The long-awaited return of Nintendo’s iconic ape, Donkey Kong Bananza, has arrived with barrel-blasting fanfare—but beneath its vibrant art style and nostalgic charm, a storm of technical criticism is brewing. While critics praise the game’s inventive level design and co-op chaos, a chorus of players and analysts are slamming its performance flaws, particularly its reliance on AMD’s FSR 1 upscaling over NVIDIA’s DLSS and persistent frame rate drops that disrupt gameplay.
Released last week on Switch and PC, Donkey Kong Bananza aims to reinvent the franchise with sprawling, multi-tiered levels and dynamic physics. Yet Digital Foundry’s deep-dive analysis reveals troubling compromises. On PC, the game defaults to AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 1 (FSR 1), an older upscaling tech notorious for artifacts like shimmering textures and blurred details during motion. This decision baffles experts, given FSR 1’s inferior image quality compared to FSR 2 or NVIDIA’s DLSS, which leverages AI for crisper visuals. "FSR 1 feels like a stopgap," notes Digital Foundry’s John Linneman. "In fast-paced sections, the image breakup is impossible to ignore."
Worse still are the frame rate inconsistencies. Docked Switch players report jarring dips to 20–25 FPS during hectic multiplayer sessions or environmental set pieces, undercutting the precision platforming the series is known for. PC users with high-end rigs aren’t spared either; sudden stutters plague even RTX 4090 setups when effects-heavy abilities trigger. One player lamented on Reddit: "It’s like running through molasses when the screen fills up—DK’s roll attack turns into a slideshow."
For a visual breakdown of these issues, watch Digital Foundry’s full analysis here:
👉 Digital Foundry: Donkey Kong Bananza Tech Review
See aggregated critic and user scores on Metacritic:
👉 Metacritic: Donkey Kong Bananza Reviews
The backlash is reflected in Bananza’s Metacritic user scores, where it sits at a mediocre 6.8 (as of this writing). While critics highlight the game’s creative ambition (earning a 84 average), user reviews cite "performance hell" and "unfinished optimization" as recurring themes. The absence of DLSS or FSR 3 support feels especially glaring, forcing NVIDIA GPU owners to rely on inferior upscaling or native rendering—a heavy ask given the game’s demanding physics engine.
Nintendo has yet to comment on patch plans, but insiders suggest pressure is mounting. "FSR 1 was a baffling choice when Unreal Engine 4 supports DLSS natively," tweeted games engineer Parker Smith. "A simple update could transform this." For now, players are tweaking .ini files or disabling effects to claw back stability—a frustrating compromise for a $60 release.
As the discourse rages, Donkey Kong Bananza stands at a crossroads. Its inventive spirit is undeniable, but in an era where smooth performance is non-negotiable for many, this banana-hoarding adventure risks becoming a cautionary tale. Will Nintendo and developers Retro Studios address the outcry? For now, Kong fans are left swinging between joy and frustration.
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