Most Nintendo franchises are very carefully curated, slowly introducing new characters and elements, while maintaining nostalgic ties to the past. Oddly, the exception to this rule is Nintendos very first big franchise, Donkey Kong, which the company seems happy to reboot whenever it suits their fancy. The original Donkey Kong games gave way to Rares Donkey Kong Country in the 90s, we got another soft reboot when Retro Studios took over the series and replaced the Kremlings with tiki masks, and now, Nintendos reinventing the whole shebang again. Donkey Kong Bananza gives Nintendos big ape a major makeover, turning DK into a terrain-smashing brute who can literally shape the world around him with his fists.Donkey Kong Bananza is a bold new take, but it's one Nintendo clearly has quite a bit of confidence in, given the game is essentially standing in for a new Mario platformer during the Nintendo Switch 2 launch window. Will DK's latest reinvention be a success or leave fans pounding the ground in disappointment? I recently had the chance to go paws-on with Donkey Kong Bananza at a Switch 2 preview event (here are my general thoughts on the new hardware) and you can jump on down for my early impressionsAfter many years of mostly chilling in his treehouse, Donkey Kong has seemingly decided to make something of himself, becoming a miner who uses his fists to dig up Golden Bananas and a glittering ore named Banandium (naturally). Unfortunately, a villainous crew of apes, known as VoidCo, crash a meteor into DKs mine on Ingot Island sinking all its precious treasure further underground. This sets DK off on a quest through multiple descending levels to crack some heads and retrieve as many Golden Bananas as he can.The first thing youll likely note upon jumping into Donkey Kong Bananza are the changes to DK himself, who has been redesigned to look a lot like he did in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (minus the Seth Rogen voice, thankfully). While there have been some kneejerk negative reactions to the new look, only a few minutes with the game will likely dispel any misgivings you might have. Frankly, the old Rare DK design was showing its age and this new look allows for a much wider range of expressions, which the developers of DK Bananza (likely the EPD Tokyo team behind Super Mario Odyssey) take full advantage of. This Donkey Kong feels like a more fleshed-out character with a full range of emotions, rather than just a dumb animal. You even get to play dress-up, as fossils you collect can be traded for new looks at a not-yet-glimpsed cosmetics store.Some of the changes to Donkey Kongs world feel a bit odd at first, like all the apes that look kind of like Diddy Kong, but arent Diddy Kong, running around, and the strange assortment of enemies. But odd isnt necessarily bad, and much like with DKs makeover, that feeling of this is weird wore off quickly. Also, during a second playthrough of the Donkey Kong Bananza demo, in which I focused on finding as many secrets as I could, I managed to locate good old Cranky Kong. This, combined with an accidental leak from Nintendo themselves, hints DK Bananza may not be quite as hard a reboot as it appears at first.In terms of visuals, Donkey Kong Bananza goes for a unique, stylized look. For instance, the fuzzy fur shading thats adorned DK for years has been replaced with almost scale-like layers of fur. Similarly, the world of DK Bananza features a lot of intentionally off-kilter, sharp angles and brash colors. This isnt the most cohesive visual style Nintendo has ever come up with, but everything has a nice, sharp, bold look that makes this world stand out on the new Switch 2 hardware. Meanwhile, the game runs at a nice mostly-smooth 60fps, with only a few brief hiccups detected.As for how Donkey Kong Bananza plays, the games central gimmick becomes apparent very quickly this time around, DK doesnt just smash baddies with his fists, he can now use them to plow into the terrain, with a surprising amount of the environment being destructible. DK can punch forward, downward, and up, as well as slam down from above after a jump. Additionally, he can grab chunks of rock and dirt to throw and clamber up pretty much any vertical surface.It's a simple, yet versatile, set of tools for traversing and shaping the world, which makes Donkey Kong Bananza almost feel like a mixture of Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The Mario Odyssey roots are clear, with the stage I explored having both explicitly-stated missions to achieve and extra Golden Bananas hidden all over for those who choose to (literally) dig a bit deeper. While the actual platforming in the level I played was very rudimentary, there are bonus stages to uncover that provide more traditional run, jump, and fight challenges. The demo even culminated in a basic boss battle of sorts.And yet, as mentioned, Donkey Kong Bananza also seems to embody some of that Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom go crazy, do things your way ethos. Do you want to stick to the golden path? Search carefully for secrets? Or just lay waste to everything around you? Its up to each individual player. There were also some simple puzzle elements found in the demo, in the form of small concrete sections of the environment that could be destroyed by throwing explosive materials at them.Much like Tears of the Kingdom, there were also moments when the amount of freedom Donkey Kong Bananza allows made the game feel a bit messy. At times I'd find myself digging into the ground when I simply wanted to attack an enemy, and once burrowed in there, the camera sometimes made it tough to keep track of where I was. There was also an odd issue where turning the camera would sometimes make most of the world disappear into a purple void for a second, which I assume will be fixed before launch.While the issues I just mentioned caused some momentary frustration, I spent most of my time with Donkey Kong Bananza thinking about the possibilities presented by its mechanics. The tools are certainly there for puzzles that would require you to, say, mould the terrain in specific ways using your fists, explosives, and other tools to reach a goal. Theres a lot of potential here, and it seems likely the demo I played only showed a portion of DKs full bunch of abilities.Current Thoughts on Donkey Kong BananzaDonkey Kong Bananza swings the franchise in a bold direction, giving the ape himself a personality-packed makeover and offering up gameplay that combines the sandbox platforming formula of Super Mario Odyssey with the open-ended, play-as-you-will ethos of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. While the demo I played was a bit rough around the edges in some respects, DK Bananza promises to potentially be an amalgamation of some of Nintendos most acclaimed games of recent years. We dont know for sure if that will be the case yet, but Im eager to unpeel the full package and find out.Donkey Kong Bananza launches exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17. Look for more Wccftech coverage of the game closer to launch.Deal of the Day