Nintendo's presentation for the Nintendo Switch 2 included many surprises, but the brand-new open-world Donkey Kong game Donkey Kong Bananza was arguably the biggest surprise of all.
That is why I was very intrigued to check out the gameplay that would be shown during Nintendo's Treehouse livestream event. The event showcased several of the games revealed during Wednesday's Nintendo Direct, including Donkey Kong Bananza.
If you want to say that it's just Donkey Kong getting the Super Mario Odyssey treatment, you'd be only sort of right. Yes, in technical terms, it is a 3D platformer, and yes, you do have a little pal along with you for the journey that's a new character for the series. Donkey Kong appropriately gets a little odd-looking talking rock as his companion, rather than a hat.
But what makes this more than just Mario Odyssey swapped out with Donkey Kong is DK's ability to smash everything and anything around him. The game's surrounding terrain is entirely moldable, with the ability to smash new paths on either side of you, above you, and below you. DK might not have the platforming prowess of Mario, but he makes up for it by being able to entirely re-shape the world he inhabits.
The gameplay shown off in the Treehouse livestream shows how you can not only destroy the surrounding terrain, you absolutely should be smashing the world around you to bits as often as you can. It also shows off a few DK-specific movement abilities that still let him retain some of the fluid movement Mario enjoys.
It's still ultimately just a vertical slice of a much larger game, but the Treehouse livestream makes clear that there's more to Donkey Kong Bananza than just being a game where Donkey Kong gets the Super Mario Odyssey treatment.
