And while Bananza ’s connection to recent Mario games like Super Mario Odyssey are made clear, there are still important unknowns to address — like how does Bananza connect, if at all, to the events of the Donkey Kong Country games and, more importantly, is this even worth expending brainpower on?

There's also a sense of persistence in Bananza. You can create little home bases that let you rest up and change outfits. You'll meander off and come back to locations. Mario Odyssey had some of this too, but Bananza feels more lived in.

Donkey Kong Bananza marks the first major first-party release from Nintendo since the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.