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
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.
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