Donkey Kong can transform into a zebra and an ostrich in Bananza, but not a donkey

Nintendo has just wrapped up its Donkey Kong Bananza-dedicated Direct, where it gave a deep dive on the upcoming title, revealing aspects such as the villains of the story, Donkey Kong's abilities, and his companion that will be tagging along with him throughout the duration of the game.

The Donkey Kong Bananza Direct was mostly gameplay-focused. Nintendo revealed that players will journey to the center of the Earth with Donkey Kong and his companion, Pauline. In the upcoming title, Pauline is a child who was hidden inside a rock until DK discovered her. As players progress through the game, they will get deeper and deeper into the world, with each level being completely different from the last.

Donkey Kong Bananza takes aspects from other Nintendo titles, such as Breath of the Wild, with DK being able to climb on almost any terrain, participate in unique challenges, and take on bosses for rewards and upgrades. One of the biggest surprises of the Direct was Nintendo revealing that Donkey Kong is able to transform into different animals, such as a zebra and an ostrich. Each of these forms gives DK special perks and abilities, such as the ability to fly or run on water.

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Nintendo has implemented more RPG elements in Bananza, as there is a skill tree to upgrade abilities, and costumes aren't just cosmetics; they come with buffs and should be used to tackle certain areas of the game. Additionally, Bananza takes from Super Mario Odyssey, as it comes with a two-player co-op mode where the second player controls Pauline. Moreover, the co-op mode supports GameShare, meaning it works on two different consoles, only using one copy of the game.

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Donkey Kong Bananza is releasing exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17.