← Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast
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- [00:01]
Tim Gettys
You know that one friend who somehow knows everything about money? Yeah.
- [00:05]
Logan Plant
Now imagine they live in your phone.
- [00:07]
Tim Gettys
Say hey to Experian, your big financial friend.
- [00:11]
Logan Plant
It's the app that helps you check.
- [00:12]
Tim Gettys
Your FICO score, find ways to save.
- [00:14]
Logan Plant
And basically feel like a financial genius. And guess what? It's totally free.
- [00:19]
Tim Gettys
So go on, download the Experian app.
- [00:22]
Logan Plant
Trust me, having a BFF like this.
- [00:24]
Tim Gettys
Is a total game changer.
- [00:35]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yo, what's up? Welcome to the Kind of Funny Games cast for Wednesday, July 16, 2025. I'm one of your hosts blessing. Adio. Yeah, Junior. Joining me is Lacroix, Poppy Tim, Muh Vugan, Yetis.
- [00:48]
Tim Gettys
Oh I just. I love Nintendo release times. We just get the whole week of excitement leading into it. We get the time after of everyone playing. The bad thing is Nintendo only gives out one code per per company for the most part. So we don't get to have a full crew discussing things. At least not that the first go round. I'm sure we will do another review for this with Yalls opinions later. But I'm still very excited and I'm excited that I'm not alone talking about.
- [01:13]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
This game today of course because also Joining us is IGN's Logan plant. Logan, how's it going?
- [01:20]
Logan Plant
Hey guys. Going good. I'm so psyched to be here to talk about one of my favorite games ever. I'm so psyched about dk.
- [01:27]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Hell yeah. Yeah. I'm super excited to talk to you because you were talking before the show, right. Tim mentioned that he hadn't gotten to your review yet. I did listen to the full review video on the IGN YouTube channel. And then also I read the verdict on the actual IGN website and I have a lot of questions. I mean Barrett talk about all the time. We're DK sickos, right? We love DK 64 is some of our sickos, right? One of our favorite games of all time. And yeah, Tim mentioned that we only got one review code from Nintendo. So Tim was our designated viewer. But I'm here to ask all the questions. I got so much I want to talk about. First question being Logan, of course you've been on this show before. We were just talking about it. You helped review brothership here before. What is your like? I want to dig into a little bit of your review history at ign. What are some of your I guess high highest profile reviews that you've done for the website?
- [02:18]
Logan Plant
Yeah, I've been doing a lot of the Nintendo reviews over the last year. I reviewed Super Mario Party Jamboree which I think is the best Mario party there's ever been. I love that game. I give it a 9. I reviewed the Paper the Thousand Year Door remake, which I also gave a nine. I reviewed Princess Pete Showtime which was a seven. That was a very seven game to me. And some other ones like Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D remake I did last year and the Plucky Squire which was another seven. So yeah, I've been kind of all over the map with scores.
- [02:43]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Hell yeah. I'm very excited to talk to you about Donkey Kong Bonanza today because remember, this is the kind of Funny Games cast. Each and every weekday we get together and talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and all podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the Kind of Funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts. Get all of our shows ad free, watch us accord them live and get a daily exclusive show for a chance to be a part of the show. Submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. Housekeeping for you Friday Game Showdown returns for a special four episode Nick Scarpino led miniseries. Nine contestants are vying for a prize that can change their lives. Tune in on Friday after Gamescast for the premiere episode and then also our first strand type Premium Collector's item has arrived. It's a lore accurate range recreation of Roger putting Kojima onto Carolyn's music created by the Incredible Panda Musk. Of course. Grab it before the month ends. Exclusively available on patreon.com kindafunny incredible. Absolutely fantastic stuff.
- [03:50]
Tim Gettys
Incredible.
- [03:51]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
I I wish I could have seen Roger's face when he got back. Just the portrait of him. Specifically because this is the coolest I've ever seen Roger look like. They made they made like Roger's facial structure chiseled in a way where I'm like God damn, I want to see him star in an action movie. So go check out this Patreon item tomorrow. Dontober. We're in 11 person business all about live talk shows. Of course KFCD covered Nintendo revealing the Legend of Zelda liveaction film cast after this, Greg and tim play the first 45 minutes of Donkey Kong Bonanza before Coach Mike puts Roger through the paces in college football. Another housekeeping for you. Tim is hosting the San Diego Comic Con panel for Marvel Cosmic invasion next Thursday, July 24th in Get Hyped for that. If you're at San Diego Comic Con, make sure to come through. Hang out with him and support Marvel Cosmic Invasion.
- [04:44]
Tim Gettys
So excited. Please, if you're at Comic Con, come show up. Support. Let's have some fun next Thursday. It's going to be a blast if.
- [04:51]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
You'Re a kind of funny member. Today's Greg Way is 22 minutes of Greg Miller Supergirl teaser poster reaction. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Delaney Twining. Sorry, Delaney the Psalm Twining, Carl Jacobs and Omega Buster. Today we're brought to you by Shady Rays, but we'll tell you about that later. For now, let's start with topic of the show, our Donkey Kong Bonanza review. Of course, it's going to be spoiler free. To start off, I want to hear your super chats in the comments. If you have any questions for these boys about their experiences playing Don Kong Bonanza, right in with the super chat and we'll get those questions read later on in the show.
- [05:32]
Tim Gettys
And I do want to say there are things that can be spoiled there, of course, in a lot of games and stories and stuff. And like I, I don't want to hype anything up too much or say this or that, whatever. All I'm saying is like if you care about, like, let me say this, if you care about Rainbow Road in Mario Kart and you consider that a spoiler, this game features spoilers, okay? And I do, you know, it's like, it's just if you care about Nintendo games the way Nintendo fans care about Nintendo games, play this game before you go on the Internet. And like before, like people are going to be spoiling a bunch of things. But I will also say, even if you spoiled on stuff, there's so much, there's so much great stuff in this game. So don't let it discourage you. But I will say be safe out there.
- [06:12]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Tim, I want to start with you. What is your review of Donkey Kong Bonanza?
- [06:18]
Tim Gettys
So I am a huge Nintendo fan. That might surprise people and sometimes that means that when I am playing new entries in Nintendo franchises, I could be fixated on little things that add up to me that I'm just like, I just want this to be that way or I wish they went further here and all of that stuff. And when I played 20 minutes of Donkey Kong Bonanza at the Nintendo Switch to Reveal reveal event with you and with Logan, I walked away trepidatious. I didn't dislike my time with it, but I was not utterly obsessed. I was not like, oh my God, this is the game I've been waiting for from the 3D Mario team specifically because I had 20 minutes with it. And it felt like the core of the game was you're just punching and breaking everything you can possibly see. And. And I was like, how long is this going to hold up? And are they going to have this stuff when it comes to fulfilling the potential of this gimmick all the way through for an entire adventure? Or where I was at with that game, is this going to be a smaller title? Is this going to be something on the the lines of a Kirby in the forgotten land? One of my favorite Switch games. So no shade at all. But we're talking about the great tier. We're talking about Galaxy 1 and 2. We're talking about Odyssey. Can it hold up with those? And I will say now, having played this game for 45 hours, having done a lot of the content in this game and definitely wanting to 100% it over the course of the next month or two, I could say that the last week we've spent talking about 3D platformers and Nintendo games, we often talk about Galaxy and Odyssey and those games as examples of 10 out of 10 video games and some of the best games ever made. And I can say without a shadow of doubt that whether I'm Talking to a 5 year old or a 45 year old, if I could only recommend that they play one game out of Mario Galaxy 1 to Odyssey or Donkey Kong Bonanza, it would be the 10 out of 10 Donkey Kong bonanza.
- [08:23]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Timothy, Timothy, Timothy.
- [08:26]
Tim Gettys
Awesome is what it is. Bless. I can't believe it. The bad lads pulled it off and I stand by that. And when you all play this game, you're going to understand too. This game is special. This game has taken every single right lesson that they've learned from those games and put it into a beautiful, unique package that is not a Mario game. It is a Donkey Kong game. This is Donkey Kong country in 3D with Disney magic on top of it, with the relationship of DK and Pauline. A story that I was way too invested in, if I'm being honest, for how simple it is and surprises left and right. And I was saying yesterday when we were talking about the differences between the 3D Mario games, it's the. The gimmick is the difference maker in terms of the highest highs and the lowest lows. And I think that this game keeps the gimmick fresh consistently. We'll talk a lot more throughout this episode about a bunch of different parts of that, but I would say that this game is equal Parts Mario Galaxy 1 as it is Breath of the Wild.
- [09:32]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Interesting.
- [09:33]
Tim Gettys
Very Interesting. And I also feel like there is a. A lot of potential for a sequel to take these things even further, like a Tears of the Kingdom or a Galaxy 2. And I think that that is incredibly exciting because to me, that shows that for as amazing as the gameplay is in the. In this game, Nintendo almost feels like they were holding back and it was this damn good in some ways.
- [09:54]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Wow. So now, Logan, you reviewed this game for ign. You're the assigned reviewer over on the website. You gave it a 10 out of 10 and said Donkey Kong Bonanza is truly a groundbreaking 3D platformer. Can you expound on that? For you, what makes DK Bonanza a 10 out of 10 video game?
- [10:13]
Logan Plant
Yeah. So I was at the same New York event as you guys and we chatted there for a little bit and I played Donkey Kong on the show floor. And then I saw you guys in the lunchroom after, and I had just fallen in love with that game. And I talked to Tim about it and I was like, this is, I think, going to be one of the best games I've ever played. I fell in love with it. It clicked with me instantly. I've been tracking Bonanza so closely the whole way because I've been so excited for it. And then we're here and I'm playing it. My favorite 3D platformer of all time is Super Mario Odyssey. My favorite Donkey Kong game and favorite 2D platformer of all time is Tropical Freeze. I like this game more than both of them. It is my favorite Donkey Kong game. It is my favorite 3D platform of all time. It's one of the best Nintendo games ever. And I think that Tim is totally right. There is Galaxy, there is Breath of the Wild in here. And I think there's some of that Tears of the Kingdom DNA in here too. Of there's all these puzzles and there's so much freedom and expressiveness in what you do is dk. And there is an offered route to find each bandium gem. They don't care if you do it. They don't care if you punch a tunnel straight to it. It's often more fun to do the actual intended route. And that's usually the way that I lean in Donkey Kong Bonanza. But just the, I don't know the confidence to make a game like this that I go back and I play Odyssey and I'm like, oh, his ground pound doesn't shatter the terrain around him like it does in Bonanza. Like it such a layer. It never feels like a gimmick. But Rather the core mechanic that they build hundreds and hundreds of Nintendo quality puzzles on top of, like just everything they do with a chunk. You rip a chunk out of the ground and you can beat it into an enemy, you can throw it in an airborne enemy, you can surf on it. And then they use it in a hundred different ways as each layer progresses. And every time you see a new idea, it clicks and you're like, that's so smart. How did I not think of that before? How did they think of this? It's genius. It's so mar. But importantly so Donkey Kong. And I'm a huge Donkey Kong fan, like you guys are. So. It's just. It's so special. And then like Odyssey, it's just a linear crescendo the whole time. I think Bonanza just gets better and better the deeper you dive into the planet. Every layer is better than the last and it builds to an incredible finale that, like Tim said, you know, be careful. You don't want to know what happens. It rules. And yeah, it's just such a special game.
- [12:28]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Tim, can you. Can you explain more about the structure of this game? You talk about the layers, Logan.
- [12:32]
Tim Gettys
Right.
- [12:33]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
And like, when I remember playing my demo, getting to the first layer beneath the first layer, and that's where they stopped me and I was like, wait, I want to know what this is. Like, what is going on here? Of course they explain it during the Nintendo Direct, but now that you've beaten it, can you get into it more? Right. Like, what is the. I guess what is a day in the life of playing Donkey Kong Bonanza look like for you?
- [12:52]
Tim Gettys
You are starting essentially at, not the surface, but like at. At a sub layer that's like pretty close to the surface, and you're making your way down to the planet's core. And every main level is a layer. And each layer has not. Not all of them, but most of the layers have two to three sub layers with them as well. And they're all part of the same. It's like an open area. Like there's not loading between those layers, but you kind of break your way through like you did in the preview events. Yeah, to get to that other sub layer. And they're all kind of themed ways that you would kind of expect. There's, you know, the snowy level, there's the more forest one, there's the beachy one, but you're just kind of going deeper and deeper. They explain why there's suns and light in the layers of the. The planet. But as you do that you are kind of powering up. Pauline, who just wants to sing. This sweet little girl, she just wants to sing. And you are getting all these bonanza forms by going to the elder animals and they will teach you how to turn into a bigger Kong or a zebra or other animals, some of which we know, some of which we're not talking about, but each one gives you different ways to just kind of enhance DK's moveset. I was a little concerned when we saw the direct about this of just like, all right, you're just getting more ways to break through things. And with just one little added thing of cool, the zebra looks like he can run faster. And, you know, other. Other ones have the obvious powers you think that they would have. And the thing about that is, I was right that it is just, hey, you're just enhancing the moveset. Donkey has to break through. But the thing is, breaking through everything is so gosh darn fun.
- [14:30]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Okay, what makes it fun? Because that's one of the things that I think, even though in the 20 minutes that I played, I enjoyed it, right? But it didn't strike me as something that could carry through a 20 to 45 hour experience. What makes it that fun?
- [14:44]
Tim Gettys
That's where all my criticisms came from, right? It was that exact kind of idea. But the answer to what makes it fun is the bonus levels of Donkey Kong Country. The bonus. When you go in, when you go into the sky, when you, like, climb a piranha plant in Super Mario Brothers one and you're in heaven and there's just coins everywhere and it just feels like you're getting unlimited coins. And like, you get so much satisfaction from just the ding, ding, ding, ding, ding of getting them all or, like getting all the bananas. And do you remember in Don Kong country, the first time you played a bonus level and it was like, oh, my God, there's a thousand bananas. How can I get them all? This is. Dude, Overwhelmingly.
- [15:21]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
We just reviewed DK Tropical Freeze, right? And I played through it for the first time, and every bonus level does the same thing, right? Of here's a bunch of bananas. Collect them all before the time runs out. And yeah, the action of collecting everything was satisfying and fun of itself.
- [15:33]
Tim Gettys
That's the gameplay of this. You get that feeling constantly because everything you're breaking, you're getting something. And the economy of this game works so great for this gameplay loop of wanting to collect the. The bananas to collect these fossils that you can then turn in to get different outfits that give you different passive abilities for Each level that kind of benefit you. Those allow you to dig deeper, dig faster, get more different things through different types of terrain. It is so much deeper, pun intended. Than I expected. In the sense of the ways. This is where the kind of breath of the wild physics, but more so like Tears of the Kingdom even comes in of different terrains interact with each other in ways that are obvious in ways that they would like in the idea of like fire melts ice, that type of thing. Right. And that is so satisfying in a 3D sandbox Platformer gameplay perspective because it opens up so many cool ways to accomplish a goal. That feels like the shrines and Tears of the Kingdom. But it's Mario style.
- [16:38]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Okay, interesting.
- [16:39]
Logan Plant
Totally. And there's like the. You know how Odyssey has the rooms that you throw Cappy at and the door opens and then it's a more traditional kind of Mario Galaxy style platforming room with a couple of moons to find. Bonanza has those too. And it's one of the highlights of the game because there's two bananas on the main path usually. So just get through the challenge room. But then there's always a third banandium gem tucked away somewhere that's harder to find. And it takes. It's that Nintendo veteran DNA of. I know I got to walk behind me when I enter this room. I got to look at the ceiling, I got to punch through the ground. And they just do it in so many smart ways. And yeah, Tim kind of mentioned one that I also mentioned in my review of. You throw a. You throw an ice block onto lava and it makes a platform. That's a very simple example of what this game does. But as you go deeper, they just keep introducing producing new material types. And those material types interact with other types in brand new ways. So it never just feels like I'm punching through a wall. It feels like I am picking this material out of the ground. And it teaches you well how does it interact and what's the chemistry with this material. And it's so smart and so Nintendo and I love it so much.
- [17:41]
Tim Gettys
And another thing I'll say about the digging stuff and like just breaking everything because you could break the majority of this game, period. Like if you take your time just running around like. Like smashing.
- [17:53]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Oh yeah.
- [17:53]
Tim Gettys
You just. Red Faction, Red Faction.
- [17:55]
Logan Plant
Destroy everything.
- [17:57]
Tim Gettys
But what's really cool about is there's a lot of stuff in it. So you're not just breaking a bunch of nothing. It's like there's so much hidden stuff within the entire world and a lot of it is designed that like there are like the real bananas. But it this game, while I don't want to say it never feels this way because there are a ton of bananas that kind of are. It doesn't have the problem I had with Odyssey where the moons just felt too plentiful, where the design moons were great, but some of them were just like, it's just there. Yeah, in this one there's a lot of them that are just there. But because the traversal and verticality of this game is so different, I feel like it's a lot more satisfying. And it always feels like there's always some type of challenge that makes it interesting. But as you're breaking through everything, I am so impressed. And I'm sure that if people are going to have criticisms of this game, people could have issue with this. I actually look at it as in a major pro because I'm incredibly impressed with how they pulled it off. It's the camera. I can't believe how often I was meters deep into a wall where you can't see your character anymore. But I knew exactly where he was and what direction and how I needed to move to get him where I needed him to go. It's like so intuitive and you were create it's Nintendo magic in a way that shouldn't make sense. Like you were destroying this world in a unique way that no fixed camera perspective could ever solve for. But in the 45 hours I played of this game, I think there was maybe like three times. I was just like, ah, what's up with the camera? And for what this game lets you do with the camera, that is incredibly impressive. Logan, do you agree with me?
- [19:36]
Logan Plant
I totally agree and I think yeah, you nailed it. Because in my review when I was screening it before we published it this morning, I'm like, ah, there's times in here I feel like watching it and not understanding how this game actually feels to play. You think the camera is bad because it almost is shot up to a first person perspective at times when you're really deep in a tunnel, crunched up against the wall. But like you said, it never feels bad. You always know exactly where that punch is going to land. It's incredible. So I was really impressed with that too.
- [20:02]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
So before this game is coming out, right before even this review of Embargo has gone up, Nintendo last week confirmed that this is the Mario Odyssey team that is working on this game. Logan, you mentioned that Mario Odyssey is your favorite or has been your favorite 3D platformer and one of the things that you also mentioned, Tropical freeze. Right. Coming off of my review of tropical freeze that me and Tim talked about was the economy of collectibles. And that's one thing I want to ask about in this game for you, Logan. Starting off right, like, you know, when you play tropical freeze, you hop into a level and it could be you're going for the small bananas or going for the balloons or going for the Kong letters. You're going for xy, you're going for a puzzle piece. Right. And like, when I think about dk, I think about the amount of collectibles. Right. Especially thinking about DK64, a 3D Donkey Kong game. That game was like bursting at the seams with collectibles falling out of it. How does this game handle the rotation of collectibles? Did you ever feel overwhelmed? Did it ever feel like too much, too little? Like, Logan, how did that hit for you?
- [21:00]
Logan Plant
It hit really well. I think if I ever felt overwhelmed, it was just trying to 100% it before embargo, which I was unable to do because this game is so huge. I played it for 60 hours and I'm still not dead.
- [21:10]
Tim Gettys
Where are you at?
- [21:11]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
With no spoilers, I would say I'm.
- [21:13]
Logan Plant
80% of the way to having everything. Maybe a little more. Okay, yeah, I'm close. I'm getting there.
- [21:19]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
10%.
- [21:19]
Logan Plant
But now it's that thing like an odyssey where you only have a few moons left in every layer and you have no idea where they are.
- [21:24]
Tim Gettys
Yeah, exactly. I'm there too. I. I'm a bit behind you. I think I'm like 20 hours behind you gameplay wise. Because also I had some issues where I got my code, and for about five days there was just a problem with my switch to. So it wasn't working. So I am a bit behind still. 45 hours in, I did so much of this. I. If you're 80 something percent, I'm probably 60 something percent.
- [21:46]
Logan Plant
Yeah. Cool, right?
- [21:47]
Tim Gettys
Based on what you know of where I'm at.
- [21:49]
Logan Plant
Yeah.
- [21:49]
Tim Gettys
Yeah.
- [21:50]
Logan Plant
Maybe a little more. Yeah.
- [21:51]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
This sounds like Mario Odyssey in terms of the amount of. Of the main collectible that you're getting. Which are the banana chips?
- [21:57]
Tim Gettys
Yeah, it's the banana. Yeah, it's. They're bananas. It's golden bananas.
- [22:00]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Gold bananas.
- [22:01]
Tim Gettys
Okay. But they have fun.
- [22:02]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Call them by their Christian name. Golden bananas.
- [22:06]
Tim Gettys
Yeah, but like. And I want to get back to you, Logan, about the. How the economy of all the collectibles works. But I will just say it's like. Yeah, in terms of numbers, it's the same as Mario Odyssey, but like I was saying earlier, in terms of quality, I think there's a lot more quality bananas than there are quality moons.
- [22:22]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Beautiful.
- [22:23]
Logan Plant
Yeah, I agree with that. And I think otherwise collectibles are really good. Tim mentioned the fossils, which are used to buy outfits. So they're like the purple coins were in Super Mario Odyssey, but this time the outfits have perks and they give DK and Pauline different abilities. And you can upgrade them the more fossils that you have, which is really cool, too. And then there's banandium chips, which are kind of the most throwaway ones. You get 100, and you can exchange them for a bonandium gem at the chip exchange. And that's one mission you need to check off in each layer. So, yeah, I felt like I had hundreds extra of those. And you can buy extra bananas if you're, like, one away from a skill point that you really want. You can just buy an extra banana to eat to get that skill point. So that's the only one. I'm like, these feel a little not balanced super well, but they don't matter that much. It's the fossils and the gems that matter the most, and those are handled really, really well.
- [23:10]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Nice. Tim, I want to ask you about two things that you mentioned during your review there.
- [23:13]
Tim Gettys
Right before you do it, can I go off of what he was saying too?
- [23:16]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Because.
- [23:17]
Tim Gettys
Yeah, talking about all the different types of collectibles, I love how many there are. And even the chips that are kind of like one step above just like a coin in Mario, they are just like a slightly upgraded thing that they're plentiful in every level, and you're going to get a ton of them every time you play. Every 100, you get an extra banana if you want it. And a banana, five of them gets you skill points. We saw the skill tree in this game, and when we saw that, we're like, that's an interesting thing. I can't believe how interested in the skills I was and how incentivized I was to actually care about what abilities I'm using and wanting to, okay, I want to get 5 more bananas or 25 more bananas before I move on to this thing, because I want these different skills for moving on to that level, which I thought was great. And you add that with the fossils, they get you the clothes. Combining the skills that you unlock with an upgrade versus the costumes you can put on to get different passive skills. There's a lot of really interesting things that I don't Think in the same way that you can go from point A to point B any way you want. I think a lot of people are going to play this game very differently involving the skills and the, the animal, the Kong bonanza or the bonanzas and the outfits. Like there's a lot of mix and match and very cool ways that are fun. The one downside to the collectibles for me, I do think that by far this is the best Nintendo's ever handled collectibles in these games.
- [24:38]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Wow. Like, I think it's just in like DK specifically or just in their platformers.
- [24:42]
Tim Gettys
All of them. Wow.
- [24:43]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Okay.
- [24:43]
Tim Gettys
Just all of them. Them. Yeah. But the one thing that I'm like, ah, I don't love it is the fossils. The outfits you could buy are tied to each layer. So you're getting fossils that are only currency for that one layer. I wish that the fossils you got anywhere. You could just buy any clothes anytime. Because I did find that one layer. This is a totally make believe thing because I don't spoil anything. Like let's say there's poison gas somewhere and this outfit allows you to not take damage from poison gas. That would only be on the poison gas layer. And the fossils of that layer are the only things to buy it. So by the time I have enough things fossils to buy it, I don't need it anymore.
- [25:24]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
You know, that makes sense. I want to ask about.
- [25:27]
Logan Plant
Yeah, that's fair in it. Sorry, go ahead.
- [25:29]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Oh no, go for a. Go for a final thought on this.
- [25:31]
Logan Plant
Yeah, I was just going to say on that too. It does help. If you're going back to 100% an area, then you'll want to buy that costume and do it there. But I agree that I wish that I could just access every shop, even if it is currency specific to each layer. I don't like that if I want to buy a certain costume, I have to go to the layers shop. It's available. Odyssey worked like that too. But now that you've assigned meaning to the costumes in terms of gameplay, it's kind of annoying that there's no meaningful way to track. Well, if I want this perk, I need to go here to this shop. But that's a really small deal.
- [26:00]
Tim Gettys
Exactly.
- [26:00]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Tim, One of the conversations we've been having a lot about this game and about this generation of Donkey Kong is that Nintendo was redefining what Donkey Kong is. Right. Like this is the first major Donkey Kong game in a very long time that is wholly made by Nintendo. It's not retro it's not rare like this is Nintendo taking back DK and shaping it, shaping him in the world in their form for you. Story wise, world wise. Like you mentioned in your review, that this feels uniquely Donkey Kong. How does that come through?
- [26:31]
Tim Gettys
Oh my God. In so many ways. And it's. It's hard to talk about, especially without spoiling things, but I'll be very careful not to with any of that stuff. But as a. This game rewards lifelong gamers, lifelong Nintendo gamers, moment to moment. Like, there's just so many things that if you've played any Donkey Kong game, there's reverence for it in this. Whether it's the country games, the arcade game 64, the more recent the Donkey Kong country games from Retro. There is so much love for all of them. That just permeates this game in the way that when you played Odyssey, there was such a sheer love for like classic Mario, like the amount of like 2D Mario sections. But even New Donk City, thinking about it, like the big set piece moment, right. Of Jump Up Superstar. Like you're running, you're doing Mario Brothers platforming on the Donkey Kong stage. That never happened. You know that that's kind of mixing times and eras to create this vibe and energy more than like it being like factually correct or whatever.
- [27:34]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah.
- [27:35]
Tim Gettys
That's what this game does for the history of Donkey Kong. This is a brand new Donkey Kong. This is very much a redefinition of who this character is going to be going forward. One of my first notes is this defines Donkey Kong as one of them threats. Like, plus we've been talking. It's like this, this is it. Donkey Kong is now up there with the big boys. On top of that. Not that he hasn't been before, but real talk, he hasn't been. Let's just.
- [27:58]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
In modern times, it feels like the emphasis on DK has kind of like settled down as you've seen other Nintendo IPs rise up, like Animal Crossing, even Pikmin or Splatoon. Right. Like, it feels like Nintendo has more love to give. And Donkey Kong has been one of those things where it's almost like they've been figuring it out over the course.
- [28:13]
Tim Gettys
Of the last decade and they. They figured it out here. I think that this is a truly incredible thing. The pairing of him and Pauline feels awesome and special and like there's character here that feels like we haven't seen this before from these Nintendo characters. I mean, including like the Mushroom Kingdom and Mario in France and all of them. But there is just a. There's so much old Donkey Kong here, but also the wholly unique thing. What's interesting about that is like it is Mario. This is a 3D Mario game. Like this is the Mario Odyssey team and it just features so much Donkey Kong stuff in the gameplay is a lot less like platforming obstacle based than Mario. But like it still feels very much the DNA of the 3D Mario Games. But this game's proof to me that that team can a do no wrong and be redefine characters within the world of gameplay that they've created. I want to see them make a Yoshi game. Like what would a Yoshi's Island 3D game look like this? It'd be incredible. And I bet that they could make a 10 as well. That would feel completely different than this or Mario Odyssey. Like they got the stuff and I think that just applying their logic to these characters and then showing the love to the characters, that's where the definition of character comes from. But this Donkey Kong is. This is him, man. He's here and I don't think he's going anywhere.
- [29:33]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Logan, what's your take on that?
- [29:35]
Logan Plant
Tim is totally right. I think that for years in my inbox when I get a Nintendo press release it says Nintendo is the home of Mario, Donkey Kong, the Legend of Zelda, Splatoon, Pikmin and Animal Crossing. And I have always felt like one of these things is not like the other. It does not get the love it deserves that all of these other ones get. And that was Donkey Kong. And now he's gotten a game on the level of the best Zeldas and the best Marios. It's one of the best Nintendo games they've done. DK's character is incredible and I totally agree, Tim. They honor every era of DK history from when he was when Cranky Kong was technically on top of the girders and Jumpman was chasing out after him all the way to dk country, to DK64, to Retro's games. Getting some love too, with really cool nods like it's everything. It's Donkey Kong has been passed around through these different hands for the last 40 years. He's finally come home again for the first time since Jungle Beat. And Nintendo didn't just throw all that in the trash and say, no, we're going to make our own new take. They took everything and they also built something completely new. And I also love the relationship between DK and Pauline because of the history between those two characters. They're like the Original two Nintendo characters next to Mario and now they have this new relationship that I think will define them forever. Like this is DK and Pauline now and it's so special and so cool.
- [30:51]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Tim, I want to ask you about Disney Magic because you mentioned that during the review. But before I do, I want to ask you to go over to patreon.com kind of funny and YouTube.com kinda funny games where you can get the Kinda Funny membership which allows you to get shows ad free. And speaking of ads, let us tell you about our sponsors.
- [31:10]
Tim Gettys
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- [32:15]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Disney Magic. Yeah, often words that I feel like are reserved to describe Mario games. Funny enough. Yeah, yeah. Like how does that apply to Donkey Kong?
- [32:24]
Tim Gettys
I mean that is the thing right there. There is a Disney magic, there is a Nintendo magic. And I think there's a lot of similarities, similarities between those two things. And I'm a fan of both of those. I fully feel it. I fully believe. I tear up hearing sound cues from video games constantly. And guy teared up a lot during this game. I'll tell you that. I think that's part of it, right? It is just this like it is nostalgia. It is like the understanding that I grew up with these characters and with these game experiences and so did these developers. And on top of that, they're creating nostalgia for a whole new generation. This is going to be every kid's favorite game. Like it's Boys, it is designed for sheer magic of fun and going back to just smashing through everything. There's a magic to that. Like just the sheer gameplay of it. The way that this. Oh, shout out to the Switch 2 Pro controller. By the way this like not that I didn't love it before this game cemented it's an amazing controller. The HD rumble for this game adds so much. It is just. It's a sheer joy to play. That's where the magic comes from. On top of that, the story of this game, it's straight up a Saturday morning cartoon Pixar movie adventure. Like it has the vibe, it has the sound, it has the energy, the tone, all of that stuff. Like I feel like they fully committed to that. Having said that, I do think I'm giving this game A10. It is a masterpiece. Masterpiece does not mean perfect. And this feels like a dumb thing. But I have to nitpick the things that I have problems with because I care this much. They made me so invested in this, the beginning of this game and end of this game. So awesome story wise. For as basic as it is, I'm a little let down. They didn't go further with things like how much story they gave and I liked so much of it. Like another thing I want to say that's a pro. I've been complaining a lot about when the the rogues gallery are just a bunch of things I don't care about. Like we talk a lot about Mario Odyssey where it's like I don't like the group of bad guys that I'll never even remember their name.
- [34:22]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
The Rabbit guys.
- [34:23]
Tim Gettys
Rabbit wedding brutals. Yeah, the wedding planners remember them. VoidCo in this game are way more similar to hi Fi Rush's bad guys than they are to the Brutals.
- [34:34]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Okay.
- [34:34]
Tim Gettys
And I love that. You know, I'm not saying they're the most fleshed out things ever, but there's a good number of them. I care about them. I'm interested in what happens with them. They're fun to fight, all that stuff. Right. I just feel like for as much as Pauline talks, which isn't that much necessarily, it got a little bit like just the same thing over and over and over. And I expected that there would be at least a little bit more growth. Like I'm not looking forward the most in the world, but I feel like this is like steps ahead of anything they've given a story wise from the Mario games. But because they took those steps, I would have liked more.
- [35:10]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah, Logan, for you. Like I want to know more about Pauline. We haven't talked about Pauline that much. Right. Like, did that character hit for you? Did that feel like something that brought this franchise forward?
- [35:22]
Logan Plant
Yeah, I think so. I think it's fun. Just the dynamic between them. It's very like, boo. And solely from Monsters Inc. Or very Wreck It Ralph. And I really like just kind of how it adds more character to DK and the way that he cares about Pauline is very sweet. The story for me, it's. It's. I agree with Tim, more fleshed out than a Mario game has been before, but still not really that much, which I was fine with because I still think in some of its very epic set piece, cinematic moments, they completely nail it. And in some of those moments, I'm like, I can't believe what they're doing right now. It's so cool. But, yeah, it's just fine. But Pauline's really cool. I was worried that she was maybe going to talk too much. She does talk a lot. She doesn't ever really cut off gameplay like Navi does and something like Ocarina of Time, but she is constantly like, oh, there's a banana. Oh, is that a fossil over there? But I think they do that because so much stuff is buried and embedded in the wall. So they kind of want to give you that hint. You should punch that wall right there. So you do. So it works for me. I think she's a good guide for dk and it's just super cute that she's always on his shoulder.
- [36:18]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Oh, yeah. We got a super chat in from Gondor's Condor that said, thoughts on the co op mode? Did either you get the chance to try out the co op mode with Pauline?
- [36:27]
Tim Gettys
No. The two things I had the least experience with were co op mode, which I had none, and the DK artist mode. Yeah, I played with that for maybe 15 minutes and I'm like, this is freaking amazing. And kids are gonna love it and artists are gonna love it. Andy is gonna go nuts with this. I. It's not for me, Logan.
- [36:47]
Logan Plant
Yeah, not for me either. I did try the two player, though, just to get a little taste of it, and it's just perfect for a parent and their kid, which is what it's designed for. For a kid to have one joy con 2 and use it in mouse mode, aim a cursor around and just fire words on the screen that Pauline is shouting that are made up of different materials from DK Bonanza. Like, she'll say booyah and fire out a big Giant stone, Booyah. That crashes in and breaks the environment just like DK's punches do. It's a great assist mode, like being a luma in Galaxy or something like that. Adults wouldn't like it. Like if you have like a spouse or something, you wouldn't want to sit down and play it in two player, I don't think. But it's perfect for kids to bring.
- [37:23]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
In another super chat from Wobbles for Life. They write in and say, just pop in on my lunch break. But with Astrobot winning Game of the Year during last year's Game Awards, does this new 3D platforming Nintendo game have a chance of winning this year? P.S. can't wait to play it. I think this is a fascinating question because we're coming off of what I consider a very strong year of video games so far. Of course Clear Up Scare is coming in and like I think is redefining what a turn based RPG can do for people as far as like that style of game. Like that seems to be the talk of the town for Game of the Year. But then also you have things like Income Deliverance, you have blueprints, right? You have Split Fiction. And then upcoming you have things like Metroid prime and more games that are coming out that. I think that's raining too. Of course games that are coming out vying for that spot does. I mean it sounds like DK Bonanza is going to be a contender for Game of the Year.
- [38:10]
Tim Gettys
Yeah, yeah, it is. I. I mean yeah, there's like there's no chance in hell. It is not in every single outlet's top nominations. At the very least, the in the discussion, like for sure. This again, no hyperbole. This game is as good as Galaxies and Odyssey. That should say enough, right?
- [38:32]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Logan, is does how does it fare with like your personal Game of the Year rankings?
- [38:37]
Logan Plant
It's my Game of the year. It's not even close. Like it's not even close right now. This is the best thing that I've played this year. I really like Expedition 33. I love Expedition 33. I really like Monster Hunter Wild Split Fiction is cool, but this is it. Like this is the first 10 I've given in my career. This is one of the best games I've ever reviewed. It's really special to me. I would be shocked if anything passes it in the second half of the year too.
- [38:59]
Tim Gettys
Having said that, personally for me, this is similar to last year where I also gave astrobot a10 and I forgot what I gave Prince of Persia Lost Crown I think probably a 9. Similar here.
- [39:11]
Logan Plant
So good.
- [39:12]
Tim Gettys
I'd give this a 10 and Expedition 9, but I'd still say Expeditions, my game of the year. Just because it being a brand new thing and like, what that game does and how I think about that game.
- [39:22]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
The impact of it.
- [39:23]
Tim Gettys
That's the thing is I get other. Other things matter when we're talking about game of the year versus, like, what's the best game, what's my favorite game? All those other things. But in terms of just reviewing the game and the quality of the game. Yeah, like this is a 10 out of 10.
- [39:37]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Another super chat comes in from Science D, who writes in and says, no questions. Just a huge Logan Plant fan and wanted to express how much I love seeing him on kf. Hell yeah.
- [39:45]
Tim Gettys
Hell yeah.
- [39:46]
Logan Plant
Thank you. That's so nice.
- [39:47]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
And then we got another one from Kyle LaBouf who writes in and says, tim, where does this rank for Nintendo 3D platformers? Of course, yesterday we did our Shit list episode where we went through Igen's list of. Was it top 12? Top 11? It was every Nintendo plat 3D platformer.
- [40:00]
Logan Plant
What'd you say about it? I didn't see that.
- [40:01]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
You should be ashamed of yourself, Logan.
- [40:03]
Logan Plant
I didn't make it.
- [40:05]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Oh, okay, then you're fine. You're fine. The person who made it, though, they should be ashamed.
- [40:08]
Tim Gettys
One reason and one reason alone. Captain Toad Treasure Trazer.
- [40:12]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Well, two reasons and two reasons.
- [40:15]
Tim Gettys
But he's not a 3D platformer.
- [40:17]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
That's not a 3D platformer. Bear, what's your second reason? Wario World and DK64 is not last place. All right?
- [40:26]
Logan Plant
Yes, it is. But I'm fine with Captain Toad on the list because the Mario team made it. So that works for me.
- [40:34]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Makes a lot of things, you know what I mean? If Mario team came out and they made it, Expedition 33 is not 3D platformer.
- [40:39]
Tim Gettys
All of a sudden, Jungle Beat wasn't on the list.
- [40:41]
Logan Plant
It's not 3D.
- [40:44]
Tim Gettys
Yeah.
- [40:46]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Five.
- [40:47]
Tim Gettys
Right.
- [40:48]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
But of course, in the conversation that we had on Shit List, there's a whole thing of like, all right, when you get to the top four, you kind of know what the top four is, right? Like, we're talking about the two galaxies, the Odyssey and the 64. Tim, like, where does this rank for you when we're talking about Nintendo 3D platformers?
- [41:02]
Tim Gettys
Oh, man. Where does it rank for me?
- [41:05]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah, it's so.
- [41:07]
Tim Gettys
That's so complicated.
- [41:08]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Tim, where does this rank?
- [41:09]
Tim Gettys
Time will have to tell. It's too Early, I can't answer that. And I said this yesterday as we were doing the shitless conversation about that. I mean, when we walked off the set, I told you, I was like, if IGN were to re update this list, I bet Donkey Kong was number one.
- [41:24]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah, that blew me away.
- [41:26]
Tim Gettys
But like that's the quality that we're talking about here. And again, we're talking about a team that has iterated on its ideas and revolutionized those ideas so many times that like, in terms of sheer quality, I don't think that there is a question about which is best. I think this is the best. They trimmed the most fat and they have the most new great stuff. So that I also think you need to compare to the. Okay, there is a lot of bend. They're done that though. Like so many things I've done in this game that I've. I loved doing, but I've done them a million times. Maybe not a million, maybe four in the games we mentioned, but like an Astrobot. Because there aren't many games that deliver this type of gameplay right. So yeah, it's. I feel like there's just a lot of factors at play in terms of timing of release and just the like. Are you trying to 100% it? Are you trying to just beat the game? Like all this stuff. But I feel like when we, if apples to apples, compare this to any of the games we mentioned, I think this gets the nod in most categories.
- [42:24]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Now, Logan, I want to ask you. Yeah. About music. Of course, music might be one of the most important things when it comes to the Donkey Kong games. Of course, with the country games being composed by David wise, with DK64 being composed by Grant Kirkhope. Right. Like we're talking about greatness when it comes to the DK soundtracks. How does DK Bonanza's music fare?
- [42:45]
Logan Plant
I'd say it's very, very strong. I don't think it quite reaches the heights of the Donkey Kong country trilogy. It has some really cool nods to the Donkey Kong country trilogy and some of its challenge rooms. We've seen some classic 2D side scrolling levels in the trailers and directs and stuff. Overall, the music is really, really good. I think maybe even the Odyssey soundtrack is a little stronger. But I listened to this soundtrack the whole time that I wrote my review. I think it's really, really strong. Just not like, wow, this is one of the best I've ever heard.
- [43:11]
Tim Gettys
And what do you think, Logan? You took the words right out of my mouth. I feel exactly, exactly the way you do. Where It's a great, amazing soundtrack, honestly. But it is not to the heights of Odyssey, I would say. And I don't even necessarily think that Odyssey is, like, the greatest Mario soundtrack of all time, but there's, like, a lot of really great level themes. I think there's great level themes here. I almost feel like the earlier levels in the game have more identity, and the later you go, they get a little bit more atmospheric. And I think that is the biggest problem. I have to be clear. This is a nitpick moment for me. Like, this is one of the things of, like, when I was considering not giving it a 10, and then I was thinking about. I'm like, this. That's silly, because, like, this is something that does affect people like us. But overall, what is here is amazing. But I do feel like when we get the David Wise songs, you notice, like, it's like, oh, man, these are.
- [44:05]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
These are great. Banger alert.
- [44:07]
Tim Gettys
Yeah. But I do think for as much as this redefined Donkey Kong, I think that also means it loses a bit of what Donkey Kong used to be. There's a lot of reverence for what came before, but I think that in terms of music and soundscape, the game tends to lean more 3D Mario than it does Donkey Kong in tone. And I wish that wasn't the case. I fully wish that David Wise created the original songs for this soundtrack. I think that it would have really, really, really been more what I'd be looking for from Donkey Kong. But I think clearly they don't agree and they don't want the. They don't want to necessarily associate Donkey Kong with ambience, you know?
- [44:46]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah.
- [44:46]
Tim Gettys
I think that this is a different Donkey Kong, and I. The music that they chose makes sense for it. It is a letdown for me, though, just because you see the potential, like, when you get deep into the core. There's some of the levels I'm walking around and I'm just like. Like, I can imagine a David Wise track here. A new David Wise track. I'm not talking about nostalgia bullshit. The nostalgia bullshit. They fucking hit hard here, and it's great. But new David Wise stuff. And I gotta say it. I gotta say those magical words. Nico Derico. Okay, everybody. Nico Derico. And that's another example of, like, yeah, new David Wise music that sounds like old David Wise music still hits, like David Wise music music. So they could have done it here.
- [45:25]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Now we're talking about a very important question.
- [45:29]
Tim Gettys
Just because it was, like, teased in.
- [45:30]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
The trailer, I just need to have.
- [45:31]
Tim Gettys
Like, A good understanding going into this tonight. Every time you collect what Bonanzium. What are they called?
- [45:40]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Golden bananas.
- [45:40]
Tim Gettys
Golden Bananas, Nandium Gems, Banandium gems, Golden.
- [45:43]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Bananas, what have you.
- [45:46]
Tim Gettys
Every time does he say, oh, banana. Every single time.
- [45:51]
Logan Plant
Every time.
- [45:53]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah, yeah.
- [45:54]
Tim Gettys
And there's a lot of bananas. There's a lot of bananas in this. Where I thought you were gonna go with, this is something that I want to bring up real quick. We're talking about the nostalgia there. There is, I think, an appropriate amount of nostalgia stuff in this. Like, I don't think that it is the goal of this game. I definitely think that it is more in the DNA, intrinsically of the whole project to think about all the past and like, how they kind of show reverence to all the prior devs and prior games. There are a handful of levels that are what you'd expect from, like the Donkey Kong country stuff. Even in the direct, we saw, you know, the sticker bush and the classic DKC level. There are a couple other ones I don't want to necessarily talk about, but what I love so much about them, and this is a hard thing for me to put into words, but I mean it with the core of my being. I love the Donkey Kong country games. I love the Sonic Genesis games.
- [46:53]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah.
- [46:53]
Tim Gettys
I grew up with them. And as a little kid in the 90s, those worlds were real to me and I loved them. And I wanted to. I would sit in Chemical Plant Zone and just look at the background and make up stories about the world that Sonic was in. Right? Donkey Kong, same thing. And it's because the designers of those games made the backgrounds of the levels alive. And it's pixel art at its best, or whatever you want to call it. I often think about remakes of games or sequels in the old style. You look at Sonic Mania and they nailed it. They nailed what we were looking for there. With the new levels feeling like old levels. I replay the Donkey Kong country games like 1 and 2 specifically, constantly. And I always think, like, would I want these games remade? And if they were remade, what would I want them to look like? Obviously I'd want widescreen, I'd want this or that. But, like, if they just translated it to 3D, I think it would lose the magic, it would lose the coloring and the shadows and that. That really unique 90s CG look that Donkey Kong Country Games had. You look at the box art, you look at all of it. The levels in this game prove to me, oh, there is a way to remake the Donkey Kong Country Games exactly how I'd want them. Barrett, can you bring up the. The YouTube link that I have there? You want sound up? No, you don't need it. The sound is perfect. The sound. It's all the sound effects from the Duncan country games you'd want, but like, they sound new and fresh. It's the music from the original games that's great, but look at the trees in the background.
- [48:22]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
This is awesome.
- [48:23]
Tim Gettys
Look at the bushes. Look at the way the like kind of out of focus in the foreground is going on. Yeah, the. Just not even the trees in the back, but the bushes behind him in the level. This looks like the box art of Donkey Kong Country.
- [48:39]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah. Yeah.
- [48:40]
Tim Gettys
And I am so impressed with it. And there are points in this game where you meet up with Cranky Kong and he has Rambi with him. Rambi looks straight off the box art of Donkey Kong Country. We are now at a point that they nailed the like concept art and the actual high definition assets of what those CG3D characters looked like in the 90s. I am blown away and I, I just. Everyone listening to this review right now, that's like watching this and seeing this. I don't want to spoil things in the game. There's so many times you'll just be in an open level and you look at a bush and when you realize it looks like that, it has that plastic sheen to it and it's like, holy. This is Donkey Kong country in 3D and gorgeous. I am. I was blown away constantly. Like, that's something that I, I truly thought was impossible to replicate. And my God, it's special.
- [49:33]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Now we're talking about the style of it. I want to talk about the hardware of it and how it runs. Of course, this is the first, I guess post Mario Kart world, big Nintendo game that they're putting all the emphasis on of our main team is working on this thing, right. And we're comparing it to Mario Odyssey, which I think had a similar sort of positioning as far as it being in the first year. Of course. Porsche post Breath of the Wild as far as being this all right. Nintendo epd, they're putting all. They're all into this. How does it run? How does it fare? All this stuff is new console. How does this work as a Switch 2 game? Does it. Does the destructibility of everything slow things down? Like, how did this game perform? Logan, I want to start with you.
- [50:13]
Logan Plant
It performs pretty well. Mostly it does not run at a locked 60. It has frame drops. It has frame drops. If There's a ton of action happening on screen or sometimes just if the camera's panning really fast over to something. Like if you're knocking down a big rope to unlock a shortcut, it'll drop to 30 for a split second. This stuff doesn't bother me. It doesn't bother me as much as Echoes of Wisdom used to bug me on Switch one before it got the update. But it's not perfect. And then resolution wise, I think Digital Foundry said that it's running like between 1080 and 1200p docked, so it's not getting up to those 4K resolutions the Switch 2 can do. I still think the game looks great and I've never been the big tech guy that cares a ton about this stuff, so it never really impacted my experience. But it's not a flashy, huge Next Gen thing. Visually, the destruction is what's the big Next Gen stuff that there's these areas they made that you can completely rip apart, but they're so curated and just the voxel technology in a triple A game like this has never really been done before and that's really impressive.
- [51:13]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Tim.
- [51:14]
Tim Gettys
Yeah, I'm with Logan where it's like, yeah, the game, if you're looking for performance issues, they're there for sure. But I will say honestly, it not a single time got in the way of my enjoyment of the game. Having said that, like the resolution, all that. I do want this to be 4k. I want it to be 60, I want all that. And I was jumping back and forth between playing this and Astrobot because on Friday me and you were going to talk about all the DLC levels they've added. And it is. It's night and day looking at astrobot on a PS5 Pro, but who the fuck would have thought, right? But that really was the only time like I thought. I think that Donkey on Bananas is a beautiful game. And I mean every. I just gushed about the visual style of it for, you know, five minutes there, talking about how much they just nailed the foliage of everything. Like there's so much to love. But you jump over to Astrobot, it's like, oh yeah, everything's incredibly sharp, Everything's pitch perfect sharp, whatever. So yeah, you're not getting that experience. But in terms of the gameplay never got in my way. And in fact I think that they made a lot of really wise decisions of there's chosen slowdown, there's a lot of. You punch an enemy and it. Everything slows for a second. So I feel like that kind of hides a lot of the performance issues that might be there because you're constantly cool too. It is cool. And there's sound effects and there's like screen shake and like the vibration. Like I, I feel like the slowdown in this game more often than not. I mean, way more often than not. I never was questioning like, oh, is this part of the game or is this performance issue? It just felt like it worked.
- [52:48]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Bringing in a few more super chats, Katie G writes in and says, fun fact, it was meant to be called Donkey Kong Z, but Kevin slipped in a banana.
- [52:54]
Tim Gettys
That's funny.
- [52:56]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
JBC writes it and says Nintendo SF is having a launch party tomorrow at 9am which is really exciting. That man, what if, what if we took off the morning? What if we just went to the Nintendo store and hung out at 9am Bayner as then writes in and says, Tim gave me chills when he said his score. And then Kebabs. We already kind of talked about this. Well, Kebab says how present is Pauline in the game and its story? It sounds like the answer is very. Before we get out of here, do you guys have any final thoughts to say about Donkey Kong Bonanza?
- [53:30]
Tim Gettys
Logan.
- [53:32]
Logan Plant
Yeah, I just, I can't wait for Nintendo fans to play this because this is the Switch to game you've been waiting for. This is the game I think we'll remember as the true launch game. I really like Mario Kart World. I reviewed that one too. I gave it an 8. It has issues. It has a lot of issues and some have gotten worse after launch. But this one, this is that launch window single player action 3D platformer that I think people are just going to love. And yeah, it's, it's a masterpiece. It's toe to toe with anything Mario's ever done. And I hope that we don't have to wait 10 years to see DK again, like the 10 year wait we just went through. Because yeah, this could be a whole, the start of a whole new franchise. It's just incredible.
- [54:08]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Timothy.
- [54:09]
Tim Gettys
Once again, Logan, you just took the words right out of my mouth. I also gave Mario kart world an 8 and I really, I love that game. But it is, it is the launch game, the Switch to needed. This is the launch game it deserves. And people are about to learn that. I can't wait to hear people's experience with this game, y' all in particular. But it is a very, very, very, very special experience. Like this proves to me Nintendo not only still has it, but man, they have stuff that I didn't even know was possible. Like, this game is absolutely incredible. I recommend it to anybody that enjoys video games, but every single person that has ever liked Mario or Donkey Kong game.
- [54:48]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Hell yeah. Of course. Donktober is happening this Thursday. Barrett, what can people expect from it? They can expect you and me to.
- [54:57]
Tim Gettys
Return for a fun filled stream. Us Donkey Kong super fans having fun. You playing the game for the very first time. And all I'll say is you can expect a lot of bananas.
- [55:09]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
A lot of bananas.
- [55:10]
Tim Gettys
Too many bananas.
- [55:11]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Bear's been telling me his plans and like, you know, we've been going a little bit back and forth and I'm like, man, Barry going. Barrett's going apeshit on this one.
- [55:21]
Tim Gettys
The health risk legitimately, yes.
- [55:23]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Oh yes, there might be health. Potassium is too much potassium.
- [55:26]
Tim Gettys
We learned we have the answers. We'll reveal them on Thursday.
- [55:28]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah, I don't know the answer.
- [55:31]
Tim Gettys
We'll reveal them to you tomorrow.
- [55:33]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Bless. But yeah, the last time we celebrated.
- [55:35]
Tim Gettys
Donktober truly is coming up on five years this October. Bless.
- [55:39]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Really? Yeah.
- [55:40]
Tim Gettys
Which is insane. And we were work from home. That's how we, we had you beat 64 for the very first time.
- [55:47]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
And so us being in person, we.
- [55:49]
Tim Gettys
Gotta go all out. Oh, we gotta, we gotta get bonanzas with it.
- [55:52]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
We gotta go banana. We gotta go ape. Of course. Well, before I even get out of here, I just want to say I'm so excited playing this game. I'm so like, I. I wasn't like upset that didn't get a review code obviously, because like I'm. I think there's something exciting about being able to play it with everybody at the same time. Experience, experience that same hype cycle. But I've been antsy. I've been hearing Tim talk about it or hear in like seeing the excitement radiating off of Tim while playing this thing. I'm like, man, this sounds like a game that's meant for me. Oh yeah. And so I'm so excited for this Thursday to get my hands on this game for the very first time. And this sounds like it's gonna be a very special experience. And so tune in then. Let's all have some fun. Let's all go ape. Of course. Logan, thank you so much for joining us on this review. Appreciate having you. Of course, your IGNS reviewer. You gave it a 10 out of 10. People should go check out your review over on IGN. But if people wanted to check you out further, where can they go? Logan?
- [56:41]
Logan Plant
Yeah, you should check out Nintendo voice chat. My weekly Nintendo podcast that I am now the host of. I've been hosting pretty much all year, and we just did a big Bonanza episode as well, so go check that out. It's on YouTube at IGN Games and on audio services. So thanks for having me guys. This was super fun.
- [56:55]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Of course, this has been the Kind of Funny gamescast. Each and every weekday we get together and talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch, and all podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the Kind of Funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free, watch us accord them live and get a daily exclusive show. You can catch Today's KFCD on YouTube or podcast services and know that until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.