How long does it take to beat Donkey Kong Bananza?

Donkey Kong Bananza DK screaming as the purple rock comes to life
(Image credit: Nintendo)

How long it takes to beat Donkey Kong Bananza depends on how enthusiastic you are about collecting bananas, unearthing fossils, and generally being destructive. Based on my time playing, and that of a few other GR+ writers, it'll probably take you around 20-25 hours to reach the credits, so this DK outing is a bit chunkier than Super Mario Odyssey. However, if you're committed to 100%-ing Donkey Kong Bananza, rolling the credits might not even be the halfway point for your playtime as there are just that many collectibles to find and upgrades to unlock. Ultimately, your mileage will vary on this excavation excursion, but I've laid out some estimates for how long Donkey Kong Bananza is below.

Be aware of some very light post-game spoilers at the end of this guide!

Donkey Kong Bananza length

Donkey Kong Bananza purple rock exploding to reveal Pauline

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Like I've already said, Donkey Kong Bananza's length is going to vary a lot depending on how much you deviate from the main objectives – those are the yellow markers with black exclamation marks (!).

Here are some rough estimations for how long it might take you to complete Donkey Kong Bananza:

  • Critical path (story objectives only): 14-18 hours
  • Standard (story + exploration and side activities): 18-26 hours
  • Completionist (story + all bananas, all fossils, and post-game): 30+ hours

If you truly commit to getting through Donkey Kong Bananza as quickly as possible, you can reach the final credits in under 20 hours, making it more comparable to Super Mario Odyssey in length. I recommend turning on Donkey Kong Bananza Assist Mode for the extra navigation help!

However, there are so many side activities to distract you, from bananas and fossils to puzzle rooms and DK Country-style 2D levels, that sticking to the critical path is a challenge in and of itself. It's likely that you'll end up with a more reasonable completion time in the region of 20 to 30 hours – for example, the writer of our Donkey Kong Bananza review and I both rolled the credits after about 24 hours, having spent a lot of time on side activities. By doing this, you'll also get plenty of Skill Points for the best Donkey Kong Bananza skills.

Finally, for those fully committed to the Banandium grind, there's so much to collect that you'll probably spend over 30 hours getting to the end of DK Bananza, and the game doesn't end when the credits roll! There's a Donkey Kong Bananza post-game quest that requires you to have collected at least 600 bananas. Although, if you'd rather find out how long the game is in terms of levels, I've listed all the Donkey Kong Bananza sublayers here!

If you want to unlock all the Donkey Kong Bananza Bananzas as early as possible, I've outlined their locations in the linked guide.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Will Sawyer
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Will Sawyer is a Guides Editor at GamesRadar+ with over five years of experience in writing online guides, news, and features, and has a BA (Hons) in Journalism. Starting as a freelancer, Will contributed to startmenu and Game Rant before joining the GamesRadar+ team in August 2021. Since then, he has written hundreds of guides about a huge range of games, with shooters and action games being his areas of expertise. Outside of writing about games, Will hops between multiplayer shooters with friends, such as Darktide and Helldivers 2, and delves into whatever has been on his backlog for far too long. He also tries to get through his never-ending Warhammer pile of shame of grey Tyranids, Aeldari, and Chaos Space Marines.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.