In the new game DK teams up with a younger version of the singer Pauline — who apparently has been hidden inside of a rock for some time — and travels to an underground realm that seems kind of like Nintendo’s take on Hollow Earth. Despite being below ground, the game takes place in a varied and diverse world, with beaches, mountains, and icy locales. There are even giant elder characters and Breath of the Wild-style ancient ruins with unique challenges.
The Direct was primarily focused on gameplay, which in Bananza is built around destruction. DK can smash up the environment, tear of chunks of terrain to use as a weapon, and also, uh, turn into a number of different animals. The game’s “banana transformations” let DK transform into creatures like an ostrich (so he can fly) or a zebra (so he can run so fast he can even sprint on water). These powers utilize a substance called “bananergy.” There are also other abilities that can be unlocked through a skill tree. Maybe the most important: you can purchase new outfits for both DK and Pauline. So even though it mostly plays like a platformer, it appears that Bananza has significant role-playing elements.
There’s a two-player co-op mode where one person controls Pauline, and the multiplayer supports GameShare, so you can play on two different consoles using only one copy of the game. Bananza also has a bonus mode where you can sculpt rocks using the Switch 2’s new mouse controls.
