2025/10/4: Nintendo Switch 2: Donkey Kong Bananza, Mario Kart World

[VideoGameCritic]

These reviews have been a long time coming. I'm sure I would have posted them sooner if not for the technical difficulties the site was riddled with last month.

Anyway, welcome to my new Switch 2 section. Let me know what you think.

[BlasteroidAli]

It would be good if you mentioned whether they were on carts or cards. Cards being a download only medium. Other than that 2 interesting reviews of 2 game I am never going to get. Yeah I liked Mario Kart back in the day. I never thought it was as good as Atari Karts (wee joke there) I do not think 1 good game and one average game are enough to get me to part with cash to get this system. I was not impressed by the switch, nor the switch 2. Though the 800 quid new Xbox hand held? That one really leaves me wondering why. I would get a Switch 2 before that.

Though at the end of the day I am glad to you got a lot of fun out of MK. I am disappointed that you did not get more of a kick out of DKB. Though, it reminded me of red faction guerilla. Where you run around with a hammer destroying enemy bases. I always thought that game was a bit daft. Given you are not a big fan of rampage, it is hard to see you loving DKB. Hopefully they will release and updated version of Donkey Kong's bongos

[DaHeckIzDat]

I found Donkey Kong Bananza to be the more interesting of the Switch 2's launch titles. Like, we all knew Mario Kart World was going to be good, and a free roam mode isn't enough to make me think "Wow, tell me more right now!" But Bananza stars a Nintendo character who hasn't had his own game (much less a 3D game) in over ten years, and they added new mechanics to it so it wouldn't just feel like "Mario Odyssey: Donkey Kong Edition." And frankly, I don't think it's enough. They should have waited until they had more big name exclusives to launch the system with.

I mean, I just looked up a list of the biggest titles that Nintendo is pushing, and almost all of them are either remakes or rereleases of games that came out years ago on other consoles. Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Yooka Laylee, Dragon Quest 1 and 2, the Dragon Quest 7 remake, Little Nightmares 1 and 2, Stardew Valley, Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2, Persona 3 Reload, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, Elden Ring, Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, Final Fantasy 7: Remake, Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil: Village, Super Mario Bros: Wonder, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Indian Jones and the Great Circle, and Borderlands 4. I buy Nintendo consoles to play Nintendo games. If I have the choice to play a game on my PS5, I'll choose that 100% of the time, and I know I'm not alone in this.

The only two games that sound even remotely like system movers are Metroid Prime 4, and Pokemon Legends: Z-A. Considering that Pokemon has been getting dragged through the mud over the past couple years, it'll probably sell well, but it won't get nearly the numbers Nintendo thinks it will. Same with Metroid. Besides Metroid Dread, that franchise has been out of the spotlight so long that the casual market probably won't have much interest in it, especially since there's no way to play Metroid Prime 2 and 3 except on the Gamecube and Wii. Sure, the hardcore fans will gobble it up, but considering the state they're in, I don't think Nintendo is going to make their money back with only four big console selling exclusives coming out in 2025.

[Quick_Man]

Swap the letter grades around between the games and you basically have what I would've given them lol.

[VideoGameCritic]

Swap the letter grades around between the games and you basically have what I would've given them lol.

So we're in 100% agreement on the grades! LOL

[VicViper]

The internet seems to have cultivated the reverse opinion since, and I'm enclined to agree with them when it comes to Mario Kart World.

Mario Kart World doesn't really reward repeated plays; all the Grand Prix boil down to 3/4ths of it being a glorified Toad's Turnpike because of the intermissions (seriously, the track design sometimes is just racing on a straight line for over a minute straight), and due to being 24 players, the item balance is completely trash. "Bagging" is the best tactic throughout this game (intentionally playing poorly and getting the best items for the last 30 seconds to rob the best positions) which was a problem in other tracks from previous Mario Kart games, but not to this extent. This is less a problem with CPU races because they artificially hold back their items (and hold back in general), but in a 24 actual player race? It's uncontrollably chaotic in a very unfun way.

In Knockout Tour it's technically better, but the same problem with bagging prevails. With actual players, if you're in the middle to upper part of the pack and missing the last item box before the checkpoint, it's a dead race. No amount of skill will save you.

Then there's online where Nintendo forces you to play through intermissions most of the time when you pick a race. You legitimately have to pray the lottery for a 3 lap race. The decisions behind the online are so bad that a section of the Mario Kart community has switched to Sonic Racing Crossworlds, I'm not kidding.

And it's a blatant showcase of how Nintendo has been failing at giving proper rewards in an open world since BOTW. Free Roam itself doesn't exclusively unlock characters and vehicles, you can unlock all these at your leisure just by racing. No. Free Roam's exclusive rewards are stickers. That is literally the only point to missions and the panels in the open world.

[noah98]

Donkey Kong Bananza is strange because I keep asking myself, why am I not having that much fun? It seems to check all of the boxes, and it is clearly a well made game, but I'm not feeling like I can't wait to keep playing it. Mario Kart World is what I expected and a fun game, but I've never been competitive with Mario Kart and I'm not much of an online gamer.

I'm most excited for Age of Imprisonment, even though I'm not into Dynasty Warriors style games. Graphics look great, and I did love my time with Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2. I'm also somewhat excited about Metroid Prime 4, but I never played 2 and 3.

On PS5, Ghost of Yotei is a must play, since I really enjoyed Ghost of Tsushima. That's a game that I wish the critic would review (PS5 version).

[Quick_Man]

The internet seems to have cultivated the reverse opinion since, and I'm enclined to agree with them when it comes to Mario Kart World.

Mario Kart World doesn't really reward repeated plays; all the Grand Prix boil down to 3/4ths of it being a glorified Toad's Turnpike because of the intermissions (seriously, the track design sometimes is just racing on a straight line for over a minute straight), and due to being 24 players, the item balance is completely trash. "Bagging" is the best tactic throughout this game (intentionally playing poorly and getting the best items for the last 30 seconds to rob the best positions) which was a problem in other tracks from previous Mario Kart games, but not to this extent. This is less a problem with CPU races because they artificially hold back their items (and hold back in general), but in a 24 actual player race? It's uncontrollably chaotic in a very unfun way.

In Knockout Tour it's technically better, but the same problem with bagging prevails. With actual players, if you're in the middle to upper part of the pack and missing the last item box before the checkpoint, it's a dead race. No amount of skill will save you.

Then there's online where Nintendo forces you to play through intermissions most of the time when you pick a race. You legitimately have to pray the lottery for a 3 lap race. The decisions behind the online are so bad that a section of the Mario Kart community has switched to Sonic Racing Crossworlds, I'm not kidding.

I'd say I'm glad about this since Sega racing games are pretty much always better than Mario Kart games but there was a sizeable chunk of people coming off Mario Kart getting mad that CrossWorlds doesn't tell the player that you should let go of the accelerator when taking sharp turns and it's like... okay, maybe I just take this for granted as common knowledge, I can see now why Mario Kart is popular...

[travistouchdown]

These games are both solid! MK World is great but almost too polished. The music is also lame. For me the best Kart racing game of all time is still 2012s Sonic's All-Star Racing Transformed (Wii U, various consoles) which was a blast and had a banging sountrack. Why no one can quite surpass that game is in my opinion because they are playing safe, and going for broader appeal vs bad-assery. Oh well.

I had low expectations for DK Bonanza but was pleasantly surprised...it's definitely the best 3D platformer I've played since Super Mario Brothers Odyssey. I will definitely 100% that game in the months ahead.

[ActRaiser]

These games are both solid! MK World is great but almost too polished. The music is also lame. For me the best Kart racing game of all time is still 2012s Sonic's All-Star Racing Transformed (Wii U, various consoles) which was a blast and had a banging sountrack.

I so agree. I really enjoyed it better than Mario Kart 8 while playing it on the Wii U. It was the only racing game that I know of on the Wii U that supported 5 players, 4 on the tv and one on the controller. Pretty slick.

As for the games/reviews I tend to agree. The only thing that I don't really like about Mario Kart World is the randomness in unlocking characters. The latest update seems to have improved the chances of unlocking characters with using the UFO. One of the really cool things about World is the option to drive into fast boats occasionally to go a bit faster for a short time. It's unexpected and cool when it happens. Both games are fun and enjoyable especially with a partner in the room.