There's one thing DK Bananza hasn't gotten enough credit for...

L

LakeOf9

Member
... which is the story and storytelling.

Bananza is apparently made by the Mario team, which is the most gameplay focused team of developers I have ever seen. I didn't even realize they could do stories, but Bananza does a great job of it! It's obviously a story aimed at kids, so the points of comparison should be animated features like Pixar or Disney movies (as opposed to comparing it to TLOU or RDR2), but it's really well done. The main characters are really well done, I love their interactions and banter, and the game manages to develop actual stakes! It's the most story focused platformer I remember playing outside of outright narrative focused ones such as Psychonauts or Hazelight's titles for sure.

It's good to see Nintendo starting to branch out into these areas as well, hopefully we can see them do more of it as time goes on this generation – especially with them not compromising on their core gameplay and mechanics mastery in the process, either.
 
It seems so silly and ridiculous having Pauline on your shoulder the whole game, but it just works. DK and Pauline have such a wholesome relationship. Having a companion to bounce dialogue has become helpful to make story make sense with gameplay. Careful with spoilers in this thread.

Disney/Pixar are a good comparisons. I got Jungle Book/Tarzan/Lion King vibes, perhaps for obvious reasons.
 
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Donkey Kong reading the OP

Happy So Good GIF by Udge
 
MSduderino said:
It seems so silly and ridiculous having Pauline on your shoulder the whole game, but it just works. DK and Pauline have such a wholesome relationship. Having a companion to bounce dialogue has become helpful to make story make sense with gameplay. Careful with spoilers in this thread.

Disney/Pixar are a good comparisons. I got Jungle Book/Tarzan/Lion King vibes, perhaps for obvious reasons.
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I was thinking of Wreck It Ralph actually!

TommyCronin6969 said:
So what's the story then?
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Pauline wants to go back home
 
im still digging into rocks to find the story 3/4 of the way in, unless they manage a fantastic wrap-up, nope!
even then it would be poor story structure.
 
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Chuck Berry said:
DK needs to get some banana gems back. It's pretty hardcore.
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LakeOf9 said:
I was thinking of Wreck It Ralph actually!


Pauline wants to go back home
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Kacho said:
Pauline was a rock. DK want's his fucking bananas back. So much so he's willing to destroy the earth.
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"The player controls the gorilla Donkey Kong, who ventures underground with a young Pauline to recover stolen banana-shaped diamonds from a group of villainous apes"

jwvpUCbIjPDlJVBN.gif
 
I'm about half way through. The game is great fun, but evil corporation stealing all the bananas and DK has to get them back ain't all that. Now if the game has some major plot twists that I haven't seen yet then I'll come back and say I was wrong, but early on......it's just a fun game.
 
TommyCronin6969 said:
I want him to justify what's so good about it.
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Donkey's character goes through multiple stages and you can really see how he grows as a primate as the game goes on: from a blind banana eater to an enlightened potasium appreciator. It's beautiful and sends an important message, whatever that message is.
 
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TintoConCasera said:
Donkey's character goes through multiple phases and you can really see how he grows as a primate as the game goes on: from a blind banana eater to an enlightened potasium appreciator. It's beautiful and sends an important message, whatever that message is.
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Story sounds like a good episode of castingcouch.
 
I loved the twist where you learn that the hollow earth was really built as a giant sacrifice to appease the gods and reopen the gates of heaven. Such a gut wrenching decision to defy our fates and live a life of hardship without the power of the banana core. Really makes you think about the price of freedom.
 
Nintendo is the most non-story making Dev in gaming history

And that's ok. No one picked up Kirby, Mario, Metroid, Donkey Kong or even Zelda for a DEEP story. No one. (except the people that did)
 
The story is not super deep but my god is so charming.

Mostly because this one of few Nintendo games where your sidekick is not some object with eyes, it proper character with personality.
 
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there is a pretty big plot twist towards the end of the game, so I would probably duck out of this thread if you don't want that spoiled because it's probably going be mentioned here eventually

the story is just really cute and charming. nothing complex. reminds me of a Pixar movie

Pauline voice acting and dialogue is really good too
 
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Also the part where you learn that Pauline is an E-type android whose true purpose is to kill DK as soon as he learns the horrifying truth of the banana gems, so that the cycle can begin anew. Fuck what a ride.
 
Ya'all, I am trying to avoid spoilers. Nor am I saying the story is as good as RDR2 or BG3 or anything. I am saying it's a good kids story, which is more than Nintendo games have managed in the past.

Now if you still want to continue ignoring the OP and missing the point, have at it lol
 
LakeOf9 said:
Now if you still want to continue ignoring the OP and missing the point, have at it lol
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What point? People are dabbing on you because you refuse to actually make a point and tell us why the game is so well written. All you've given us so far is "trust me bro".

Btw I'm not saying you are lying nor anything like that, I'm just curious because so far DK games have been "crocodiles bad, banana good", which imo is enough for that kind of game, not every game needs actual writting to be fun.
 
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It's the biggest cliche, Mute protag has chatty buddy. In this case, Never annoyed by Pauline. So it works for me.
 
LakeOf9 said:
Ya'all, I am trying to avoid spoilers. Nor am I saying the story is as good as RDR2 or BG3 or anything. I am saying it's a good kids story, which is more than Nintendo games have managed in the past.

Now if you still want to continue ignoring the OP and missing the point, have at it lol
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You were saying it should be compared to Pixar. That is putting the game on one hell of a pedestal. "More than Nintendo games have managed in the past" is an entirely different take.

Either way, folks don't have to agree with your take. That doesn't mean they are missing the point or ignoring the OP.
 
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The plot is about a big gorilla likes to pound his chest and smash things. Shakespeare and ernest hemingway have nothing on this riveting story folks.
 
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Obviously the plot isn't deep, but it's got its merits that many games (Nintendo or otherwise) don't have. Pauline has a lot of optional dialogue that helps build the bond between her and DK, and it's cute seeing DK grow attached to the kid. She has her own little arc about overcoming her shyness and while it's as simple as can be, it's presented in a charming way.

Like the OP already explained, it's akin to something like classic Disney. I don't know why everyone's being so obtuse and acting like he made some lofty claims about it having a deep plot or heavy themes or whatever. Lady and the Tramp isn't a complex story but it knows what it wants to be and is successful at doing so.
 
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Finally Koizumi has free reign, the man that hid the Rosalina storytelling in Mario Galaxy from Miyamoto because he would have been told to avoid any story
 
Danjin44 said:
The story is not super deep but my god is so charming.

Mostly because this one of few Nintendo games where your sidekick is not some object with eyes, it proper character with personality.
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It's Vanellope from Wreck-It Ralph. They even made her sound similar.

The devs had also been watching Moana, I think.
 
Rran said:
Obviously the plot isn't deep, but it's got its merits that many games (Nintendo or otherwise) don't have. Pauline has a lot of optional dialogue that helps build the bond between her and DK, and it's cute seeing DK grow attached to the kid. She has her own little arc about overcoming her shyness and while it's as simple as can be, it's presented in a charming way.

Like the OP already explained, it's akin to something like classic Disney. I don't know why everyone's being so obtuse and acting like he made some lofty claims about it having a deep plot or heavy themes or whatever. Lady and the Tramp isn't a complex story but it knows what it wants to be and is successful at doing so.
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Because he's comparing it to Pixar and Disney movies as well as games like psychonauts.
 
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Sebastian1295 said:
Because he's comparing it to Pixar and Disney movies as well as games like psychonauts.
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I literally didn't compare it to psychonauts lol

Topher said:
You were saying it should be compared to Pixar. That is putting the game on one hell of a pedestal. "More than Nintendo games have managed in the past" is an entirely different take.

Either way, folks don't have to agree with your take. That doesn't mean they are missing the point or ignoring the OP.
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Fully agree with you, but I'm not talking about regular disagreement, I'm talking about outright misunderstanding what I said. It's fine in any case lol, not a big deal
 
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