Donkey Kong Bananza Is The Best Showcase of The Nintendo…

For the last few decades, Nintendo's consoles have had at least one quirk that sets them apart from the competition. The GameCube had a carrying handle and used mini discs, the Wii had motion controls, the DS had a touch screen, the Wii U had a GamePad, and the Switch was a home console-handheld hybrid. The Nintendo Switch 2 brings another batch of new gimmicks to the table, some of which Donkey Kong Bananza dips its toes into.

One of the Nintendo Switch 2's most prominent gimmicks is its GameChat social feature, which had a big role in the console's initial reveal and marketing push. While GameChat is a great feature for multiplayer titles like Mario Kart World, it doesn't have much relevance in a mostly solo adventure like Donkey Kong Bananza. Instead, Donkey Kong Bananza experiments with the Nintendo Switch 2's mouse functionality, and it might just be the feature's best showcase thus far.

Donkey Kong Bananza Honors 44 Year Long History

How Donkey Kong Bananza Honors The Mascot's 44-Year-Long History

Donkey Kong made his arcade debut back in 1981, and Donkey Kong Bananza goes out of its way to celebrate the mascot's entire four-decade-long history.

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By Cameron Swan

Donkey Kong Bananza Might be The Best Use of Switch 2's Mouse So Far

The Nintendo Switch 2's Mouse Mode Is Sorely Underutilized Right Now

Rumored heavily in the months leading up to its official reveal, the Nintendo Switch 2's Joy-Cons can be turned on their side at any time, switching them seamlessly to a mouse mode that lets players drag their Joy-Con across a surface to move a cursor across the screen. At launch, just a handful of games were compatible with the Switch 2's mouse mode.

The most robust mouse-compatible titles were Fortnite, Cyberpunk 2077, and Civilization 7. Though the inputs didn't feel perfect out of the gate, the Switch 2's mouse functionality worked quite well with these titles after a few manual tweaks in each game's settings menu. That said, mouse controls still felt like an inferior way to play these Nintendo Switch 2 launch games.

Donkey Kong Bananza Makes The Most of The Switch 2's Mouse Mode

During solo mode, mouse controls never enter the equation in Donkey Kong Bananza. Instead, the Joy-Cons' new mouse functionality comes into play in Donkey Kong Bananza's local co-op mode, where one player uses a single Joy-Con to control DK like usual while the other turns a Joy-Con to the side and uses it like a mouse, aiming at terrain, absorbing materials, and firing them out into the environment via the on-screen cursor.

It's far from a groundbreaking feature, but it's a fun way to play Donkey Kong Bananza, at least for an hour or two. It's also great to see Nintendo finding an innovative way to implement one of the Switch 2's new features without forcing it into the core gameplay experience.

Donkey Kong Bananza is also home to a "DK Artist" mode. Heavily inspired by Super Mario 64's menu screen that let players mess around with a 3D model of the mascot's face, Donkey Kong Bananza's DK Artist mode lets players use the Switch 2's mouse functionality to carve, sculpt, and paint a variety of in-game models. Again, this feature is far from Donkey Kong Bananza's main selling point, but it's a really nice inclusion and a great showcase of the Switch 2's mouse controls.

Upcoming Switch 2 Games With Mouse Functionality

Thankfully, there are a few more mouse-compatible games on the horizon for Nintendo Switch 2, and hopefully they'll offer an even better showcase of the feature than Donkey Kong Bananza: