The Ringer-Verse - Who Needs a New 3D ‘Mario’ When We Have ‘Donkey Kong Bananza’? | Button Mash

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

Ben Lindbergh and Jessica Clemons begin with a roundup of game adaptation news, covering the ‘Mortal Kombat II’ trailer, Netflix’s live-action ‘Assassin’s Creed’ series, the ‘Legend of Zelda’ casting announcements, and an apparent animated ‘Donkey Kong’ movie. Then they dive deep (both in game and on mic) into new Nintendo masterpiece ‘Donkey Kong Bananza,’ touching on the history of the Donkey Kong character, the lineage of Nintendo 3D platformers, what makes the latest game great, why the Switch 2 sorely needed it, and what’s next for Nintendo and its new, hot-selling system. Intro (0:00)Game adaptation news: 'MKII,' 'Zelda,' 'Assassin’s Creed' (3:30)'Donkey Kong Bananza' reviews (28:34)Outro (1:31:15) Host: Ben LindberghGuest: Jess ClemonsProducer: Devon RenaldoAdditional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, everyone. Danny Hyfitz here from The Ringer Fantasy Football Show. We're coming to you multiple times per week to tell you who to draft, who not to draft. Honestly, that's kind of most of it. The Ringer Fantasy Football Show. YouTube, Spotify, wherever get your podcast, the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks.

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vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramfaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Tramphiara Radio.com. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business and even this podcast. That's why I trust Spectrum Business to keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 U.S.-based support. millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. And welcome into the ringerverse, your Nexus feed for all things fandom. I'm Ben Lindberg, senior editor for the ringer, Buttmash host, and joined today by my old

partner in crime, sometimes my current partner in crime. Jessica Clemens, welcome back. It's the OG button mash duo back together again. Hello, Clarees. We're not talking about that today. No, it's never a bad time to talk about that. But we do have a lot to get to today because it's quite a special occasion. We have brought you back for here. We will be discussing and dissecting Donkey Kong Bonanza,

the new 3D platforming Nintendo masterpiece. Is that giving too much away if I say that's what it is? Do you like this game as much as I do? I love this game. You texted me and was like, this game's great. And then I went, oh, I'm excited. And then I simply became obsessed. It is a great, great game.

It's so good. All right. This is going to be just good feelings, just euphoric feelings about video games that we will talk about here. But there's a lot to discuss about what makes this game so good. And you were hyped for this one for a while, because I remember you saying quite some time ago that when this was announced, when we kind of got a sneak peek at it,

you were all in on Bonanza from the beginning. Because they came with the bundles for Mario Kart and Donkey Kong, I mean, you know my beef with Mario Kart. Yes. I was like, I'm going to get that bundle with Donkey Kong Bonanza. And lo and behold, I didn't get it. As you know, I wasn't looking high and low for the Switch 2s for a very long time. But when I finally got it, I was very excited.

Because, I mean, out of the two, like, new games, I was like, I'm more excited for this, like, free roam. an adventure with Donkey Kong than I am to play Mario Kart. Yeah. You have a lot of video game beefs. Beavs. You've got a grudges. No, I don't.

No, I don't. It's just that simply most of the games we keep playing, I am. It's not you. It's the games that are bad. It is. It's the game's fault. I think that's a healthy discernment. You are flawless.

The games are flawed. But Donkey Kong Bonanza, well, it's not flawless. we'll discuss a few flaws, but they're few and far between. And this is, I think, exactly what the Switch 2 needs. I know that the Switch 2 has been selling like hotcakes, and yet there has been some doubt. There have been a lot of people like us, Switch 2 owners, looking around wondering what to play after Mario Kart,

or before Mario Kart, maybe in your case, and along comes Donkey Kong Bonanza to save the day and deliver that classic Nintendo first-party platformer that we all wanted. We thought we wanted a 3D Mario game, and eventually we will get one. But instead, for now, we got Bonanza, which is the next best thing, maybe equally good. I will make that case in a minute. But before we get fully into Bonanza and dive deep, much as Donkey Kong himself does in the game,

that's kind of what the game is about. We wanted to just run down a few bits of news, announcements, casting, release dates, trailers, all related to video game adaptations. So video game adaptation, news, and analysis. And maybe we can discuss one that's coming quite soon. And you just slipped and said, Mortal Kombat, because you were thinking about Mortal Kombat because there's a Mortal Kombat movie coming on October 24th,

Mortal Kombat 2. And we just got a trailer. And I'm pretty psyched for this now, too. What did you think of the trailer? I think it's great. I think this is kind of what I wanted in the first, movie. Yeah.

Completely. I also still had fun with the first movie. I understand the flaws and why people would not like the first movie, but I still had fun. I think it's one of those movies where you get a large bucket of popcorn, a large sprite, maybe mix it with a little bit of like a peach fanta, and then you go watch the movie. That's how I feel about the Mortal Kombat films. And this one looks very, very fun. Yeah.

Do you assemble that drink before you get to the movie theater, or do you hope that the movie theater has the sprite and the fanta? I have never snuck food into a movie theater ever because I'm not a criminal. You would never dare do such a thing. I would never do that. As I say that, knowing I snuck in a pandable like two days ago. And let me tell you, the stench of orange chicken, it wafts. They know that there's someone in there eating something for it.

They'll give you away. It's not normally a movie theater. Roaming around the aisles, tracking down the scent that's wafting from. They're like, what is this? I'm walking out with the bag. I've even, if I make dinner and I have to go see a movie, I'll bring in a Tupperware. I did it with the Taco Bowl once. But with that being said, no, my movie theater has the giant soda machines that have like the 400 flavors. So you just press them. You just press them.

I don't have to sneak in sodas anymore. I was envisioning, you're just bringing a mixer of some sort. You're stirring it in. I'm just fixing yourself a stiff Sprite plus Fanta in the theater. How do you feel about more combat? I'm excited for it too. I thought this trailer looked good, struck the right tone, which is silly over the top. Throwback. I enjoyed the first Mortal Kombat movie, and by that, I mean, the reboot from 2021. But I think a lot of people had the same note you did, which was, hey, there's no Mortal Kombat in the Mortal Kombat movie. Like, we want a video game protagonist maybe instead of an original character. And also, we want the actual tournament. We want them to be doing the thing that it says in the title. And that's kind of been a trend with some

video game adaptations. We talked about this with Twisted Metal also, season two of which is also coming out soon. And season one, there was no twisted metal, the tournament that is famous from the franchise. And so it's all about the buildup and assembling the team. And then you get to season two or the sequel, hopefully, and then you give the people what they want. So here we have Johnny Cage. And at the end of the first movie, it was, okay, we got to go get Johnny Cage. And now, Johnny Cage has been gotten, and he is played by Carl Urban, and it looks like he's going to be the star of this film. And we also have Scorpion in this movie, played by Hirouki Sonata.

We have all the catchphrases in the trailer, the get over here. Everything you want from Mortal Kombat is in this, essentially. Yeah, 100%. And it's not weird. I just think it's very fun to highlight that the focus and the camera and everything is on Johnny King. I don't know. And maybe it's just me. Who doesn't love Johnny Cage 100%.

But I was like, oh, he is the star of this. He is the top build in our hearts and in the movie. I think that's kind of crazy that he is literally the focus point for the entire movie. Yeah. Mortal Kombat 2, colon, Cage Match. Not the actual subtitle, but that's what I would have recommended. It looks a little CGI or there's some sort of veneer of the visuals in this. It almost looks like Urban's like CGI-D-aged or something.

Maybe I'm just used to Billy Butcher just looking like he's on the verge of death, which he usually is. And here he's like clean-shaven. He's looking fresh. Yeah. Maybe that's what I'm picking up on here. But yeah, there was something a little uncanny valley about the visuals. But it's all going to come down to the combat and the choreography because, I mean, that's kind of what you want for Mortal Kombat. It's not really like a character development story.

sort of franchise. I think the first movie also still kind of look like that too. I think it feels like their skin is a little too. Like airbrushed. Yeah. It felt like it was leaning towards not only having game mechanics, but looking kind of like a game in the characters itself. So maybe they did do something to him.

But I also will say, I think we are very used to him playing Billy Butcher or just a sad character. We don't ever see him smile. No. And seeing him in the trailer be like, happy and say a catchphrase. I was like, ooh, this feels off. Yeah. Because even before Billy Butcher, I think the last time I saw him was in Thor Ragnarok where he's like, oh, I got all my people killed. Yeah, lots of somber glowering, lots of just substance abuse when it comes to Carl Urban characters.

So this is a bit of a different look for him, but a welcome one. And yeah, we have a lot of the cast coming back from the original, some new additions, fan favorites, all the catchphrases. So it'll It'll kind of live or die, I guess, based on how good the combat is because you don't actually get to play the Mortal Kombat movie, so it has to look good. But I have faith that it will and that it will just deliver the brawling action that we want. And really, there are only a couple more video game adaptations, at least movies coming this year. There's this one in late October, and then there's your favorite, the sequel to Five Nights at Freddy's coming in December. Okay. You are putting a lot of words in my mouth on this podcast. People are going to

think I hate every video game and they're going to think I love five nights of friends. Yeah, this is one of your favorites. I did like the first. I think the movie was fun. I think the movie was fun and it recognized what it wanted to do. And I think the second one will do the exact same thing and I will enjoy it. And I will enjoy it. Yeah. Okay. Moral Combat, Five Nights of Praise, given the people what they want. Perhaps not winning any awards, but winning our hearts. Winning our hearts. Perhaps the box office. Now, speaking of your video game grudges, one of them is Assassin's Creed. You don't dispute that. Do you? No, I don't. Okay. Guilty is charged. Or maybe Assassin's Creed is guilty is charged. Again,

the fault lies with the game, not with Jessica Cummins. But we have some news on this front, too, long-awaited news, because back in 2020, what a world it was, a different world. In many ways, a worse world, not in all ways, I suppose. But in one way, it has changed, which is that we are finally getting some fruits of the Ubisoft Netflix partnership, which many people probably forgot existed. This was announced several years ago, and now it is actually paying some dividends because there is a live action Assassin's Creed Netflix show coming at some unspecified point. We know the showrunners. We know the logline. We don't know much else. But this is a second attempt to make Assassin's Creed work as an adaptation in live action after the original attempt

at a film franchise crashed and burnt because that movie was very bad. So who's the show? showrunners? The showrunners, let me look that up. I think they're from some shows that we have heard of and seen. There's Robert Petino of Westworld and Sons of Anarchy Fame. There's David Weiner of Halo. Uh-oh. And the killing. We've discussed Halo on this podcast as well. Those are two different spectrums, too, to be like, do you say Westworld? Westworld, Sons of Anarchy. And then to go to the Halo? Yeah, that's a drop. I mean, even Westworld. I guess it depends. Which season are we talking about.

But still, that first, the Halo one first. Kind of concerning, yeah, not the precedence that inspires confidence necessarily. But what do you think of Assassin's Creed, whatever your feelings about the game franchise may be? Do you think that Netflix, which is the home of a lot of video game adaptations these days, many of them animated, getting into the live action Assassin's Creed game, Do you think that this format will work for this franchise? I'm nervous. I don't think so.

But I don't think I have a lot of faith because of what we've seen in the past of the movies, but also no offense to the showrunner, I'm sure they are great. Sons of Anarchy and Westworld, even if they're like adapting stories, I don't think that guys really adapted a video game. But I do think story-wise, doing West World and Sons of Anarchy, I think, oh, that can be really grounded in something very dramatic and very fun, or just entertaining, not fun. Yeah. Coming from Halo, I'm like, even a...

adapted, it's so much. It was so much. It was a lot to tackle on, and I don't even think they did it a lot. They didn't answer a lot. They didn't do a lot. And that's what kind of makes me nervous for an Assassin's Creed TV series. I'm like, how much are you guys adapting? How much are you going to force into it?

And how much is it narratively going to even pull us? I don't know. I think people have been burned by Assassin's Creed. So trying to take that on as a show, a series? Yeah. Yeah. The log line is Assassin's Creed is a high octane thriller. centered on the secret war between two shadowy factions,

one set on determining mankind's future through control and manipulation, while the other fights to preserve free will. The series follows its characters across pivotal historical events as they battle to shape humanity's destiny. Sounds decent, but I don't know what it will look like because it can go in any direction.

It could adapt the more modern-day aspect of Assassin's Creed, which has kind of been dropped from the recent installments of the game series, or at least de-emphasize the whole animus machine and the modern day, Knights versus Templars. And then there's the just like that shit origin story stuff, like the deep lore of Assassin's Creed with like aliens and supernatural beings and all sorts of stuff that I can't even understand if I watch an explainer. It just doesn't explain it enough for me. But I think there could be a fun version of this where maybe it's kind of campy and pulpy and you're just going to different settings. Now, that's what I'm curious about, because each Assassin's Creed game is its own setting, distinct setting.

And you can really just explore that space and really model that space. So will they do that? Will it be, oh, here's the Assassin's Creed season that is in this time period and this location? Or will it be episode to episode, like an anthology approach? That sounds expensive potentially. Or what? I wonder which way they'll go with that. It feels like it has to be more, especially what's going on in TV right now,

especially with adaptations, they're probably going, it's going to be like dark, right? I assume it's going to be more of a drama than it is going to be campy and fun. But I think they're just going to use the Assassin's Creed mapping to tell the story that was more centered around just like, here's a bunch of violence. I'm not saying that that might not be true. It's more so that compared to what DC Studios is putting out and what Marvel is trying to put out, and what Paramount's trying to put out. For adaptations, they're trying to get as close to prestige TV as they can.

And that's why I'm like, is this what Netflix is doing? They don't have a lot of adaptations that are like that, that are so drama-filled and sad and dark and gritty and horrible, at least since I've seen like what series of unfortunate events, that version of series of unfortunate events was sad and disgusting. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

It's a little more popcorny, you know. You get your bucket and your Fanta and you mix it all together. settle in in front of your screen. So hopefully it'll follow in the footsteps of Castlevania and Arcane and cyberpunk edge runners and all these quality adaptations that Netflix has done. But those are animated. So this is a different beast. I have high hopes, but also some fears. Let's talk Nintendo, which we will be doing for the rest of this episode. But before we get to Donkey Kong, let's talk about Nintendo movie news. Nintendo doesn't make games. It also makes movies. It makes blockbusters. It

It makes theme parks, and it's making a live-action Zelda movie. So the Legend of Zelda delayed from March 26, 27 to May 7th, 27. That's the original release date of the now-delayed Avengers Secret Wars. So Nintendo just sliding into that spring 2027 slot, and we got the announcement of the actors who've been cast to play Link and Zelda. Bo Braggison, 21 years old, will be played. playing Princess Zelda, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, 16 years old, will be playing Link. And I think probably a lot of people's reaction was who?

And a lot of IMDB browsing that ensued after that news. So what do you think about the fact that these are up-and-comers, not pre-made stars? I guess I don't have an opinion on it. I guess my biggest thing, which I think was like everyone's gripe. I mean, I knew that Universal wasn't going to end up going with Hunter Schaefer. but I would have loved it just to have been Hunter or Schaefer because she just looks like an elf. It just makes sense. It's right there.

And also if people were very excited for it, why not just do it? But then I also never thought about them being like kids. But then you just said their age. And I'm like, oh, so they're not, she's 21. Yeah. So she could have been Hunter Schaefer. I don't know. Because Universal is making weird moves.

And by weird moves, it's just like they'll put the biggest kids in how to train your dragon. They'll put a bunch of kids that have been in like big properties. and how to train your dragon. But for Zelda, they're like, no, no, no, no, no, we've got to start. We've got to start from people that no one knows. But then I'm like, for the Super Mario Brothers, you guys have Jack Black and Charlie Day.

You guys have Anya Taylor Joy, not even, she's just, Anya Taylor Joy as Princess Peach. What are you guys talking about? You love big name things. Is it just because now we're all screaming for Hunter Schaefer? You want to do a full 180? I don't know. Yeah, I kind of like having more anonymous,

at least to American audiences, leads here who can kind of carve out their own niche and establish themselves in this movie. And if it turns into a franchise, then, okay, maybe we know who they are. Because I like when you have younger characters, I mean, first of all, I guess there are only so many celebrities, like well-known actors who could play a 16-year-old character. And it depends really how old Link is. And Link has ranged from actual kids to more of a fully grown adult. So people are trying to read the tea leaves here just based on the actor's ages and say, okay, what does this mean for the story?

hard to say. I guess it's probably bad news for the Link Zelda shippers out there, given the age difference between these actors, given that Benjamin Evan Innsworth is 16. Now, I don't know. I have nothing against the Link Zelda shippers, but I would say that the text does not supply a lot of support for that ship. It's pretty chaste, generally. I mean, at least with the canonical Nintendo made stuff, you know, there's sometimes some

lingering glances and gazes, but it's pretty platonic, you know, and especially recent Zelda games, it's kind of been, you know, keep it about business. Like, they're close, they're collaborators, their colleagues, but it hasn't really gone beyond that. And that's why it can be so fun for fans to ship things and supply their own version of it that we're not seeing on the screen. But it sounds like we're probably not going to see it on the screen in this movie either, which is not a shock to me, but let people down easy. Yeah, I think that's also like an adventure time strategy, which does work of having like Princess Bubblegum being like, I'm an adult woman.

Or like, or at least I'm older than you. I'm much older than you. I'm not interested. And I'm going to keep about business and you keep about your business. And we both help each other at times, which is fun. I think that's a fun dynamic. I was pro that, that idea for the Zelda movie anyways. I was like, I don't really want them to be together.

I want her to be older. And I want her to just be like there to help him occasionally. Not even like help him, just be like guidance. Yeah. I'm also, again, I like Zelda. I don't think Zelda is my Nintendo game, so I understand why people are probably like more about this movie than I am. I personally just don't have that much attachments previously or now.

Yeah, I do. I guess it is my Nintendo franchise, my number one. And so there is a lot writing on this in my mind. It does seem like the sort of thing where I think people were sort of surprised after the success of the Super Mario Brothers movie in animation, and people have always thought, gee, animated would work well for Zelda. You could go with sort of an anime style, and that would lend itself to the fantasy setting.

And so live action seemed a little riskier, really. And maybe the ceiling is higher, but maybe not. I mean, you know, you make an animated movie for kids that can make multiple billions of dollars. So that's what Nintendo's banking on. And I kind of like, I guess, to some extent that they're going with relative unknowns and they can sort of, you know, not come into this with any predetermined expectations and they can just tell the story that they want to tell. And hopefully it will work out well because Nintendo has this burgeoning cinematic universe or at least portfolio. And that'll be our last little bit of news here, which will segue nicely into Bonanza because it certainly seems as if there is a Donkey Kong animated movie.

in the works. A copyright was filed in May for an as-yet-untitled Donkey Kong animated movie, a partnership between Nintendo and Universal, which owns Illumination. So we have the next Mario Brothers movie, the follow-up to the smash debut. That's coming next April. It is at least rumored to be called Super Mario World. And after Donkey Kong played a pretty prominent role in the first movie. People speculated, okay, maybe Luigi gets a movie. Maybe Donkey Kong gets a movie. Maybe this is that spin-off. And it's probably years away. They don't want this to detract or distract from the Mario and Zelda movies that they have coming down the pike. But there's a lot of smoke here and possibly some fire that Donkey Kong will get his close up sometime soon. So are you happy to see that

this might be the next move for Nintendo on the big screen, at least in animation? I think I'm always going to be excited for a Donkey Kong thing. But I will also add that just like Disney and just like most places that have a theme park attached to their franchises, a lot of these things are just making money for the theme parks. I don't think it's a bad thing because I love going to Disneyland. I love going to Marvel's Avengers campus. I also love going to Universal. But that big attraction to Universal in Florida, the added parts were mainly for How to Train Your Dragon, which is now going to become five live action movies. And I don't think, again, I don't have a problem with this.

I am a slave to capitalism. But I am also saying that them making that Zelda movie is to bring more people into that park. Them making it a Donkey Kong is to add more to that park. So even if it isn't good, which I could see these like possibly being, they just are there for the money part. And I think Universal has always been about that money game. So that's why I'm like, I'm excited for a Donkey Kong animated.

Of course I am. Will I be like this is groundbreaking? It probably will not be because I know it's the fund that. theme park and the fund the merch and the fund the money that actually makes more movies. And the Super Mario Brothers movie made $1.36 billion worldwide. So that's funding itself. That's a significant revenue source right there. I guess you could create a theme park just based on the IP that exists already. But yes, it's synergy, right? It's corporate synergy. It's, you know, you get people to come out to your theme park by having them go see the movie and vice versa.

And now you have a second switch. And maybe you'll roll out another Mario, perhaps, potentially. in time for the sequel movie next year, and you have a Donkey Kong movie now, so Donkey Kong is getting the spotlight. So much. So much money. And I, again, I'm a big fan of Universal. I like Universal more than Disneyland Hot Take. Disney only needs to cap their tickets and maybe I'll change my mind.

But with that being said, Universal's been doing like Fan Fest nights. They're working the clock now 24 hours a day. They have Fan Fest nights that start from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Open that park at like 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. So I'm like, oh, they're doing something that Disney can only do during holiday seasons of like Star Wars and Halloween. They're doing it in spring and like fall. I'm just like they are making that money. And this is what Jurassic World Rebirth is also doing.

That endless loop, they're like, I don't even care if you guys don't like this movie. It's going to that park. We're going to take the background shot. We're going to take the like the props and we're going to put it in the park. It's the 24-7 money machine. It is. And Nintendo has had ambitions to be Disney, basically. And if anything, has pursued them sort of slowly.

But Mario is the Mickey for the 21st century or so they're hoping. And there was some conversation. I think I wrote for the ringer.com. What a great website. When the first Mario movie came out and was a success, just, okay, is this the opening salvo in a Nintendo movie cinematic universe? And it seems like probably yes. And I guess if anything, they're pursuing that somewhat slowly as these things go.

And I don't know how the live action Zelda movie fits in with that. I guess it doesn't. I guess it's its own entity. And then maybe there's an animated Mario universe with all of the extended Mario Mushroom Kingdom characters. And so Donkey Kong is the next step for that. And I'm with you. Like, you know, that was a fun time at the movies.

It didn't overstay its welcome. It was good for kids. But it was not creatively rich. I would say I think the Super Mario Brothers movie may have predated button mash. barely. I think I talked about it on the big picture. And it was okay. It was kind of like a paint by numbers. Yeah, this is a Mario Brothers movie, unlike the 90s live action version that sort of started video game adaptations. It was played it pretty conventionally. I think, yeah, I think they played it safe, but also again, which I understand completely, it's for chill. It's not

for me. It's not for 31 year old women. So I completely understand. I think like how to train your dragon. And it's only because I watched so many interviews with the writer and director. that it was like, Universal was like, we wanted to bring in new people, young people, especially like young children, but we also do want to give the flowers to the people that came to this franchise in 2010. And I'm like, yeah, 2010 wasn't that long ago. So it's not hard to like still capture it in the hearts for us. But Super Mario, I'm like, that's a lot of spectrums of ages that you would have to feed into. And I don't think you're going to get all of us, which is fine, which is fine. This is for kids. This is for, I want people to have that, that and like wonderment

and just like what I had with Mario when I was a child, they're getting it today with that movie. And I think that's fine. Yeah, I do too. And they certainly found their target audience. 100. Pre-Mindcraft movie smash. Just create another generation of Mario fans,

huge on streaming, obviously, too, where I certainly know from my daughter, any kid's movie that is quality you're going to see over and over and over and over and over again. Does she like the Minecraft movie? She has not seen the Minecraft movie yet. I don't think Minecraft would mean much to her at this point, but I'm sure that that day will come. She's more of a Disney animated classics slash Pixar at that stage. She's about to turn four.

So, yeah, not quite Minecraft. She's watching Minecraft and just be like, what is going on here? We'll get there. We'll get there. Yeah. But Mario, it had its intended effect. It fulfilled its mission. It established a beachhead for Nintendo.

And I think Nintendo is still primarily a game. making company. And I want that to remain the case. That's still their focus. And if they can cash in and be a transmedia powerhouse, that's fine. But I think in their minds, it's still largely about bringing people back to the games and the Switch. And that's going to remain the focus for the foreseeable future. And I hope it does because Nintendo still makes excellent games. Let's talk about the latest. This message is brought to you by Apple Pay. No matter where you're going this summer, odds are you'll need to pay for a few things. a ride share, a souvenir, or dinner at that spot on your bucket list. Instead of digging in your wallet

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Donkey Kong Bonanza. So we're positioning Donkey Kong potentially here for his own movie. He has to have his own game. And now he does coming along, not quite a launch title for Switch 2, but within the launch window. I think the launch actually would have been perceived differently if this had been a launch title officially, if this had been out day one. But maybe it wasn't quite ready. Or maybe they just thought, OK, Mario Kart will carry us. And this way we'll get a second wind when Benanza comes out after everyone gets their.

Mario Kart bundle, then we'll hit them with Bonanza. And this is what we needed, I think, because I don't know about you, but my Switch 2 has kind of been gathering dust for the past few weeks at least. I mean, I'm more of a Mario Kart person than you are. I pick it up from time to time. I play it with my daughter, fun for the whole family, a friend comes over. Okay, great. I'll probably be playing that game off and on for years.

But that is not the meaty single player experience that I have been craving from a first party title here. And now it arrives in Bonanza. And man, if anything, they undersold this thing. I certainly did. I underrated what this would be because it had been quite a long time since we saw a Donkey Kong game. And so I didn't know what to make of this. And then it comes out and it turns out, no, this is a full-fledged Nintendo experience. This is a lengthy, deep, incredibly creative game that I have had a ton of fun with. So this for me, even more than Mario, Cart. I mean, Mario Kart's a system seller and Switch 2. It's the fastest selling system in history. So it's not like the thing has been, you know, just gathering dust on shelves necessarily,

but has been gathering dust on some people's entertainment center after they bought it because there's just not much new, right? Like if you didn't have a switch, great, then there's a huge catalog for you to dive into. Or if you only had a switch and no other systems, okay, great, there are all these ports of games that came out for Xbox or PlayStation and the switch couldn't handle them and now the switch too can but if you had all the systems and you had a switch there's just not much new until now until bonanza yeah i think there's a lot of limitations for a lot of different people but it still wasn't outnumbering the amount of people that already were fine if that makes sense i know that there's some switch uh like wifi situations that

involves some people in weird rural areas that couldn't use the switch to so they were already having their problems and then there's people like me who had a brinkie broken Switch 1 that was like, oh, I can finally start replaying my old Switch 1 games on my new Switch 2. So it benefited me. But otherwise, it was no new games. And I had to buy my time playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure. I went back to Animal Crossing, restarted the island. And also because around June, they released backyard baseball. And I played backyard baseball for maybe. If you look at my time on the Switch 2 for backyard baseball, I think it is at like over a hundred hours. It's something vile and disgusting because I play that game constantly.

But again, there was no new game for me to be playing. So it was just sitting there. And if I got time, I was playing backyard baseball and then I'd be like, well, I paid a lot of money to play backyard baseball. That I got free on a CD-ROM in a Cheerios box 20 years ago. Yeah, pretty pricey way to access backyard baseball, which is a great game. $10 on top of the whatever 400, the, whatever 400, the, the Switch was. So I understand. It was the Donkey Kong couldn't have come at a better, a better time. Yes. Yes. And we can talk a little bit about what's next for Switch 2,

but I'm not even looking ahead the way that I was, because this is just filled such a hole in the calendar. And I had lower hopes, or I was keeping my expectations in check, because I first got my hands on this game briefly, I guess it was back in April before the Switch launch at a Nintendo preview event. And I didn't know what portion of the game I was playing. I was playing at that point, but now that I played the full game, I know it was just like the first couple stages, like the introductory first few minutes. And I wasn't that excited based on that, because, you know, you start in this cave, in this cavern, and it's like this enclosed space. And I was kind of disoriented by the camera because you're in these close quarters and you're

punching through everything. And I was worried, like, is this the way the whole game's going to look and how much will there be to it? I just didn't get a great sense of what it was from that quick hands-on. And then we got a more extended direct, and we got to see more of the gameplay. And then it was announced that this is made by one of the top-tier teams within Nintendo. So this is the Nintendo EPD team number eight, the entertainment planning and development production group. That's the same department that developed Super Mario Odyssey. So that's maybe the best Mario game ever, one of the best 3D platformers. That's quite a predigree. A lot of the people who worked on that are working on this.

And that was one of the big questions. Where's 3D Mario? You're launching Switch 2 and there's no news about 3D Mario. Are they holding something up their sleeve? Well, it turns out that this is it, basically. I mean, there may be more Mario on their way. I'm sure there is. But this to me doesn't feel like a stopgap, something we get while we're waiting for Mario.

This feels like it could be the sequel to, obviously. Like, this feels just as in-depth and rich and creative and innovative and experience to me as a Mario game. So I feel like I got what I wanted here. No, I completely agree. I think a lot of people would agree. I think it's a great platformer. I'm obsessed with it. It feels like Princess Peach might have been that, like, little stop gap between to, like, kind of bite us over.

And I love the Princess Peach Showtime game. I was really a big fan of it. But I think just this made me remember how much I do miss. Mario, like, Galaxy and my childhood was really in Banjo Kazui. So I literally was like, oh, I'm getting to smash

and do a bunch of things I got to do in Banjo Kazui, but I don't have the limitations that I had in like Mario Odyssey or Mario Galaxy. But I also think those limitations that I had in Mario Goddessy, I'll combine them, I'll do it. The limitations I had in Mario Goddessy was also just because of the time and I guess where we

were in games, like Donkey Kong Bonanza, because it's so innovative, it's coming on 2025, there's a lot of things they were allowed to do that we just, we just didn't do an Odyssey or just little things that I was like, I like it being a skill-based tree rather than me having to like get these things to go to the next level. I like that they're encouraging you to smash your way through everything. Oh, yeah. And I can't tell you, you could finish this game in nine hours, 100%, easy.

But you won't because you will be so enamored with everything on every level. that only takes you deeper into the game. Yes. God bless this game. Yeah. Yeah, I have this euphoric feeling while playing it that I haven't had probably since Astrobot. That same sort of like experimentation and just the joy of playing games and they're constantly throwing new mechanics at you and it feels like you're just discovering something every time

you play and there's just this sense of fun infused into it. And you probably could. power your way through it quickly, but there is a lot to this game. And I will be curious to see what the speed running community does with this game, because I've got to think just like the number of ways that you can smash and tunnel your way through the levels, there are probably some shortcuts that will be discovered. But if you take your time and try to find all the collectibles, I mean, there are dozens of hours of gameplay in this thing. It goes on and on and on. The interesting thing is that Donkey Kong, you know, he's one of Nintendo.

those foremost mascots, right? Like other than Mario and Link, he's pretty much number three, right? Am I, my overselling him? I mean, in terms of recognizability. And yet... I mean, are you comparing it to, like, the damage that, like, Bowser has to people or Toad or Peach? Are you saying, like, when you're saying, like,

they can hold their own game? Well, I guess, yeah, that's the thing. Because Toad has a game, too, but I guess... Right. Yeah, I mean more, I guess, like, in terms of just associated with Nintendo. Like, you think Nintendo characters, what are the ones that come to mind most quickly? And Donkey Kong's going to be up there because he goes all the way back, obviously, to the Donkey Kong arcade game, you know, where Mario's introduced. Like, he's the OG.

And who doesn't love Donkey Kong? I love Donkey Kong in the original Smash Brothers, which is probably the game I've played more than any other. I'm a Donkey Kong main, which is not a good idea if you look at the character tier list. But he's still so much fun to play as. I have a deep attachment to donkey. My friends make fun of me for calling him Donkey. He's not a donkey. He's a gorilla.

And he appears in a lot of games. So, you know, we had Donkey Kong just in the new Mario card you can play as Donkey Kong. But he doesn't often get his own game. It's been more than a decade, right? Going back to, I guess, Donkey Kong country tropical freeze in 2014 for the Wii U and then ported to switch. Like, it's been a long time since D.K. has really had his own game as opposed to just being a character in one of Mario's games. The other thing is that not only does Nintendo not make many Donkey Kong games,

but it doesn't make many 3D platformers that do not star Mario. I mean, it's a pretty short list, really, right? Like if you look at, you know, there's like a, there's a Wario World game. There's Donkey Kong 64, of course. And, you know, there are a few others and yet Toad Treasure Tracker. and like Kirby and the Forgotten Land, right? But usually when Nintendo makes those, it doesn't actually make them.

It publishes them and it outsources the development to someone else. And Donkey Kong specifically is so associated with Rare, of course, from the Donkey Kong Country trilogy on SNES and Donkey Kong 64 for N64. So for Nintendo to not only say, okay, Donkey Kong is getting his own game here. And also, we are making. it. With one of our top teams, we are not farming this out to a partner, a second-party developer here. We are seizing the reins. That to me, when that was announced, and Nintendo can be

quite cagey about who actually develops those games, which is just typical Nintendo being super secretive about everything. But when it came out that this was at least a portion of the Odyssey team making this game, that's when I got the sense, oh, okay, this is the real deal. And then when I played it, that was only confirmed. Yeah, I feel like once you hear that, you're like, oh, we're in good hands. Yes, we're in good hands. I think that speaks for itself is the fact that they could carry a story with Donkey Kong and Pauline. Because I'm like, Donkey Kong, yeah, of course, there's that everybody knows who Donkey Kong is.

There's a nostalgia. There's also just Donkey Kong is a very fun character to like. That includes a lot of other monkey characters. But Pauline itself is like, who? We know who Pauline is, but I do think I know Daisy better. I know a million other characters better than I know Pauline. I played as Paul. The last time I played as Pauline was in Mario Golf.

And so that's why I was like, yeah, they brought just so much to the table with it. And it's still, and it worked. And I, you know, I have a hard time trying to not let nostalgia like dilute my reviews on any games. But it's like really hard when pivotal points in your life are connected to like Mario Galaxy or Mario. Odyssey. But in terms of this game, it's my favorite, which is insane to say. But I do think it's because the limitations I had with the other games, even if I go back to it, I will be comparing it to this game that came out in 2025 where they didn't make me do half the things. Or not do half the things, but like made it annoying. It wasn't that like Mario Odyssey's annoying or Mario

Galaxy is annoying. It's just that during those times, the game was a little bit different. They could have, they just did different things. And now they're listening and they're like, oh, you know what, maybe we should just make this part easier for people. They're more interested in actually going around and seeing everything and exploring and just staying on one map for a minute. Yeah, I don't know. I just love this game. Me too. Yeah. So every great platform or Nintendo platform or Mario game, they usually have some kind of gimmick. So in galaxy, you're in space. You're playing with gravity. In Odyssey, you have the body snatching hat that lets you take control of things. in sunshine, you have the flood, water pack, et cetera.

So here you have destructible environments, and it's a great gimmick because it's so much fun, because it suits the character so well. I mean, it's Donkey Kong. He smashes stuff, and now you actually can smash stuff. So I like that this is a Donkey Kong game. You know, it could have been the basis of a Mario game that was built around destructible environments, but it just makes so much sense for Donkey Kong that I can see why they went this way. And I love a good, destructible environment. And I feel like that's been underutilized

lately in games. I actually, I wrote this big in-depth reported feature for the ringer.com. What a great website. Early last year about the fact that it seemed like destructible environments in video games were maybe making a comeback because they were all the rage for a while. If you remember the 2000s, like starting with Red Faction in 2001, and then Red Faction sequels, and then Battlefield, you know, Bad Company 2. And there were all these games like, you know, mercenaries and its sequel and Crisis and Far Cry 2 and Earth Defense Force 2017 and stranglehold and fracture and just cause two and breach and just all these games between like 2001 and 2010-ish were about just deforming and destroying the environment. And it was just sort of a fad, and then it faded out. And we haven't had that a whole lot

lately. We've had, you know, some destructible elements maybe, but not that same sort of you can just ruin everything in this level if you want to. And it seemed like that might be coming back because we had a few games like tear down and Battle Bit remastered and the finals that did kind of bring back that just being able to deform and destroy everything. And of course, there's like Roblox and Minecraft and Fortnite, which have elements of that, even if it's not necessarily built around that entirely. And so I was thinking, okay, the time is ripe for this. And along comes Bonanza.

And it's like, why have we not been doing this all along? Because it's just, it's so much fun to smash stuff. It's almost like a distraction on the level of, you know, you're playing GTA and you get sidetracked from the story because you're just going around, causing mayhem. It's a little like that. It's just so much fun to smash stuff that sometimes I forget to actually progress in the game because it's just I want to just smash stuff.

That's all. That's the game. Beyond the collectibles in the game, they make you need to smash stuff to get. Yes. And I even need. If you want the benefit of just having endless everything, they're in the minds.

Like they're in the walls. They're in boxes. You have to smash through things. You'll get endless maps. anything. I think the algorithm for just wanting smashing games or games that you can break a lot of things in fits right now at least only for like Donkey Kong. It makes complete sense. I feel like when people are going in making stories, the smashing things are just adjacent things you can do on the side. But for Donkey Kong, it's like, okay, we have to make a game where he's only smashing shit.

Like, how do we do this? Yeah. And you spoke about it a little bit where we were like, oh, we weren't expecting the 3D platformer next to be a Donkey Kong game over a Mario game. It does feel like a Mario game that they just painted Donkey Kong over a little bit. Not in like a bad way, but in a way that I'm like, oh, they just made it smashing instead of something else. They just made it Pauline instead of someone else.

And I'm like, and that smashing adamant, like, it's so good. Yeah. It's great for them. I don't think it was like, I don't think it's weird that it's groundbreaking, but it wasn't rocket science,

if that makes sense. Like I feel like if I was in a room when we were making a donkey con game, I'd be like, yeah, clearly we have to smash a bunch of things. But then playing it, I was like, oh, this hits a spot that I did not know I needed.

Very literally groundbreaking. That is what you do. Literally groundbreaking. The whole game is oriented around you're diving down to a planet core. And you're going through layers and going lower and lower. And each layer, each stage has its own distinct aesthetic and identity and set of moves that you can incorporate into Donkey Kong's moveset. So you're diving deeper and deeper and deeper.

you're trying to get to the planet core. And of course, you face some villains and some adversaries along the way. And that's how the game is structured, sort of. So you're always kind of drilling down deeper and deeper and deeper. And one of the reasons why this hasn't happened more, why we don't see more games like this, I think talking to some of the developers I spoke to for that story, there are two main reasons. One is that it's just hard technologically to do, right? Like, it's just hard.

you give the player the power to just smash stuff. Technologically, that has to be feasible. So this game started life as an original Switch game, and they were like, no, this is not going to work. There's a Q&A with the developers on the Nintendo website, and they just realized that the Switch hardware was not going to be able to handle what they wanted their full vision and ambitions for this game. So Switch 2, okay, it can run more smoothly. You can have many more items on the screen, et cetera.

And like a lot of destructible environment games, it's based on voxel technology. So it's like a pixel, but it's 3D. It's like a lot of little cubes. And unlike Minecraft, it doesn't look like cubes. It looks like a regular game. There's a pretty coat of paint on top of all the voxels. But everything's kind of built out of these little destructible elements that shatter in kind of a lifelike way. So that's one reason.

It's just it takes a lot of processing power. The other reason is that you're putting a lot of power in the player's hands to just be able to break everything. And so you have to give them that power to break things without breaking the game. And that's a difficult design feat because it's like, okay, you have to get to this goal, but we can't just make it that you can just dig all the way down to the Planet Corps from the start and game over. Like you have to put impediments in the player's way. And that can be really difficult. Like that was a challenge with Red Faction.

It's like, okay, we have to get to the end of this level. What's to stop you from just grenade launching, you know, rocket launching your way straight through the wall and getting there and just skipping the whole level? And that's kind of been a common theme with a lot of Nintendo's recent games, like echoes of wisdom and Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. It's just like, let's give the player a lot of tools to experiment and then set them free. And it's an incredible programming accomplishment that they can do that without just. completely derailing the game and also having it work as well as it does. Because, you know, like maybe there's a little bit of jankiness here and there, but I didn't encounter a single bug or crash at any point.

You know, it has that kind of Nintendo polish where they're going to give you this great way to just mess with what they made. And yet somehow it works way better than you would expect. Yeah, I had a couple bugs. But I had a couple bugs. because I was playing it in front of my roommate and we kept being like, oh, what, you were just stuck there and got thrown off the building.

But I will say, it's not enough bugs to make me upset. And also, once you land on like the first map and you see, it feels like when you landed in Astrobot, it's so vibrant, so colorful. I was actually, like, stunned at how beautiful it was because I was like, how can my Switch to handle this? I was like, I feel like my TV's not even handling it right. Like I had to change the settings on my TV.

But I have to adjust all the time for my Switch to, unfortunately. My TV is horrible. Regardless, regardless, the only little mishaps were just a little bit of times I glitched out. And because I'm an idiot and I will play the game to see how far I can go. Yeah, the camera is forced to have to adjust to my stupidity. And I completely blame that on myself because I would get stuck in minds and you can jump. They make it a little bit easier for you to just get out of there. There is that limitation where I don't think you can go that deep in the game.

You can go everywhere, but not that far. You're either going to fall off a cliff or you're going to just hit this wall that's not that far down. But the camera was, oh my, that poor camera. The program was, God bless you, but I just kept, I was like, let me see how stupid I can get. See how dumb I can go. I don't think that's you. I think that's the way that you encourage, you're encouraged to play the game. And it's just, I guess, somewhat understandably, it's difficult for the camera to keep up.

You know, like I get it given the degree of difficulty here, which is that you can just break everything. They don't know where you're going to go or what the viewpoint is going to be. And that is one of my quibbles. That was the thing I was most concerned about when I first tried this out was that I can't see where I'm going, you know, because I'm like tunneling. And there's like a lot of particle effects because, you know, everything you break, like gold comes. out and there's just like showers of stuff and dirt and things are just like fracturing around you. And there are definitely times where you just can't really see where you're going. And maybe that's unavoidable. And it's just okay, if you're going to give the player this

degree of freedom, then sometimes it's going to be tough for the camera to keep up. But there are moments where it almost seems like it's glitching or janky, but I guess it's not. I guess it's the intended view. But you know how you can sort of see like a cross section of the level. because as you're tunneling underground, and you can sort of see from the side and you can see what's around you. And Donkey has this sonar ability that lets you sort of see through solid stuff

and oh, there's a banana or there's a fossil or something I can collect. And sometimes it seems like almost like you fell through the level or something. You know, like if you saw this sort of view in another game, you'd think that it had glitched out. But in this game, I guess it's intended. I guess it's supposed to look like that.

but it does look a little jankier than I'm used to from a Nintendo game. But I forgive it because it does allow that degree of freedom and experimentation. So there are some camera drawbacks. Performance-wise, I'd say it runs really well. There are occasionally times when you're just smashing a lot of stuff and there's a lot of enemies on screen that there will be like some hiccups, you know, like a dropped frame here or there. And I guess that's maybe a little disconcerting this early in the Switch 2's lifespan. You know, we're already talking about performance concerns. But then again, maybe with greater experience, they'll figure out how to just get more out of the hardware.

And, you know, as the systems lifespan goes on, probably they will figure out how to just harness the horsepower that's there. And then the only other quibble, I guess I have is that sometimes the physics are a little limited of, the destruction. So like, if you punch through the foundation of something, the upper part won't collapse necessarily, you know? Like it doesn't behave realistically where if you just kind of punch all the way through something, the upper part of it might just be suspended in the air, even though nothing's holding it up anymore. And it looks a little weird. And maybe, again, that's a compromise that's for the better because if the level just entirely collapsed, then maybe that would be bads.

Maybe that would lead to some unintended consequences. But sometimes it does just take me away, I guess, from my sense of like immersion and suspension of disbelief because it's like, oh, I just, I destroyed everything. But this little thing here is still hanging on there somehow. But these are nitpicks. These are nitpicks of 100%. Because I kept being like, I think I was overly forgiving because the game was so amazing for me. Because there were times where you get their secret parts to go to. different levels in the maps that gives you better, better equipment, better stuff, better things

in the game. And it'll be like a version for Donkey Kong of like the green pipe, right? But it's above my head and I'm standing underneath it. So I'm literally like, oh, do I have to climb up the wreckage of dirt that I just created to get to it? It never fell down or it's just hovering above my head. But again, I was so forgiving because I was like, there's so much in this game that I am destroying that I didn't even know that the camera or the game, the programmers, anything who made this could keep up with what I was doing. I was still very astounded by it. Yeah. Yeah, it is generally easier to go down than up. Yeah. Because the whole game's based around going down. And so if you want to go back up through something you just smashed, I guess this is how real life works as well. It's easier to go

down thanks gravity. But it's also true in the game at times. But the whole thing is very, vertical and I guess more in a downward direction than Mario, which is often about climbing and going up and Donkey Kong kind of reverses that. But you do have to think just spatially in all directions because you could go sideways. You can go down. You can go up. It's taking advantage of all the dimensions of three dimensions, right? So there's a liberation to that really because, you know, it's not complete freedom, as you said. Like they do have to gate it. And so there are some things that you can't smash or you can't smash them until you unlock a certain power. And that's probably for the best because otherwise you could just ram right through the entire

game and skip everything that's fun. But I think it's a good mix of giving you the power to just smash stuff and reshape the level. And a lot of that is sticky too. It's pretty impressive how if you destroy stuff, it stays destroyed mostly. Unless you need something to respond to a advance. If you look at the map in game, it will reflect in real time the destruction that you've done to that stage. And you come back to that stage and it will stay destroyed in a lot of cases. So you really can just kind of level these levels if you want to, which is, it's pretty impressive to see that in action. Yeah, I like that we griped about how gravity kind of works in this game and how it doesn't make sense that like things can stay floating in midair.

But then also they kind of did ask themselves, if this is true, what else is true? when destroying the parameters because whatever you destroy gets added to like your skills. And I think, and it was a weird little note that I barely kind of paid attention to. But it was, I really liked it.

I liked the different types of material you destroyed would give you points towards your like soil, your rocks, your different minerals that you're destroying. And then there were certain things like, oh, you can do this if you reach 20,000 or whatever. You can, if you reach this limit. And I was like, damn, they put a lot into this game.

Yeah, it tracks every substance on every stage, too. Just like the number of square meters that you have destroyed. So all that stuff is going on under the hood in the background. Which is insane. It's such a weird. Kudos to them on coming up with the way. Because I think even the bosses are so creatively done. I think they're so fun to look at.

I love the idea that this is a company that's just destroying things. I like that every time we're introduced to like. a bill in the beginning, it says like void, void co. Or like, it's like, that's a copy right at the bottom. I was like, I was like, this is very fun. But then I'm also enjoying the like, I just talked about at the beginning of the podcast, I'm a slave to capitalism. I can make, I can build houses.

I can buy records. I can buy clothes. I was getting so many coins, not only to like make sure I didn't die, die, but I was also like, ooh, I'm going to finance a house over here that I can sleep in. Like, it was, they added so much weird things to this game. I don't know. Why? There's just a lot of ideas that they threw into this soup.

And most of them work pretty well. It's kind of like Super Mario Brothers Wonder in that way. There's even randomly but delightfully a Donkey Kong artist mode that you can access through the menu that a lot of people have been meaming with. You can use the JoyCon as a mouse and sculpt stuff. Maybe it's a preview of the next Mario Paint. There is one weird limitation, which is that you can't dive into water. Really, the whole game is about diving.

And yet when there's a watery area, you can't really, you can swim, but you can't go underwater like dolly in many other games. So that's one little limitation, but not a huge one. But you can lock in the ocean while holding a rock because I did that a lot. You can definitely do that. Actually, I appreciated that there were a lot of little quality of life things where I thought I wasn't going to be able to solve a certain puzzle that way, and then you can. So when you are carrying a rock or something, and you can just tear a chunk out of almost any surface,

and yet you can still climb, which I really appreciated. Because usually the default, when you're not carrying anything, donkey's just like using all of his limbs to climb up that wall. But you can have something that you're carrying on your shoulders and still basically just with your legs. you can climb up that vertical wall, which was really nice. And you can also carry it through a barrel. So if you get into a barrel that shoots you to some other part of the stage, you can carry a chunk of rock with you,

a lot of little things that I thought you wouldn't be able to do that you could do. And, you know, it's not just the visual of the smashing that's so satisfying, but it's like a holistic sensory experience because, A, there's the Rumble, which has been improved on Switch 2. I don't know if it's quite dual sense level PlayStation sensitivity of rumbling where you can sort of tell the surface, but it's much more sensitive than the original switch. And so as you're tunneling or smashing through various surfaces, you can feel that in a much more tactile way. And also the sound is super satisfying because the sound is tailored to whatever surface, whatever substance you're destroying. So if you're just smashing some fruit or something, like there's a very satisfying squelch to that that's different from just rocks breaking up.

And also, there's kind of like a slot machine aspect to it where every now and then it gives you just a shower of coins that come out and it kind of reinforces that behavior. So as I'm navigating these levels, I'm constantly just punching and smacking the ground because every now and then something cool will. come out basically. So even if I don't see something, I'm just constantly dealing damage to my surroundings. I think there's different tiers for a person and how they play games, depending on when it comes to collecting the things that are in your environment. And I'm on the lowest spectrum of it. And my roommate's on the highest spectrum of it. There are coins in every crevice of this game. So I do not need to get every single coin. But my roommate's like, it's right there. You might as we'll just smash and get it really quick.

You have the ability to pull from like these many miles. You should just grab it. There's so many ways to get coins. And I think they did that on purpose. So you wouldn't have to go because there's people that are definitely going to be like, wait, there's one sticking out of a tree. Like anything you break, you get a coin out of. They even, again, in the mini games in the middle of the map,

you can just get like 4,000 coins in them. You do not need to collect every coin. But there are going to be like 50% of people playing this game. They're like, I might as well. I might as well. I'm already down here. I might as well to start smashing everything. Yeah, that's what I was saying with the getting sidetracked.

It's really hard to let go of that urge to just punch everything because it's so satisfying, so kinetic that I keep having to tell myself, I don't need more golds. Did your hand hurt? No. Mine did. Really? Wow. I was smashing a lot.

Like you said, it's one button away. And you're already there. So why not just keep bearing it? deeper. Figure it out. There's going to be hidden things everywhere. And my thumbs started hurting. And I was like, okay.

Wow. I got to stop searching. Must mirror Donkey Kong's experience because his hands have to be sore after all the smashing that he's doing here. But yeah, it is, I guess it wouldn't be a Donkey Kong game unless it was just crammed with collectibles unless there was just like an absolute shit ton of stuff to get. Because that's what people remember from Donkey Kong 64, which was fun at the time. but I feel like has has aged poorly in a lot of people's recollections just because it was so stuffed with stuff.

There was just so much to collect that it kind of became a slog, a grind, a bit repetitive. And there is a lot in this game. There's something like 777 big banana gems. That's sort of like your standard collectible, kind of the equivalent of the power moons in Odyssey. So almost 800 of those. there's almost 700 fossils that are just embedded in the walls and the ground and you're finding them everywhere. And then there are all different kinds of currency and coin and banana energy and just all sorts of

stuff that can be helpful for upgrades. And when you get to the late game and end game, there is actually a use for all that gold because for a lot of the game, I'm like, why am I stockpiling all this gold? What do I need this for, really? It's very satisfying. but I'm just hoarding this amount of money. There are things that you can spend on it eventually. But I love the fact.

I mean, I've collected hundreds and hundreds of bananas. And I love how Donkey Kong is no less excited. Every time he gets a banana, like banana number 500, he still has the childlike wonder in his eyes when he sees that banana that he did for the very first one. Yeah, Pauline's just like, I need to get home. And he's like, well, I need to eat these bananas. I love the spectrum of both of us playing this game because you're collecting the bananas

and I'm just collecting coins to buy the bananas because there's a feature where you can just buy the bananas and again I think they put those in the game on purpose because I know wasn't it Mario Galaxy? Because I remember when I was younger playing Mario Galaxy I was like damn I have to go back to this planet to go get enough to go level up for the other planet or whatever I was doing to go move forward

and I love that they're not doing it in this game but they're also like you can still do it or you don't have to. It's a choice because I literally have been collecting coins to just buy my way through the game. You can do that. And it's all useful eventually because it's all you can upgrade. I mean, yeah, it's just because you're a completionist and you just want to get all the stuff. And I think it would be fun to 100% this game.

It would be an undertaking. I get so mad. No, there's no way. I don't need. I don't know. I get so mad. I would get so mad. There's some, once I, it took me a minute to realize how to like,

get these fossils? Yeah. It took me a minute. Actually, I will say that note. And I don't know if this is an issue just with me. The map. The map was interesting. I was having a hard time following it.

Once you pin situations, it was kind of hard to follow that pin because I was pinning to the fossils. And I think because maybe it was hard to navigate the map once you had the fossil, once you found things you wanted to pin, that's why all the fossils were usually grouped together in certain areas. There was always like five, like behind this wall.

and then on top of this ice part and over there. And I was like, oh, okay, at least they're all in one area. So if I teleport or transport myself there, it'll be easier. I also didn't know about the feature of transporting until very late in the game. Like I did. It was by accident where I clicked someone and Pauline was like, do you want to transport here? And I was like, wait, what? Yeah, you can transport within levels and from one stage to another.

I actually, I found myself not using the map very much. It's been intuitive enough for me that I can just, I kind of, explore, I guess. Are you calling me dumb, then? You call me stupid? No, I would never. I would never. I need a map.

I need a recipe book. I use the map to find the fossils because I wanted to upgrade my costumes. And then I, because I was not running and were you not running, were you running into fossils? You were just finding them? I see them. I see them around. Oh my God. Donkey Kong has a very like non-archologist approved way of finding these fossils.

Because when he finds them, he just smashes them to bits. It's not like archaeologists. just carefully dusting these preserved bones. Donkey Kong's like, I found a fossil. Now I will destroy it. That's what you're supposed to do. That's what he does to everything. It's like in, arrestive development when he breaks the skull as soon as they find it in the dirt.

Right. Yeah. Hey, and again, I love smashing through these things. I love smashing through these things. It's incredible. I'm obsessed with this game. It's a game about environmental preservation and protection, really. It's a game about the dangers of mining too much. much and exploiting the environment.

And maybe it's not just a VoidCo that's part of the problem. Maybe it's Donkey Kong. He's part of the problem too because he's laying waste to everything around him. He's destroying these fossils for no regard to their scientific and historic value. That is true. They're mining for bananas. Yes, it's true. They're mining for bananas.

Did you play the co-op yet, the co-op part? I have not. But yeah, the co-op mode is also kind of cool. I think I could play with my daughter because the co-op second player controls Pauline, right, and can kind of shoot stuff using Pauline's voice in the environment. So that's a fun little implementation of getting another person involved. I think it's so cute. I think that feature was made for parents to play with their children.

I think so. I think so. Because my friend is also like, yeah, she finally got into like, she can play games now. So she's playing Pauline and singing. They're like, see, now you can play with your. kids. We know, they know who's buying the switch. They know who's buying the switch. And it's people that are usually parents and adults. Yeah. There are so many moves, though, by the time you get to the end of this game,

because everything you're collecting, you're not collecting it just for the sake of collecting it, though there is certainly part of that, where once I see a banana, I need to have it. I just, there's a hole in my life when I cannot collect a banana. And so there's that kind of compulsion. But also, it's all, you. useful because you can trade it for upgrades, as you said, like different outfits that grant you different abilities or just the skill tree. And Donkey Kong is granted certain abilities that he can level up. And then there's a suite of bonanza powers where you can kind of transform into different animals or different mythical beasts. And that grants you even more powers and ways to interact with the environment.

So when you get late in the game, you have so many options. because Donkey Kong himself has so many ways to manipulate the environment. And it really is satisfying when, you know, you just rip off a piece of rock and then you turf surf. You know, you can just sort of like. I hate turf surfing. It is hard to control, I find sometimes. And also it depends on the material you're using. Some can go out a lot quicker than others.

Yeah. When you're transitioning from like grabbing something to turf surfing to throwing it, sometimes I get my buttons mixed up with it. But when it works, it's really sad. is fine because you can really manipulate that environment. And I also like how intuitive it is that the punch directions are mapped to the buttons. So X, Y, and B correspond to punches up, left, and down, basically where they are on the controller. And Donkey Kong will punch in the direction that that button is.

And I find that very intuitive and easy to remember as well. And just, again, makes it feel very tactile like I am Donkey Kong and I am in this environment. once you get to the end and you collect all of these bonanza powerups and upgrades, you are quite powerful and you can work your way through the level in any number of ways. And some of the puzzles are really clever and depend on that destructability and use the physics in really interesting ways that I won't spoil. But there are some head scratchers in here and some mechanics that are repeated just with variations. And then there are times also when there's just a big banana gem just sitting right out.

in the open. And I feel like, what's happening here? Is this some sort of trap? Like, is a net going to fall on me or something? And I don't know whether they just kind of throw us a bone or throw us a banana every now and then with kind of an easy one. Or whether sometimes maybe I circumvented the intended way to collect that banana. There was maybe a more complicated puzzle, but I just punched through the wall and it was right there. So sometimes, I don't know if that's even a downside, but that comes along with the freedom they give you. It's like an echoes of wisdom when, okay, you can use any item to get through here and then you just sort of spam beds and you just stack the beds together to get over everything. It's a little like that where you can just punch your way

through everything and you can use the bonanza powers maybe to just get around something that would have been more challenging. And then you feel like you cheated almost a little bit, but not really because that's part of the appeal here is that you can work your own way through these levels. I was in Bonanza form maybe 88% of the time. There is no doubt I wasn't. And also that cool down was so quick if you're collecting coins. So it just didn't matter to me. I was always in Bonanza form.

And also, I will give them this. I think Nintendo's always great with making music. I don't think there's ever been like songs that I really despised more than anything in my life. But they're good with doing music. And I was like, I think it was actually very tricky to have Pauline sing songs to get these powers because you have to hear it so many times.

And the songs were good. And I was like, oh, this could have been an easy deal breaker for me if the songs were bad. Because you have to listen to it nonstop. And I was like, but they're lucky. I was like, oh, this is good music. Whoever cooked on this. Good job. I like this.

Yeah, great songs, great soundtrack. Some classic Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong country tunes reworked and remixed and some originals. It's interesting that Pauline speaks English, like with full voice acting. You know, everyone else, it's sort of standard Nintendo and Donkey Kong is grunting and all the the NPCs and enemies. It's sort of gibberish, you know. But Pauline is like fully voiced and just speaking English, which is, it's strange for a Nintendo game. And not in a bad way necessarily.

But, you know, usually even if it's peach or someone, she'll exclaim things. She'll say a word here or there. But it's usually not like full dialogue. And I wonder if that's a sign of things to come. Because I did feel a little bad when I'm playing with my daughter or she's watching me play. And then everything is text or gibberish. And she can't really understand what's going on because she can't read yet. And so I appreciated that Pauline is just speaking, but it was very out of place.

I guess Pauline speaks gorilla and everyone else understands English. I guess it's like Han and Chewy. And I don't know exactly what the dynamic is. But it's out of place for a Nintendo game. That's a good. That's true. didn't even think about that. I just thought it was like a little girl that was just nervous and very insecure talking a lot, which I thought was very cute. Anytime you go to like bed and take a nap,

you can choose to just go to sleep when Pauline talks to you and ignore her or you can talk to her. And she'll usually say something like, um, well, I thought about when we fell through that hole. And what if we just land and don't wake up? Like it's like really cute tiny things. And I love the transitions they even have with her where she's like going through fear of performing or singing or doing anything. And it's just time jumping her. Yes. It looks like it's been like an hour of her panicking. I just thought it was a really nice little touch.

Maybe it's that she's like a child that we're hearing the voice finally. Maybe if we get more childlike characters, they'll talk like normal people and the characters will just hear them. I didn't think about that at all because it's true. I guess we don't actually. They just go like, eh, ooh, ooh. Right, exactly. Yeah. And it's really a nightmare if you care about continuity in Donkey Kong games, which you shouldn't, let's be honest.

But if you do, and I've never been someone who cares about continuity in Mario or Zelda or Donkey Kong because Nintendo clearly doesn't care and is not really making much of an effort to keep these timelines accurate and consistent. But there are people who are trying to do the, like, just the red string on the wall to try to connect. Wait, how is child Pauline? in this game and also in this other game. It's a game. Crazy Kong's here and Dixie and Diddy and every. Like the whole rare extended Donkey Kong cast is here. And I like that.

I like that it's just a mashup. It's, hey, hear all the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong adjacent characters that you like. Don't worry about whether this is like a prequel to Odyssey or something. I mean, it's kind of funny to try to figure that out. But Nintendo clearly is not really attempting to. When we see Peach in the next Mario game, would we be like, where's her cowboy outfit? Yes.

What happened to that? What happened to that chef outfit you were wearing? Don't you know how to cook, like, everything? That'd be crazy. I also think that I think it's just like it's different, not different team per se, but just like everyone has their, the teams I get to make this have their different visions on what they want to make and a different story. And they did very well with this one.

And I love shaping Pauline as like a child instead of coding her to her giant tall woman physique. I love this like young little girl that's just, running through. And she's just in like little rags. She's in little rags at the beginning. Yeah. I love Paul. This makes me root for Pauline. I had like zero attachment to this character, really. It took this game for me to be like, oh, she's more than just this beautiful dark-haired singer that I played in Cori-Gol. Yeah. There is sort of a daddy daughter

dynamic or donkey daughter dynamic. It's weird because, I mean, mentally speaking, Pauline's probably ahead of Donkey Kong, who's basically just like, give me the banana. and Pauline actually has a goal of getting home and getting to the core and finding out the secrets and everything. But there is a nice mutual respect and reinforcement there where they're kind of encouraging each other. It's sort of heartwarming in a way. It's, you know, the story's not the main draw, but there's a narrative there. There's some heart to this game. It feels very Banjo-Kazui.

They're dynamic, except for them both. Donkey Kong's more silly than Pauline is. I think in Banjo-Kazoo, they're both very silly. But it's more Donkey Kong just kind of, is the carrot on the stick with like a banana. And Pauline's like, okay, can I go home now? Yeah. Love a platformer where a sidekick character is riding on another character's back. It's just Banjo and Kazui, Ratchet and Klank.

Yeah, Ratchet and Clay. Jack and Daxter, Donkey Kong and Pauline. You know you're getting a good platformer when someone is riding around on someone else. When they're not riding on the other person, I'm not into it. Get it out of here. I only know it's good when they're a backpack. Yes, exactly. And there are a lot of nods to classic D.K. games here, too.

Like, you know, homages to the original arcade game. And then a lot of sort of side-scrolling Donkey Kong country style levels, too. I appreciated the variety of that because this feels to me like it's a mix of Mario and even some Zelda in here and classic Donkey Kong. It's just, it's all of it. like best of all worlds. And, you know, you get this very vertical navigation. As I said, Donkey Kong not only can he smash through everything, but he can climb everything or almost everything. There's some slippery surfaces. So it's a little like link in Tears of the Kingdom, Breath of the Wilde, where he can just climb everything and there's no stamina bar or anything.

So it's just even less restrictive the navigation. And yet it's also sort of divided. So you have these kind of open world stages. And then within those stages, there's a lot to do in those, but also there are these side levels, these sort of platforming specific Mario style level, some of which have one banana, some of which have three bananas. Some of them are more platforming oriented. Some of them are more combat battle oriented. And it really just, it breaks everything up. You never feel like you're repeating and just doing the same thing over and over again because there are lots of just little, just segues, lots of little like sub layers and also subsections of the layers so that it feels like they're just constantly throwing something new at you. And even when you get to the lower levels,

I think there's something like 17 levels. But even the later ones, they're just constantly injecting new mechanics that could have been the basis of an entire game. And they're like, you think you know how to play Donkey Kong Bonanza. Here's a whole new way to play that you can incorporate into it. So it's just nonstop creativity to the end. My only other quibble, I guess, is that it is pretty easy. Not to brag. I'm not saying I'm so great at video games. What's the girl's name from Zelda?

You're Bob Braggson. Maybe it's a backdoor brag. I'm admittedly not that great at a lot of kinds of games. And it's not like I'm getting a Nintendo platformer because I just want to be brutalized. like a From Software game or something. But there are a lot of laughably easy boss fights. I mean, boss fights that I beat in 30 seconds on my first try. There is a difficulty curve.

It does get more challenging later in the game. And so it scales up. But if you're looking for a really tough time, I wouldn't say you're going to find it here. There are some bananas that are hard to reach and hidden platforms and everything. But there are times where I didn't even bother with some of the health upgrades or outfit upgrades because I just didn't really need it or I wanted it more for the joy of collecting than because I was having difficulty progressing in the game. I feel that.

I love that the boss, I agree. I think the boss fights being easy is a critique. I think it was a part that I enjoyed only because it got me quicker to the next map. The fact that it was so quick that I was like, oh, okay, done. And I get to go to the next map. And then I'd spend, because that's the thing, you're spending like an, an, hour and a half on the map and then you're spending 30 seconds on the boss fights. It feels like it's working backwards.

It feels like that's not how it's supposed to be doing it. Yeah. The boss fights do get a little bit harder for sure. But I think, and I think the only times I died was because I was just learning the terrain and learning the obstacles I had to go over. And then once I understood those, I was like, oh, I'm not dying. Yeah, exactly. Just easy piece of cake.

But again, I liked it. I think there's going to be, I think there are a handful of people that probably do enjoy that the boss fights are just like I go in there I throw a few clobbs of dirt at someone because it also is like once I get up to the boss usually I'm just button mashing I'm just in there I'm just in there present that button over and over and over again until my cool downs out and then it's over yeah well there are some challenges like in the late game and post game but I'm not really looking to Nintendo for Uber challenging punishing boss fights some of them are memorable even if they aren't that difficult.

But it's not even the classic Nintendo model of identify the weak point and then hit them there three times that you're used to from Mario. There are health bars in this game. And so it's just kind of catch up to them and bash them, which is typically pretty easy. But it's okay because that's the ticket to get to the next area. And that's what you want. And Nintendo is so good at making incredibly dense, rich areas where you might look at the square footage or the size of something and say, this doesn't seem that big, but there's so

much to do and find. And that's kind of, that was a hallmark of, of the open world Zelda games, too, where a lot of open world games, you're wandering around and it just feels a little empty, or maybe too cluttered with just very predictable boring stuff, whereas in Breath of the Wild Tears the Kingdom, you feel like everywhere you turn, there's something to find. And you're constantly stumbling across something interesting. And I had that feeling with this game too, where if you just look at a diagram of the map, you might think, oh, it's not that big. But because you can go everywhere in the level and things are so cleverly hidden, I would spend a ton of time in there and just keep finding more stuff. So that's just the Nintendo magic. It's just great.

It's the Willy Wonka formula. It is. It's where they took it from. I was on a trip when I played a lot of this game. And so it's great to play on a plane as well. I bet. Yeah, actually. It's nice It looks better, obviously, but playing like I was on a four-hour flight and I just did not look up from the screen. The battery lasted that four hours? No, there was a power outlet, fortunately, or it would have run out much faster than that. But, you know, put it on airplane mode and taxi, takeoff landing. It all happened. I was oblivious to it all because I was just buried in Bonanza.

So just a great game, surpassed my expectations. And maybe that was part of it. Maybe it just wasn't saddled with the, ooh, this is the next three Mario. So it has to be one of the greatest games of all time or it's a disappointment. And it's going to be compared to Odyssey and to 64 and to Galaxy 1 and 2. It's kind of freed from that because it's Donkey Kong. And it's been a while since the last Donkey Kong game. So I am pleasantly surprised and regardless of what your expectations are, I think you will be blown away by Bonanza.

100%. I think a lot of people's expectations are now higher because everyone's talking about it's like Astrobot. I feel like I didn't have them. I was like, yeah, Astrobot's whatever. I didn't play the first one that much. It's fine. And then playing out, I was like, oh, my God. Oh, my God.

I'm devouring. And so I think now the hype is real for people. So now people that are just now buying the game, I will say it is a pretty penny, as most games are nowadays. But this one, a little steeper, a little steeper, should have got the bundle. if you could have got the bundle because what, it's like $10 cheaper. Regardless, regardless if you didn't, it's a pretty penny. But if you can afford it and you can get it, I think this is a game that can last a very long time and still keep you entertained and that you can share with others, which is, hey, Mario Card's great for a little bit.

And then you start getting mad. You're not going to get mad at Donkey Kong Bonanza. Yeah, it's 70, right? It's not 80 like Mario Kart World was. Mario Kart world was $80. You guys paid $80 for Mario Kart? Unless you got it as the bundle, which a lot of people did. $80.

It was $20 away from $100. You guys, I'm not, I'm not not being mad about the price. Like, I will buy it. But it's also like, give it like five years. Yeah. It's going to be just 100. And it's going to be 100. I have to pull out a $100 bill.

It's getting pricey. Oh my God. What are we doing? When we were young. We got, I know. And maybe that's, I think I forget that like the cost of living is higher. I'm just not making the cost of living money. So I'm like, how are we?

Does it now become an econ 101. It's like, because Nintendo's kind of making the rules for this. They're like the Netflix for TV and entertainment. I'm like, you guys are kind of setting the bar and people are going to follow suit. Oh, yeah. And if you're making them $100, people go to pay $100. Oh, my God. Oh, look, we've had it fairly good when it comes to inflation in video games,

but the numbers are big. If you do a dollars per hour equation, division, maybe it's not so bad, but it's still, there's some sticker shock there. You know, you go back and look at N64 games and cartridges and how much they cost when we were kids. In many cases, they cost as much as, if not more than games do today. But we were anchored to 50 bucks and 60 bucks for a long, long time. And I think there was just more resources for just renting the game or just like using one,

buying one used. There's not a lot of game stops anymore. And then on top of that, the game. I do go to, I don't know about you, they're charging me an arm and a leg. But it's just funny because it's one of these situations where my mom is one of those people, right? She had me and my brother to buy games for and consoles for it. And she unfortunately had to end up buying a separate one because we would fight like dogs for the Xbox for time with the Xbox. So she ended up having to get me a PlayStation, him and Xbox, me this, him that.

And I cannot like, I can't tell her the price of these games. Every time I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm going to go buy the game. She's like, how much is it? I'm like, never mind. I can't tell her. She like, it gives her a heart attack. She's like, what? She's like, what?

That's gas for two months. I'm like, okay, mom, I'm like, it's not in L.A. Yeah. But I'm a grown up now. I'm an adult. I don't have to tell you how much my games are. You don't have to buy them for me unless you want to, which would be nice. But yeah.

Anyway, you can't get bananas on game pass, unfortunately. But I wonder what will be next. There were some rumors of a new Nintendo direct, possibly as soon as this month. So we'll see. We know that Metroid Prime is coming. We know that the new Pokemon Legends game is coming. So maybe that's your holiday season there. Yeah.

And we'll see whether there will be new announcements, whether Nintendo has some secrets up its sleeve, or whether it figures, okay, we're selling out of Switch 2s. We can skate by with Mario Kart and now Bonanza until we get to Metroid and we get to Pokemon. And then next year, we can hit you with, well, we'll see, new Mario, new Animal Crossing, new Pickman, new Super Smash Brothers, whatever it is. And I wonder whether and when we will get that Odyssey sequel, because you know that's in the works. I mean, that was 2017. And I would assume that either there's a different developer working on that sequel or maybe they split this group up and they were multitasking and one portion was working on Bonanza and one was working on the 3D, Mario follow up, but what do they have in store for that that can now top Bonanza?

And what will the timeline be for that? When we get that game, that is what I'm wondering. I'm no longer just waiting with bated breath and saying, we got to get a 3D Mario because I feel sated now. I feel full. We got what I wanted out of the Bonanza experience. But you know that there's a new Mario coming at some point from someone. I think they can hold off, though.

They have so much in their wheelhouse right now. Like, if it's 2028, I wouldn't be surprised. Because they have literally so much things they can do. And also, maybe not, but like the Switch, the upgraded Switch 2 that will come out eventually. Do you think it would wait until after that comes out? Yeah, I mean, we never even got a Switch Pro. That's basically what the Switch 2 is. So I'm sure we'll get a Switch 2 at some point.

But I would be surprised if it's until 2028. In fact, I would bet that it could be as soon as next year, again, for the synergy with the movie release, right? You know, put out a new Mario movie. You can just have that movie come out and then all the merch come out. Go buy the merch and then wait like six more months and then be like, oh yeah, there's the game. Remember you guys started forgetting about it? Go wear those Mario hats to the GameStop line and get your game. We will see.

It'll be a while before we get a full-fledged Zelda, I think. Oh, yeah, 100. We were spoiled. We just got a few Zelda games for Switch. I would assume that Mario and other franchises will be coming along sometime soon. But you know what? I'm satisfied now they can kick the can down the road a bit because of Bonanza. So we'll see and discuss what is next for Switch 2.

And as for what is next for the Ringiverse on this feed, plenty coming up here as well. Mint Edition boy, Stephen Jomey, Jr. Mintz did their Comic Con hype episode. So you know what's coming up for ComicCon. Of course, fantastic for First Steps coming out this week. Lots of big buzz and the Midnight Boys, Piu, will have their instant reactions on Friday. And then we've got ComicCon. And I assume you've got Comic Con activities and we've got Comic Con activities and there's Ringaverse Panel. And then on Monday there will be a Midnight Boys Comic Con wrapup.

And then we'll have our Ringiverse Recommends for July. So get your recommendations in at Ringiverse Recommends at gmail.com. And then Buttmash will be back in August. We'll have a lot to talk about then, too. We've got a new mafia game. We've got twisted metal. We've got new Metal Gear Solid. We've got lots and lots that is planned for the coming weeks.

And of course, you can contact Buttmash at RingiverseGaming at gmail.com. Jess, thank you so much. I'm glad that we bonded and vibed with this game the way that we did. It's always nice when we're on the same page and we truly love something. Yeah, anytime I love Donkey Kong, Bananza. Me too. And I love doing pods. with you. So thank you. We'll do it again soon. Thank you to Devin Ronaldo for producing this podcast.

Thank you to Arjuna Ramgapal for his senior podcast management. Thanks to all of you for listening. Do not try to spray paint your physical copy of Bonanza Yellow and use it in your switch to as someone on TikTok tried to do. It got stuck in there. Don't do it. That may void your warranty, void con, your warranty. And I will leave you, I guess, with the sound that is echoing in our heads after hearing it hundreds and hundreds of times every time we get a banana gem. Oh, banana.