I feel like DKBananza to SMOdyssey is comparable to comparing Yoshi’s Island to SMWorld. In many ways, the former is a successor to the latter, but each take such radically different approaches to the gameplay loop that many consider them entirely separate game.

Whereas Mario Odyssey is one of my top three favorite games of all time, Bananza just doesn’t strike a same chord. And this is unlike Mario World & Yoshi’s Island, where I found each game to be a masterpiece.

That said, please! Somebody convince me why Bananza is this incredible masterpiece that rivals some of Nintendo’s finest, and that I am wrong for the game not having clicked with me yet. I genuinely want to love this game, but every time I pick it up, I either get motion sickness or walk away feeling like my platforming itch was never scratched.

Yeah, that's not gonna be me lol. I liked Bananza, but didn't love it. I found the gameplay overly repetitive, and there were so many times when the art direction looked more like Mario Odyssey than Donkey Kong. It wasn't distinct enough.

Tbf, I grew up with the Rare DKC trilogy, DK64, and Retro's duology of DKC games, and I loved the distinct art direction and music in those games. So in my mind, that's what Donkey Kong games are all about. They looked and felt Western, whereas Bananza looks and feels like a Japanese-made game. Not a knock on the game, but you can just tell how huge the difference in game design is.

I will say I did like that ending though! It was worth playing though as I did still like it, but don't know if you'll come away loving it.

I didn't expect it to grab me, I was worried it would be repetitive with all the digging. The demo really worried me. After I started playing it a few weeks ago, think it's almost perfect. A few of the layers are hit or miss like the landfill stage. I'm playing through it now, I still have a few layers left, but I currently have it really close to Odyssey and I may rate it higher before I'm done with it. Exploration is fantastic, rpg elements upgrading is solid, the story is actually not bad for this type of game. I'm just have so much fun with it, and fun is the only thing that is important in video games.