I got to spend four hours playing Donkey Kong Bananza last week and whilst you can read my full hands-on preview here, it’s the 2D side-scrolling levels that I really wanted to call out.
Whilst we’d seen Donkey Kong Bananza’s new 3D environments at length during our previous hands-on sessions and the gameplay footage online, it was the little Breath of the Wild style challenge levels that are scattered around the map that really piqued my interest, and in particular it was the 2D levels that has me excited to see what else the game has in-store.
I got to experience three 2D side-scrolling challenge levels which were all totally different. The first was a more traditional 2D level that had loads of barrels to use to get around, as well as enemies to destroy, and environments to destruct and use to find hidden areas, and the you can also continue to use your bananza power-ups as you go though these levels too.
The second was a bonus level, much like the ones in the Donkey Kong Country games and had me trying to collect a number of gold gems within a set time limit, and the iconic bonus level soundtrack was present here too.
The last one was super interested and merged 2D elements with 3D elements going between going across a 2.5D plane whilst still using 3D movement and destructibility, and it was the one that really had me excited to see what else this game has in store for its challenge levels, with the designers clearly wanting to merge new and old.
Donkey Kong Bananza is out on July 17th exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2. Amazon has the cheapest price at $99 with free shipping HERE.
