A few days after launch, speedrunners are already working their way through the recent Nintendo Switch 2 release of Donkey Kong Bananza, beating the game in around one hour and 45 minutes total.
What makes the time already astounding is that this is a few days after launch, before any major skips or tricks have been found, with most of the run currently being down to technical movement and skill over anything groundbreaking—apart from when you get to the Forbidden Layer.
Most of the speedrun revolves around ignoring every single Banana even at the starting area, and to my surprise, when it comes to getting the Banaza powerups. You can simply leave the tutorial sections and not have to take part in any of them, which saves a boatload of time as well.
In fact, most of the speedruns appear to be rushing towards the boss of each area most quickly, skipping any missions they can, and then finding a way to get each of the Elder’s bisks as quickly as possible. It’s a really technical run at the moment, but I feel it can still go lower.
The biggest surprise was seeing that speedrunners skip the Zebra powerup entirely and instead make use of weird tech with the Ostrich transformation to glide and traverse further than you should be able to, using punches in the air to extend your glide further than you should be able to. Coupled with the Snake transformation and precise movement, you can get through the Forbidden Layer without needing to pay any gold to move forward.
It’s pretty incredible to watch, and I don’t really want to spoil anything else from the speedruns. But I implore you to watch what the community has been able to find and put together in the first few days of release, and I look forward to seeing where the speedrun ends up in a few weeks and months down the line.
Sub one hour, anyone?
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