Wario is Missing: Why Donkey Kong Bananza Should Have Been a Wario Game

Nintendo is a corporate paradox: It’s anti-consumer, both controlling and greedy, and indifferent to the desires of its most ardent fans.

And yet, it has fans. Legions of them. Many of whom hang on the company’s every word and announcement, desperate to buy its next product, desperate to defend the Big N in whatever poor decision it makes next.

Nevertheless, a debate I didn’t foresee concerns a certain game: Donkey Kong Bananza. More than any other early Switch 2 game—even Mario Kart World—Bananza is the one shining title that’s giving the Nintendo acolytes hope that the Switch 2 isn’t money misspent.

And yet, despite its high quality, even this game is provoking a mote of controversy.

Poor, Forlorn Lore: Retcons Come at an Awful Cost

So…lore. Fans love lore! They love scrutinizing and curating and obsessing over the history of their favorite characters. And even Donkey Kong, the ape that threw barrels at Mario atop a construction site back in 1981, has developed quite the backstory over the years. Once a goofy ape, he was handed over to British developer Rare in the early 1990s for a definitive modernization. Now leaner, tougher, angrier—less goofy—he was an ape more likely to punch and slam his way through his villains and rivals than merely toss barrels at them. Games like Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Retro Studios’ Donkey Kong Country Returns, and even his appearances in the Smash Bros. series all portray him as a rather brash, no-nonsense guy.

But not anymore. Not with Bananza. In this newest iteration of the character, Nintendo has seemingly pulled one of its famous retcons, reverting the ape to his goofier, more animated origins. Not completely, of course…Bananza is all about smashing through terrain and mountain alike, after all. Indeed, the “brute” part of DK still exists, some of the time, but now he’s just as likely to freak out, to grin sheepishly, to lick his lips and dance around and gush over a banana sundae. This DK is definitely more expressive than Rare and Retro’s version from his earlier Country days. The problem is, more than merely altered, the ape now feels akin to a different character.

And maybe he should have been.

Wario vs. Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong Bananza is a fine game. But is it a DK game? Its smash and shatter and terraform mechanics don’t really fit the character. Sure, the ape’s strong. He punches and sometimes pounds. But he’s neither demolitionist nor destroyer. And he’s certainly not a treasure hunter. Which begs the question: Who in the Nintendo canon might have been a better choice?

And the answer, naturally, is Wario.

As seen across the continuum of his Wario Land games, the tough curmudgeon is both a world and dimensional traveler. He loves gold and hunts treasure. And, perhaps most importantly, he loves to break things...has a penchant for smashing stuff; he enjoys being the brute and cantankerous thug. In Wario Land 4, he can literally dash though entire landscapes of terrain, tunneling new paths. And in Wario World, he can slug, pummel, and even pile drive his enemies into submission.

Which is all to say…Wario would have been perfect for a tweaked, slightly reimagined Bananza.

When Did DK Care About Gold? Or Mining?

The truth is, the smash n’ cash premise behind Bananza posed a problem for Nintendo: none of its mascot characters really fit the game's disruption and eruption mechanics. Despite being inspired by Super Mario Odyssey, Bananza’s gameplay doesn’t really suit the plumber. And frankly, it doesn’t really apply to the ape, either. But rather than take a chance on a brand new character, or use one, like Wario, who’d been mostly banished to the past, Nintendo chose to transmogrify DK into something both brash and relaxed, both clown and powerhouse. This DK is part Kong, part Mario, and yes, part Wario.

But then Nintendo went even further. Beyond turning the game’s gold into “Banandium,” a contrivance to make the ape’s presence make more sense…the Big N went for the gorilla’s past, retconning his history by introducing a new/old sidekick, the inexplicable Pauline. Now a kid (she’s supposedly 13), and now best buds with the ape (versus being Mario’s kidnapped, squealing girlfriend), she’s with DK for the game’s entire ride. And despite the praise the overall game is getting, DK lore-buffs are going a little crazy. Just what the heck is going on? Is Bananza a separate continuity from the DK arcade games? Is Cranky, the original Donkey Kong, no longer the one who kidnapped Pauline in those years of yore? Are there, maybe, two Paulines (one young, one old) existing at once? How does Mario fit into all of this?

In terms of the Country games, Bananza acts as their sequel…but that’s the only established fact in an ocean of question marks. A bunch of maybes.

Making an Ape Do a Man's Job

So, rather than forcing DK into a world that requires such a drastic rewrite of both his lore and personality, why not just use the popular but oft-neglected character that actually fits the gold-grubbing, treasure-tunneling premise? Again, why didn’t Nintendo just use Wario? Everything about Wario fits the basics of the game. And even better, the title could have been called something like Super Wario Odyssey. It’d be the perfect Yang to Mario Odyssey’s Yin, the perfect counterpart and counterpoint.

But, no, DK was ripped to fit the template instead. And it does work, sort of…for those who are indifferent about the ape’s classic canon and even more blind to the dude in purple overalls who once served as Mario’s chief rival, even antagonist.

Wario, as a character, has been languishing for years. This game could have been his glorious comeback. But for whatever reason—be it Miyamoto’s pride or simple corporate calculation—Wario missed his plane again.

And this might have been his final chance.--D

Would DK: Bananza have been better with a true bruiser with a penchant for gold? Wario just seems the smarter, more honest choice.

Bananza has DK joining up with an inexplicably young Pauline. But Wario is not without his own female sidekicks, as seen in these bottom pics from Wario Land 4.

Is that Donkey Kong cribbing a move from Wario World? It's almost as if Wario could be doing the same thing!

Wario has always been associated with destruction--all his games involve him bashing and otherwise thrashing the environment. Above, Wario batters his way through a wall of granite, shoulder-charges some hapless foes, and ground pounds through some soft terrain to floors (layers?) below.