Pac-Man's New Friend: A Sword-Wielding Warrior
Our critic considered Donkey Kong Bananza a strong addition to the Nintendo Switch 2 library, praising the 'lavishly animated extravaganza.' Another critic thought the auteur Hideo Kojima was a bit heavy-handed in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, which addresses the pitfalls of connection.
Here are three other games you may have missed this month:
Shadow Labyrinth
Reviewed on the PlayStation 5 Pro. Also available on the PC, Switch, Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S.
When it comes to choosing a movie to watch on an airplane, I always opt for something that rests comfortably on the lower range of good. I steer clear from things I really want to see because I'm an uptight cinephile who would prefer to watch the best stuff in front of a nice setup without ambient distractions.
I thought about those preferences while playing Shadow Labyrinth, a good but by no means great Metroidvania. In keeping with the genre, it offers the lulling comfort of crisscrossing a mazelike structure and acquiring power-ups that allow the player to unlock previously inaccessible areas.
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Digital Trends
a day ago
- Digital Trends
I have a big problem with how Nintendo has been treating collectibles
By the time I reached the fifth layer in Donkey Kong Bananza, I had already collected more bananas than there are Stars in the entirety of Mario 64. Without getting into exactly how long it takes to beat, that's a small fraction of the way through the game, with hundreds more bananas left to find. I am normally a completionist when it comes to collectibles in games, especially Nintendo franchises, but eventually found myself burnt out on chasing down all the stray bananas scattered through most of the levels. I would gladly take on the combat and puzzle-platforming challenges, but I was more enticed by the actual content of those challenges rather than the reward. It wasn't long before I simply ignored stray bananas buried in the earth or sitting atop a high perch. I could feel my inner child crying out for leaving these precious collectibles behind, but I realize now that Nintendo doesn't treat collectibles the way it once did, so neither should I. This new philosophy has infected almost all Nintendo franchises now, and I don't think I can stomach another Switch 2 game that makes collectibles feel so meaningless again. More isn't necessarily merrier Some of the most ingrained memories for me as a kid playing Ocarina of Time are when I found a precious piece of heart. These were typically tucked away in hidden areas or locked off as rewards for specific challenges. As always, collecting four would grant you a new heart container — perhaps the most meaningful upgrade in the game outside of equipment. They were rare, making each one feel meaningful to get, even if it wasn't the final one needed to get that new heart. The same can be said for Stars in Mario 64. Stages only had around 5 on average, and none of them were just lying around for me to pick up just for walking by. 120 sounds like a lot, but when each one presents a challenge to collect, they never feel less special to grab. Recommended Videos I imagine the excitement I felt each time I managed to snatch a new Star or root out a piece of heart as a kid is what set me on the path to becoming a completionist. But right at the launch of the Switch, Nintendo seemed to completely flip its approach to designing collectibles. Breath of the Wild was the canary in the coal mine, as it were, with 900 Korok seeds sprinkled around Hyrule. This was one of many design changes that going open-world necessitated for Zelda, and I don't think it was a poor one on its face. Yeah, it was the first time I decided early on that I wouldn't even attempt to 100% complete the game, but treated that absurdly high number as a kind of design failsafe — players who explored the world naturally would always have plenty to find no matter which direction their curiosity took them. I don't think it was necessarily made this way with the intention of most players feeling compelled to get them all, especially when you look at the joke of a final reward for getting all 900. The problem lies in the fact that this new more is more mentality surrounding collectibles wasn't contained to Zelda's open world games. Super Mario Odyssey was the first proper 3D Mario game since 3D World and inflated the number of collectibles from the usual 120-ish to around 300 on the higher end on a first playthrough, to 880 unique Moons. But Mario hadn't undergone a massive reinvention in the way Zelda had which made increasing the collectible count feel appropriate. To sell an amazing game very short, it is still a level-based platformer. The new levels are bigger, but they're not that big, and Moons still act as progression tools. Nintendo had to rework a lot of other aspects of a Mario game to make this change fit. Being kicked out of a level after collecting a Star or Moon was a long overdue upgrade, but Nintendo also had to cut the fanfare. Instead of a rewarding and celebratory animation as a reward for managing to get a Star, Odyssey pauses for as brief a time as possible to avoid interrupting the flow of gameplay. It's a better solution than keeping the longer animations, but a self-inflicted problem by cramming the game full of Moons. Without that struggle to find them or the feedback from the game cementing my achievement as something worthy of praise, collecting Moons started to feel only slightly more enticing than standard coins. How much could I care about them when I could literally buy a dozen from the shop in one go if I wanted? It makes perfect sense that Bananza treats its bananas this way after learning the Odyssey team was behind it. To its credit, Bananza does at least try to give bananas a different function than Stars and Moons by making them act as upgrade points for DK's stats and skills. But the core issue of importance remains. I'm still tripping over bananas and able to purchase them in batches at a shop. If bananas are meant to be the ultimate prize to chase, how come there are more of them than fossils? There's nothing wrong with taking this approach to collectibles. I think it made sense for Zelda, and I think it was a smart choice to try and shake up the platformer formula, even if it didn't land for me. What I don't want is for this to be the only approach Nintendo takes with platformers going forward. Go ahead and cram in tons of fossils, coins, and other supplemental collectibles if you want, but I need there to be at least one collectible that makes me feel excited to get again.
Tom's Guide
a day ago
- Tom's Guide
I bought the Switch 2 Pro Controller for its remappable back buttons — but this feature makes them an absolute game changer
From the moment I first laid hands on it, I knew I had to get the new Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller. Back in April, I was one of the first people to go hands-on with the Switch 2 at an event in New York. While it was awesome finally getting to see the new console up close, I couldn't believe that Nintendo had finally added the feature I always wanted to its pro controller: remappable back buttons. As someone who's been playing video games with a controller for over 30 years, my right thumb has certainly taken a beating. That's why, when possible, I prefer to play on a controller with remappable back buttons or rear paddles. This lets me avoid putting unnecessary strain on my thumb but I've also found that it makes playing certain games a lot easier for me. While plenty of the best Nintendo Switch controllers have remappable back buttons, this is the first time that Nintendo has added them to one of its first-party controllers. Likewise, the Switch 2 Pro Controller is one of the most comfortable gamepads I've ever held with plenty of refinements over the original. After picking up a Switch 2 and the new pro controller at a midnight launch though, I quickly realized that Nintendo didn't just add remappable back buttons to the controller, it completely changed how you use them. If you're like me and use remappable back buttons in every game you play, here's why you should definitely consider picking up a Switch 2 Pro Controller for the Nintendo Switch 2. This new and improved pro controller for the Switch 2 features Nintendo's HD Rumble 2, a C button for GameChat, remappable GL/GR buttons and a 3.5mm headphone jack along with support for motion controls and scanning amiibos. It's very comfortable to hold in hand and can last for up to 40 hours on a single retailers: Target, Best Buy, GameStop Normally on a controller with remappable back buttons, there's often an extra button on the back like with the PowerA OPS v3 Pro or on the front like with the 8BitDo Ultimate Controller. You press this button first to go into remapping mode before assigning inputs to either controller's back buttons. You'll notice though that the Switch 2 Pro Controller doesn't have a button like this on the this is the case, like on the Xbox Elite Series 2, you usually go into your console's settings menu to assign inputs to your controller's back buttons or rear paddles. However, when I opened up the Switch 2's settings menu and went to Controllers & Accessories and then GL/GR Button Settings, there was only a video explaining how they worked but not an option to map them to different buttons right then and there. The reason for this is surprisingly simple. Unlike with the remappable buttons on other pro-style controllers, you can't program the GL/GR ones unless you're in a game. While I wish Nintendo would let me do this as I like using a controller's back buttons to navigate through a console's menus and user interface, I quickly came to appreciate the company's unique and novel approach to assigning buttons. In fact, I now wish both Sony and Microsoft would follow suit. So how do you remap the GL/GR buttons on the Switch 2 Pro Controller? Well, to do so, you first have to open a game. From there, you hold down the controller's Home button to bring up the Switch 2's Quick Settings menu. Underneath the option to toggle Airplane Mode on or off, you'll see a section for the Switch 2 Pro Controller's GL/GR Buttons. Then you just select which one you want to remap and press the button you want to map it to on the controller and you're done. Not only does Nintendo make it quick and seamless to remap these GL/GR buttons but the best part is that how you configure them is saved on a per game basis. This means that while you might have them set up a particular way for Mario Kart World, you can have them mapped completely differently in another game. Then when you switch between games, the Switch 2 automatically reconfigures the controller's back buttons exactly how you had them. No other controller nor console does it this way. In the picture above, you can see I have the GR button mapped to A to make my cart go in Mario Kart World while the GL button is mapped to X so that I can quickly look behind me during the middle of a race. I had my Switch 2 Pro Controller's button remapped this way until earlier today when the idea struck me to map GL to the controller's right trigger so that I can drift as well as perform tricks without having to take my thumbs off the analog sticks. I've mainly been playing my Switch 2 in docked mode with the Switch 2 Pro Controller, so I've been using its remappable back buttons in every game I've played so far. For instance, in Donkey Kong Bananza which I recently reviewed, I have the GR button mapped to A for jump and the GL button mapped to Y to punch. If you've seen any gameplay footage, then you know Donkey Kong does a ton of punching in this game. With punch set to the GL button, this has made it a lot easier for me to not only defeat enemies but to also destroy the world around me as I'm hunting for gold and Banadium Gems. Before Donkey Kong Banaza came out, I was working my way through the end of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which runs and looks even better on the Switch 2. Here, I also have the GR button mapped to A since you use it for everything from jumping to climbing to talking to in-game characters and interacting with the world around you. However, you also frequently make use of Link's new abilities which you select from a wheel after pressing the left bumper or L button on your controller. To make it easier to pull up this wheel and switch between abilities, I mapped the GL button to L when I restarted playing Tears of the Kingdom on the Switch 2. The remapping possibilities are really endless on the Switch 2 Pro Controller as you can remap its GL/GR buttons to anything from the face buttons (A,B,X,Y) to the triggers and bumpers to the D-pad. Surprisingly, you can also remap the controller's new C button which brings up GameChat to either one of them as well. The same is true with the Capture button as well as both the Plus and Minus buttons. At $85, the Switch 2 Pro Controller is certainly an investment, especially as it costs more than the console's most expensive game so far. However, if you prefer playing in dock mode, have larger hands or use its remappable back buttons as much as I do, then I'd say it's definitely worth it. Pictures definitely don't do the Switch 2 Pro Controller justice either. Instead, this is the type of controller you need to hold in your hands to truly appreciate. It's slightly lighter than Nintendo's first Pro Controller for the original Switch but it also feels slimmer and more balanced in your hands. At the same time, it now also comes with a headphone jack and its two-tone gray and black design looks a lot sleeker too. If you don't have $85 to spend on a new controller but still want the experience of using remappable back buttons on the Switch 2, there is another option. Nintendo's Joy-Con 2 Charging Grip costs less than half the price at $40 but after buying one and testing it out myself, the way you remap and use its GL/GR buttons works exactly the is worth noting that the GL/GR buttons on the Joy-Con 2 Charging Grip — just like the buttons on the Joy-Cons themselves — are significantly smaller than the ones on the Switch 2 Pro Controller. This wasn't a deal breaker at all for me though, as I found them just as easy to press and use. If you're on a tight budget or even if you just have smaller hands, this might be the better option. Either way, it's great that Nintendo has finally added remappable back buttons to its first-party controllers. Still, what impresses me even more is how it came up with a novel new way to remap them on the fly and how you don't have to configure them all over again every time you switch between games. This accessory lets you attach your Switch 2 Joy-Cons to use them like a standard controller but it also features a USB-C port to charge them. Like the Switch 2 Pro Controller, it has remappable GL/GR buttons that can be mapped to whatever buttons you retailers: Target, BestBuy, GameStop
Gizmodo
a day ago
- Gizmodo
‘Donkey Kong Bananza' Should Be the Reason You Buy the Switch 2
I can feel my heart lift as I play Donkey Kong Bananza. Every punch from DK's ham-hock-sized fists sends a shower of stones and debris into the air. Enemies tear apart until they're left as golden skeletons, begging me to shoulder them into the nearest rock face just to watch the scenery dissolve into a rainbow of rock, mud, and golden nuggets. Every chunk ripped from the ground offers more gameplay possibilities, but I'm barely thinking. I'm just going. I know that I'm playing the game the right way because I keep letting loose, and I keep finding secrets and hidey-holes for the game's multitude of collectibles. This is catharsis. This is joy. If all future Nintendo Switch 2 games receive this much time and attention—with such a focus on playing to the dockable handheld's strengths—then we could be looking at one of the best consoles of all time. Donkey Kong Bananza Donkey Kong Bananza one of those games that you end up buying an entire console for, and not regretting it one bit. Pros Cons Donkey Kong Bananza makes you feel as powerful and reckless as a massive, silly ape with bananas on the brain. This world is meant to be breakable. The denizens of the game's 17 main underground layers are happy for you to smash through their homes, break their furniture, or even break them (don't worry, those lovable, bright-eyed 'Fractones' grow back). It would be a mindless escape if it weren't for young Pauline riding on your back. She offers encouragement and direction. In the game's rare quiet moments, Pauline shares her fears with her mum ape companion. She's afraid of many things, like most kids are—spiders, poison, and heights. But she finds comfort in the fact that DK's there. It's like you're leading a child hand-in-hand through a beautiful adventure. She feels safe with you, and as the player, I wanted to make sure I deserved that trust. To say Donkey Kong Bananza hooked me is an understatement. Still, I know its flaws well. The camera sometimes cannot keep up with players going underground or into DK-shaped holes in walls. There are rare points in the game where the number of objects flying across the screen is too much for the Switch 2 to handle, which leads to frame drops. DK climbs with such speed he can be difficult to control, especially when you try to swap from one plane onto another. Many deaths felt earned; I was going full ape and spilled myself off a cliff. Other deaths left me sighing in exasperation as I watched my gold counter go down. I was never left bereft of gold, but as an obsessive completionist, I hurt to leave a single nugget uncollected. If there's one big complaint I have, it's that Nintendo didn't take advantage of all the new control options available. The only instance of the Joy-Con 2 mouse controls is in two-player mode. A second controller controls Pauline, who can aim around the screen and shoot out words like a back-mounted monkey turret. It's not a difficult game. Out of all the bosses in all the kilometers deep underground, whether they're giant monsters or one of the three main nemeses—three kongs of The Void Company headed up by the maniacal Void Kong—I died only a few times, and normally because I had already turned my brain off while reveling in the latest crater I put into the ground. Exploring requires only an ounce more brainpower as you hunt for various Banandium gems to improve Donkey Kong's capabilities or fossils to fuel your ever-present need to dress DK and Pauline in swankier garb. A week after launch is time enough to think about the place Donkey Kong has in Nintendo's lexicon. Games like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey on the original Switch set the tone for what players could expect. Both were incredible games that felt all the better because they could make use of what made the console unique. The OG Switch was a low-power device, and despite that, we would not find another mass-market game that offered the same sense of exploration as BoTW until Elden Ring. Sony took more than seven years to find a studio that could make a game as imaginative as Odyssey in the form of the delightful Astro Bot. Now Nintendo has a whole new console that's much more powerful than before. No, it's not as strong as an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5. It doesn't need to be, when the developers inside Nintendo's various teams are this good at crafting games built with the hardware in mind. In a Q&A posted by Nintendo, Bananza's developers (many of whom worked on Odyssey) said the game originated as an original Switch title—similar to how Mario Kart World began its development. The team settled on using voxel technology to build out the game world's destructible terrain. Imagine if a pixel could exist on a three-dimensional grid, and you'll get close to what this looks like in programming terms. It's the same technology used in games like Deep Rock Galactic to help your space dwarves dig through mountains of rock. In Bananza, even the enemies are made of voxels. While some levels in Odyssey used voxel technology, it was in limited quantities and on certain levels. The Switch 2 has more RAM available—12GB compared to 4GB on the OG handheld. Of the Switch 2 RAM, 3GB of the total is dedicated to running the system's base software. With only 9GB of RAM available and improved CPU capabilities, Nintendo's devs crafted a wholly destructible world where there can be a cavalcade of distinct physics objects moving on screen and still maintain a stable 60 fps frame rate, at least most of the time. Nintendo's strongest asset has been crafting games to fit the hardware. Bananza is what happens when you give the dev teams more resources to push what's possible. You can't put Donkey Kong in a basket (he'd probably just punch his way out and leave a 5-foot hole in your wall in the process). It's a collect-a-thon that shares so much of the same DNA as Super Mario Odyssey. It's a cathartic action game. It's a game about discovery, exploration, and player expression. But at its heart, it's a physics-based puzzle-action title. You didn't get many of those on the original Switch, especially toward the end of its lifespan. That makes sense, as the system simply didn't have the memory nor CPU power necessary to handle a multitude of physics simulations for dozens of objects at once. The game is chock-full of optional battle arenas and puzzle environments. Most of them rely on a specific mechanic introduced for each level, but they sometimes feel like Nintendo is flexing its muscles for where it can push the Switch 2. One memorable level in the Freezer Layer asks players to smack a path through snow to let dozens of small ice crystals fill a bucket—like a large pachinko snow cone machine. That's not to say the Switch 2 is somehow a secret console powerhouse. We know what's going on inside, but it makes what Donkey Kong Bananza is able to achieve that much more impressive. The world of Bananza's underground environs is painterly, almost pastel in both the look and colors of each underground map. The hairy ape that's always at the center of the screen is more detailed than the rest of the environment. All media is an illusion to some degree, but Nintendo hides the fault lines better than most companies, especially when it has more room to push game detail. What will be interesting to see with the rest of Nintendo's first-year Switch 2 titles will be if it can keep up this pedigree. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa told investors earlier this month that longer development cycles are 'unavoidable,' especially if players keep expecting more from their games. Video game industry analyst Joost van Dreunen reported that Nintendo's full-time employee count has ballooned to 8,205 in 2025, at least based on company financials. Nintendo will need to keep up the pace to meet player expectations. If future titles are as good and innovative as Donkey Kong Bananza, we won't have much to worry about.
