Donkey Kong Bananza has been a huge hit for Nintendo, easily becoming a must-have title for the Switch 2. It’s no surprise that this was made by the Super Mario Odyssey team, since Bananza has all of that game’s positive qualities and more. While there are fans who are worried this will replace a mainline 3D Mario, this game’s success has us more excited for the icon’s next entry.
Admittedly, we do have to point out that both characters have very different move sets. Both characters can run and jump, but Mario is all about traversal, while DK loves to smash things. That doesn’t mean we can’t be excited, as Bananza’s technology has us wondering what Nintendo can do with Mario in it.
Fans who’ve played Donkey Kong Bananza know that it’s one of the smoothest titles Nintendo has put out. While there are a few performance hiccups, they aren’t enough to detract from the overall experience. This makes us wonder how good the next 3D Mario game will look, though we know it will be smooth as butter in terms of visuals and performance.
It’s hard to imagine what the next 3D Mario will play like, given how good both Odyssey and Bananza are. In our humble opinion, the best way to differentiate Mario from the competition is to go full open-world while keeping his classic power-ups. We got a preview of this in Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, so something bigger and better on Switch 2 would hit the spot.
Combining the open world of Bowser’s Fury with the visuals of Donkey Kong Bananza would be insane, which is why we want it on Switch 2. Having the mechanics of two near-perfect 3D platformers and putting Mario in it would sell like pancakes. Let’s just hope there aren’t specific blocks that can only be broken by a giant Bowser, because those objectives were annoying.
Bananza’s destruction physics were impressive, but we aren’t sure if they would fit a Mario title well. The character’s focus on traversal and exploration means Mario doesn’t really have to destroy a lot of objects. However, it would be fun to see Mario get those Super Saiyan-like power-ups designed with more traversal options, like the bird option in Bananza.
click to enlargeThere’s a lot to unpack about Mario’s potential impact on Switch 2 after the release of Donkey Kong Bananza. We just know that Nintendo will release another quality title for its best-selling console.
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