I’ve not had much time with Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo’s latest triumph of game design. Yes, this is partly because video games must fight with my other interests to get a piece of my spare time pie (this is a small pie, in case you need it spelling out), but it’s also because my kids won’t stop playing it. My son, a Mario Odyssey completionist, was obviously going to be keen on DK’s Switch 2 debut, but the real surprise in all this is just how much my four-year-old daughter has got in on the action. In my house we’ve now dubbed the ability for a second player to control Pauline’s shouts the “little sister mode,” and it’s brilliant fun. Well, it’s fun for everyone apart from my son.
Donkey Kong Bananza, for those who haven’t been following along, is the first 3D platforming DK game since that divisive entry on the Nintendo 64 (I liked collecting things, I’m sad for you if you didn’t), and it has placed a big emphasis on a destructible environment. You can rip up parts of rock and shape the world, which is neat enough when you’re playing as DK, but a second player can help out by taking on the role of Pauline (the 13-year-old girl on DK’s shoulder), shooting ‘shouts’ out and obliterating the world.
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This mode has been promoted by Nintendo as a neat way for people to play co-operatively, one person doing the bulk of the gameplay with DK while the other (perhaps a less experienced gamer) can help out with Pauline, making the game significantly easier. If Nintendo had observed siblings playing Bananza together I expect the marketing would have changed a little. My daughter has no interest in helping her brother – her whole mission is to make life as hard for him as possible by destroying as much of the world he needs as she’s able. It’s as wonderful to watch as it is irritating for him.
I should say here, to ease any concerns that I’m letting my daughter make my son’s life miserable – I’m not. He laughs along with her, the two of them screaming with joy at every moment of destruction, him overreacting at every accidental DK death, in turn spurring her on to inflict even more. It’s mutually inclusive. They are having the best time of their lives, turning into wild banshees, and the annoyance is palpable.
Nintendo has nailed this freeform chaos offered in Donkey Kong Bananza – intentionally or not. It also highlights the problems found in many games that are targeted and developed solely for young children. In an attempt to make them playable, all the possibilities are ironed out, the off-piste fun removed, the ability to experiment seen as a barrier rather than an opportunity.
My daughter, who has odd names for a lot of things (“jubbly jubbly boo” for abracadabra, being a key example), now calls Donkey Kong Bananza “The Pauline Game”. It’s easy to dismiss these family-oriented co-op modes Nintendo often includes in its games, but they work and they work well, even beyond their original intentions. Crucially, these modes exist at no detriment to the core solo experience.
To that point, maybe make a new save for co-op shenanigans if you’re going to play The Pauline Game with kids.
A copy of Donkey Kong Bananza was provided by Nintendo.
If you need more help than the co-op mode in Donkey Kong Bananza offers, our guides to the best skills in DK Bananza and Hilltop Layer Banandium Gems locations might be of interest.