Donkey Kong Bananza Takes Inspiration From Dark Souls and You May Not Have Even Realized It

One user online has noticed that Donkey Kong Bananza features a mechanic it likely took from Dark Souls: after being defeated, players can go back to the spot where they died and retrieve their lost gold. This is a very well-known Dark Souls mechanic, where if players die, they drop all their souls and can later come back to the same spot to recover them—otherwise, they’re gone. Donkey Kong Bananza has been out for less than 10 days, and this DS-inspired feature may have flown under the radar for many.

So far, since its release, Donkey Kong Bananza has enjoyed a hugely positive reception. The highly awaited return of the gorilla has been worth it, as players have embraced Nintendo’s new take on the franchise. This time, DK moves through voxel-based, destructible terrain, punching his way forward through the different levels. The Donkey Kong Bananza director said he took inspiration from every game in the series, revealing he played every entry in order to deliver a coherent experience that fans would enjoy. However, players have noticed one mechanic that hasn’t come from the DK series, but from a very different franchise.

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As noticed by a Reddit user named mikel501055, every time one dies while playing the popular Donkey Kong Bananza, a lava gold statue of the gorilla screaming appears on the spot where the player was defeated. Not only that—upon respawning, players can go back to the same place, destroy the statue, and get their gold back.

DK Bananza Lets Players Recover Their Lost Gold the Dark Souls Way

While Donkey Kong Bananza is neither a FromSoftware-inspired game nor a title one would necessarily recommend to a Dark Souls fan, it’s true that this mechanic directly resembles the one seen in the Souls series. Though there’s nuance in how it’s implemented, it clearly draws inspiration from the RPG franchise—a detail some may have overlooked. Dark Souls is arguably one of the most influential titles of the century, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that any new game (even outside its genre) might take a page out of its book.

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Despite this subtle similarity, Bananza is a completely different type of game, whose mechanics and style have really engaged fans on the recently released Nintendo Switch 2. The title is doing so well that many fans even believe Nintendo missed a big opportunity by not including Donkey Kong Bananza as a Switch 2 launch title, as it leverages the console’s new features more than the flagship launch title, Mario Kart World.