Topic: Donkey Kong Bananza

@OorWullie

Everyone seems to forget that Snipperclips was a first party launch title for the Switch too, and a great one at that. So with that added I'd say Switch 1 definitely had a better 1st party launch lineup, especially since Donkey Kong Bananza isn't strictly speaking even a launch title for Switch 2.

@Uncle_Franklin he can climb almost every surface in the game.

Game looks amazing. New Mariokart looks pretty nice too. Graphics-wise it all bodes well for future games (can you imagine how awesome Zelda might look?). I wonder though what might happen with 3D Mario. Is that off the table?

But back to DK: The new design starts to grow on me, his animations are great, the gameplay is bonkers with you terraforming the whole place. Surprised that Cranky looks the same. Where is Diddy (looks like he is replaced by mining monkeys). I saw gnawty! I saw Espresso's! A bit sad that we again don't get Kremlins and K. Rool, although the croc enemies have golden Kremlin-esque creatures inside and Ingot island looks a bit like Crocodile island from DKC2. Speaking of enemies: So far they don't really do it for me and look like a afterthought. Hopefully the (evil monkey) bosses are better. And then there's Odd rock, wich is rumored to be a child of a certain character. Exciting stuff.

I also wonder if its openworld (probably not) and how much you can dig before the world breaks, "Worms" style. I believe they said in the treehouse that the "world" with the bright sky actually is underground? Crazy. And if Odd rock can transform at times, what does that mean for the gameplay?

i am not entirely sold on this one yet, and i dont think i will be until the reviews 😔 the gameplay and world look technically and graphically amazing and fun, but im not a huge DK fan. if the pauline leaks are true, i will be more convinced buttt unless its not a game changing, open world, goty worthy installment in the series, i dont know. i hope nintendo covers up more on this one. but i am very happy for the 3d donkey kong fans out there, yall deserve this 😺

Eh, I'm kind mixed on that notion. Yes, Wario is an absolute powerhouse in World and Shake It, but the terrain smashing stuff here doesn't feel like a Wario-only thing. Maybe if there were bombs thrown into the mix, but otherwise I can't really see him ripping out the ground with his bare hands like DK.

What animal companions does everyone think will make an appearance? I think the rhinoceros is pretty much guaranteed given the game's love of destruction. The swordfish seems similarly likely.

So excited for this game! It's second on my list after MK. (Purely because I preordered the bundle...)

Definitely excited for this game. Just breaking everything around you sounds incredibly satisfying. And it goes really well with his new look and expressions.

@Dev-N On the one hand, I agree, Donkey Kong Country has secret entrances with different level of power required: normal barrel, explosive barrel, Rambi... On the other hand, Donkey Kong Bananza doesn't look anything like it to me, it seems to focus too much on destruction, limiting the level design in the process and using an idea that might get old too quickly.

@FishyS Rambi is mentioned by Cranky Kong so I assume he's in the game, I'm sure we'll get the ostrich as well since we've seen very similar birds. The swordfish could definitely happen, but that probably depends if we're getting large bodies of water. The frog, spider, and snake I think have a possibility, but I'm not counting on it. Squawks, Rambi, and the Ostrich feel the most likely to me.

@Banjo- I'll be honest, now that I think about it, I kinda have the same concern about the gameplay as well. The focus on destroying stuff and digging through environments makes the game look a bit repetitive, and I'm worried that you'd have to rapidly tap any of the punch buttons to dig. Like with the Hyrule Warriors games... I don't like those games because of their button-mashing nature and they even made my thumb tired.

@MarioVillager92 Indeed. I love Donkey Kong games, especially Rare's trilogy on SNES, which I consider absolutely essential and still present level design ideas copied by other developers, even by Nintendo, in their last platformer (Super Mario Bros. Wonder). What Dev-N says makes some sense, because the destruction mechanics are used since Donkey Kong Country, but they were just one piece of very well-thought levels. I'm not seeing the kind of gameplay I want to see, at least yet. I want to see the full levels being played when the game is out and I'm able to try it or at least watch other players. I really hope that the destruction mechanics are not the main gameplay element, because that gets old very quickly.

Not quite Bananza-related, but we got a new look at the redesign thanks to Nintendo Music:

I think putting these two side by side highlights strengths and weakness for both designs.

@N00BiSH Seeing them side by side makes the new DK look even worse. The old design was so much better, and all the changes in my opinion were negative ones. I wouldn’t really care if this was just the design for 1 game, but it seems like everything now will have him look like this.

@PikminMarioKirby you say it looks "even worse" without even specifying - people can have their preferences, but it's hard to take any complaints with the design seriously if they're worded so vaguely.

@N00BiSH It's a personal question and difficult to rationalise, but I also prefer Rare's design like @PikminMarioKirby. The new design is extremely goofy (I don't mean it as negative). Rare's design has more nuances, but looks both cool and daft and hits a difficult to achieve balance in character design.

@N00BiSH Fair point, it’s all pretty subjective but the thing above his eye is very much a toned down version of the Rare design which ends up looking off-putting, the eyes are much more cartoony and look like a Koopa Troopa, behind his eyes are too bright, and his nostrils feel a bit off (I could see why people wouldn’t mind that though)

@PikminMarioKirby You mean his brow? That's a fair point - when pushing for other expression it looks great, but a neutral resting state, like as pictured, it does look a bit off and doesn't really communicate tough or dopey. I'd argue the eyes actually look closer to later Rare-designed characters like Banjo or Chunky Kong(God rest), and as for the nose I think it's an improvement - DK didn't even have an actual nose before, just nostrils. They tried to fix this in subtle ways, like in Tropical Freeze, but it just ended up looking off if anything.

I imagine that, like with the DK theme park, Returns HD and the new redesign were most likely being workshopped at different times, hence why the shift feels so jarring to some.

I think Bananza could end up struggling. MKWorld will do fine, most people will buy the bundle anyway like Nintendo suggests. But Bananza is the standalone test balloon for their much higher new pricing. Now we see third parties all go for a cheaper price… Bananza could be the single most expensive game at launch.

As for the game itself, previews sound a bit hesitant. Myself I was thinking “if this wasn’t a major Nintendo game this wouldn’t be my type of gameplay”. So… I wonder if it has more depth than we’ve seen so far. And I’m not willing to pay 80€.

@N00BiSH I feel like that's an unfortunate choice of pose/expression for new DK to try and emulate.
It looks more "what the hell am I doing" than "I'm taking charge!"

Still like the new design