Donkey Kong Bananza: Iconic Nintendo character gets best makeover yet
Aussies are losing their minds over a new $99 game that has just undergone an extreme makeover.
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The first Donkey Kong game in over a decade has just been released and critics (including this one) are already hailing it as the best Donkey Kong game ever.
But what makes Donkey Kong Bananza so special, and why has it been so long between drinks?
The big ape named Donkey has been a key Nintendo character for almost as long as Nintendo has been making video games.
What most people don’t know, though, is that the world of video games would look very different now if Nintendo had been able to release a Popeye game in 1981 as planned.
The story goes that back in the 1970s, Nintendo was trying to make an arcade game to appeal to American audiences and save Nintendo of America from the verge of collapse after the failure of their Radar Scope release.
The executives turned to a young, early career graphic designer named Shigeru Miyamoto to make this game.
He decided to make a Popeye title, but because rendering the usual Popeye antagonist (Bluto) would require too many pixels and make him a giant, Bluto was replaced with a giant ape, marking the creation of Donkey Kong.
Later on in development, due to unspecified licensing issues, all Popeye characters had to be removed from the game.
He was replaced with an American plumber to match the setting of a construction site. In the instruction manual, this plumber’s name was Jumpman, but the developers nicknamed him Little Mario, after the landlord for their office in Seattle.
Olive Oyl was turned into Pauline. Donkey Kong then became one of the first platform games, and the rest is history.
Donkey Kong kept antagonising Mario for a few more games, before they both went on to separately star in their own game titles, like members of a boyband going off to do solo projects.
In this analogy, Mario is the Harry Styles of the group, Donkey Kong Is Zayn Malik and Pauline is one of the other band members no one ever remembers.
Pauline never got to enjoy the same popularity as the other heroes, or even her fellow Nintendo damsels Peach, Daisy and Rosalina. However, her recent outing in Super Mario Odyssey began to get her some of the recognition she deserves.
That’s why her prominent inclusion in Donkey Kong Bananza is so notable, though it’s weird that Nintendo aged her down to a 13-year-old.
The reason Pauline didn’t take off as a character earlier, or why Mario apparently broke up with her in favour of a princess, Adelaide-based Donkey Kong super fan Chris Button isn’t sure.
“I’d really like to ask Nintendo that one myself, actually, because she’s one of the original Mario characters,” he told news.com.au.
“She’s also one of the earliest examples of the classic damsel in distress trope that video games have leant on ever since. I think Pauline deserves more respect than what she has previously received.”
Button points out, though, that Pauline has gotten more attention from Nintendo in recent years, being included as a racer in the latest Mario Kart World game, and getting a role as mayor of New Donk City in the popular Super Mario Odyssey game. Pauline’s time to shine might finally have come.
Donkey Kong has now almost completely shed his old villainous ways (though his greed remains).
This latest Donkey Kong Bananza game follows a different story to the ones we’re used to seeing DK in. He’s a miner now, sort of.
The game starts with him trying to get special Banandium Gems from the ground in the middle of a gold rush. However, there is villainy afoot in the quest to have a great wish granted and so Donkey Kong gets to do what he does best: smash stuff, collect collectables, and eat bananas.
But he also must help a 13-year-old Pauline, who in turn can help transform DK using her songs.
I don’t want to say much more to avoid spoiling the game, but it’s surprisingly touching at times. I can’t believe I’m saying that about a Donkey Kong game.
Daniel Vuckovic, who runs Australian community Nintendo site vooks.net and is based in WA, doesn’t believe that Donkey Kong would be FIFO on the mines.
“Judging by the chatter of the characters in the game, it seems like he up and left to go mining because there’s bananas there, so I think he’s more of an on-site guy. He’s really involved and goes where he has to go to get his bananas and his money.”
Made by the same people who made Super Mario Odyssey, Bananza has some of the same DNA.
Although it plays completely differently, it will still be familiar to players who enjoyed Odyssey. Some people are already theorising that Bananza is a prequel to Odyssey.
However, Vuckovic cautions against trying to find continuity. “I think like Zelda, and like Mario, there are some interconnecting ideas between games, but at some point they’re all just different characters.
“Link from Breath of the Wild and Link from Tears of the Kingdom are different characters. Is there an actual timeline? Who knows anymore.”
Donkey Kong Banaza walks a fine line between catering to longtime fans and being the perfect introduction for new players. It’s filled with tonnes of references and Easter eggs to previous games, but is enjoyable even without the context, and it would work well as someone’s first video game, if played in co-op mode with someone else.
With the success of the Nintendo Switch 2 console as the fastest selling console of all time, and Donkey Kong Bananza being only the second exclusive title for the new console, it’s expected to sell very well.
But while other game companies might use success as an opportunity to suddenly release a lot more Donkey Kong games, that’s not Nintendo’s style. It might be a further 11 years before we get another one.
Part of what makes Nintendo stand out from other game companies so much is that it’s willing to let games breathe.
Button says this is down to Nintendo focusing on unique ideas over quantity.
“I think Nintendo puts a real focus on trying to find a unique element to kickstart each game,” he said.
“You only have to look at the poor Metroid fans. I would love them to throw a bone to some of those long- neglected franchises or some of those franchises that have for gaps between games.
“But I suppose that when they do return with something, like when Metroid Dread came out a couple of years ago, they really knock it out of the park.”
Having now played Donkey Kong Bananza, I can confidently say that they’ve definitely knocked it out of the park this time.
Donkey Kong Bananza is avalable now on Nintendo Switch 2.
Alice Clarke is an award-winning freelance journalist with almost 20 years experience writing about video games and technology. You can find her at @alicedkc.bsky.social
Originally published as Donkey Kong Bananza: Iconic Nintendo character gets best makeover yet
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