Personally, I lean toward the Country-style gameplay. Tight design trumps freedom IMO. (Plus, the music in DKCountry-style games has always been unbelievably good!)

Original Donkey Kong Coutry Trilogy for me.

The OG DKC trilogy blows everything else DK out of the water for me.

I actually wouldn't group DK64 and Bananza together, as they play very, very differently.

DK64 was kind of a drag honestly due to its excessive backtracking, but Bananza plays amazingly well with how tactile and reactive its world is and how satisfying it feels to smash stuff.

Bananza I would rate on par with the DKC games, both are stellar in their own way.

I prefer 3D platformers so DK64 + DK Bananza.

I feel they’re similar enough in that both utilize collect-a-thon game design throughout an open area, whereas the Country games simply took players from point A to point B through a very tightly designed level. Ofc Bananza pulled it off a lot better, but so did Odyssey when compared to SMSunshine and SM64.

DK64 is a traditional open-ended collectathon, but Bananza is more linear and its destruction mechanic gives it a very different feel, kind of like how Tropical Freeze and Kirby Star Allies are both sidescrollers but they feel totally different.

Just my two cents, anyway.

Haven’t played Bananza, but I know I would like it better than the side-scrolling DK games. I’ve always found DKC to be too floaty and slippery for my tastes. And the old ones were too zoomed in. This last thing is a point I have against many sidescrollers though, I just like the overview a 3D game gives. So in general I like 3D platformers better than 2D ones. There’s exceptions to both sides, sure, but looking at playthroughs. I don’t expect this to be one.

Replayed the original Donkey Kong Country recently one of my childhood games. I prefer the 2D gameplay over the 3D one. But I think the Returns games plays better. It is faster, and more zoomed out giving better view of what's ahead. The original had several moments that felt like leaps of faith or demanding unfair reaction to new obstacles in the level.

I prefer the DKC style of play but I am having a lot of fun with DKB. It is taking me a long time to beat because I find myself zoning out and attacking the landscape.