I didn't realize at the time how blessed we were with the original Nintendo Switch launching with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Though it cross-launched on Nintendo Wii U, it still felt like the killer app that defined the console. I've been worried that Nintendo Switch 2, though a great bit of kit as we discuss in our Nintendo Switch 2 review, has been lacking in a game that would define its launch. But, no monkey business, Donkey Kong Bananza is thankfully that game.
It's great to finally have that defining game on Nintendo Switch 2 – Donkey Kong Bananza has stabilized me, having felt a bit wobbly in the first few weeks after the console's launch. While Mario Kart World was clearly the marketing-bullet-point system seller given the console bundle that came at launch, for me it struggled at the starting grid thanks to a focus on straightforward rallies compared to the series' long history of circuit play. Though Donkey Kong Bananza is just as experimental, it feels like a real evolution of Nintendo platformers in a way that also champions the power of the new hardware.
