Overview

• Bananza revives hallmarks from Rare’s Donkey Kong Country series, featuring balloon life counters and surprise cameos from Cranky, Diddy and Dixie Kong
• Challenge stages and sandbox design echo Donkey Kong 64’s open-ended objectives and level structure
• Pauline’s vocal abilities draw on DK64’s musical mechanics to power Bananza transformations and terrain-clearing co-op blasts
• Developed by the Super Mario Odyssey team at Nintendo EPD Tokyo, the game marries Odyssey’s freeform exploration with fully destructible voxel environments
• Opinion pieces published July 29–30 urge Nintendo to expand on Bananza’s formula with sequels and spin-offs starring Diddy Kong and other underused characters