A Nintendo Direct was broadcast early in the morning all about their second big Switch 2 title, Donkey Kong Bananza. They’re already shown a lot of this game in past presentations and I wondered what was left to reveal. Turns out, quite a bit!

The one reveal everybody expected was “Odd Rock” actually being a kid Pauline trapped inside it. Official art of this was leaked months ago. The Direct got it out of the way immediately: Pauline hatched from the rock within the first minute and displayed her talent for singing, which has the power to enhance DK’s abilities in parts of the game.

Pauline’s other talent is a Nintendo rarity…fully-voiced dialogue. She speaks in full sentences, unlike any other character in the game who goes “ooh-ooh” while text appears onscreen. There’s also a two-player mode where the second player controls Pauline, and she “sings” big stone letters that become projectiles, allowing you to cause destruction remotely,

So, is Bananza a prequel? Then this must be brought up…according to lore, Cranky Kong is the original DK from the 1981 arcade game, and the Donkey Kong we’ve known since 1994 is his son (possibly the grownup DK Junior, who hasn’t been seen since). Pauline was also a full-grown woman in 1981. Both Cranky Kong and DK appear in this game, along with Pauline as a kid. I’d attempt to wrap my head around this but I think trying to figure out continuity in the world of Nintendo is a fool’s errand.

DK and Pauline’s mission is to stop the members of VoidCo — Grumpy Kong, Poppy Kong and Void Kong — from reaching the planet’s core. To accomplish this they must get to the core first, and the only way is to bash everything in sight. A large percentage of the environments in Donkey Kong Bananza are destructible, and DK has a large variety of moves to bash, slam, lift and throw rocks around. But for those times when it isn’t enough…

Donkey Kong can enter “Kong Bananza” mode, a limited-time enhancement form that makes him super-strong and unstoppable. This mode can be enhanced further with transformations you find along the way. He can become a zebra that can run across water, or (this is the best one) an ostrich that can fly and dive-bomb enemies with explosive eggs.

If all that wasn’t enough, there’s also a wholly separate mode in the game called “DK Artist” that lets you sculpt rocks to create any 3D object you can dream up. Totally unnecessary, and could’ve have been its own separate product, but that’s the length Nintendo goes to make its games awesome.

So here’s something we haven’t seen in a while…an amiibo! The last few major Nintendo releases, including Mario Kart World, haven’t gotten these and I thought they were being phased out. But nope, here’s a new one. The DK And Pauline amiibo will unlock Pauline’s Mario Odyssey outfit, and any DK-related amiibo will make giant stone “KONG” letters materialize that explode when you throw them. Amiibo in general will conjure throwing boulders of different colors. The new amiibo looks nice, but if it’s $30 or higher….

Donkey Kong Bananza will be released on Nintendo Switch 2 July 17.

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