Donkey Kong Bananza is IGN’s best Nintendo game for 2025
Donkey Kong Bananza is IGN’s best Nintendo game for 2025
by Turbostrider27
45 Comments
sunaharagrandpa
Unpopular opinion I’m sure but I just cannot get into this game. It feels so unfocused and chaotic. I fondly remember every level in Mario Odyssey because I had to actually interact with it, play within certain boundaries, approach things in specific ways.
With DK I feel like I’m just spamming sonar, point myself in the direction of the object, and mashing a button until I tunnel myself to it. Rinse and repeat.
stubbs242
How? Couldn’t even finish it. Eventually all you do is spam sonar and collect stuff. Rinse repeat for every single level.
JayZsAdoptedSon
I mean yeah, the easiest pick for sure. I absolutely love the movement and the ways people have figured out skips
Gold-Standard420
I honestly felt like the last boss finally put all the bananzas to decent use and then it was over. The different levels never rewarded bananza use beyond “this is the flying part” or “this is the run like a zebra part”.
whit192
Awesome game, could have been a bit more difficult to make you use the different powers more creatively.
Japancakes24
Well it wasn’t going to be Prime 4
mpc92
ya think?
Dukemon102
They gave the game a 10/10 so it was a shoe-in for that spot.
Octopus_Crime
It’s a great game but man it is not even in my top 5 for this year. There were just a lot of great games this year.
I feel a little left out by a lot of the hype. I thought the game was a ton of fun but not as great as a lot of people are making it out to be. The highs were high but by the last 3/4 hours of the game (minus the finale of course) I honestly found it a bit tedious and just wanted to get to the end. You can only re-contextualize “smash the thing” and “throw the thing at the other thing” so many ways before it starts to get a bit repetitive.
I really, really don’t get the people making the claim that it’s like… The new standard for 3d platformers or whatever because honestly it didn’t even feel like much of a platformer. More of an Action/Sandbox thing with some platforming elements.
HeavyDonkeyKong
Very enjoyable game. I feel like I’m not as high on it as other fans, since I do still prefer Odyssey, but that’s hardly a point against it.
JustARandomPokemon
I just got the switch 2 last week and this is the first game I’m playing on it. Its my favourite game of the year alongside kcd2. I’ve play expedition 33 and kcd2 and enjoyed those games, but these type of Nintendo game are just pure joy to play.
ThePhunkyPharaoh
No brainer for me and already one of my all-time favorites. The hate seems to come from people who were expecting Odyssey 2 or another more standard 3D platformer, but that’s just not what it is. There are definitely fun platforming elements (the challenge rooms for instance), but it is much more of a puzzle solving, collectathon. It had BOTW meets 3D Mario vibes to me and that’s like my dream mash-up
OriolesMets
I adored DKB. Not perfect, but pretty close.
Really hope they make a side-scrolling follow-up with Kremlins!
Misttertee_27
Logan at IGN adores this game and thinks it’s the best thing ever so this isn’t surprising.
SputnikFalls
Easily the best game for me too, but I only played the new Mario Kart, PokemonZA, and Metroid.
wicktus
Fine game, finished it and I don’t regret the purchase. I would say Mario Kart World is fun but too many flaws after waiting for more than 10 years for a proper new one, so Bananza is clearly the best Nintendo game indeed.
it’s more of a fun “smash everything” game than a thoughtful, artistic experience and I expected (FOR ME, my opinion) a little more. Mario Odyssey felt more like the latter with so much creativity baked in. I did not really liked the biomes, with few exceptions, felt a little too generic and deja-vu
Still, it’s an original experience, they genuinely searched how to make a different DK games, explored voxel, waited for the switch 2 hardware etc. it’s a GOOD game, just not a very memorable one for me
LonelyLittleFool
Should I buy Bananza? I know it’s good but I haven’t played any DK games and Idk if I wanna pay 70$ for it
HisDivineOrder
Should be simple because it’s the only reason I’ve seen so far to get a Switch 2 and one game is just not enough for me to spend half a thousand dollars.
But it definitely seems a cut way above the rest.
_Fistacuff
For me DK was good but not great.
Its built around smashing everything which was great at first but eventually it felt like going through the motions and I was sprinting for the finish line. The rush of trying to find everything turned into picking up what was on the way as I beelined for the objectives.
Bosses/levels were too easy with the exception of the final boss which felt like an oddly extreme jump in difficulty vs the rest of the game. Still once i stopped my instinct to just break everything which had powered me through the rest of the game it took 2 tries to strategize a win.
My kids love it though, it was a good challenge and they can’t get enough of breaking shit so maybe I’m just out of the target audience.
It looks great, the music and sound effects were mostly great too but I highly doubt I will ever play it again.
SlipperySparky
I was so excited for this game, but it ended up being a huge disappointment. The first world felt amazing, but the gameplay loop got super stale. There’s absolutely no challenge until the rehearsals in the post game
mr_chip
The demo really didn’t grab me. Is it actually representative of the full experience?
roccerfeller
For me it was Metroid prime 4
But lots of good Nintendo games this year
CompetitiveDrawing89
Really? What is wrong with people? You just go around and smash everything.
Ok-Location-3808
Fantastic game.
Three_Froggy_Problem
For me it’s probably Mario Kart World, which I just adore.
I liked Donkey Kong Bananza, but it’s the first Nintendo game I can ever remember playing where I was ready for it to be over well before it was. It was surprising to me how it just doesn’t really build much on itself as it goes on. You unlock the different transformations, but DK has all of his abilities from the start so you’re more or less doing the same thing from beginning to end.
Strong_Yam_8978
Not like there was much competition ngl. Kind of a weak year in terms of Nintendo video games. 2 kart racers is definitely a choice and we don’t talk about prime 4
Ghost_Protocol147
Sorry but Hades 2 is a better game.
psychoacer
What about Super Mario Bros 2?
thatnitai
I was sure it would be drag x drive
orangeyouglad21
got this with a bundle and the game made me incredibly motion sick. tried three separate times. couldn’t ever play more than 15 minutes. has never happened to me with a video game before… bummer!
NewNatural6512
I dont love Bananza but IMO its still the only option for this award.
havenomouth23
similar to a lot of people’s issues with games like Tears of the Kingdom or even Prime 4—it feels like a lot of people aren’t willing to meet bananza on its own terms. either expecting it to be a mario platformer (its not) or ignoring that the game really does not incentivize you to just mindlessly smash literally everything, but rather to pointedly make your way through the different environments. not to say that every critique is unjustified, but it really does feel like many people are unwilling to go with what a game is trying to do, if it’s not what they want it to do
Xf3rna-96
To the surprise of absolutely no one.
NeighborhoodPlane794
The IGN reviewer was so high on this game and called it his favourite game of all time, so I’m not shocked it won here. Personally, I just can’t see where he’s coming from and thought it just wasn’t quite on the same tier as other Nintendo classics. Would’ve given it an 8 if I reviewed it. But I did think the final hour of Bananza was an 11/10, amazing stuff.
Roesy13
Couldn’t afford to play it
hotfistdotcom
Nintendo has made all of 3 games and a manual in 2025. They have published some enhancements, and they have published some other games with nintendo characters made by 2nd and 3rd party studios, but nintendo has only made 3, arguably 4 games this year. Two brilliant indies in the runners up is a telling hint.
It might also be the GOTY. They gave it a perfect score while E33 was only a 9/10. I could be wrong though.
DXsocko007
It’s like one of 2 games Nintendo out out lol
Garrub
Fun game, but it’s no Kirby Air Riders
GiggleyDuff
It was fun but not amazing. Though to be fair, I don’t think I really enjoyed any games that newly released in 2025. I find myself playing old games more often than anything else
I enjoyed Mario kart more than DK
kielaurie
It looks like a very good game, something that I would probably enjoy for a while, but it doesn’t look good enough to drop £60 on when Hades 2 is half the price and the best game I’ve ever played, y’know?
Justsin7
Man…… I don’t get it. I didn’t like it. 🤷♂️
lordelan
Well I played through it and didn’t expect it to be that good. It’s indeed a 9.5/10 for me. However now that I’m done with it, I don’t see many reasons to go back to it just for grinding stuff.
Hades 2 (which I’m currently playing) does a way better job at keeping me attracted for a long time.
Doesn’t matter though. DK was worth every penny for the tons of fun I had with it. Best 3D DK game for sure.
Cacheelma
Yeah well stiff competition there not gonna lie….
ShipToWreck
I personally have had the most fun by far in Legends Z-A this year on my Switch 2, possibly the most fun I’ve ever had playing a mainline Pokémon game. But Bananza is truly a great 3D platformer, probably one of Nintendo’s best ever. Can’t go wrong with either one.
45 Comments
Unpopular opinion I’m sure but I just cannot get into this game. It feels so unfocused and chaotic. I fondly remember every level in Mario Odyssey because I had to actually interact with it, play within certain boundaries, approach things in specific ways.
With DK I feel like I’m just spamming sonar, point myself in the direction of the object, and mashing a button until I tunnel myself to it. Rinse and repeat.
How? Couldn’t even finish it. Eventually all you do is spam sonar and collect stuff. Rinse repeat for every single level.
I mean yeah, the easiest pick for sure. I absolutely love the movement and the ways people have figured out skips
I honestly felt like the last boss finally put all the bananzas to decent use and then it was over. The different levels never rewarded bananza use beyond “this is the flying part” or “this is the run like a zebra part”.
Awesome game, could have been a bit more difficult to make you use the different powers more creatively.
Well it wasn’t going to be Prime 4
ya think?
They gave the game a 10/10 so it was a shoe-in for that spot.
It’s a great game but man it is not even in my top 5 for this year. There were just a lot of great games this year.
I feel a little left out by a lot of the hype. I thought the game was a ton of fun but not as great as a lot of people are making it out to be. The highs were high but by the last 3/4 hours of the game (minus the finale of course) I honestly found it a bit tedious and just wanted to get to the end. You can only re-contextualize “smash the thing” and “throw the thing at the other thing” so many ways before it starts to get a bit repetitive.
I really, really don’t get the people making the claim that it’s like… The new standard for 3d platformers or whatever because honestly it didn’t even feel like much of a platformer. More of an Action/Sandbox thing with some platforming elements.
Very enjoyable game. I feel like I’m not as high on it as other fans, since I do still prefer Odyssey, but that’s hardly a point against it.
I just got the switch 2 last week and this is the first game I’m playing on it. Its my favourite game of the year alongside kcd2. I’ve play expedition 33 and kcd2 and enjoyed those games, but these type of Nintendo game are just pure joy to play.
No brainer for me and already one of my all-time favorites. The hate seems to come from people who were expecting Odyssey 2 or another more standard 3D platformer, but that’s just not what it is. There are definitely fun platforming elements (the challenge rooms for instance), but it is much more of a puzzle solving, collectathon. It had BOTW meets 3D Mario vibes to me and that’s like my dream mash-up
I adored DKB. Not perfect, but pretty close.
Really hope they make a side-scrolling follow-up with Kremlins!
Logan at IGN adores this game and thinks it’s the best thing ever so this isn’t surprising.
Easily the best game for me too, but I only played the new Mario Kart, PokemonZA, and Metroid.
Fine game, finished it and I don’t regret the purchase. I would say Mario Kart World is fun but too many flaws after waiting for more than 10 years for a proper new one, so Bananza is clearly the best Nintendo game indeed.
it’s more of a fun “smash everything” game than a thoughtful, artistic experience and I expected (FOR ME, my opinion) a little more. Mario Odyssey felt more like the latter with so much creativity baked in. I did not really liked the biomes, with few exceptions, felt a little too generic and deja-vu
Still, it’s an original experience, they genuinely searched how to make a different DK games, explored voxel, waited for the switch 2 hardware etc. it’s a GOOD game, just not a very memorable one for me
Should I buy Bananza? I know it’s good but I haven’t played any DK games and Idk if I wanna pay 70$ for it
Should be simple because it’s the only reason I’ve seen so far to get a Switch 2 and one game is just not enough for me to spend half a thousand dollars.
But it definitely seems a cut way above the rest.
For me DK was good but not great.
Its built around smashing everything which was great at first but eventually it felt like going through the motions and I was sprinting for the finish line. The rush of trying to find everything turned into picking up what was on the way as I beelined for the objectives.
Bosses/levels were too easy with the exception of the final boss which felt like an oddly extreme jump in difficulty vs the rest of the game. Still once i stopped my instinct to just break everything which had powered me through the rest of the game it took 2 tries to strategize a win.
My kids love it though, it was a good challenge and they can’t get enough of breaking shit so maybe I’m just out of the target audience.
It looks great, the music and sound effects were mostly great too but I highly doubt I will ever play it again.
I was so excited for this game, but it ended up being a huge disappointment. The first world felt amazing, but the gameplay loop got super stale. There’s absolutely no challenge until the rehearsals in the post game
The demo really didn’t grab me. Is it actually representative of the full experience?
For me it was Metroid prime 4
But lots of good Nintendo games this year
Really? What is wrong with people? You just go around and smash everything.
Fantastic game.
For me it’s probably Mario Kart World, which I just adore.
I liked Donkey Kong Bananza, but it’s the first Nintendo game I can ever remember playing where I was ready for it to be over well before it was. It was surprising to me how it just doesn’t really build much on itself as it goes on. You unlock the different transformations, but DK has all of his abilities from the start so you’re more or less doing the same thing from beginning to end.
Not like there was much competition ngl. Kind of a weak year in terms of Nintendo video games. 2 kart racers is definitely a choice and we don’t talk about prime 4
Sorry but Hades 2 is a better game.
What about Super Mario Bros 2?
I was sure it would be drag x drive
got this with a bundle and the game made me incredibly motion sick. tried three separate times. couldn’t ever play more than 15 minutes. has never happened to me with a video game before… bummer!
I dont love Bananza but IMO its still the only option for this award.
similar to a lot of people’s issues with games like Tears of the Kingdom or even Prime 4—it feels like a lot of people aren’t willing to meet bananza on its own terms. either expecting it to be a mario platformer (its not) or ignoring that the game really does not incentivize you to just mindlessly smash literally everything, but rather to pointedly make your way through the different environments. not to say that every critique is unjustified, but it really does feel like many people are unwilling to go with what a game is trying to do, if it’s not what they want it to do
To the surprise of absolutely no one.
The IGN reviewer was so high on this game and called it his favourite game of all time, so I’m not shocked it won here. Personally, I just can’t see where he’s coming from and thought it just wasn’t quite on the same tier as other Nintendo classics. Would’ve given it an 8 if I reviewed it. But I did think the final hour of Bananza was an 11/10, amazing stuff.
Couldn’t afford to play it
Nintendo has made all of 3 games and a manual in 2025. They have published some enhancements, and they have published some other games with nintendo characters made by 2nd and 3rd party studios, but nintendo has only made 3, arguably 4 games this year. Two brilliant indies in the runners up is a telling hint.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_Switch_2_games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_Switch_2_games)
It might also be the GOTY. They gave it a perfect score while E33 was only a 9/10. I could be wrong though.
It’s like one of 2 games Nintendo out out lol
Fun game, but it’s no Kirby Air Riders
It was fun but not amazing. Though to be fair, I don’t think I really enjoyed any games that newly released in 2025. I find myself playing old games more often than anything else
I enjoyed Mario kart more than DK
It looks like a very good game, something that I would probably enjoy for a while, but it doesn’t look good enough to drop £60 on when Hades 2 is half the price and the best game I’ve ever played, y’know?
Man…… I don’t get it. I didn’t like it. 🤷♂️
Well I played through it and didn’t expect it to be that good. It’s indeed a 9.5/10 for me. However now that I’m done with it, I don’t see many reasons to go back to it just for grinding stuff.
Hades 2 (which I’m currently playing) does a way better job at keeping me attracted for a long time.
Doesn’t matter though. DK was worth every penny for the tons of fun I had with it. Best 3D DK game for sure.
Yeah well stiff competition there not gonna lie….
I personally have had the most fun by far in Legends Z-A this year on my Switch 2, possibly the most fun I’ve ever had playing a mainline Pokémon game. But Bananza is truly a great 3D platformer, probably one of Nintendo’s best ever. Can’t go wrong with either one.