Donkey Kong's Secret Language Decoded

Deciphering a secret in-game language is impressive enough, but cracking the code before a game's release takes real dedication - which is precisely what YouTuber 2Chrispy accomplished for Donkey Kong Bananza.

Following in the footsteps of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's linguistic breakthroughs, 2Chrispy analyzed trailers, preview footage, and even the Nintendo Today app to decode the Ancient Monkey Scrolls in DK's next adventure.

"The trailers contained numerous hidden details," 2Chrispy revealed in his fascinating breakdown video. "But the banana script stood out most. Watch how I decoded every monkey letter available."

After noticing an in-game item called "Chip Exchange," 2Chrispy performed frame-by-frame analysis to reconstruct nearly the entire banana alphabet - humorously dubbed the "Bananabet" - leaving just five characters undefined.

Armed with this breakthrough, 2Chrispy translated every visible sign and document from released footage. Discover these revelations in Chrispy2's YouTube video.

His translations include a "welcome" banner, "factory" neon sign, "ice" level marker, plus notices reading "hint," "item," and the amusing: "Message. Thank you for reading. Someone."

"I can't wait to discover more text in the final game," he added. "Could we find DK lore references? Missing Kongs? Maybe Kremling or King K. Rool mentions?"

During our Donkey Kong Bananza hands-on preview, we noted: "This might be Nintendo's most visually stunning game yet. It fully utilizes Switch 2's capabilities - breathtaking environments paired with DK's wonderfully expressive animations make this feel like the true start of next-gen Nintendo gaming."

Now that we know the Switch 2's launch date, technical specifications, and potential first-party pricing, explore our expert analysis of Nintendo's next console. For latest updates, revisit last month's Nintendo Direct announcements. Donkey Kong Bananza launches July 17 at $69.99, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2.