Donkey Kong Bananaza Fails to Complete One of Switch 2's Best Features

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Before the Nintendo Switch 2 was released, many fans were eager for a more powerful console to enhance their gaming experience. Now that it’s out, Nintendo has met those expectations with improved games like Pokémon Scarlet & Violet and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

However, it’s surprising that Nintendo hasn’t fully utilized its console’s best features for Switch 2 games. One key feature is Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology, which several third-party developers have effectively used in their game ports. Unfortunately, Nintendo hasn’t applied this technology to its main first-party titles yet.

Donkey Kong Bananza Doesn’t Use One of the Switch 2’s Best Features

Both Mario Kart World and the upcoming Donkey Kong Bananza don’t make use of the Switch 2’s DLSS technology. Instead, they use a mix of AMD’s FSR1 with SMAA. This was highlighted in a tech review by John Linneman of Digital Foundry (thanks, GamesRadar), where they noted that the image quality of Donkey Kong Bananza is “decent.” Many found the choice to use FSR1 puzzling.

Luckily, this decision doesn’t seem to have severely affected the performance of Donkey Kong Bananza, although Linneman mentions some minor issues. It remains odd that Nintendo wouldn’t want to showcase its first-party games to highlight the console’s capabilities, similar to how PlayStation titles are presented.

It’s possible that the choice stems from the long development cycle of Donkey Kong Bananza, which has been in the works for about eight years. Initially, it was planned as a title for the original Switch. Given this timeline, it makes sense that these games don’t fully take advantage of the Switch 2’s technology, and perhaps we will see DLSS in games designed explicitly for the Switch 2 in the future.