Donkey Kong Bananza is one week away. What’s your hype level at?

The biggest video game release of summer 2025 is nearly here, and gamers everywhere are ready to go apesh*t for it. The highly anticipated launch of Donkey Kong Bananza is just seven days away.

There are several reasons to get hyped for the new Donkey Kong game, and not just because it's the first massive game for the Nintendo Switch 2 post-launch, and first-party Nintendo titles are always a big deal and system-seller for the company.

Image via Nintendo

First, it's been made by the Super Mario Odyssey dev team, so there's good reason to have faith that this will be a really solid open-world 3D platformer. Odyssey is beloved the world over, so it's reasonable to expect that same kind of quality with Bananza.

Secondly, I've played the game myself, so I know it's good. Last month, Nintendo invited me to a preview event to go hands-on with Bananza, and in just a few hours of playing, I feel like we will be having yet another title entering the game of the year discussion in just seven days' time.

I also think that some players are sleeping on the local co-op aspect of the game. A second player can use the JoyCon mouse to play along as a 13-year-old version of Odyssey's Pauline, picking up materials and then sing-screaming them in the environment to take down obstacles and enemies. I played that, too, and it's so very fun. I believe many gamers may find joy with friends and loved ones with the feature.

This is the first new title starring Donkey Kong in the lead role since the Wii U's Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze way back in 2014, later re-released for the Switch in 2018. It's been a long time coming for the big galoot, so the excitement is palpable.

And so now, I ask you, dear reader, how excited are you for Donkey Kong Bananza? Is it going to push you over the edge into purchasing a Switch 2? Have you been trying to get a Switch 2 but have been unsuccessful thus far? Answer our poll and let us know in the comments below before we go bananas.

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