Donkey Kong is back. And with brilliance!
The highly anticipated Donkey Kong Bananza was released on Nintendo Switch 2, and the criticisms have already come out. And they are certainly worthy of the great monkey.
On the dozens of opinions published on the Metacritic site, the weighted average is 90/100. This means that Donkey Kong makes his old rival Mario in fact, since Mario Kart World has “only” the metascore of 86.
The interest is also large among the many fans of the series. At the end of last month, IGN reported that Donkey Kong Bananza was the best -selling game on Amazon thanks to his many pre -orders.
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Mads Jacobsen, who runs the Copenhagen Nintendopusheren game store, is one of those who are looking forward to the game.
“This is probably the Switch 2 game that I am looking forward to, because I mainly play games to a single player. It was nice to play Mario Kart World, which I also did a lot, but that’s what I was really looking forward to. Now that we don’t have a game Mario, Donkey Kong is the next best thing” he declared to Gamereactor.
Although Donkey Kong Bananza is not a Mario game, the game still contains a little DNA in the Super Mario series. The game was created by the same people who gave us the successful game Super Mario Odyssey, but the inspiration does not stop there. Donkey Kong Bananza contains several references to previous games in the series, the most important of which is probably the character of Pauline, who made his debut in the original Donkey Kong game of 1981.
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Another obvious source of inspiration is the latest Donkey Kong game in 3D, Donkey Kong 64, developed by the rare legendary and released on Nintendo 64 in 1999. And it was these particular parallels that have contributed to raising Jacobsen’s expectations.
“What I remember best are the Game Boy games. Donkey Kong Land 1, 2 and 3. I also played on Nintendo 64, to which Bananza probably looks like. I really can’t wait to run everywhere and collect objects. I like collect-a-the-thons of the time of the Nintendo 64.”
Maybe Jacobsen himself felt a bit like Donkey Kong today? On the occasion of the launch of Donkey Kong Bananza, the retailer Nintendo remains open until midnight so that customers can get their hands on the game as soon as it was released. On this occasion, the store owner cleaned his Donkey Kong costume and, as if that was not enough, he bought a whole bunch of bananas to distribute them to the store customers.
“With midnight events, you can play a little and wear ridiculous costumes. I also bought bananas for all those who come. Just to have fun and bring an experience to people. It may not be as many people as for Zelda, or when Switch 2 was released a month ago. But again, you can have fun and do nonsense.”
Jacobsen says that there were about 40 pre -orders for the game with removal in store, but he expects that only half of them appear, now that many people are on summer vacation.
“If 20 people show up, I would say it’s a success. And if there is less, it’s still great to organize that.”
Although the launch of Donkey Kong Bananza is a joyful opportunity, and the launch of midnight is above all an opportunity to have fun and play, Jacobsen also has a concern.
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo always release consoles with physical readers, but the first two have also experienced purely digital consoles in the form of Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5 Slim Digital Edition. Nintendo is traditionally more prudent and sticks to physical versions. But with the Nintendo Switch 2, they have now introduced the concept of Game Key Cards, where the physical game is in fact only a license key to download.
Jacobsen is therefore afraid that the Nintendo Switch 2 console is the last Nintendo console to offer significant physical outings.
“They have somehow shown the step on the digital joys of game key cards. There are also more and more games here in Europe which only come out in download. So you have a box, but it’s just an empty box with an indoor code. Personally, I think it’s completely out of purpose. I fear that the Switch 2 is not the last console where we will have the opportunity to make this kind of launch at midnight. of time before that. “
