How long is Donkey Kong Bananza?

By Jesse Lennox Published July 17, 2025

We only had to wait one month after the Nintendo Switch 2 launch to get our first shiny new 3D platformer. However, it isn’t a new Mario game like you might’ve assumed, but DK taking center stage. Donkey Kong Bananza is all about smashing and digging your way with Pauline to the planet’s core while facing off against a cast of villains. Being able to terraform the levels completely changes the pace of a normal platformer, but does it mean you can bypass everything and finish the game in a few hours? What if you are the type of person who wants to get every collectible there is? In either case, you might be surprised at how Donkey Kong Bananza actually is. After playing the game from start to finish, here’s how long you can expect to spend playing Donkey Kong Bananza.

There are several ways you might choose to approach Donkey Kong Bananza that will determine how long it takes you to finish. If you wanted to basically speedrun the game and go straight from one main objective to the next, which I wouldn’t recommend, you still have a long road ahead of you. I’d say playing the game, just doing the critical path, would still take around 15 hours.

If you played in a more natural way, doing a good amount of side challenges, letting yourself get distracted, and going off the main road to collect extra collectibles as you see them without becoming obsessed with getting everything, Donkey Kong Bananza will take you 20-30 hours. That range is to account for exactly how much you end up doing in each level. There are a lot more levels than you might expect, and hundreds of things to collect, so it really is up to you how long you want the game to last.

Finally, completionists out there are in for a very, very long game. Donkey Kong Bananza has almost too many things to collect across its many levels. There can be over 30 bananas in a single level, plus double that in fossils. Part of that will require you to not only find all the hidden challenge stages, but also the secret bananas within each one. Some bananas also cost banana chips, which are found by digging. Speaking of digging, some are locked behind destroying a certain amount of different terrain types on each level, so you may have to grind a bit for those. Fossils will unlock and upgrade your outfits for DK and Pauline, and bananas can be spent upgrading your stats and abilities, so nothing you collect is worthless. I can only estimate here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it took over 50 hours to 100% Donkey Kong Bananza.