Nintendo held a 15 minute Nintendo Direct dedicated to Donkey Kong Bananza and unlike the Mario Kart World Direct, this was packed full of information.
Donkey Kong Bananza and the Donkey Kong + Pauline amiibo will release on July 17th. You can pre-order the game HERE for $99 with free shipping.
EVERYTHING ANNOUNCED AT THE DONKEY KONG BANANZA NINTENDO DIRECT
- A young Pauline is Donkey Kong’s sidekick. She can sing to defeat enemies and also turn Donkey Kong into a Zebra (who can run super fast), a bigger, more angrier Kong (who can smash through anyting) and an Ostrich (who can fly) with DK able to change into these abilities at any given time
- Pauline can also be controlled by a second co-op partner either over Gameshare locally to a Switch 1 or online over Gamechat to a Switch 2. Pauline’s voice will be controlled by the second person. Pauline can also copy materials to make her voice stronger as well
- A new Donkey Kong + Pauline Amiibo will release alongside the game on July 17th unlocking a new dress for Pauline. Other Donkey Kong amiibo will also be compatible bringing KONG letters into the game, and all other Amiibo will bring objects into the game as well
- There’s loads of challenge levels including mine cart rides, 2D side-scrolling stages and lots of nostalgic Donkey Kong throwbacks
- Diddy Kong, Cranky Kong, Dixie Kong and Rambi were all featured at different parts of the Direct and will feature in some capacity
- Donkey Kong has an extensive skill tree that can enhance and unlock new abilities for combat and exploration
- Donkey Kong and Pauline both have an extensive amount of outfits and there’s also a great looking photo mode as well
- There’s fast travel between layers so that you can quickly get below ground to levels that you’re previously visited
- There’s an Assist mode to make it a little easier for those that want less of a challenge
- There’s a DK Artist mode where you can use mouse controls to sculpt different 3D models
It’s great to see that there’s so much more to the game than we initially thought and even better that we don’t have to wait long to see it.
I got to play the game a few months ago at the Nintendo Switch 2 experience in New York (and again in Melbourne) and had the below to say in my preview:
“The thing I loved most about Bananza is that I watched a few other people play it, and saw them discover totally different things to me. This is truly the open world 3D Donkey Kong game that we’ve always dreamed of, and there couldn’t be a better team developing it.”
