Why Donkey Kong Bananza Players Are Getting Stuck at the…

Though Nintendo has fans of all ages, its primary demographic tends to be younger audiences. That's especially true when it comes to big-budget mascot platformers like the recently released Donkey Kong Bananza. As such, the standard difficulty in these games tends to be quite low, with players being given plenty of health and enemies being easily defeated in just one or two hits.

That's certainly the case in Donkey Kong Bananza. And while it's a mechanically-dense game, much of Bananza's gameplay loop remains straightforward throughout its 20-25-hour runtime. That said, there are plenty of fans who are struggling to get past Donkey Kong Bananza's opening area, though it's got nothing to do with the game's difficulty.

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By Eduardo Ariedo

Why Some Donkey Kong Players Are Spending Way Too Much Time in its Opening Area

Donkey Kong Bananza's Environments Encourage Thorough Destruction

Its central mechanic, and the focal point of much of the game's pre-release marketing, Donkey Kong Bananza presents players with a vast array of almost-fully-destructible environments. When dropping into one of Bananza's levels for the first time, players are given a large open area to explore, the majority of which can be smashed to pieces using the titular gorilla's fists. Essentially, any terrain that isn't metallic can be destroyed completely.

By the time players are ready to descend to a new layer of Donkey Kong Bananza's world, the level behind them will likely be a shadow of its former self, with gorilla-shaped tunnels being dug into the floors, makeshift doorways being battered into buildings, and copious numbers of caves now carved into the side of mountains. This player-forged environment not only looks visually satisfying, but has its gameplay benefits too.

The more players create their own beaten path, the more rewards they'll find, such as Fossils that let players purchase new outfits for Donkey Kong and Pauline, treasure chests that contain gold, and the all-important Banandium Gems that allow players to unlock new skills.

Leaving an area in Donkey Kong Bananza will reset a level's environmental destruction. Terrain can also be manually reset by the player when looking at the in-game map.

Some Players Have Taken Donkey Kong Bananza's Destruction to the Extreme

But while Donkey Kong Bananza encourages thorough destruction of its unique environments, some players have taken that to the nth degree during the game's launch weekend. Donkey Kong Bananza's opening section sees players take control of the eponymous mascot as he completes a shift in an underground mine.

The layout of this opening area is perfectly suited to teaching the game's destruction mechanics, as players are presented with a large rectangular cavern that's packed top-to-bottom with breakable rock, and are tasked with quickly smashing their way through it to forge a path to the next objective.

A portion of Donkey Kong Bananza's player-base has taken it upon themselves to clear this starting area entirely before daring to touch the rest of the game, leaving just a large empty cavern with its unbreakable metallic walls. This process has reportedly taken some players hours to complete, with them having no upgrades that help the destruction process this early in the game.

Players also aren't rewarded with many in-game goodies for their effort, like hidden Banandium Gems. Instead, it's purely this unique sense of completion that's driven fans to spend hours methodically carving their way through Donkey Kong Bananza's tutorial area.

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