Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Donkey Kong Bananza Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: July 16, 2025

Go to http://shadyrays.com and use code FUNNY to get 35% off polarized sunglasses. Enjoy this ad-free version! Thank you for the support! Run of Show - - Start - Housekeeping - Donkey Kong Bananza Review - How Does this Redefine AND Stay True to Donkey Kong? - Ads - The “Disney” Magic - SuperChats - The Music - The Performance - More SuperChats Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yo, what's up? Welcome to the kind of funny games cast for Wednesday, July 16th, 2025. I'm one of your host's Blessing at E.OIA Jr. joining me is a little Croy Pappy, Tim, Ma, Vuggan, Gettys. I just, I love Nintendo release times. We just get the whole week of excitement leading into it. We get the time after of everyone playing. The bad thing is Nintendo only gives out one code per company for the most part. So we don't get to have a full crew discussing things, at least not the first go around. I'm sure we will do another review for this with y'all's opinions later, but

I'm still very excited and I'm excited that I'm not alone talking about this game. Of course, because also joining us is IGN's Logan Plan. Logan, how's it going? Hey guys, going good. I'm so psyched to be here to talk about one of my favorite games ever.

I'm so psyched about D.K. Hell yeah. Yeah, I'm super excited to talk to you because we're talking before the show, right? Tim mentioned that he hadn't gotten to your review yet. I did listen to the full review video on the IGN YouTube channel. And then also I read the verdict on the actual IGN website. And I have a lot of questions. I mean,

and Beard talk about all the time. We're DK.K. 64 is some of our... Sickos. Sickos, right? One of our favorite games of all time. And yeah, Tim mentioned that we only got one review code from Nintendo. So Tim was our designated viewer. But I'm here to ask all the questions.

I got so much I want to talk about. First question being, Logan, of course, you've been on this show before. we were just talking about it. You helped review Brothership here before. What is your like, I want to dig into a little bit of your review history at IGN. What are some of your, I guess, highest profile reviews that you've done for the website?

Yeah, I've been doing a lot of the Nintendo reviews over the last year. I reviewed Super Mario Party Jamboree, which I think is the best Mario party there's ever been. I love that game. I give it a nine. I reviewed the Paper Mario, the Thousand Year Door remake, which I also gave a nine. I reviewed Princess Pete Showtime, which was a seven. That was a very, very seven game to me and some other ones like Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D remake I did last year and the Plucky Squire which was another seven so yeah I've been kind of all over the map with scores.

Hell yeah. I'm very excited to talk to you about Donkey Kong Bonanza today because remember this is the kind of funny games cast each and every week that we get together and talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and all podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, get all of our shows ad-free, watches accord them live, and get a daily exclusive show. For a chance to be a part of the show, some of your thoughts and opinions as YouTube superchats as we go.

Housekeeping for you, Friday, Game Showdown returns for a special four-episode Nick Scarpino-led miniseries. Nine contestants are vying for a prize that can change their lives. Tune in on Friday after Gamescast for the premiere episode. And then also our first stream, brand type premium collector's item has arrived. It's a lore accurate recreation of Roger putting Kojima onto Carolyn's music created by the incredible Panda Musk.

Of course, grab it before the month ends exclusively available on patreon.com slash kind of funny. Incredible. Fantastic stuff. I wish I could have seen Roger's face when he got back, just the portrait of him specifically, because this is the coolest of ever seen Roger look. Like they made like Roger's facial structure chiseled in a way

we're on my god damn i want to see him start in an action movie so go check out this patreon item tomorrow on october we're in 11 person business all about live talk shows of course khcd covered nintendo revealing the legend of zelda live action film cast after this gregg and tim play the first 45 minutes of donkey conganza before coach mike puts roger through the paces in college football um another housekeeping for you tim is hosting the san diego comic con panel for marlain Marvel Cosmic Invasion next Thursday, July 24th, get hype for that. If you're at San Diego Comic Con, make sure to come through, hang out with him and support Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

So excited. Please, if you're at Comic Con, come show up, support. Let's have some fun. Next Thursday, it's going to be a blast. If you're a kind of funny member, today's Greg Ways 22 minutes of Greg Miller's Supergirl teaser poster reaction. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Delaney Twining, sorry, Delaney, the Psalm, Twining, Carl Jacobs and Omega Buster.

Today we're brought to you by Shady Raise, but we'll tell you about that later. For now, let's start with topic of the show. Tots, talks, talks, touch, touch. Our Donkey Kong Bonanza review, of course, it's going to be spoiler-free. To start off, I want to hear your super chats in the comments. Do you have any questions for these boys

about their experiences playing Don Kong Bonanza, right in with the super chat, and we'll get those questions read later on in the show. And I do want to say, there are things that can be spoiled. Of course, in a lot of games and stories and stuff. And I don't want to hype anything up too much or say this or that, whatever. All I'm saying is, like, if you care about, like, let me say this.

If you care about Rainbow Road in Mario Kart and you consider that a spoiler, this game features spoilers. Okay. And I do. You know, and Barrett does. Like, it's just, if you care about Nintendo games, the way Nintendo fans care about Nintendo games, play this game before you go on the internet. And like before, like, people are going to be spoiling a bunch of things. things. But I will also say, even if you think you're spoiled on stuff, there's so much.

There's so much great stuff in this game. So don't let it discourage you. But I will say, be safe out there. Tim, I want to start with you. What is your review of Donkey Kong Bonanza? So I am a huge Nintendo fan that might surprise people. And sometimes that means that when I am playing new entries in Nintendo franchises, I can be fixated on little things that add up to me, that I'm just like, I just want this to be that way, or I wish they went further here, and all of that stuff. And when I played 20 minutes of Donkey Kong Bonanza

at the Nintendo Switch to reveal event with you and with Logan, I walked away trepidacious. I didn't dislike my time with it, but I was not utterly obsessed. I was not like, oh, my God, this is the game I've been waiting for from the 3D Mario team, specifically because I had 20 minutes with it, and it felt like the core of the game

which you're just punching and breaking everything you can possibly see and I was like, how long is this going to hold up and are they going to have this stuff when it comes to fulfilling the potential of this gimmick all the way through for an entire adventure? Or where I was at with that game,

is this going to be a smaller title? Is this going to be something on the lines of a Kirby in the forgotten land? One of my favorite switch games. So no shade at all. But we're talking about the great here. We're talking about Galaxy 1 and 2. We're talking about Odyssey. Can it hold up with those? And I will say now, having played this game for 45 hours, having done a lot of the content in this game,

and definitely wanting to 100% it over the course of the next month or two. I could say that the last week we've spent talking about 3D platformers and Nintendo games, we often talk about Galaxy and Odyssey and those games as examples of 10 out of 10 videos. games and some of the best games ever made. And I can say, without a shadow of doubt, that whether I'm talking to a five-year-old or a 45-year-old, if I could only recommend that they play one game out of Mario Galaxy 1, 2, Odyssey, or Donkey Kong Panza.

It would be the 10 out of 10, Donkey Kong Fananza. Timothy. Timothy. Awesome. It is what it is, bless. I can't believe it. The bad lads pulled it off. And I stand by that.

And when y'all play this game, you're going to understand too. This game is special. This game has taken every single right lesson that they've learned from those games and put it into a beautiful, unique package that is not a Mario game. It is a Donkey Kong game. This is Donkey Kong country in 3D with Disney magic on top of it, with the relationship of D.K. and Pauline, a story that I was way too invested in,

if I'm being honest for how simple it is. It's fun. Surprises left and right. And I was saying yesterday when we were talking about the differences between the 3D Mario games, the gimmick is the difference maker in terms of the highest highs and the lowest lows. And I think that this game keeps the gimmick fresh consistently. We'll talk a lot more throughout this episode about a bunch of different parts of that. But I would say that this game is equal parts.

Mario Galaxy 1 as it is Breath of the Wild which is very interesting and I also feel like there is a lot of potential for a sequel to take these things even further like A Tears of the Kingdom or a Galaxy 2 and I think that that is incredibly exciting

because to me that shows that for as amazing as the gameplay is in this game Nintendo almost feels like they were holding back and it was this damn good in some ways Wow so now Logan you reviewed this game for IGN, you're the assigned reviewer.

Over on the website, you gave it a 10 out of 10 and said, Donkey Kong Bonanza is truly a groundbreaking 3D platformer. Can you expound on that? For you, what makes DK.K. Bonanza a 10 out of 10 video game? Yeah, so I was at the same New York event as you guys, and we chatted there for a little bit,

and I played Donkey Kong on the show floor, and then I saw you guys in the lunchroom after, and I had just fallen in love with that game, and I talked to Tim about it, And I was like, this is, I think, going to be one of the best games I've ever played. I fell in love with it. It clicked with me instantly. I've been tracking Bonanza so closely the whole way because I've been so excited for it.

And then we're here. And I'm playing it. My favorite 3D platformer of all time is Super Mario Odyssey. My favorite Donkey Kong game and favorite 2D platformer of all time is Tropical Freeze. I like this game more than both of them. It is my favorite Donkey Kong game. It is my favorite 3D platform of all time. It's one of the best Nintendo games ever.

And I think that Tim is totally right. There is Galaxy in here. There is Breath of the Wild in here. And I think there's some of that tiers of the kingdom DNA in here, too. There's all these puzzles. And there's so much freedom and expressiveness in what you do is DK. And there is an offered route to find each Banandium gem. They don't care if you do it.

They don't care if you punch a tunnel straight to it. It's often more fun to do the actual intended route. And that's usually the way that I lean in Donkey Kong Bonanza, but just the, I don't know, the confidence to make a game like this that I go back and I play Odyssey and I'm like, oh, his ground pound doesn't shatter the terrain around him. Like, it doesn't Vananza. Like, it adds such a layer. It never feels like a gimmick,

but rather the core mechanic that they build hundreds and hundreds of Nintendo quality puzzles on top of. Like, just everything they do with a chunk. You rip a chunk out of the ground and you can beat it into an enemy, you can throw it in an airborne enemy, you can surf on it, and then they use it

in a hundred different ways as each layer progresses. And every time you see a new idea, it clicks and you're like, that's so smart. How did I not think of that before? How did they think of this? It's genius. It's so Mario, but importantly, so Donkey Kong.

And I'm a huge Donkey Kong fan like you guys are. So it's just, it's so special. And then like Odyssey, it's just a linear crescendo the whole time. I think Bonanza just gets better and better the deeper you dive into the planet. Every layer is better than the last. And it builds to an incredible finale that like Tim said, you know, be careful. You don't want to know what happens. it rules and yeah it's just such a special game.

Tim, can you explain more about the structure of this game? You talk about the layers, Logan, right? And like when I remember playing my demo, getting to the first layer beneath the first layer, and that's where they stopped me. And I was like, wait, I wouldn't know what this is. Like, what is going on here? Of course, they explain it during the Nintendo Direct.

But now that you've beaten it, can you get into it more, right? Like, what is the, I guess, what is a day in the life of playing Donkey Kong Benazzaa look like for you? You are starting essentially at not the, surface, but like at a sub layer that's like pretty close to the surface, and you're making a way down to the planet's core. And every main

level is a layer, and each layer has, not all of them, but most of the layers have two to three sub layers with them as well. And they're all part of the same, it's like an open area, like there's not loading between those layers, but you kind of break your way

through like you did in the preview events to get to that other sublayer. And they're all kind of themed ways that you would kind of expect. there's the snowy level. There's the more forest one. There's the beechy one. But you're just kind of going deeper and deeper. They explain why there's suns and light in the layers of the planet. But as you do that, you are kind of powering up Pauline, who just wants to sing. This sweet little girl, she just wants to think. And you are getting all these bonanza forms by going to the elder animals and they will teach you how to turn into a bigger Kong or a zebra or other animals. animals, some of which we know, some of which we're not talking about.

But each one gives you different ways to just kind of enhance DK's move set. I was a little concerned when we saw the direct about this of just like, all right, you're just getting more ways to break through things. And with just one little added thing of cool, the zebra looks like you can run faster. And, you know, other ones have the obvious powers you think that they would have. And the thing about that is, I was right that it is just, hey, you're just enhancing the movie said Donkling has to break through everything. But the thing is breaking through everything is so gosh darn fun.

What makes it fun? Because that's one of the things that I think even though in the 20 minutes that I played, I enjoyed it, right? But it didn't strike me as something that could carry through a 20 to 45 hour experience. What makes it that fun? That's where all my criticisms came from, right? It was that exact kind of idea. But the answer to what makes it fun is the bonus levels of Donkey Kong country.

the bonus when you go in when you go into the sky when you like climb a piranha plant and super mario brothers won and you're in heaven and there's just coins everywhere and it just feels like you're getting unlimited coins and like you get so much satisfaction from just the ding ding ding ding ding of getting them all or like getting all the bananas and do you remember in dot-com country the first time you played a bonus level and it was like oh my god there's a thousand bananas how can i get them all this is so overwhelmingly invigorate we just reviewed dk tropical freeze run i played through it for the first time. And every bonus level does the same thing, right? Of here's a bunch of bananas, collect them all before the time runs out. And yeah, the action

of collecting everything was satisfying and fun of itself. That's the gameplay of this. You get that feeling constantly because everything you're breaking, you're getting something. And the economy of this game works so great for this gameplay loop of wanting to collect the bananas to collect these fossils that you can then turn into get different outfits that give you different passive abilities for each level that kind of benefit you. Those allow you to dig deeper, dig faster, get more different things through different types of terrain. It is so much deeper, pun intended, than I expected in the sense of the ways, this is where

the kind of breath of wild physics, but more so like tiers of the kingdom even comes in of different terrains interact with each other in ways that are obvious, in ways that they would, like, in the idea of like fire melts ice, that type of thing, right? And that is so satisfying in a 3D sandbox platformer gameplay perspective because it opens up so many cool ways to accomplish a goal that feels like the Shrines and Tears of the Kingdom. But it's Mario style. Okay. Interesting. Totally.

And there's like the, you know how Odyssey has the rooms that you throw Kappi at and the door opens and then it's a more traditional kind of Mario Galaxy style platforming room with a couple of moons to find? Bonanza has those too, and it's one of the highlights of the game, because there's two bananas on the main path, usually, so just get through the challenge room. But then there's always a third Banandium gem tucked away somewhere that's harder to find. And it takes, it's that Nintendo veteran DNA of, I know I got to walk behind me when I enter this room, I got to look at the ceiling, I got to punch through the ground, and they just do it in so many smart ways. And yeah, Tim kind of mentioned one that I also mentioned in my review of you throw an ice block onto lava, and it makes a plan. That's a very simple example of what this game does. But as you go deeper, they just keep introducing new material types. And those material types interact with other types in brand new ways.

So it never just feels like I'm punching through a wall. It feels like I am picking this material out of the ground and it teaches you, well, how does it interact? And what's the chemistry with this material? And it's so smart and so Nintendo. And I love it so much. And another thing I'll say about the digging stuff and like just breaking everything. Because you can break the majority of this game, period. Like if you take your time just running around like

smashing shit Oh yeah You just red faction Red faction destroy everything But what's really cool about is there's a lot of stuff in it So you're not just breaking a bunch of nothing It's like there's so much hidden stuff Within the entire world

And a lot of it is designed that like there are like the real bananas But this game while I don't want to say it never feels this way Because there are a ton of bananas that kind of are It doesn't have the problem I had with Odyssey where the moons just felt too plentiful, where the design moons were great, but some of them were just like, it's just there.

In this one, there's a lot of them that are just there, but because the traversal and verticality of this game is so different, I feel like it's a lot more satisfying, and it always feels like there's always some type of challenge that makes it interesting. But as you're breaking through everything, I am so impressed.

And I'm sure that if people are going to have criticisms of this game, people could have issue with this. I actually look at it as a major pro because I'm incredibly impressed with how they pulled it off. It's the camera. I can't believe how often I was meters deep into a wall where you can't see your character anymore, but I knew exactly where he was and what direction and how I needed to move to get him where I needed him to go. It's like so intuitive and you are create, it's Nintendo Magic in a way that shouldn't make sense. Like you were destroying this world in a unique way that,

no fixed camera perspective could ever solve for. But in the 45 hours I played at this game, I think there was maybe like three times. I was just like, ah, shit, what's up with the camera? And for what this game lets you do with the camera, that is incredibly impressive.

Logan, do you agree with me? I totally agree. And I think, yeah, you nailed it because in my review, when I was screening it before we published it this morning, I'm like,

oh, there's times in here. I feel like watching it and not understanding how this game actually feels to play. you think the camera is bad because it almost is shot up to a first person perspective at times when you're really deep in a tunnel crunched up against the wall. But like you said, it never feels bad. You always know exactly where that punch is going to land. It's incredible. So I was really

impressed with that too. So before this game is coming out, right, before even this review of embargo has gone up, Nintendo last week confirmed that this is the Mario Odyssey team that is working on this game. Logan, you mentioned that Mario Odyssey is your favorite, or has been your favorite 3D platformer. And one of the things that you also make a lot of the thing. mentioned tropical freeze, coming off of my review of tropical freeze, that me and Tim talked about was the economy of collectibles. And that's one thing I want to ask about in this game for you, Logan, starting off, right? Like, you know, when you play tropical freeze, you hop into a level and it could be you're going for the small bananas, or going for the balloons, or going for the

Kong letters, you're going for a puzzle piece, right? And like, when I think about DK, I think about the amount of collectibles, right? Especially thinking about DK64, a 3D Donkey Kong game. That game was like bursting at the seams with collectibles falling out of it. How does this game handle the rotation of collectibles? Did you ever feel overwhelmed? Did it ever feel like too much, too little? Like Logan, how did that hit for you? It hit really well.

I think if I ever felt overwhelmed, it was just trying to 100% it before embargo, which I was unable to do because this game is so huge. I played it for 60 hours and I'm still not done. Where are you at? With no spoilers, of course. I would say I'm 80% of the way to having everything, maybe a little more.

Okay. Yeah, I'm close. I'm getting there. But now it's that thing like an Odyssey where you only have a few moons left in every layer and you have no idea where they are. Yeah, exactly. I'm there, there too. I'm a bit behind you. I think I'm like 20 hours behind you gameplay wise because also I had some issues where I got my code and for about five days. There was just a problem with my Switch 2 so it wasn't working. So I am a bit behind. Still, 45 hours in. I did so much of this. if you're 80 something percent I'm probably 60 something percent

yeah cool right from based on what you know of where I'm at yeah yeah maybe a little more yeah but this sounds like Mario Odyssey in terms of the amount of of the main collectible that you're getting which are the banana damn damn yeah it's the banana banana yeah it's they're bananas it's golden bananas okay yeah they have fun call them by their Christian name golden bananas I will do we'll do we'll do um yeah but like

and I want to get back to you Logan about the how the economy of all the collectibles works, but I will just say it's like, yeah, in terms of numbers, it's the same as Mario Odyssey, but like I was saying earlier, in terms of quality,

I think there's a lot more quality bananas than there are quality moons. Beautiful. Yeah, I agree with that. And I think otherwise collectibles are really good. Tim mentioned the fossils, which are used to buy outfits,

so they're like the purple coins were in Super Mario Odyssey. But this time, the outfits have perks and they give D.K. and Pauline different abilities, and you can upgrade them the more fossils that you have, which is really cool too. And then there's benandium chips, which are kind of the most throwaway ones. You get 100, and you can exchange them for a benandium gem at the chip exchange,

and that's one mission you need to check off in each layer. So, yeah, I felt like I had hundreds extra of those, and you can buy extra bananas. If you're, like, one away from a skill point that you really want, you can just buy an extra banana to eat to get that skill point. So that's the only one. I'm like, these feel a little not balanced super well, but they don't matter that much. It's the fossils and the gems that matter the most, and those are handled really, really well.

Nice. Tim, I want to ask you about two things that you mentioned during your review there, right? Before you do, can I go off of what he was saying too? Because, yeah, talking about all the different types of collectibles, I love how many there are. And even the chips that are kind of like one step above, just like a coin in Mario, like they are just like a slightly upgraded thing that are plentiful in every level. And you're going to get a ton of them every time you play. Every hundred you get an extra banana if you want it. And a banana, five of them gets you skill points.

We saw the skill tree in this game. And when we saw it, we're like, that's an interesting thing. I can't believe how interested in the skills I was and how incentivized I was to actually care about what abilities I'm using and wanting to, okay, I want to get five more bananas, or 25 more bananas before I move on to this thing because I want these different skills for moving on to that level, which I thought was great. And you add that with the fossils, they get you the clothes, combining the skills that you unlock with. and upgrade versus the costumes you can put on to get different passive skills. There's a lot of really interesting things that I don't think in the same way that you can go from point A to point B any way you want.

I think a lot of people are going to play this game very differently involving the skills and the, um, the Kong bonanza or the bonanzas and the outfits. Like there's a lot of mix and match in very cool ways that are fun. The one downside to the collectibles for me. I do think that by far, this is the best Nintendo's ever handle collectibles.

in these games. Wow. Like I think it's just in like DK specifically or just in their platform? All of them. Wow. Just all of them.

Yeah. But the one thing that I'm like, ah, I don't love it is the fossils, the outfits you could buy are tied to each layer. So you're getting fossils that are only currency

for that one layer. I wish that the fossils you got anywhere, you could just buy any clothes anytime. Because I did find that one layer, this is a totally make believe thing because I almost poy-poilty thing. Like, let's say there's poison gas somewhere and this outfit allows you to not take damage from poison gas. That would only be on the poison gas layer and the fossils of that

layer are the only things to buy it. So by the time I have enough things, the fossils to buy it, I don't need it anymore. You know? That makes sense. I want to ask about story. Yeah, that's fair. And it. Oh, sorry, go ahead. Oh, no, go for a go for a final thought on this. Yeah, I was just going to say on that too. It does help if you're going back to 100% an area, then you'll want to buy that costume and do it there, but I agree that I wish that I could just access every shop, even if it is currency specific to each layer. I don't like that if I want to buy a certain costume, I have to go to the layer's shop. It's available.

Odyssey worked like that too, but now that you've assigned meaning to the costumes in terms of gameplay, it's kind of annoying that there's no meaningful way to track. Well, if I want this perk, I need to go here to this shop, but that's a really small deal. Exactly. Tim, one of the conversations we've been having a lot about this game and about this generation of Donkey Kong is that Nintendo was read a full. finding what Donkey Kong is, right? Like, this is the first major Donkey Kong game

in a very long time that is wholly made by Nintendo. It's not retro. It's not rare. Like, this is Nintendo taken back DK and shaping him in the world in their form. For you, story-wise, world-wise, like you mentioned in your review that this feels uniquely Donkey Kong. How does that come through? Oh, my God.

In so many ways. And it's hard to talk about, especially with that's one. things, but I'll be very careful not to with any of that stuff. But as a, this game rewards lifelong gamers, lifelong Nintendo gamers, moment to moment. Like there's just so many things that if you've played any Donkey Kong game, there's reverence for it in this, whether it's the country games, the arcade game, 64, the more recent, uh, the Donkey Kong country games from retro.

There is so much love for all of them that just permeates this game. that when you played Odyssey, there was such a sheer love for like classic Mario, like the amount of like 2D Mario sections, but even New Dong City thinking about it, like the big set piece moment, right, of Jump Up Superstar. Like you're running, you're doing Mario

Brothers platforming on the Donkey Kong stage. That never happened, you know, that's kind of mixing times and eras to create this vibe and energy more than like it being like factually correct or whatever. Yeah. That's what this game does for the history. of Donkey Kong, this is a brand new Donkey Kong.

This is very much a redefinition of who this character is going to be going forward. One of my first notes is, this defines Donkey Kong as one of them threats. Hell yeah. Plus, we've been talking. It's like, this is it. Donkey Kong is now up there with the big boys on top of that. Not that he hasn't been before, but real talk he hasn't been. Let's just be real.

In modern times, it feels like the emphasis on D.K has kind of like settled down as you've seen other Nintendo IPs rise up, like Animal Crossing, even Pikmin or a split two. right? Like, it feels like Nintendo has more love to give, and Donkey Kong has been one of those things where it's almost like they've been figuring it out over the course of the last decade. And they figured it out here. I think that this is a truly incredible thing. The pairing of him and Pauline feels awesome and special. And like there's character here that feels like we haven't seen this before from these Nintendo characters. I mean, including like the Mushroom Kingdom and Mario and France and all of them. But there's just a, there's so much old Donkey Kong here. But also, the wholly unique thing. What's interesting about that is, it is Mario. This is a 3D Mario game. This is the Mario Odyssey team.

And it's just features so much Donkey Kong stuff in the gameplay is a lot less like platforming obstacle based than Mario. But like it still feels very much the DNA of the 3D Mario games. But this game is proof to me that that team can A, do no wrong

and be redefined characters within the world of gameplay that they've created. I want to see them make a yoga. Yoshi game. Like what would a Yoshi's Island 3D game look like this? It'd be incredible. And I bet that they could make a 10 as well that would feel

completely different than this or Mario Odyssey. Like they got the stuff and I think that just applying their logic to these characters and then showing the love to the characters, that's where the definition of character comes from. But this Donkey Kong is this is him man. He's here

and I'll think he's going anywhere. Logan, what's your take on that? Tim is totally right. think that for years in my inbox when I get a Nintendo press release, it says Nintendo is the home of Mario Donkey Kong, the Legend of Zelda, Splatoon, Pickman, and Animal Crossing. And I have always felt like one of these things is not like the other. It does not get the love it deserves that all of these other ones get. And that was Donkey Kong. And now he's gotten a game on the level of the best Zelda's and the best Mario's. It's one of the best Nintendo games they've done.

D.K.'s character is incredible. And I totally agree to him. They honor every era of D.K. history from when he was when cranky con was technically on top of the girders and jump man was chasing after him all the way to dk country to dk 64 to retro's games getting some love too with really cool nods like it's everything it's donkey con has been passed around through these different hands for the last 40 years he's finally come home again for the first time since jungle beat and nintendo didn't just throw all that in the trash and say no we're going to make our own new take they they took everything and they also built something completely new. And I also love the relationship between D.K. and Pauline

because of the history between those two characters. They're like the original two Nintendo characters next to Mario. And now they have this new relationship that I think will define them forever. Like this is D.K. and Pauline now. And it's so special and so cool. Tim, I want to ask you about Disney Magic because you mentioned that during your review. But before I do, I want to ask you to go over to

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and it's such a great experience of wearing Shady Race when I'm out and about looking dope. Exclusively for you, Shady Raise is giving out their best deal. Head to Shadyrays.com and use code funny for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated five stars by over 300,000 people. Again, go to shady rays.com, use code funny to get 35% off polarized sunglasses. Disney magic. Yeah. Often words that I feel like are reserved to describe Mario games, funny enough.

Yeah. Yeah, like how does that apply to Donkey Kong? I mean, that is the thing, right? There is a Disney magic. There is a Nintendo magic. And I think there's a lot of similarities between those two things. And I'm a fan of both of those. I fully feel it.

I fully believe. I tear up hearing sound cues from video games constantly. And a guy teared up a lot during this game. I'll tell you that. I think that's part of it, right? It is just this like, it is nostalgia. It is like the understanding that I grew up with these characters and with these game experiences, and so did these developers.

And on top of that, they're creating nostalgia for a whole new generation. This is going to be every kid's favorite game. Like, it's boys, girls, It is designed for sheer magic of fun and going back to just smashing through everything. There's a magic to that. Like just the sheer gameplay of it, the way that this, oh, shout out to the Switch 2 Pro Controller, by the way. This, like, not that I didn't love it before, this game cemented, it's an amazing controller. The HD Rumble for this game adds so much.

It is just, it's a sheer joy to play. That's where the magic comes from. On top of that, the story of this game, it's straight up a Saturday morning. cartoon Pixar movie adventure. Like it has the vibe, it has the sound, it has the energy, the tone, all of that stuff. Like I feel like they fully committed to that.

Having said that, I do think I'm giving this game a 10, it is a masterpiece. Masterpiece does not mean perfect. And this feels like a dumb thing, but I have to nitpick the things that I have problems with because I care this much. They made me so invested in this. The beginning of this game and end of this game, so awesome

story-wise for as basic as it is. I'm a little let down didn't go further with things. Like, for how much story they gave, and I liked so much of it. Like, another thing I want to say that's a pro, I've been complaining a lot about when the the rogues gallery are just a bunch of things

I don't care about. Like, we talk a lot about Mario Odyssey, where it's like, I don't like the group of bad guys. I'll never even remember their name. The rabbit guys. The rabbit, uh, wedding. The brittles. Yeah. The wedding planners. Remember them? Void co. In this game are way more similar

to Hi-Fi Rush's bad guys. than they are to the brunals. Okay. And I love that. Yeah. You know? I'm not saying the most fleshed out things ever, but there's a good number of them.

I care about them. I'm interested in what happens with them. They're fun to fight. All that stuff, right? Um, I just feel like for as much as Pauline talks, which isn't that much necessarily, it got a little bit like just the same thing over and over and over and over.

And I expected that there would be at least a little bit more growth. Like, I'm not looking for the most in the world. But I feel like this is like, steps ahead of anything they've given a storywise from the Mario games, but because they took those steps, I would have liked more. Yeah. Logan, for you, like, I want to know more about Pauline. We haven't talked about Pauline that much, right? Like, did that character hit for you? Did that feel like something that brought this franchise forward? Yeah, I think so. I think it's fun.

Just the dynamic between them, it's very like boo and solely from Monsters Inc. are very wreck at Ralph. And I really like just kind of how it adds more character to D.K. And the way that he cares about Pauline is very sweet. The story for me, it's, I agree with Tim, more fleshed out than a Mario game

has been before, but still not really that much, which I was fine with because I still think in some of its very epic set piece cinematic moments, they completely nail it. And in some of those moments,

I'm like, I can't believe what they're doing right now. It's so cool. But yeah, it's just fine. But Pauline's really cool. I was worried that she was maybe going to talk too much.

She does talk a lot. She doesn't ever really cut off game play like Navi does and something like O'Crie of time. but she is constantly like, oh, there's a banana. Oh, is that a fossil over there? But I think they do that because so much stuff is buried and embedded in the walls. So they kind of want to give you that hint.

You should punch that wall right there. So you do. So it works for me. I think she's a good guide for D.K. And it's just super cute that she's always on his shoulder. Hell yeah. We got a super chat in from Gondor's Condor that said thoughts on the co-op mode. Did either you get the chance to try out the co-op mode with Pauline?

No. The two things I had the least experience with were co-op mode, which I had none. and the DK artist mode. I played with that for maybe 15 minutes, and I'm like, this is freaking amazing, and kids are going to love it, and artists are going to love it. Andy is going to go nuts with this.

It's not for me. Yeah, not for me either. I did try the two-player, though, just to get a little taste of it. And it's just perfect for a parent and their kid, which is what it's designed for, for a kid to have one joycon to and use it in mouse mode, aim a cursor around and just fire,

words on the screen that Pauline is shouting that are made up of different materials from DK Bananza. Like she'll say boo-ya and fire out a big giant stone boo-ya that crashes in and breaks the environment just like DK's punches do. It's a great assist mode like being a Luma and Galaxy or something like that. Adults wouldn't like it. Like if you have like a spouse or something, you wouldn't want to sit down and play it in two-player, I don't think, but it's perfect for kids.

To bring in another super chat from Wobbles for Life, they write in and say, just pop in on my lunch break. But with Astrobot winning Game of the Year during last year's Game Awards, does this new 3D platforming Nintendo game have a chance of winning this year? P.S. Can't wait to play it. I think this is fascinating question because we're coming off of what I consider a very strong year of video games so far. Of course, Claire Upscar is coming in and, like, I think is redefining what a term-based RPG can do for people as far as, like, that style of game. Like, that seems to be the talk of the town for Game of the Year.

But then also you have things like income deliverance. You have blueprints, right? You have split fiction, and then upcoming, you have things like Metroid Prime and more games that are coming out that I think. Descrating too, of course, games are coming out vying for that spot. Does, I mean, it sounds like D.K. Bonanza is going to be a contender for a game of the year. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It's the easiest. I mean, yeah, there's like, there's no chance in hell it is not in every single outlet's top nominations at the very least, in the discussion.

Like, for sure. again, no hyperbole. This game is as good as galaxies and Odyssey. That should say enough, right? Logan, how does it fare with like your personal game of the year rankings? It's my game of the year. It's not even close. Like, it's not even close right now.

This is the best thing that I've played this year. I really like Expedition 33. I love Expedition 33. I really like Monster Hunter Wild. Split fiction is cool. But this is it. Like, this is the first 10 I've given in my career. This is one of the best games I've ever reviewed.

It's really special to me. I would be shocked if anything passes it in the second half of the year, too. Have you said that personally for me, this is similar to last year where I also gave Astrobot a 10. And I forgot what I gave Prince of Persia lost crime. I think probably a 9. Similar here. I'd give this a 10 and Expedition 9. But I'd still say Expedition is my game of the year just because it being a brand new thing and like what that game does and how I think about that game.

the impact of it on you. That's the thing. It's like, other things matter when we're talking about game of the year versus like what's the best game, what's my favorite game,

all those other things. But in terms of just reviewing the game and the quality of the game, like this is a 10 out of 10. Another super chat comes in from Science D who writes in and says, no question, just a huge Logan Plant fan

and wanted to express how much I love seeing him on KF. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Thank you. That's so nice. And then we got another one from Kyle Laboof, who writes in and says,

Tim, where does this rank for Nintendo 3D platformers? yesterday we did our shit list episode where we went through IGN's list of it was it top 12 top of those every Nintendo 3D platformer What'd you say about it? I didn't see that You should be ashamed of yourself Logan

I didn't make it Oh okay then you're fine you're fine The person who made it though they should be ashamed of One reason and one reason alone Captain Toad treasure trasher Well two reasons and two reasons Three three reasons But he's not a 3D platformer

That's not a 3D platform Bear what's your second reason Warrior world The eraser And DK64 is not last place. I'm fine with Captain Toad on the list because the Mario team made it. So that works for me.

The Mario team makes a lot of things. If the Mario team came out and they made it, Expedition 33 is not 3D platformer all of a sudden. Jungle Beat wasn't on the list. It's not 3D. He has a point. Yeah, that's more like 2.5, right? But of course, in the conversation

that we had on shit list, there was a whole thing of like, all right, when you get to the top four, you kind of know what the top four is, right? Like, we're talking about the two galaxies, the Odyssey, and the 64. Tim, like, where does this rank for you when we're talking about Nintendo 3D platformers? Oh, man. Where does it rank for me? Yeah.

It's so, that's so complicated. Tim, where does this rank for Nintendo? Time will have to tell. It's too early. I can't answer that. And I said this yesterday as we were doing the shitless conversation about that. I mean, when we walked off the set, I told you, I was like, if I, GNN. were to re-update this list, I bet DonkeyComps number one.

Yeah. And that blew me away. But like that's the quality that we're talking about here. And again, we're talking about a team that is iterated on its ideas and revolutionized those ideas so many times that like in terms of sheer quality, I don't think that there is a question about which is best. I think this is the best. They trimmed the most fat and they have the most new great stuff. So that I also think you need to compare to the, okay, there is a lot of Ben. They're done that though.

Like so many things I've done this game that I've, I loved doing, but I've done them a million times. Maybe not a million. Maybe four in the games we mentioned. But like an astrobot. Because there aren't many games that deliver this type of gameplay, right? So yeah, it's, I feel like there's just a lot of factors at play in terms of timing of release and just the, like, are you trying to 100% it?

Are you trying to just beat the game? Like, all this stuff. But I feel like if apples to apples compare this to any of the games we mentioned, I think this gets the nod in most categories. Now, Logan, I want to ask you about music. Of course, music might be one of the most important things when it comes to the Donkey Kong games, of course, with the country games being composed by David Wise,

with DK 64 being composed by Grant Kirk Hope, right? Like, we're talking about greatness when it comes to the DK soundtracks. How does DK Bananza's music fair? I'd say it's very, very strong. I don't think it quite reaches the heights of the Donkey Kong. country trilogy. It has some really cool nods to the Donkey Kong country trilogy and some of its challenge rooms. We've seen

some classic 2D side scrolling levels in the trailers and directs and stuff. Overall, the music is really, really good. I think maybe even the Odyssey soundtrack is a little stronger, but I listened to this soundtrack the whole time that I wrote my review. I think it's really, really strong, just not like, wow, this is one of the best I've ever heard. And what do you

think? Logan? You just the words right out of my mouth. I feel exactly the way you do, where it's a great amazing soundtrack honestly but it is not to the heights of Odyssey I would say and I don't even necessarily think that Odyssey is like the greatest Mario soundtrack

of all time but there's like a lot of really great level themes I think there's great level themes here I almost feel like the earlier levels in the game have more identity and the later you go they get a little bit more atmospheric and I think that is the biggest problem I have to be clear this is a nitpick moment for me like this is one of the things of like when I was considering not giving it a 10 and then I was thinking about, I'm like, that's silly.

Because like this is something that does affect people like us, but overall what is here is amazing. But I do feel like when we get the David Wise songs, you notice. It's like, oh man, these are great. Bangor alert, yeah. But I do think for as much as this redefined Donkey Kong, I think that also means it loses a bit of what Donkey Kong used to be.

There's a lot of reverence for what came before. But I think that in terms of music and songs, soundscape, the game tends to lean more 3D Mario than it does Donkey Kong in tone. And I wish that wasn't the case. I fully wish that David Wise created the original songs for this soundtrack. I think that it would have really, really, really been more what I'd be looking for from Donkey Kong. But I think clearly they don't agree.

And they don't want the, they don't want to necessarily associate Donkey Kong with ambience. You know, I think that this is a different Donkey Kong. and the music that they chose make sense for it. It is a letdown for me, though, just because you see the potential. Like, when you get deep into the chord, there's some of the levels I'm walking around and I'm just like, I can imagine a David Wise track here, a new David Wise track. I'm not talking about nostalgia bullshit. The nostalgia bullshit, they fucking hit.

They get hard here, and it's great. But new David Wise stuff. And I got to say it. I got to say those magical words. Nico de Rico, okay, everybody. I love the game. Nico de Rico. And that's another.

example of like, yeah, new David Wise music that sounds like old David Wise music still hits like David Wise music. So they could have done it here. Now, we're talking about, what's that very important question? Just because it was like teased in the trailer, I just need to have like a good understanding going into this tonight. Every time you collect what, banancium, what do they call? Golden bananas. Golden bananas. Banandium gems. Bonandium gems, golden bananas. What have you? Every time does he say, oh, Oh, banana. Every single time.

Fuck every time. Every single time. Yeah. Fuck yes. And there's a lot of bananas. There's a lot of bananas in this. Where I thought you were going to go with this is something that I want to bring up real quick. We're talking about the nostalgia.

There is, I think, an appropriate amount of nostalgia stuff in this. Like, they, I don't think that it is the goal of this game. I definitely think that it is more in the DNA intrinsically of the whole project to think about all the past and like how they kind of show reverence to all the prior devs and prior games um there are a handful of levels that are what you'd expect from like the donkey con country stuff even in the direct we saw you know um the sticker bush and um the just classy dkc level there are a couple other ones i don't want to necessarily talk about but what i love so much about them and this is a hard thing for me to put into words but i mean it with the core of my being

I love the Donkey Kong country games. I love the Sonic Genesis games. I grew up with them, and as a little kid in the 90s, those worlds were real to me. And I loved them, and I wanted to, I would sit in chemical plant zone and just look at the background and make up stories about the world that Sonic was in, right?

Donkey Kong, same thing, and it's because the designers of those games made the backgrounds of the levels alive. And it's pixel art and its best or whatever you want to call it. I often think about remakes of games or sequels in the old style. You look at Sonic Mania and they nailed it. They nailed what we were looking for there with the new levels,

feeling like old levels. I replay the Donkey Kong Country games like one and two specifically, constantly. And I always think, like, would I want these games remade? And if they were remade, what would I want them to look like? Obviously, I'd want widescreen. I'd want this or that. But like, if they just translated it to 3D, I think it would lose the magic. It would lose the coloring and the shadows and that

that really unique 90s CG look that Donkey Kong country games had. You look at the box art, you look at all of it. The levels in this game prove to me, oh, there is a way to remake the Donkey Kong country games exactly how I'd want them. Barrett, can you bring up the YouTube link that I have there? Do you want sound up?

No, you don't need it. The sound is perfect. The sound, it's all the sound effects from the Donkey Kong Country games you'd want, but like they sound new and fresh. It's the music from the original games. That's great. But look at the trees in the background.

This is awesome. Look at the bushes. Look at the way the like kind of, out of focus in the foreground is going on. Yeah. The, just not even the trees in the back, but the bushes behind him in the level.

This looks like the box art of Donkey Kong country. Yeah. Yeah. And I am so impressed with it. And there are points in this game where you meet up with cranky con. and he has Ramby with him. Ramby looks straight off the box art of Donkey Kong Country.

We are now at a point that they nailed the like concept art and the actual high definition assets of what those CG 3D characters look like in the 90s. I am blown away. And I just everyone listening to this review right now that's like watching this and seeing this, I don't want to spoil things in the game. There's so many times you'll just be in an open level

and you look at a bush. and when you realize it looks like that it has that plastic sheen to it and it's like holy shit this is donkey con country in 3D and gorgeous I was blown away constantly like that's something that I truly thought was impossible

to replicate and my god it's special now we're talking about the style of it I want to talk about the hardware of it and how it runs of course this is the first I guess post Mario Kart World big Nintendo game that are putting all the emphasis on of our main team is working on this thing, right? And we're comparing it to Mario Odyssey,

which I think had a similar sort of positioning as far as they being in the first year. Of course, post-breath of the wild as far as being this, all right, Nintendo, EPD, they're putting all that they're all into this. How does it run? How does it fare? All this stuff is a new console. How does this work as a Switch 2 game?

Does the destructability of everything slow things down? Like, how did this game perform? Logan, I want to start with you. it performs pretty well mostly it does not run it a locked 60 it has frame drops it has frame drops if there's a ton of action happening on screen or sometimes just if the camera's panning really fast over to something like if you're knocking down a big rope to unlock a shortcut it'll drop to 30 for a split second this stuff doesn't bother me it doesn't bother me as much as echoes of wisdom used to bug me on switch one before it got the update but it's not perfect and then resolution wise i think digital foundry said that it's running like between 1080 and 1200 p docked so it's not getting up to those 4k resolutions the switch 2 can do i still think the game looks great and i've never been the big tech guy that cares a ton about this stuff so it never really impacted my experience but it's not a flashy huge next-gen thing visually the destruction is what's the big next-gen stuff that there's these areas they made that you can

completely rip apart but they're so curated and just the voxel technology in a triple a game like this has never really been done before and that's really impressive. Yeah, I'm with Logan where it's like, yeah, the game, if you're looking for performance issues, they're there for sure. But I will say honestly, it not a single time gone in the way of my enjoyment of the game. Having said that, like the resolution and all that, I do want this to be 4K. I want it to be 60. I want all that.

And I was jumping back and forth between playing this and Astrobot because on Friday, me and you were going to talk about all the DLC levels they've added. And it is, it's night and day looking at Astrobot on a PS5 pro, but who the fuck would have thought, right? But that really was the only time, like, I thought, I think that Donkey Kong Banaz is a beautiful game. And I mean, I just gushed about the visual style of it for, you know, five minutes there talking about how much they just nailed the foliage of everything. Like, there's so much to love. But you jump over to Astrobot. It's like, oh, yeah, everything's incredibly sharp.

Everything's pitch perfect, sharp, whatever. So, yeah, you're not getting that experience. but in terms of the gameplay, never got in my way. And in fact, I think that they made a lot of really wise decisions of there's chosen slowdown. There's a lot of you punch an enemy and everything slows for a second. So I feel like that kind of hides a lot of the performance issues that might be there because you're constantly punching things. It is cool. And there's sound effects and there's like screen shake and like the vibration.

Like I feel like the slowdown in this game more often than not. I mean, way more often than not. I never was questioning, like, oh, is this part of the game or is this performance issue? It just felt like it worked. Bringing in a few more super chats, KADG writes in and says, fun fact, it was meant to be called Donkey Kong Z, but Kevin slipped in a banana. That's funny. JBC writes it and says, Nintendo S.F is having a launch party tomorrow at 90 a.m., which is really exciting. Man, what if we took off the morning?

what if we just went to the Nintendo story at 9 a.m. Bainer S.N. writes in it says Tim gave me chills when he said his score. And then kebabs. We already kind of talked about this. But kebabs says how present is Pauline in the game and its story.

It sounds like the answer is very. Before we get out of here, do you guys have any final thoughts to say about Donkey Kong Bonanza? Logan? Yeah, I just, I can't wait for Nintendo fans to play this because this is the Switch 2 game. You've been waiting for.

This is the game I think we'll remember is the true launch game. I really like Mario Kart World. I reviewed that one too. I gave it an eight. It has issues. It has a lot of issues and some have gotten worse after launch.

But this one, this is that launch window, single player, action 3D platformer that I think people are just going to love. And yeah, it's a masterpiece. It's toe to toe with anything Mario's ever done.

And I hope that we don't have to wait 10 years to see DK again, like the 10 year wait we just went through because yeah this could be a whole the start of a whole new franchise it's just incredible Timothy once again Logan you just took the words right out of my mouth I also gave mara cart world in eight and I really I love that game but like it is it is the launch game the switch two needed this is the launch game it deserves and people are about to learn that I can't wait to hear people's experience with this game y'all in particular but um it is a very very very very

very special experience. Like this proves to me Nintendo not only still has it, but man, they have stuff that I didn't even know was possible. Like this game is absolutely incredible. I recommend it to anybody that enjoys video games, but every single person that has ever liked Mario or Donkey Kong game.

Hell yeah. Of course, Donctober is happening this Thursday, Bear, what can people expect from it? They can expect you and me to return for a fun-filled stream. us Donkey Kong super fans having fun. You playing the game for the very first time. And I'll all say is you can expect a lot of bananas.

A lot of bananas. Maybe too many bananas. Bear's been telling me his plans and like, you know, we're going a little bit back and forth. And I'm like, man, Bear's going, Barrett's going ape shit on this one. Because here's a last time we celebrated. A health risk.

Yes. Oh, yes. How much potassium is too much potassium? We learned. We have the answers. We'll reveal them on Thursday. Yeah. don't know the answer.

So we'll reveal them to you tomorrow, Bless. But yeah, the last time we celebrated Donctober truly is coming up on five years this October bless. Really? Yeah, which is insane. And we were work from home. That's how we had you beat 64 for the very first time. And so us being in person, we got to go all out.

Oh, we got to get bananas with it. We got to go bananas. We got to go epe shit. Of course, well, before I even get out of you, I just want to say, I'm so fucking excited playing this fucking game. I'm so like, I wasn't like upset that didn't get a review code obviously because like I'm, I think there's something exciting about being able to play it with everybody at the same time experience experience that same hype cycle. But I've been antsy. I've been hearing Tim talk about it or hearing in like seeing the excitement radiating off at Tim while playing this thing.

I'm like, man, this sounds like a game that's meant for me. And so I'm so excited for this Thursday to get my hands on this game for the very first time. And this sounds like it's going to be a very special experience. And so tune in then. Let's all have some fun. Let's all go ape shit. Of course, Logan, thank you so much for joining us on this review. Appreciate having you, of course, your IGN's review.

We gave it a 10 out of 10. People should go check out your review over on IGN. But if people wanted to check you out further, where can they go, Logan? Yeah, you should check out Nintendo Voice Chat, my weekly Nintendo podcast that I'm now the host of. I've been hosting pretty much all year, and we just did a big banana episode as well. So go check that out. It's on YouTube at IGN games and on audio services. So thanks for having me, guys.

This was super fun. Of course, this has been the kind of funny games, guys. Each and every weekday we get together and talk about the biggest reviews, previews, and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and on podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free, watchers accord them live, and get a daily exclusive show. You can catch today's KHD on YouTube or podcast services and know, then until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.