Last week, during Nintendo’s big Switch 2 Direct, the Mario maker showed off its fancy upcoming console, revealed some high-priced games, and announced a brand new 3D Donkey Kong game, too. And while it might not be the 3D Mario game many hoped for, Donkey Kong Bananza looks really awesome and a perfect showcase for Nintendo’s more powerful Switch successor.
We scoured all the Treehouse gameplay footage of DK Bananza, the debut trailer, and read Nintendo’s website, all to bring back some exciting nuggets of information to you. So enjoy these 11 cool things we learned about Donkey Kong Bananza, which is set to launch exclusively on Switch 2 on July 17, 2025.
This was hinted at in the first reveal trailer for Donkey Kong Bananza, but yeah, you really can basically demolish every level in this game. See a large mountain? You can punch a tunnel through it. Want to go down and explore below your feet? Punch your way down and do just that. You can even break off chunks of the world and use that to destroy stuff. Nintendo says that all this destruction is possible thanks to the more powerful hardware of Switch 2.
While being able to destroy nearly every piece of a map is cool, what’s really impressive to me is that all this damage is persistent and sticks around as you play. If you go off and explore a corner of the map for 30 minutes, when you return to where you started you’ll see all the damage you previously wrought. And all of this devastation is recreated in real-time in Donkey Kong Bananza’s in-game map!
Not only can you punch and destroy nearly every square inch of the levels in Bananza, but all this material behaves differently depending on what it is.
For example, a chunk of soft mud can’t break hard rock or metal, but you can toss it at enemies or walls and it will stick. On the flip side, harder materials can be ripped out of the ground and used as temporary hammers to increase Donkey Kong’s destructive power. It’s the kind of feature that’s hard to sell in a trailer but will likely help the game feel more next gen.
In Bananza you don’t simply have a punch button. Instead, you have three punch buttons letting you punch up, down, and forward. You can also slap the ground to reveal hidden items buried beneath rock and dirt. Or just slap the ground to break stuff in a different way. Whatever you feel like.
Why is Donkey Kong destroying everything? What is his motivation? Well, he’s trying to collect a new material that has appeared call Banandium. This is a valuable mineral that can be found hidden around the map and which act like Mario’s stars. However, Donkey Kong eats Banandium when he finds it. Seems dangerous, but what do I know?
While Donkey Kong Bananza is very different than past DK games, Nintendo isn’t ditching the past completely. There are still barrel canons dotted around the various levels you explore.
For those who prefer their Donkey Kong-ing done on a single 2D plane, don’t worry: Nintendo has included some levels and bonus areas that appear to play like the old-school DKC games, complete with more barrel canons.
Walking is for suckers. Instead, grab a chunk of rock or dirt, smack it and get it spinning, then jump on it. This will let you “turf surf” around the map and looks faster than simply running everywhere.
Donkey Kong isn’t alone in this new 3D adventure. Early on in the game players meet a strange talking stone after it falls from the sky. This is Odd Rock and he can help Donkey Kong find his next objective. This is important as players might have destroyed most of the level and therefore need some guidance on where to go next.
There are enemies in Donkey Kong Bananza and they can hurt DK. But he can destroy them, too. And when you fight these baddies you’ll notice that they can damage the environment just like you can. This means that battles against enemies will leave permanent potholes and divots around the world. The scars of past battle haunt Donkey Kong forever.
Finally, I can take a photo of a digital gorilla destroying a large rock while wearing a red tie. My dreams are all coming true.