Donkey Kong Bananza Direct reveals a ton of new gameplay and DK’s adventuring companion

Nintendo revealed a whole fistful of new info about Donkey Kong Bananza in a new Nintendo Direct, the 3D platformer reboot coming to Nintendo Switch 2 on 17th July.

Golden bananas are, apparently, the discovery of the century, with Ingot Island the hub for mining operations at the very start of the game. And then the baddies show up. In the resulting kerfuffle, DK teams up with Odd-Rock… except it turns out that within that rock is noneother than Pauline, whose been reimagined as a wannabe singer.

The solution to both their wishes and woes – that is wanting bananas and stardom and not having them, respectively – is to go deeper and deeper underground to try to reach the planet’s core. Digging down through the ground reveals a world filled with subterranean biomes layered on top of one another, all somehow still being lit by the sun. It definitely doesn’t really feel like you’re underground when DK is rampaging across a sunny beach…

DK can run, jump and climb up and around pretty much anything, but he can also smash, grab and bash. He can punch his way through and deform vast swathes of the world, digging through the world and wrecking stuff on the way. All of this destruction can lead to new discoveries.

DK has a powerful Dive Punch move to punch down through the ground, do a forward roll to move at pace, hand slap (or foot slap) to collect nearby items and reveal a sonar pulse, and tear up chunks of terrain and stuck items, and then swing it at enemies. Heck, he can even jump while holding a chunk and then use it to propel him to a double jump, or Turf Surf

Intriguingly there’s a toughness value for the various objects. Tougher materials can smash through lighter stuff more easily, while softer materials could be blobbed together. Of course, explosive materials will go boom and blow great big holes and craters in the world.

All of this also applies to the battling as well, with some enemies having tough exteriors to smash through to get to their inner forms and be defeated.

Pauline isn’t just along for the ride, clinging onto DK’s shoulder, and her singing can break through certain purple seals blocking progression.

There’s plenty of creatures of different species that you’ll meet on the way, and Cranky Kong and Rambi are knocking around in these underground layers. Each world is looked over by a Giant Elder, each of which possess a Bananza Power that Pauline can learn to sing, transforming DK into even more destructive forms, such as Kong Bananza, the speedy Zebra Bananza, and the flying Ostrich Bananza (who can also drop egg bombs from above).All of this is time limited and requires you to collect enough gold to fill up your Bananergy.

The Void Company is what stands in your way, with Grumpy Kong, Poppy Kong and Void Kong the evil trio who are racing you to the planet core. They’ve created a bunch of powerful foes to guard the routes down to the lower layers, which you’ll obviously need to defeat.

The Banandium Gems are the most prized golden banana gem collectibles, either found in the open world or earned from completing challenges that include combat challenges, side-scrolling platformer sections, and much more. These Gems can be spent to increase DK’s stats and power of his abilities, like improved sonar or new skills.

A 2-player co-op mode allows the second player to control Pauline in an asymmetrical co-op mode, so she can shout and blast enemies in a mode similar to Super Mario Galaxy co-op on the Wii. This all works via GameShare, as well.

And then there’s just a random mouse mode called DK Artist, letting you carve and paint your own sculptures.

It all looks significantly more ambitious and intriguing than the smaller slice of game that was on show during the April Direct and Switch 2 hands on events. We’re definitely keen to see more when the game launched next month on 17th July.