After 44 years as second banana, Donkey Kong Bananza makes Nintendo's first star a mascot to rival Mario and Link in the Switch 2 era

Nintendo is arguably better at reinvention than any other publisher in the game industry. What other company has managed to take a character like Mario, who debuted all the way back in 1981, and keep him relevant across so many console generations it would seem silly to count them all? Mario defined 2D platformers, then 3D platformers, and when other franchises might've hit the doldrums, the plumber was continuing to star in industry-defining hits that defied gravity and put a new spin on open-world action.

But Mario didn't even have a name in that 1981 debut – it was the then-villainous Donkey Kong who was the star of the show. Yet Nintendo has always seemed content to let DK play, er, second banana in the platformer hierarchy. After all, beloved games like Donkey Kong Country weren't even developed by Nintendo internally, instead handed off to the devs at Rare, who put their own spin on Donkey Kong's world.

But with Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo finally seems to be recognizing that the big ape can anchor a tentpole release – not just a major new game from the Super Mario Odyssey devs, but a key launch title for the brand-new Switch 2. According to an official dev interview, Donkey Kong Bananza's development got underway "with an eye to expanding the Donkey Kong franchise further," and it's clear that Nintendo is taking the opportunity to reevaluate – and elevate – DK's place in its first-party canon.

Reinvention

The new generation of Nintendo reinventions – games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Mario Kart World – all stretch out the scope of their predecessors, turning them into either full or semi-open-world games, while keeping much of the core action that's defined those series intact. Donkey Kong Bananza follows in the semi-open-world mold, with a multitude of massive, open-ended levels to explore, but it takes far greater liberties with the core mechanics.

You can see why Nintendo would feel the need to transform Donkey Kong – after all, Mario already has the platformer space covered, right? Donkey Kong Country was great on Super NES, but it was no Super Mario World. Similarly, Donkey Kong 64 has its fans, but there's a reason Super Mario 64 is considered the definitive 3D platformer of its generation. If Donkey Kong is going to be one of Nintendo's flagship franchises, it can't just be the second-string version of Mario.

"Keeping in mind that this game will come to symbolize 3D Donkey Kong," producer Kenta Motokura says in that aforementioned interview, "and with the theme of bringing Donkey Kong's strengths and new actions to the forefront, we thought the concept of 'destruction' would be a good fit." Motokura leaves open the possibility that 2D DK will continue separately, presumably through the Donkey Kong Country Returns lineage a la the New Super Mario Bros. series, but Bananza represents the future of 3D Donkey Kong.

I won't fully rehash the praise I lavished on these destruction mechanics in my Donkey Kong Bananza review here, but as it turns out, tearing things apart is a hell of a concept for a video game. If Mario is Nintendo's Bugs Bunny, Donkey Kong is now its Tasmanian Devil, an id-only character who's ready, willing, and able to smash everything he wants. Grabbing a video game controller to embody a rampaging gorilla strong enough to smash through stone is cathartic, and there's a little bit of precarious joy in becoming the thing the name "Donkey Kong" meant all those decades ago: a wild ape on the loose.

Legacy

But revelling in that chaos is no longer an act of villainy, because DK himself is no longer the villain he was in that arcade debut. Literally, even. When Rare took over the series in the Super NES days, the original Donkey Kong morphed into the character we now know as Cranky Kong, with the new, tie-clad DK either his son or grandson.

Yet Nintendo always seemed a little hesitant to acknowledge that lore. I remember being aghast as an 11-year-old Super Smash Bros. Melee player when I read a trophy description suggesting that the current Donkey Kong was the same character who stole Mario's girlfriend in the arcade, and while elements of the Rare games still pop up from time to time – particularly in the externally developed DKC Returns games – it's seemed that Nintendo has been far more comfortable sweeping Rare's take on the character under the rug.

But that's changed with Donkey Kong Bananza. I want to avoid spoiling the game's final twists, but they're built to please those of us who remained fans of DK through the Rare years, finally bridging the gap between three disparate eras. This is a sequel to the arcade game, the Donkey Kong Country series, and Super Mario Odyssey all in equal measure, and no part of the equation feels unequally valued.

The same way Breath of the Wild united three disparate branches of Zelda lore, wiping the slate clean to give the series a new identity, Donkey Kong Bananza has united 40-plus years of competing takes on Donkey Kong into a new vision that pays tribute to what's come before while reestablishing the ape as one of the pillars of Nintendo's lineup.

Even without all that baggage in mind, Donkey Kong Bananza would still be the highlight of Switch 2's first year simply because it's so dang much fun to play. But as we enter Nintendo's new console generation – and perhaps even more importantly, as the publisher readies its characters to become movie stars – it also serves as a mission statement. Nintendo's beloved characters may be decades old, but they can still take on a new form just as essential as those that have come before. Donkey Kong Bananza might just mark the launch of a third flagship for Nintendo.

Donkey Kong Bananza ranks very highly in our list of the best games of 2025.