Technologies

Donkey Kong Bananza Is Satisfyingly Smashing Madness

DK is exactly what the Switch 2 needed to give gamers a glimpse of what Nintendo may have coming.

Summers are about big, fun, mind-numbing movies. Great escapes in the best of ways. I need that right now, and maybe you do too. I’m happy to say that Donkey Kong Bananza is here to whisk you off to multilevel worlds of satisfyingly smashing madness, to cheer you up and give you an excuse to punch the heck out of things. It’s a game my 12-year-old son has loved playing along with me, although I’ve had to find ways to wrestle the game back to play for myself.

I was wowed by Bananza during an early preview a few weeks ago, but after a few weeks of play at home, it’s even better. This is my favorite Switch game since… I have no idea when. Maybe since Super Mario Odyssey.

The catch is that you need the new Nintendo Switch 2 console to play it. Donkey Kong Bananza won’t work on the original Switch — or on any other gaming device. Of course, that’s the whole idea.

Nintendo needed home run games for its new Switch 2 console, and it hit a grand slam with the new Donkey Kong. I still haven’t finished the game, but I already know it’s the best reason to buy a Switch 2 yet.

Donkey Kong Bananza is available for $70 from Nintendo.com and other retailers. We’re also keeping track of Nintendo Switch 2 restocks if you’re still seeking a console.

Smashing story with co-op options

In a lot of ways, Bananza feels like Zelda and Mario met in the middle.

The story’s weird, but what Mario (or Nintendo) game isn’t? Donkey Kong’s world has been threatened by a sinister bunch of apes, after a large meteor knocks a mining company deep into the planet’s core. The adventure involves diving down into those sublevels — it’s Donkey Kong Hollow Earth, or Journey to the Center of the Kongiverse. The big difference in this game is that you can destroy just about anything, burrowing and tunneling throughout the game’s large 3D maps.

Technically, this isn’t a true collaborative co-op game, but there’s a mode where Pauline — a young girl who mysteriously fell from the sky and becomes Donkey Kong’s friend — can throw her voice, literally, at things to destroy them. A second player takes over as Pauline and aims and shoots words at enemies, and can absorb material powers from nearby rocks and objects. It’s more engaging than the hat-throwing co-op in Odyssey.

You can Game Share Bananza with a local Switch 2 or Switch 1 in co-op mode to play on two screens, or just play on one. For this review, I wasn’t allowed to Game Share to a second Switch.

The Mario mojo

Bananza is made by the Super Mario Odyssey team, and its 3D platforming feels like a Mario sequel. You can wander through large but still self-contained sublevels that remind me of the Kingdoms in Super Mario Odyssey. As you descend to new levels, the characters you meet and the level’s game mechanics shift up a bit. The levels aren’t as drastically different or quite as weirdly whimsical as the ones in Odyssey, but they feel a lot busier.

Jumping and punching are the main ways to control things, but there are plenty of other moves. There’s also a skill tree of abilities to unlock and power up, which uses points you accumulate by collecting giant, crystal bananas (just go with it). Donkey Kong can also buy new outfits, much like Mario Odyssey, but these outfits (or pieces of outfits) give extra perks, like cold resistance or faster energy recovery.

Each of the levels has goals and sub-bosses to fight, but also secret subchallenges to discover — some of them 3D, some 2D side-scrolling. There are other things to find, in every direction, on any potential hillside or surface, if you just pummel your fists and dig. The free-digging usually involves either finding more crystal bananas or various-sized fossils, which can be collected and redeemed for costumes. There’s gold to accumulate, too, which acts as general currency. But even as I rush to the next goal on any level, I’m equally tempted to just start digging around and see what’s going on somewhere else.

The Zelda zeitgeist

Here’s where Bananza really starts to feel like a lower-key Zelda game, especially when it comes to finding characters and following sub-missions. You can talk to lots of the strange characters in each sublevel, and some share important news. You’ll get directed to a particular goal, and on a 3D map, you can track your progress or warp to other spots. But as the game’s progress starts to wind up and down through sublevels, it begins to feel a lot more quest-y than any Mario game.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom kept coming to mind for me. That game’s vast overworld and underworld — and its various ways of finding passages between — is very much like Bananza. Also, like recent Zelda games, you can climb just about anywhere (or surf chunks of rock you rip out of the ground). The outfit perks feel Zelda-like, and so does the game’s sense of real-time, chaotic physics. Some puzzles involve understanding the environment and manipulating it, much like I did many times in Tears.

There’s also a sense of persistence in Bananza. You can create little home bases that let you rest up and change outfits. You’ll meander off and come back to locations. Mario Odyssey had some of this too, but Bananza feels more lived in.

Unlike recent Zeldas, though, this game’s challenges are relatively contained. You won’t have long lists of subquests or stories to lose track of. After spending months away from Zelda, and coming back not remembering what I was meant to do next, I appreciate Bananza’s simpler vibe.

A whole new yet familiar feel

Most importantly, Bananza just feels fresh. I get a little tired, sometimes, of diving back into new Zeldas and Marios that layer legends on top of legends. Donkey Kong’s universe is different from previous Kong games, especially the giant, wrinkled Elders who preside over subworlds like spirits, granting extra transformation powers. This is where the «Bananza» name comes in.

Accumulating enough gold triggers a chance to become a spirit animal. There’s a Bananza version of Kong that has stronger punches, an ostrich that can fly and drop egg bombs, and a zebra that can run fast over ice and water. (I haven’t unlocked any others yet.)

After a week-plus of playing, I’m still consistently surprised by what I’m encountering. But I’m also finding it familiar and comfortable, just like a big summer movie. And that’s what this is: Nintendo’s big blockbuster summer game, one of the best I can remember. Something I don’t want to end, and I’m glad to have more to explore.

I’m also surprised by other things: there’s no online mode, which I don’t mind but feels surprising after Super Mario Wonder’s clever additions. The game download size is only 8GB, shockingly small compared to Switch 2 launch games like Cyberpunk 2077, which were nearly 60GB. I was getting worried about how much storage space I’d have on the Switch 2 over time, but if more games are like Bananza, things will be OK.

My youngest son was instantly interested in Bananza, so much so that he didn’t want me playing without him. I had to, though, so I could carve enough time out to play. We’re going to backtrack and play again, and he’ll start playing, too. Will Bananza feel as replayable and infinitely fun as many of Nintendo’s best? I can’t entirely tell yet, but there’s already so much I’ve skipped over in so many levels, I don’t doubt it. There’s also a 3D art mode thrown in as a bonus where you use the Joy-Cons to sculpt and paint ape heads and bunches of bananas.

Donkey Kong makes it worth buying a Switch 2

Bananza is a great sign for where Nintendo’s heading with the Switch 2. It feels like a more evolved version of many Switch games of the past, but just like Mario Kart World, the other major Switch 2 exclusive, it takes the good ideas even further. Bananza is also an extension of Nintendo’s universe, including the Super Mario Movie, which has a Donkey Kong that looks like this one, and Super Nintendo World, which has a Donkey Kong land, too. And yes, Super Nintendo World’s Donkey Kong Power-Up bands even work like Amiibo with this game.

This is a game as vibrant and kinetic as Sony’s fantastic Astro Bot and similarly full of things to search for and do. In comparison, Super Mario Odyssey now seems surprisingly quiet and chill.

And yes, this game is worth getting a Switch 2 for — that was the idea all along. It’s nice to see that Nintendo really pulled it off, though. Combined with Mario Kart World, this is a heck of a one-two punch. I’d still love a proper 3D Mario sequel someday, but Bananza is practically that right now.

Technologies

CNET Debates: Is Apple’s New Crossbody Strap a Great Idea or a Terrible One?

Does the crossbody strap make it more or less likely that you’ll have your iPhone stolen? We have conflicting opinions.

One thing you can be sure of during an Apple event is that it will generate immense quantities of discourse among CNET’s seasoned nerds — and no, we don’t always agree with one another.

Is the iPhone Air totally pointless and uncalled for, or the best design innovation since very thinly sliced bread? Both can be true, depending on whom you ask.

Among the many announcements on Tuesday that sparked conflicting opinions was a crossbody strap for the iPhone. After a back-and-forth in Slack, my colleague Zach McAuliffe and I have decided to put forth our respective viewpoints and allow you to be the judge.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Great idea: Katie Collins, Principal Writer

Have you ever been walking down the street to meet your friend, navigating using Google maps and texting your pal to let them know you’re running late, when all of sudden: bam! A dude on a moped has whizzed past at high speed and removed your phone from your hand before you’ve even had a chance to realize what’s happened?

In London, this style of phone theft is a daily occurrence, and while it’s never happened to me personally, every time I step foot on the streets of the British capital, I’m immediately wary and vigilant.

Earlier this year, the Guardian reported that survey data from American insurance company SquareTrade showed that 39% of all European phone theft take place in the UK, and that 42% of British phone thefts occur in London. So common is it for your phone to be snatched by someone on a bike or moped that London’s Metropolitan Police issue special prevention guidance, featuring advice such as: «[when using your phone,] stand away from the roadside, close to a building or wall, so no one can come up behind you.»

I get that a crossbody is not a failsafe method to prevent iPhone theft. I would never advise someone to walk around a city in a state of blissful ignorance while their phone flaps hands-free against their body. But I do endorse it as a way to fend off opportunists on two wheels.

I can see other times the crossbody strap would come in handy, too. Frequently on my travels, I find myself on a boat, clutching the railing and taking pictures on my phone as the world passes me by. Always in these situations I’m concerned that just one clumsy slip could see my precious phone go the way of the Heart of the Ocean in Titanic. A crossbody strap would provide peace of mind in such moments to protect me against my own idiocy.

As a clumsy person who dreads having their phone stolen, I will be investing in one of Apple’s crossbody iPhone straps the moment they become available. I personally can only see the benefit in having my phone glued to my body as well as my hand.

Terrible idea: Zach McAuliffe, Staff Writer

When I saw Apple’s new crossbody strap for the iPhone, my first thought was, «I bet someone could cut that real easily and steal someone’s iPhone.»

But surely Apple thought of that and chose a cut-resistant strap made with something like Dyneema, right? Nope. According to Apple, the strap is made of recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) yarns. If you’re unfamiliar with this kind of yarn, it’s a synthetic fiber made from recycled plastic bottles.

If you had a razor or something similarly sharp, you could cut through the strap like a hot knife through butter. Then there’s nothing stopping you from taking the iPhone. The decision to dangle a thousand-dollar device off a strip of non-cut-resistant plastic gives me so much anxiety.

Some people on Reddit said they’ve had their crossbody bags and purses stolen because someone cut the straps and ran or rode off, so it does happen. Granted, so does someone snatching a phone from your hand. But if I’m wearing my iPhone as a bag, I’m advertising that I have an iPhone and all you have to do is follow me for a second in order to cut the straps and take off with it.

Plus, if I’m my iPhone is tethered to me by a strap, I might be more cavalier with how I handle it. The strap and corresponding case are meant to keep the device safe, so I might take for granted things that could damage it out in the world. What if a car kicks a rock up and hits it, or I bump into a metal railing a little too hard or any number of things happen and my iPhone gets a new scratch or breaks?

No, I’d much rather grip my iPhone like my life depends on it when the device is in my hand. And then I’ll slip my iPhone into my pocket for safe keeping like Bilbo Baggins after he finds the One Ring.

The crossbody strap is a bad idea. I know people have things taken all the time, but the strap is like wearing a sign around your neck that you have an iPhone and with a quick snip it could be yours! Hopefully Apple will make a cut-resistant strap in the future.

For more from Apple’s event, check out all the announcements and our hands-on with the ultra-thin iPhone Air.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Sept. 10, #352

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Sept. 10, No. 352

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. But if you’re a shoe junkie, you might ace the blue category. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Baseball grouping.

Green group hint: You might do this to a door.

Blue group hint: Just do it.

Purple group hint: Not real coaches, but…

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: NL East teams.

Green group: Synonyms of slam, in basketball.

Blue group: Nike shoes.

Purple group: Actors who played football coaches.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is NL East teams. The four answers are Atlanta, Miami, New York and Philadelphia.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is synonyms of slam, in basketball. The four answers are drunk, flush, jam and stuff.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Nike shoes. The four answers are Blazer, Cortez, Pegasus and Shox.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is actors who played football coaches. The four answers are Pacino, Thornton, Washington and Winkler.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 10

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Sept. 10, No. 556

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle has a fun, timely theme. Once you figure out the topic, the answers come easily. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Keep it classy.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: School days.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

HOLE, DOLE, SCENE, SCENES, CURE, CURES, SLIM, SLIME, SLIMED, NICE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: