Donkey Kong Bananza ignores one of the Nintendo Switch 2’s key features, instead using an outdated version of AMD FSR.

In their review of the next big Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive launching in the console’s release window, the tech experts at Digital Foundry confirmed the game doesn’t use NVIDIA DLSS, which has been put to great use in other launch titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Street Fighter 6, but AMD FSR 1 in conjunction with SMAA, a post-process anti aliasing solution, which is baffling, considering what can be achieved on the system using NVIDIA’s upscaler. Still, image quality is acceptable, as edge coverage is good, but finer details get lost, and the game looks quite soft, which is not helped by the target resolution in docked mode, mostly between 1080p and 1200p with dynamic resolution scaling. Image quality fares better in handheld mode, as the target resolution seems to be 1080p, the same resolution of the screen.

Interestingly enough, it seems like Donkey Kong Bananza is best played in handheld mode, also taking performance into account. While some of the performance issues seen in pre-release footage have been somewhat improved, the game still suffers from performance drops, which are made worse by the double buffer V-sync, which briefly cuts the framerate in half when performance drops occur until frame time recovers. In handheld mode, these issues are somewhat mitigated by VRR, although things aren’t perfect in this mode either, as the framerate often drops below the VRR window, resulting in drops to 30 FPS in some scenarios. According to Digital Foundry, this is likely caused by the game running in a 60 Hz container, which prevents VRR from working properly when the framerate drops below 40 FPS.

It’s a bit of a shame that Donkey Kong Bananza is impacted by these technical issues, as it is a great game. You can learn why it is the most ambitious 3D platformer Nintendo has ever produced by checking out Nathan’s review.