With its release yesterday,Donkey Kong Bananzaemerged asa front-runner for this year’s Game of the Year, surprising nobody. Sure,it doesn’t utilize one of the Nintendo Switch 2’s Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology, meaning the game has some isolated performance issues, but its90 on Metacritic,91 on OpenCritic, and4/5 from us here at TheGamermean it is certain to be talked about when the end-of-year award season rolls around.
The game is now out in the public domain, and players are getting to explore the magic thatNintendohas conjured up this time around, but there’s one thing a large subsection of the fanbase can’t move past: they want to smash EVERYTHING.
Donkey Kong Bananza Players Just Want To SMASH
When I booted up Donkey Kong Bananza for the first time, I spent between 15 and 20 minutes in the opening area, trying to smash every single piece of rock. Part of it was compulsion, part of it was curiosity, seeing if Nintendo had hidden a little secret or Easter Egg in the game’s opening moments. It hadn’t, but it seems like I’m not the only one who faced this issue.
Over the last 24 hours, acrossvarious different subreddits, Donkey Kong Bananza players have shared their struggles with the urge to destroy all of the game’s destructible environments.
In one thread, Itsaconesaid, “I can’t even enjoy it yet as I feel the need to smash everything. I’m still in the opening stages, so hopefully I move away from this. It’s the same reason I struggle with open-world games. I get overwhelmed with having to do everything and then stop playing.” Stlredbird thenadded, “It took me 15 minutes to get to the first golden banana. I was smashing everything.”
I can’t even enjoy it yet as I feel the need to smash everything.
In a separate thread, a different usersaid, “I just wanna see what the rooms look like without rocks, is that so crazy?! Smash smash smash.” It’s clearly a major issue for players early on. Admittedly, it’s not a bad one, but my god, we really just want to smash everything.
While Bananza doesn’t have any notable Easter Eggs in its opening moments, there are a few nods to Donkey Kong history throughout the game. Itreferences a long-forgotten Kong, hasa lot in common with the Super Mario Bros. Movie, and hasnods to both Super Mario Odyssey and the original Donkey Kong arcade title.
