Donkey Kong Bananza's Metacritic Moment Makes it a GOTY Favorite
If you were waiting for the review embargo to break before picking up Donkey Kong Bananza, the numbers are in – and they're overwhelmingly in DK's favor. The latest 3D outing for Donkey Kong is pulling down elite scores on both sides of the Metacritic aisle, with critics and players aligning on what is shaping up to be one of 2025's defining platformers.
Critics Land on a 91 Metascore
According to My Nintendo News' roundup of the launch reviews, Bananza entered Metacritic with a 91/100 average based on 59 critic submissions. That slot immediately triggered the site's coveted "Must-Play" badge and pushed the game into the top echelon of Switch 2 releases to date. The outlet notes that the spread runs from a cluster of perfect 10s to a few 8/10s that ding the game for frame pacing quirks, but the throughline is consistent praise for Bananza's destructible sandbox levels and the Pauline partnership.
That 91 score positions Bananza alongside evergreen Nintendo staples like Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It also gives Switch 2 owners a second straight month with a first-party exclusive above the 90 line, keeping momentum high for the still-new hardware.
Players Push the User Score to 9.2
The critic love would be impressive on its own, but the user-side data is even more dramatic. Twisted Voxel reports that Bananza currently sits at a 9.2 user score on Metacritic based on more than 1,300 player reviews, tying The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask for the highest-rated Nintendo first-party game ever on the site. That puts Bananza ahead of perennial favorites such as Ocarina of Time, Super Mario Galaxy, and Metroid Prime in the user rankings.
Twisted Voxel's breakdown emphasizes just how rare that territory is:
- 9.2 – Bananza / Majora's Mask: The only Nintendo titles sharing the top slot.
- 9.1 cluster: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario Galaxy, and Metroid Prime trail by a tenth of a point.
- 9.0 and below: Titans like Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Breath of the Wild are now looking up at DK.
In short, Donkey Kong isn't merely "good for a spin-off" – players are already placing it alongside the most beloved adventures Nintendo has ever shipped.
What the Metacritic Surge Means for Bananza
The wave of 90+ critic reviews combined with sky-high user sentiment has real implications:
- Long tail confidence: Twisted Voxel relays sales analyst Christopher Dring's observation that Bananza's UK launch was triple Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, even before the broader Switch 2 install base matures. Strong scores are likely to keep that tail healthy as more people buy the hardware.
- Word-of-mouth marketing: A Metacritic 91/9.2 combo gives Nintendo social proof it can headline future Directs, bundles, and promotional beats with DK instead of leaning exclusively on Mario or Zelda.
- Game of the Year credentials: Most awards juries use Metacritic as a directional signal when revisiting their longlists. Bananza's reception practically guarantees it seats at both critic-panel GOTY tables and fan vote brackets later in 2025.
For players, the takeaway is simple: Donkey Kong Bananza isn't just "the next thing to play after Zelda." The Metacritic data shows it's the rare blockbuster where critics, core fans, and wider audiences are aligned – and that alignment is pushing DK back into Nintendo's S-tier conversation for the first time in decades.