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How Apple Arcade Has Grown Quietly in the Shadow of Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStation

Exclusive: Apple’s answer to the competition has been to offer casual games for a flat fee, and it’s working.

Apple’s mobile gaming subscription service has come a long way since its release in 2019, more than doubling its game library and offering subscribers new releases, remasters and updates every week. And it may have found its first flagship exclusive with Sneaky Sasquatch, a popular, lighthearted game about a Bigfoot-like character adventuring in the woods, hiding from campers and riding go-carts.

Over the three years since its launch, Apple Arcade has continuously added new games that cater to large audiences, while also spotlighting smaller developers who might’ve otherwise gone unnoticed in the App Store.

What began as a simple tab housing about 100 games is now a dynamic section of the App Store featuring new releases and updates, special in-app events and easy-to-navigate categories. That large catalog, reliable service and fresh, microtransaction-free approach to mobile gaming is why I’ve named it a CNET Editors’ Choice pick since its debut.

«We were defining a new category with the first gaming subscription service for mobile, desktop and living room, and challenged ourselves to launch with 100 brand new titles that would capture the quality and fun that we wanted the service to represent,» Matt Fischer, Apple’s vice president of the App Store, told CNET in an exclusive email interview.

Fischer said he believes Arcade debuted with more new games than any gaming service had launched with before, including heavy-hitters like Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, EA Play and Nintendo Switch Online.

When first announced, Arcade sounded full of possibilities and like a breath of fresh air for mobile gamers who were tired of racking up bills from in-game microtransactions for items like a new look for their character or more power-ups to beat a particularly hard level. Now, for the equivalent price of one console game a year, Apple Arcade offers subscribers who pay $5 a month access to hundreds of games in categories like puzzle, nostalgia, mystery, sports and kids, as well as titles with multiplayer and social features. In addition to adding and updating content, Arcade removes older games every so often, likely as a result of expired contracts.

In 2023, Arcade subscribers can expect more improvements to the service — potentially another big platform refresh like we saw in April 2021, which led to the release of 32 games along with better library organization. Arcade will also likely keep adding larger, more console-style, graphics-intensive games like NBA 2K23 as Apple improves the capabilities of its iPhones, iPads and Mac computers.

How Apple Arcade sets itself apart from the competition

When Arcade launched in September 2019, Apple firmly planted its flag between free and paid games by promising players access to the full experience of any game in its subscription. That was a stark contrast to the freemium model that had come to dominate mobile gaming, regularly charging players for extra features like more levels or help to defeat a particular challenge. Apple’s goal with Arcade is to allow subscribers to play through a catalog of games without constantly being blocked by those in-app purchases or interrupted by intrusive ads. That approach, Apple believed, also provided parents with peace of mind when letting kids play mobile games.

Although Apple doesn’t disclose data about how many Arcade subscribers it has, Ampere Analysis says the service’s content strategy is geared toward success, particularly by providing a source of entertainment for people during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arcade also provides a space to spotlight diverse, indie developers who might have otherwise been overshadowed by freemium games in the App Store, a goal that it’s accomplished.

«There are billions of players in the world looking for different types of entertainment experiences,» Fischer said. «Apple Arcade appeals to a wide range of players of all ages and backgrounds, and so should the teams that make the games. We want to ensure we’re bringing the best content and gaming experiences to our subscribers from developers that also uphold our values of innovation, creativity, diversity, and inclusion.»

I’ve been covering Apple Arcade since the beginning, and one of my favorite parts has been hearing the developers’ stories — where the idea for a game came from, how the creators put themselves into a project — and having my expectations flipped.

For example, I don’t gravitate towards sports games, but after talking to the Snowman team (Where Cards Fall, Alto’s Odyssey: The Lost City), the atmospheric, lo-fi skateboarding game Skate City became a go-to title for me. In addition to the main character of Cardpocalypse being in a wheelchair, The Get Out Kids featured a Muslim family — one of the first times I’d seen representation like that in a video game.

Arcade games have also won awards, including titles like Where Cards Fall and Sayonara Wild Hearts. Some of its titles have also expanded to run on other gaming services like Steam, Switch, Xbox and PlayStation.

As for one of the biggest knocks against the service — that it doesn’t have a flagship exclusive game like Halo on Xbox and Mario on Nintendo — Fischer says Apple sees a lot of potential in Sneaky Sasquatch from RAC7, one of the service’s top games, with a rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars. In the game, players explore campsites — undetected by the cranky park ranger or other campers —and fill their backpack with picnic leftovers for themselves and other animals. Since its launch with the service in 2019, Sneaky Sasquatch has received multiple updates expanding the game’s world with features like careers, vacation spots and vehicles options for Sasquatch.

For Apple Arcade’s third anniversary, I asked Fischer how the service has progressed and what comes next. He told me about how Apple sees the store against its competition, what customers have been asking for and how he finds new games that take advantage of hardware advances made possible by Apple’s M2 chip powering Mac computers and the A14 Bionic chip for the iPhone and iPad.

Here’s a lightly edited version of our exchange.

Q: Describe the inception of Apple Arcade. What made Apple want to expand into mobile gaming?

Fischer: Players love the huge catalog of games available on the App Store, from casual titles to console-quality experiences, many of which are free to download and offer in-app purchases or ads within the experience. However, many users are also looking for game experiences they can enjoy without interruptions, [and] without having to pay up-front for each title.

So we saw an opportunity to bring an exceptional set of games together for players who want unlimited access to an evolving catalog of great games, all for a low monthly price, all without in-game ads or in-app purchases. For developers, we sought out partners from around the globe who wanted to build and deliver titles that offered great gameplay, where they didn’t need to design in different business models or advertising to fund the games.

When we launched Apple Arcade, we were thrilled by the reception from both players and developers. The mobile gaming subscription model is an exciting new direction for us. The kinds of games we’re showcasing on Arcade continue to help define the App Store as the world’s best marketplace for games, and iOS the world’s most vibrant gaming platform, with Apple Arcade being complementary to the App Store’s massive catalog of games.

Q: What challenges did Apple face prior to launching the service? After launching the service?

Fischer: Launching the service was very exciting for us, but also quite daunting. We were defining a new category with the first gaming subscription service for mobile, desktop and living room, and challenged ourselves to launch with 100 brand new titles that would capture the quality and fun that we wanted the service to represent. Not only were we proud of the amazing content we had, but also that we launched with more new games than any gaming service had ever launched with before. That includes services like Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, EA Play, and Nintendo Switch Online. That in and of itself was a monumental task. There were a lot of last-minute changes and tweaks, but it all came together and it was a great launch. The catalog was quickly praised for its high-quality content, and we saw a lot of interest from players from all over the world.

Over time, something we heard consistently from players was that they wanted more casual titles, along with many of the richer Arcade Originals in the catalog. So we saw another great opportunity to offer our subscribers a collection of classic games along with award-winning titles from the App Store, but with all the benefits that players love about the service. In April 2021, we introduced two new categories of games, App Store Greats and Timeless Classics, to expand the catalog. We’ve seen great success with these games, with titles like Solitaire by MobilityWare and Fruit Ninja Classic+ frequently appearing in our top 10 list alongside many of the top Arcade Originals like NBA 2K23 Arcade Edition and Sneaky Sasquatch.

Q: What was Apple’s process for approaching developers to be a part of the service?

Fischer: Fun games, creative ideas. It can be that simple. We want to be able to provide our subscribers with an amazing catalog of high-quality games of all shapes and sizes. We have relationships with nearly every developer in the world, from big publishers to acclaimed creators to respected indie studios. Great games can truly come from anywhere. We continue to identify and work with new talent as well as developers who have created many of the best games in history, both on mobile and other platforms. There are billions of players in the world looking for different types of entertainment experiences. Apple Arcade appeals to a wide range of players of all ages and backgrounds, and so should the teams that make the games. We want to ensure we’re bringing the best content and gaming experiences to our subscribers from developers that also uphold our values of innovation, creativity, diversity and inclusion. Wylde Flowers is a great example of this. The game features inclusive, diverse, and memorable characters voiced by an authentic voice cast, and recently won an App Store Award as the 2022 Apple Arcade Game of Year.

Q: One of the biggest criticisms around Apple Arcade is that the service doesn’t have a flagship exclusive game, like Halo on Xbox, Mario and Nintendo, etc. What’s Apple’s plan to attain a title that could be synonymous with the service?

Fischer: Breaking new IP in any entertainment business is challenging, but especially so in gaming. Developing hit games takes time. We have been primarily focused on building a broad catalog that reaches many different players rather than trying to find one flagship game. We want everyone to find something they will love.

One game that’s continued to grow in popularity on Apple Arcade is Sneaky Sasquatch from RAC7, a two-person team from Vancouver. It was one of our launch titles and has constantly evolved with regular updates throughout the years. The game has expanded into a much richer world with many new adventures and is consistently one of our top-performing titles. We hear from fans of the game from all over the world, of all ages, on how much they love Sneaky Sasquatch. We see a bright future ahead for Sneaky.

Q: How does Apple choose games for the service? Is player feedback or metrics taken into account when choosing new games?

Fischer: As I mentioned before, fun games and creative ideas go a long way. We do pay attention to what players are responding to and make adjustments accordingly, looking for games that will appeal to them. But we also like to make bets on independent developers with visionary ideas so we can help bring them to life. We provide developers an opportunity to create the games they want without worrying about monetization mechanics, which in turn, provides players with innovative games that may not have seen the light of day without Apple Arcade.

Q: Back in July, subscribers noticed about 15 games in a Leaving Soon category, which prompted questions about games being taken off of Apple Arcade. Those weren’t the first titles to leave the service, but it was a sizable portion of the overall catalog. How do you decide what gets taken off?

Fischer: Since the beginning of Apple Arcade, our vision has always been to evolve the catalog to provide players a continually new selection of fun games to play on all their favorite Apple devices including iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. We launched the service with an unprecedented collection of over 100 new games and have since added more than 150 titles. We’ve also released more than 500 new content updates for existing games since the service launched. The catalog stays fresh so that players can enjoy their favorite Arcade games for years, while checking out new titles across a wide variety of genres. We look to have a regular cadence with only a handful of games leaving monthly, enabling us to focus on consistently bringing new exciting games and updates to players on a weekly basis.

Q: Is there a metric that measures the success of a game on Arcade? Number of downloads? Minutes played?

Fischer:We look at ratings and reviews as player feedback is very critical for us in delivering the best possible service for our users. The most important thing for us is player satisfaction — are they understanding the benefits of the subscription model; are they aware of the incredible selection of games the service makes available; do they stay subscribed and find value in the service.

Q: Apple’s catalog has featured a lot of diversity — characters with disabilities, different religions, etc. What is Apple Arcade doing to actively recruit developers and publishers who make those kinds of games?

Fischer:We want the characters in our games and our overall catalog to reflect the world we live in, and to embrace Apple’s values, so we always discuss this with developers upfront. We’ve since reached the point now where many developers understand this about Apple Arcade and are bringing us ideas with diverse characters and perspectives. A few good examples of this are Wylde Flowers and Gibbon: Beyond the Trees.

Q: What’s a dream game that Apple hopes to join the service in the future?

Fischer:I would say many of our dream games are already available on the service — Fantasian, Wylde Flowers, The Oregon Trail, Sneaky Sasquatch, Skate City, Grindstone, Gibbon: Beyond the Trees, Mini Motorways. … I can go on and on. But Arcade is not just about one title. That’s not really how we think about it. We want a great catalog with several compelling choices for every type of player.

Q: What are Apple Arcade’s ambitions for the kinds of games that are available on the service, especially as the technology in iPhones and iPads continues to advance?

Fischer:Our ultimate goal is to continually refresh the catalog with new games; some are easy to pick up and play, others offer a deeper gameplay experience, some are great games to play solo or with family and friends, but all in all, it is about having fun. Apple also continues to drive major innovations in gaming with Metal, A14 Bionic, M2, and augmented reality. We’ll continue to work with developers to help them take advantage of the advances in our hardware and software to provide the best gameplay experiences for our users.

Q: Has Apple considered a dedicated [Apple-made] console system or controller for its games?

Fischer:Our focus right now is continuing to build Arcade and meeting our players’ needs and expectations.

Q: Now that Apple Arcade is entering its third year, where is the service in terms of expectations? Is Apple happy with subscriber numbers and active users, or is that still an area of focus?

Fischer: We’re thrilled with how the service is performing and how much it has grown thus far. We have an incredibly broad and deep catalog that our players are loving and we continue to deliver exclusive new versions of hit games like NBA 2K23 Arcade Edition, Jetpack Joyride 2 and Cooking Mama: Cuisine. We have new titles as well like Air Twister from renowned developer Yu Suzuki, and hit games based on popular IP like Lego Star Wars: Castaways and Warped Kart Racers. We’re excited about the future of the service and look forward to our continued work with amazing and talented developers from around the world.

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Technologies

These Continuous Glucose Monitors Have Been Recalled Due to Faulty Speakers. What You Need to Do to Stay Safe

There have been 56 serious injuries reported related to this Class I recall. If you use Dexcom’s continuous glucose monitoring systems, this is what you need to know.

Dexcom customers, listen up: Certain continuous glucose monitoring receivers have been recalled due to speaker malfunctions, which can cause you to miss alerts or alarms for dangerous blood sugar levels. Since May 2025, there have been 112 complaints globally, with 56 reported injuries. 

Missing an alert from your continuous glucose monitor may result in health consequences like vomiting, seizures, loss of consciousness and hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic symptoms. 

Certain Dexcom G6, G7, One and One Plus receivers are included in this recall. The One and One Plus receivers are available outside of the US. 

Dexcom is one of the most popular continuous glucose monitor brands, and many people with diabetes use Dexcom devices to track their glucose levels in real time.

According to Dexcom’s update, even without the audio output from the speaker, your receiver will still alert you through vibration and visual prompts. However, that’s only so helpful when many people keep their receivers in their pockets or bags. People who use the mobile app for glucose values, alerts and alarms will still be able to do so without interruption.

What you should do right now

A continuous glucose monitoring system has three parts: the glucose sensor you wear, a transmitter and the small receiver you keep for alerts. The receiver is being recalled, not the sensor you wear, so you shouldn’t expect the readings you get from your device to be inaccurate.

If you use a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor, check the complete list of affected devices for the model and serial number. You can also go to Dexcom’s website to see if your device is affected. These numbers are on the back of your receiver.

If your device is affected, contact Dexcom immediately for a free replacement. Continuous glucose monitors aren’t something you can just stop using, so it’s essential to get in your replacement order as soon as possible. Remember, while you wait, that there’s a chance your receiver speaker isn’t working correctly and you will not be alerted with a sound to spikes or drops in your blood sugar.

You should regularly test the speakers each time you charge your receiver. When you plug the receiver in, the Speaker Test screen will appear for a few seconds. To test your sound, follow the directions on the screen. If it doesn’t beep, then it’s time to contact Dexcom. Remember that it’s important to continue testing your speaker over time. Checking it once doesn’t mean it can’t fail in the future. Even if your device isn’t under recall, this is a good habit to have.

You can also test your receiver’s speaker at any time through the device’s menu. For support during this recall, contact Dexcom technical support at 1-844-478-1600.

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Technologies

Tariff Inflation Is Looking Real, So I’m Tracking 11 Key Products for Price Moves

A new report found inflation on the rise in June, another indicator of the affect Donald Trump’s tariffs are having on the US economy.

Throughout the second Trump administration, tariffs have become the defining aspect of the president’s economic agenda, and while they might have been an obscure subject before, now consumers and businesses alike are worrying: will they cause prices to increase? It’s a question more relevant than ever, as President Donald Trump punts another major deadline down the road and a new Consumer Price Index summary showing that inflation was 2.7% in June, the biggest jump since February.

Amid those worries, I’ve been tracking prices every day for 11 key products likely to be hit by tariff-induced price increases, and the answer I’ve come to so far is this: Not so much, at least not yet. The winding road of tariff inflation still stretches before us into an uncertain future, so the threat of price hikes continues to cloud the horizon.

To date, I’ve seen two noteworthy price increases, one for the Xbox Series X and the other for a popular budget-friendly 4K TV. Some other products — including Apple’s popular AirPods — have gone on sale for brief periods. 

CNET Tariff Tracker Index

Above, you can check out a chart with the average price of the 11 products included in this piece over the course of 2025. This will help give you a sense of the overall price changes and fluctuations going on. Further down, you’ll be able to check out charts for each individual product being tracked. Based on the numbers so far, the average has gone up noticeably since the start of the year, but this has been driven mostly be a big shifts for a few products, as most price are still stable.

We’ll be updating this article regularly as prices change. It’s all in the name of helping you make sense of things, so be sure to check back every so often. For more, check out CNET’s guide to whether you should wait to make big purchases or buy them now and get expert tips about how to prepare for a recession.

Methodology

We’re checking prices daily and will update the article and the relevant charts right away to reflect any changes. The following charts show a single bullet point for each month, with the most recent one labeled «Now» and showing the current price. For the past months, we’ve gone with what was the most common price for each item in the given month. 

In most cases, the price stats used in these graphs were pulled from Amazon using the historical price-tracker tool Keepa. For the iPhones, the prices come from Apple’s official materials and are based on the 128-gigabyte base model of the latest offering of the iPhone 16. For the Xbox Series X, the prices were sourced from Best Buy using the tool PriceTracker. If any of these products happen to be on sale at a given time, we’ll be sure to let you know and explain how those price drops differ from longer-term pricing trends that tariffs can cause.

The 11 products we’re tracking

Mostly what we’re tracking in this article are electronic devices and digital items that CNET covers in depth, like iPhones and affordable 4K TVs — along with a typical bag of coffee, a more humble product that isn’t produced in the US to any significant degree. 

The products featured were chosen for a few reasons: Some of them are popular and/or affordable representatives for major consumer tech categories, like smartphones, TVs and game consoles. Others are meant to represent things that consumers might buy more frequently, like printer ink or coffee beans. Some products were chosen over others because they are likely more susceptible to tariffs. Some of these products have been reviewed by CNET or have been featured in some of our best lists.

Below, we’ll get into more about each individual product, and stick around till the end for a rundown of some other products worth noting.

iPhone 16

The iPhone is the most popular smartphone brand in the US, so this was a clear priority for price tracking. The iPhone has also emerged as a major focal point for conversations about tariffs, given its popularity and its susceptibility to import taxes because of its overseas production, largely in China. Trump has reportedly been fixated on the idea that the iPhone can and should be manufactured in the US, an idea that experts have dismissed as a fantasy. Estimates have also suggested that a US-made iPhone would cost as much as $3,500.

Something to note about this graph: The price listed is the one you’ll see if you buy your phone through a major carrier. If you, say, buy direct from Apple or Best Buy without a carrier involved, you’ll be charged an extra $30, so in some places, you might see the list price of the standard iPhone 16 listed as $830.

Apple’s been taking a few steps to protect its prices in the face of these tariffs, flying in bulk shipments of product before they took effect and planning to move production for the US market from China to India. A new Reuters report found that a staggering 97% of iPhones imported from the latter country, March through May, were bound for the US. This latter move drew the anger of Trump again, threatening the company with a 25% tariff if they didn’t move production to the US, an idea CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly shot down in the past. This came after Trump gave a tariff exemption to electronic devices including smartphones, so the future of that move seems in doubt now.

Duracell AA batteries

A lot of the tech products in your home might boast a rechargeable energy source but individual batteries are still an everyday essential and I can tell you from experience that as soon as you forget about them, you’ll be needing to restock. The Duracell AAs we’re tracking are some of the bestselling batteries on Amazon.

Samsung DU7200 TV

Alongside smartphones, televisions are some of the most popular tech products out there, even if they’re an infrequent purchase. This particular product is a popular entry-level 4K TV and was CNET’s pick for best overall budget TV for 2025. Unlike a lot of tech products that have key supply lines in China, Samsung is a South Korean company, so it might have some measure of tariff resistance. 

After spending most of 2025 hovering around $400, this item has now seen some notable upticks on Amazon, most recently sitting around $450. This could potentially be in reaction to Trump’s announcement of 25% tariffs against South Korea this week.

Xbox Series X

Video game software and hardware are a market segment expected to be hit hard by the Trump tariffs. Microsoft’s Xbox is the first console brand to see price hikes — the company cited «market conditions» along with the rising cost of development. Most notably, this included an increase in the price of the flagship Xbox Series X, up from $500 to $600. Numerous Xbox accessories also were affected and the company also said that «certain» games will eventually see a price hike from $70 to $80.

Initially, we were tracking the price of the much more popular Nintendo Switch as a representative of the gaming market. Nintendo has not yet hiked the price of its handheld-console hybrid and stressed that the $450 price tag of the upcoming Switch 2 has not yet been inflated because of tariffs. Sony, meanwhile, has so far only increased prices on its PlayStation hardware in markets outside the US.

AirPods Pro 2

The latest iteration of Apple’s wildly popular true-wireless earbuds are here to represent the headphone market. Much to the chagrin of the audiophiles out there, a quick look at sales charts on Amazon shows you just how much the brand dominates all headphone sales. While Prime Day might be in the rearview mirror at this point, you can grab a pair of these earbuds for $169, a $30 discount from where they’ve been most of the year.

HP 962 CMY printer ink

This HP printer ink includes cyan, magenta and yellow all in one product and recently saw its price jump from around $72 — where it stayed for most of 2025 — to $80, which is around its highest price over the last five years. We will be keeping tabs to see if this is a long-term change or a brief uptick. 

This product replaced Overture PLA Filament for 3D printers in this piece, but we’re still tracking that item.

Anker 10,000-mAh, 30-watt power bank

Anker’s accessories are perennially popular in the tech space and the company has already announced that some of its products will get more expensive as a direct result of tariffs. This specific product has also been featured in some of CNET’s lists of the best portable chargers. 

Bose TV speaker

Soundbars have become important purchases, given the often iffy quality of the speakers built into TVs. While not the biggest or the best offering in the space, the Bose TV Speaker is one of the more affordable soundbar options out there, especially hailing from a brand as popular as Bose. 

Oral-B Pro 1000 electric toothbrush

They might be a lot more expensive than their traditional counterparts but electric toothbrushes remain a popular choice for consumers because of how well they get the job done. I know my dentist won’t let up on how much I need one. This particular Oral-B offering was CNET’s overall choice for the best electric toothbrush for 2025.

This product hasn’t seen its price budge one way or another most of the year, but while Prime Day might have come and gone, there’s still a $10 coupon listed on Amazon right now, letting you save a little bit of money for the time being.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook

Lenovo is notable among the big laptop manufacturers for being a Chinese company making its products especially susceptible to Trump’s tariffs.

For now, its price has been largely unchanged in the last few months. You can, however, grab it on Amazon right now at a $20 discount, but we’ll have to see how long that actually lasts.

Starbucks Ground Coffee (28-ounce bag)

Coffee is included in this tracker because of its ubiquity —I’m certainly drinking too much of it these days —and because it’s uniquely susceptible to Trump’s tariff agenda. Famously, coffee beans can only be grown within a certain distance from Earth’s equator, a tropical span largely outside the US and known as the «Coffee Belt.» 

Hawaii is the only part of the US that can produce coffee beans, with data from USAFacts showing that 11.5 million pounds were harvested there in the 2022-23 season — little more than a drop in the mug, as the US consumed 282 times that amount of coffee during that period. Making matters worse, Hawaiian coffee production has declined in the past few years.

All that to say: Americans get almost all of their coffee from overseas, making it one of the most likely products to see price hikes from tariffs. While this particular bag of beans from Starbucks hasn’t seen its price budge for most of the year, in recent days it ticked up by less than a dollar on Amazon, which could be a sign of further increases to come.

Other products

As mentioned, we occasionally swap out products with different ones that undergo notable price shifts. Here are some things no longer featured above, but that we’re still keeping an eye on:

  • Nintendo Switch: The baseline handheld-console hybrid has held steady around $299 most places — including Amazon — since it released in 2017. Whether that price will be affected by tariffs or the release of the Switch 2 remains to be seen. This product was replaced above with the Xbox Series X.
  • Overture PLA 3D printer filament: This is a popular choice on Amazon for the material needed to run 3D printers. It has held steady around $15 on Amazon all year. This product was replaced above by the HP 962 printer ink.

Here are some products we also wanted to single out that haven’t been featured with a graph yet:

  • Razer Blade 18 (2025), 5070 Ti edition: The latest revision of Razer’s largest gaming laptop saw a $300 price bump recently, with the base model featured an RTX 5070 Ti graphics card now priced at $3,500 ahead of launch, compared to the $3,200 price announced in February. While Razer has stayed mum about the reasoning, it did previously suspend direct sales to the US as Trump’s tariff plans were ramping up in April.
  • Asus ROG Ally X: The premium version of Asus’s Steam Deck competitor handheld gaming PC recently saw a price hike from $799 to $899, coinciding with the announcement of the company’s upcoming Xbox-branded Ally handhelds.
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Technologies

Donkey Kong Bananza Review: Like Mario And Zelda Smashed Together on Switch 2

DK is turning the Switch 2 into a must-have right out of the gate.

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.

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