Donkey Kong Bananza |OT| Red Faction Gorilla

Aldric said:
Here's my more detailed opinion about Bananza. There's a ton to cover so bear with me but there's so much I want to say about this game.

I want to preface this post by saying that I wouldn't exactly call myself a Donkey Kong fan. I've played and enjoyed the Rare sidescrollers back then except the third one that I skipped but I never was enthralled by them the way some people were. I thought the first one was ok, more of a visual and auditory feast then a really fun game and Diddy's Kong Quest although much better was never near my favorite platformer of that time. Then DK64 happend and I kinda gave up on the Donkey Kong games. I think Rare's collectathon is one of the worst games from one of Nintendo's main historical franchises, I never beat it and the experience kinda soured me on the IP.

All of this to say I have zero nostalgia or emotional attachment to these characters and this world and yet I think Bananza is one of the most unique, admirable and satisfying games I've ever played. I can't even imagine what it must be like for these guys who've been hoping for a new ambitious DK game for all these years. They must be over the moon.

The first thing I want to mention about Bananza is that it's probably the most pleasantly frantic game I've ever experienced. The Nintendo devs talked about their concept for BotW as "multiplicative gameplay" where mechanics interact with eachother to produce interesting or unique scenarios. This is another version of this idea, but cranked up to the max. Where Zelda has relatively slow pacing, Bananza is moving at breakneck speed right from the start. I don't think I've ever seen a game that has so little downtime, and that's because every action that you do has an effect on the environment around you and leads to a continuation of the gameplay loop.

So for example you can punch an enemy that'll get thrown into a wall, explode, create a hole in the cliff and reveal a fossil collectible. Go punch the fossil to grab it and you reveal a tunnel inside the rock. Use your sonar and you see a banana deeper into the mountain. Keep punching your way through solid matter and after getting your main collectible you emerge from the other side where you conveniently get placed in front of a ruin where a challenge room awaits you. Rinse and repeat for hours on end, and this never gets old.

Bananza's level design is the best I've seen in a 3D platformer and at this point I don't see how it could get surpassed except by the next game from EPD Tokyo. I've already said that the designers managed to cram all these micro exploration loops everywhere in their stages but it doesn't stop here, the levels at large are designed to be interconnected and to naturally return you to your starting point in the main landmark of the layer once you begin exploring for side objectives. You unlock a variety of shortcuts, either by dropping ropes from higher layers or by paying money to build bridges or barrels. It's trite to even make this comparison at this point but it legitimately feels like Fromsoft level design, condensed and curated for an exploration based 3D platformer.

The levels being organized in sublayers also make use of verticality for some fun navigation puzzles where you have to find an entrance in an upper layer to a place inaccessible from a lower layer. This immediately evokes Tears of the Kingdom, and this isn't the only inspiration Bananza takes from other Nintendo games. In fact Bananza feels like a compilation of the major Nintendo first party titles released these past ten years or so.

From modern Zelda it takes the aforementioned approach to verticality but also environmental manipulation and elemental interactions opening up plenty of creative ways to reach any given objective as well as more minor nods like the additional yellow hearts after sleeping in a refuge or an obvious reference to one of the main regions and divine beasts in BotW. The surprising focus on aiming and light TPS gameplay (it becomes more and more of a feature the deeper you get into the game), Pauline's musical powers and popstar-like performances and an overall very gaudy, strange and sometimes slightly unsettling visual design immediately evokes Splatoon. Of course the most obvious comparison will be with Odyssey given it's the same devs behind both games and they share a lot of common in terms of objectives, basic level structures and progression.

Even so I can confidently say that Bananza surpasses Odyssey in pretty much every way. I've already talked about level design but let me get back to it a bit because it'll highlight the difference between the two games. It's not simply that Bananza has at the same time more chaotic and more complex worlds that still manage to be easier to read and more satisfying to navigate, with less downtime and empty space (the levels are both massive and dense: none of these things should work together and yet they do), but they also introduce more unique mechanics than Odyssey's kingdoms. Starting from early midgame you'll be met with four to five new platforming mechanics, physics interactions or environmental hazards in every new main layer. This goes a long way to avoid Odyssey's main issue which was the repetitive and pedestrian nature of its interactions.

Another way Bananza manages to stay far more engaging all the way through is by introducing new abilities through the animal transformations, and this allows us to segway into another one of Bananza's many successes, DK's movement.

I've already spent far too long waxing lyrical about this game's merits but I think I could write the exact same amount of praise for the core movement in Bananza. I'll spare you though and try to be concise. Bananza has the best movement in any 3D platformer I've ever played. In fact it has the best movement in any 3D game I've ever played period. The number of moves you can pull off, the nuances of the mechanics, the way they can be combined with eachother to create new ways to move through the levels, their interactions with all the platforming mechanics introduced throughout the game, the fluidity of all the various cancels and the phenomenal feedback of every action, no other game comes remotely close to the depth and expressiveness of Bananza's movement. It makes Mario look stiff and restrictive in comparison. I won't talk about other 3D platformers because I don't want to be insulting. I honestly have no idea how you top that.

I guess I'll have to talk about the game's flaws because obviously it has some but as far as I'm concerned they're more minor annoyances than anything. I've seen a common sentiment being expressed about the game being too easy. It's definitely not as challenging as the 2D DK sidescrollers, not even close, but it's also not as free as some would claim. I haven't done any postgame content yet but the mid to endgame get some pretty noticeable difficulty spikes and I've died quite a few times throughout the playthrough. Definitely harder than most 3D Marios and of course harder than Kirby and the Forgotten Land, still it's true that if you're looking for the Dark Souls of Crash Bandicoot you won't get it here.

Similarly I've seen people complain about the music and I disagree here as well, I find the OST to be of very high quality. All of the Bananza transformations theme songs are fantastic earworms, the remixes of David Wise's classics are perfect and the EPD composers even managed to be the only ones to successfully imitate Wise's signature style to create an original track that is as good as anything from the master himself. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there. It doesn't stop here either as another theme is reminiscent of Okabe's legendary work on the Nier series.

Anyway let's finish this with the performance issues and even if they do exist their prevalence is vastly exaggerated. They're really only a problem during a handful of specific boss fights where the framerate indeed shits the bed which is a shame as the fights themselves are the best in the game but other than that they're a non factor. In fact my only main gripe with the game is with the gyro aiming and how it tends to go apeshit randomly, completely desyncing and moving by itself up and down which can be a pretty big problem in the more tense combat and platforming scenarios requiring you to throw a piece of material quickly and precisely.

With this rambling wall of text coming to its end it's time to come back to my introduction and amend what I said here. I stated that I was never a fan of Donkey Kong but it's not entirely true, I started becoming a fan after playing Tropical Freeze more than a decade ago. It's not that I became enamored with the character all of a sudden, but I simply had to admit that this big goofy ape now had the best 2D platformer and one of the best Nintendo first party titles under his name. Today I can safely say the same is true for Donkey Kong Bananza. The Donkey Kong series now holds the privilege of having the best 2D sidecrolling precision platformer of all time and the best 3D collectathon expressive platformer of all time.
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I like the music I just despise the Bananza songs especially the first one. As far as the rest of the game goes I still think there's some unnecessary bloat with the bananas although it isn't as bad as odyssey/BotW and the bosses being so easy. Otherwise, the game really does deserve the praise it's getting.
 
Finished Forest layer and got all the bananas but one. Seems I need new powers to get that one. Forest layer was definitely more difficult than previous layers with the poison all around. Kind of stifled exploration though. I'm used to being able, for the most part, to just punch anywhere I want. Still was fun and the challenges were better, harder.
 
Topher said:
Finished Forest layer and got all the bananas but one. Seems I need new powers to get that one. Forest layer was definitely more difficult than previous layers with the poison all around. Kind of stifled exploration though. I'm used to being able, for the most part, to just punch anywhere I want. Still was fun and the challenges were better, harder.
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can say you can get all the bananas in each layer with the powers you have.
 
I'm in Tempest layer. I want to find all the bananas and the levels in each area but I move on when I want.

Game is a lot of fun.
 
me rn after 100% this GOTY
tCVl2giVp1SPn4nk.png


Either I start a new game or what else should I play?
 
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ADiTAR said:
Before you do, think TotK. You can see the Banana? or you can't find it?
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I can see it. It is hanging high from a place I can't get to or, at least, can't seem to figure out how to get to it. It's got a cage around the outside, but not the bottom. If I had one of those bouncy platforms underneath then I could get to it.
 
I didn't really enjoy the Tempest Layer since I hate environmental hazards, but the next one, Landfill, is probably my most disliked yet. Thank the Banana you just unlocked the elephant form to dig faster, because there is a LOT of digging to be done... which would be pretty cool if you didn't end up triggering a bunch of hidden mini-octopus every other step. Chest also seem rarer there than in previous layers, even with the treasure tie still equipped, so finding the fossils in such a gigantic open area will take some time.

Also, if bananas are really in chronological order in the list, then there's one before the one you start right in front of; I looked around but couldn't see/sense anything, so unless there was one in the sinkhole itself...
 
Topher said:
I can see it. It is hanging high from a place I can't get to or, at least, can't seem to figure out how to get to it. It's got a cage around the outside, but not the bottom. If I had one of those bouncy platforms underneath then I could get to it.
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If it's the one I'm thinking of, there's a shifting platform beneath it? If so you just need to find a nearby source of the bouncing material...
 
By the way, you can perfect parry in this game and the monsters will be disarmed, if you throw something exactly at the timing of the weapon hitting ground, you disarm them with a nice parry sound

Topher said:
I can see it. It is hanging high from a place I can't get to or, at least, can't seem to figure out how to get to it. It's got a cage around the outside, but not the bottom. If I had one of those bouncy platforms underneath then I could get to it.
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I thought for this one that the bouncy material could be picked up but apparently not? I couldn't at least

but there's a ton of mud nearby.... mud sticks to the metal cage
 
Buggy Loop said:
By the way, you can perfect parry in this game and the monsters will be disarmed, if you throw something exactly at the timing of the weapon hitting ground, you disarm them with a nice parry sound



I thought for this one that the bouncy material could be picked up but apparently not? I couldn't at least

but there's a ton of mud nearby.... mud sticks to the metal cage
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Apparently there are a few ways to tackle this one that just didn't register for me. I'll knock this one out tonight.

How do you parry?
 
darth.shrimp said:
The bouncy stuff itself can't usually be picked up, but there's a... I always forget their name, the blue stone-people, just above this banana, that's made of the stuff, and you CAN grab it from him.
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Fucking hell, makes sense

Anyway, nice that the game has emergent gameplay like this, multiple ways to tackle it
 
Buggy Loop said:
Fucking hell, makes sense

Anyway, nice that the game has emergent gameplay like this, multiple ways to tackle it
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I love the ones that make me feel stupid for not seeing it right away. Banana behind a locked gate? Just punch through the stone wall and go around it, dumbass

Jim Carrey Reaction GIF
 
I don't think I can pick a favorite layer, there's so many top tier ones. I'd say right now it's probably a close podium between
tempest, radiance and forest
but pretty much all the bananza transformations layers are great, and I love a lot of the smaller transition ones too.

I didn't mention it in my giant drivel post because at some point I had to cut things short but another aspect of the level design I love is that the layers are at the same time weird and abstract which allows them to go all out on creativity but still have an impressive sense of place, when I started exploring the sides of one of the main rooms in layer 900 and stumbled across
the elephants and Cranky lounging on deck chairs on some sort of balcony admiring the colored tornadoes and thunderstorm in the distance after bathing in the hot springs
I thought "I want to live here".
 
ADiTAR said:
HXpwf3rr7ttcxtKS.jpg
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The colors of this game are just atrocious to me. I've gotten a lot further than I previously did (I wasn't feeling the game at the beginning, but I've changed my stance and find it to be very fun). But the graphics and color are atrocious. Everything is too bright and washed out with whatever theme they have going. Even in the forest area, my yellow fur was red because of the purple tint.
 
DryvBy said:
The colors of this game are just atrocious to me. I've gotten a lot further than I previously did (I wasn't feeling the game at the beginning, but I've changed my stance and find it to be very fun). But the graphics and color are atrocious. Everything is too bright and washed out with whatever theme they have going. Even in the forest area, my yellow fur was red because of the purple tint.
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I agree that the art style is bad. The colors clash, it's making most of the evinromnents feel daunting. The best layer is the resort layer where it feels more natural. You can see a glimmer of hope from in the clothes they wear, because they are really well done aesthetically and from a color choice stand point.

There are some moments, like this one I captured, that I felt made the game look better.

But yeah, Nintendo went the Splatoon route on this one.
 
The colors were off putting at first. After a while my brain kept saying these are artificial suns or light sources in an underground world, everything is going to be lit differently. Now I love almost every bit of the art style. I would prefer a more natural look like in the Resort or the throw back sections in Kongo Jungle but I do enjoy what we have here.
 
darth.shrimp said:
I didn't really enjoy the Tempest Layer since I hate environmental hazards, but the next one, Landfill, is probably my most disliked yet. Thank the Banana you just unlocked the elephant form to dig faster, because there is a LOT of digging to be done... which would be pretty cool if you didn't end up triggering a bunch of hidden mini-octopus every other step. Chest also seem rarer there than in previous layers, even with the treasure tie still equipped, so finding the fossils in such a gigantic open area will take some time.

Also, if bananas are really in chronological order in the list, then there's one before the one you start right in front of; I looked around but couldn't see/sense anything, so unless there was one in the sinkhole itself...
Click to expand...

I believe if I remember its up on cave wall from where you drop into the landfill, you essentially climb up to the top of a big stone banana you can actually get too.
 
DryvBy said:
The colors of this game are just atrocious to me. I've gotten a lot further than I previously did (I wasn't feeling the game at the beginning, but I've changed my stance and find it to be very fun). But the graphics and color are atrocious. Everything is too bright and washed out with whatever theme they have going. Even in the forest area, my yellow fur was red because of the purple tint.
Click to expand...
Definitely something I failed to mention in my previous post, but I completely agree that the art style is problematic in terms of my personal preferences. I'm a bit in between because sometimes the game looks really great but other times the colors are just so jarring and awful, and while I haven't personally played Splatoon I do completely agree with those that have said it is visually reminiscent of that title. It's weird though because somehow the game both looks offensive and pleasant at the same time when I'm viewing it most of the time.

Again though, the game is just too good to give a s*** about this as far as I'm concerned. Great gameplay that is addicting, intuitive, fun.
 
DownLikeBCPowder said:
Definitely something I failed to mention in my previous post, but I completely agree that the art style is problematic in terms of my personal preferences. I'm a bit in between because sometimes the game looks really great but other times the colors are just so jarring and awful, and while I haven't personally played Splatoon I do completely agree with those that have said it is visually reminiscent of that title. It's weird though because somehow the game both looks offensive and pleasant at the same time when I'm viewing it most of the time.

Again though, the game is just too good to give a s*** about this as far as I'm concerned. Great gameplay that is addicting, intuitive, fun.
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Yeah I enjoy the game so much, I don't entirely care. But it's one of those games that I don't care to take screenshots of lol
 
STARSBarry said:
I believe if I remember its up on cave wall from where you drop into the landfill, you essentially climb up to the top of a big stone banana you can actually get too.
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Thanks, found it already... thanks to a random treasure chest with its location. I didn't even think to try whether those walls were climbable lol, this game keeps finding new ways to make me feel stupid.
 
DownLikeBCPowder said:
Definitely something I failed to mention in my previous post, but I completely agree that the art style is problematic in terms of my personal preferences. I'm a bit in between because sometimes the game looks really great but other times the colors are just so jarring and awful, and while I haven't personally played Splatoon I do completely agree with those that have said it is visually reminiscent of that title. It's weird though because somehow the game both looks offensive and pleasant at the same time when I'm viewing it most of the time.

Again though, the game is just too good to give a s*** about this as far as I'm concerned. Great gameplay that is addicting, intuitive, fun.
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I disagree, I personally REALLY like art style and love character designs and how expressive they are.
 
The colors I'm mostly okay with. They're distinctive and stand out. That said, there are definitely fewer photo op moments in this game compared to some adventures. And a couple places are kind of held back due to visual design decisions (Freezer Layer being crazy foggy, and Forest Layer having purple goop all over).

However I think the character models and expressiveness are top-notch.
 
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The palette is good. There's a bit of oversaturation but it gives more contrast and has that illumination studio feel like the Mario Movie, where the DK model is taken from.

DK himself looks great. His model is perfect size and proportion and facial expressiveness is as good as ever.

Maybe some folks wanted a return to darker tones like in DKC, but Nintendo is trying to line up artstyle btween games and movies it seems.
 
Yeah I definitely got used to the new DK design and wanna see this guy going forward. Playing Mario Party Jamboree with the old look is gonna feel weird now.
 
I didn't see a patch but it seems like the Record drop rate has improved? Pretty sure I got maybe six or seven in my first 10 hours of playing and have now picked up another ten records in my last 2 hours.
 
Danjin44 said:
I also LOOOOVED hand drawn pictures in loading screen....I personally love this game's entire aesthetics.
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I much prefer its rendition in hand drawn. I don't think DK looks bad, but I prefer the DKC design.
But the environments are really ugly in my eyes, even the best ones. Can't say I have much faith in anything Team Odyssey produces in the future.
 
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Variahunter said:
I much prefer its rendition in hand drawn. I don't think DK looks bad, but I prefer the DKC design.
But the environments are really ugly in my eyes, even the best ones. Can't say I have much faith in anything Team Odyssey produces in the future.
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Agree to disagree, to me this game made me fan of Odyssey team even more.
 
So, what is the purpose of tagging 'fossils' and other stuff with 'X'? You don't see it in when you are playing. You seem to only see it when going back to the map, which is kind of a pain, as you need to keep going into the map to see how close you are. Did I miss something where you can see that after tagging?
 
I'm absolutely loving this but the difficulty really lets it down.
It's impossible to enjoy the boss battles and the levels because they are so easy, this would be my favourite platformer if they'd raised the difficulty.
I know it's for kids but everything is so easy that it ruins the flow and game for me, if they had raised the challenge then this would have been on my top five of all time.
 
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