donkey Kong and punch straight through the ground, so almost every wall, floor and hill can be smashed apart and tunnelled into. Digging down to find buried gold and hidden rooms is the main pull, and the levels crumble in big satisfying chunks as you go. A second player can help out as a partner character, which makes it friendly for a parent and kid.
Gameplay video
More Donkey Kong Bananza gameplay on YouTube →Ready to play Donkey Kong Bananza?
Grab a physical or digital copy from Amazon — prices and availability update live.
This is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
Screenshots & review notes
The verdict
Smashing the world apart is a genuinely fun idea and it mostly delivers on that promise. It can wander a little once the novelty of digging wears off partway through.
The mechanics
You punch with a button and dig through almost any surface, hunting for buried gold and hidden rooms as you go. A second player can join in as a helper, which keeps young kids involved without asking too much of them.
Presentation
Chunks of scenery crumble away in a satisfying way, and the sound design leans into the crunch of every punch. The visuals are bright and cartoonish rather than sharp and lifelike.
Staying power
There is plenty to dig up if you like poking into every corner of a level. It suits a parent and child playing together more than someone looking for a tight solo challenge.
Frames captured from the gameplay video above; notes are our own take on the game.
What it's like to play
You control Donkey Kong from behind and slightly above, and the first thing you notice is that punching a wall does not just play an animation, the wall actually breaks apart into chunks that fall away. One button throws a punch, another has him grab and lift heavy pieces of terrain or enemies, and the stick moves him in any direction including straight down into a hole he just made. Within the first few minutes you will probably tunnel under the starting area just to see how far it goes, and the game seems built to reward exactly that kind of curiosity instead of punishing you for wandering off the marked path.
The point of a level is to work your way toward a goal while collecting gold and finding hidden rooms, but the real activity most of the time is digging, since almost any surface you see can be smashed and searched. Levels get more complex as you go, with deeper layers, tougher enemies that need to be thrown into walls or other enemies to beat, and terrain types that respond differently to punches. None of it demands precise timing, most challenges reward persistence and exploration over quick reactions, so it stays approachable even when a cave gets maze like.
A session tends to run long simply because there is always one more wall that looks diggable, and it is easy to lose track of time chasing something shiny three layers underground. A second player can join in as a helper character riding along, which makes it a genuinely good choice for a parent and a kid sharing a couch. The one downside is that because so much of the world can be destroyed, it is occasionally easy to dig yourself into a spot that is confusing to climb back out of, and the game does not always make the way back up obvious.