Donkey Kong Bananzais massive. It’s the type of game that, years down the line, players will still be finding new tricks, skips, and Easter Eggs hidden away by the team atNintendo. Just a few days after launch, playershave found a way to skip the first boss, and references toa long-forgotten Kong(which we won’t spoil, so enter at your own risk), and the classicNintendo arcade version of Donkey Kong.
As we at TheGamer were making our way through Ingot Isle and the depths below, we stumbled across another Easter Egg to a much less well-known Nintendo arcade game.
Donkey Kong Bananza Is Housing An Easter Egg To Wrecking Crew (1984)
Wrecking Crew was one ofMario’searliest video game adventures. Following on fromDonkey Kong, Mario Bros. on the Game & Watch, and a few other cameo appearances, Mario took center stage as part of an arcade game in which his sole purpose was to destroy buildings and objects.
The title made its way to theNESand Famicom Disk System a few years later, before a Game Boy Advance version was released. It was then released on the Wii’sVirtual Consoleand the Nintendo Switch NES library in 2019. There’s a chance you’ve played it, but it’s definitely one of Mario’s more niche titles.
Perhaps the game is most recognizable fromits stageinSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U(and laterUltimate), in which players duke it out in a fully destructible building, where the layers collapse if the support structures are broken.
Donkey Kong Bananza,determined to stake its claim in Nintendo folklore, while also paying homage to the games that came before it, features the first reference to the old arcade game that we’ve seen in years.
As you make your way down to the Canyon Layer, Bananza’s fourth, players can take part in theKong Bananza: City Smashchallenge. Here, players will be tasked with destroying an old abandoned building, much like they were in Wrecking Crew.
While destroying an old building is a bit of a tenuous link, it’s the way the structure is laid out that leaves no doubt in our minds that it’s a nod to the 1984 title. Construction girders hold together its three stories, and other skyscrapers line the background, making it look exactly like a Bananzafied version of Wrecking Crew’s Super Smash Bros. stage.
You can see some screenshots below:
It’s hard to deny that it bears striking similarities, and given so many Easter Eggs have already been spotted, we’re pretty certain this is another one to add to the list. It’s also the perfect level forthose who just want to smash everything in the game.
