Donkey Kong Bananza, Mario Kart World Raise a Question for…

Summary

Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World are shifting to open-world formats, a significant change for both franchises.
The open-world structure in games like Donkey Kong Bananza allows for free exploration, destructible environments, and diverse biomes.
With the success of open-world games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it may make sense for Nintendo to focus on an open-world format for the next Animal Crossing game.

Open-world games haven't always maintained the best reputation in the gaming industry, but they have been doing their best in recent memory to restore that reputation and prove that open worlds can be expansive and still be filled with meaningful gameplay and narratives. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring are not only great examples of open worlds done right, but they also set standards for future entries to follow, thereby inspiring increased quality in the genre moving forward. Now, Nintendo is continuing to experiment with the open-world format in some of its upcoming games, with the most notable among them being Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza.

The upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 games, Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, have officially adopted an open-world structure, marking a significant shift for their franchises, as well as being a strong indicator of what the new console's hardware is capable of achieving. Given how bent on diving into the open-world genre Nintendo has been as of late, especially following the success of its most recent Legend of Zelda entries, it's now worth speculating on what its plans might be with the next Animal Crossing game and how those plans could affect the series' future.

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By Martin Wood

Nintendo's Open-World Focus Could Aim for Animal Crossing

Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World Are Both Open-World Games

An open-world format might fit Donkey Kong pretty well, but it's a massive experiment for Mario Kart. Nevertheless, both Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World are going fully open world in what may be major turning points for both franchises, should the gamble pay off. Assuming it does, the Donkey Kong and Mario Kart franchises may never be the same, echoing what Breath of the Wild accomplished for Zelda.

In Donkey Kong Bananza, players will venture into an expansive open world set in the underground realms of the Kong Kingdom. There, Donkey Kong sets off on a quest to retrieve stolen Golden Bananas from the game's villain group, VoidCo, with sandbox-style levels that encourage free exploration and interaction with the environment. One of the game's standout features is its destructible environment, which allows Donkey Kong to smash through terrain in order to reveal new paths, hidden areas, and collectibles.

Donkey Kong Bananza's open world also features diverse biomes like icy terrains, lush jungles, and subterranean caves, all of which offer unique challenges and secrets.

Mario Kart World takes a cue from Diddy Kong Racing by featuring its own open world filled with interconnected tracks in its own "Free Roam" mode, where players can drive off-road and explore the world at their own pace. Presumably, there will be plenty of activities for players to complete and collectibles to find, but, perhaps more than anything else, the new format should increase accessibility by allowing new and casual players a more controlled experience.

Animal Crossing Could Target a Huge Open-World Format

Based on what little has been disclosed about each game so far, Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World sound like they may do some really great things for each of their franchises, which means Animal Crossing could be next. Even if Nintendo doesn't wait to see whether the open-world gambles of Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World pay off, it could already be working on a new Animal Crossing game set in a sizable open world. It would be a natural progression of the series' formula, for one thing, but it wouldn't be surprising either, as Nintendo appears to have already shown its hand.

Both Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World are going fully open world in what may be major turning points for both franchises, should the gamble pay off.

This is, of course, not to mention the raw power of the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware, which can now handle expansive maps much easier than its predecessor could — as games like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have proven. That alone may be reason enough for Nintendo to move forward with a big open world for the next Animal Crossing game, but time will tell.

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