Banana Town

Banana Town: Slot Overview

Throughout the history of video gaming, certain notable releases have stood out, serving as a source of creativity, providing a boost to the industry, or offering pure enjoyment. One of the early giants in the gaming world was Donkey Kong . Designed by the talented Shigeru Miyamoto, this game debuted in 1981, rapidly achieving popularity. It led to numerous sequels and established franchise lines not to mention marking the first appearance of Mario before his own unprecedented success. Now, embracing the nostalgic vibe of the Donkey Kong arcade era is 'Banana Town,' an online slot game launched by Relax Gaming . This engaging game boasts a blend of scatter pays and cascading features, each enhancing play with unique symbol bonuses, including progressive multipliers and free spins.

By stylistically nodding to earlier video game aesthetics, Relax Gaming fashioned 'Banana Town' with an 8-bit visual design. The development team clearly harbors a fondness for vintage gaming, as seen in previous releases like the holiday-themed slot Santa’s Stack , and as in the remarkable homage to the classic era celebrated in Hellcatraz . What may have kickstarted this trend was Thunderkick with Flame Busters . This design choice involves intentionally bigger graphics, animations that are visibly less smooth, and sound effects resembling those from the past. While some modern players may perceive it as slightly outdated, a significant number enjoy such experiences, with titles like Mr. Hopp’s Playhouse series and Baldi’s Basics being quite popular at the time of writing.

Using a grid consisting of six reels and five rows, Banana Town invites players to win through a scatter pay method. The key to winning is to get at least 8 identical symbols visible anywhere across the grid, a mechanic similar to hit games like Sweet Bonanza . With a winning frequency of 18.45%, the game promises a return to player ranging from 96.12% to 96.16% if circumstances allow buying free spins . Players have a betting range that stretches from 10 pence or cents up to 50 dollars or euros per spin, offering a broad spectrum of possibilities for different gambling preferences.

Banana Town's regular symbols are a colorful collection of bananas in blue, green, red, and yellow, together with five monkey characters styled as gangsters. Getting between eight and nine of the same symbols results in a payout of 0.5 times the initial stake for lower tier symbols, increasing to between 1 and 4 times for higher-value ones. Wins involving 12 or more matching symbols see returns between 2 and 3 times for lower icons and between 4 and 12 times for premier symbols. Notably, the game doesn't feature wild symbols at any stage.

Banana Town: Slot Features

Banana Town keeps its features straightforward, with a base game progressive multiplier system that becomes persistently powerful when activating free spins. Initially, whenever a scatter victory is secured, those symbols disappear from the grid, with remaining symbols falling down to cover the spaces left behind. New scatter wins repeat this cascading process until no further wins appear. Next, a meter on the grid's right side tracks and collects wins, each type enhancing its respective win multiplier. Multiplier values begin at x1 and double with each consistent symbol win, peaking at x64.

Free Spins

A bounty of eight free spins is yours for landing three dollar sign icons, with extra spins gifted for every additional icon beyond that. During free spins, individual icons may contribute plus one to the overall free spin total. Notably, in the bonus rounds, win multipliers stick around instead of resetting, unlike in the base game.

Bonus Buy

For those unwilling to wait for a lucky spin, there's an option to purchase immediate access to the free spins round by wagering 100 times the bet amount. Prior to initiating these bought spins, win multipliers might see random increases.

Banana Town: Slot Verdict

Lovers of retro-styled gaming should find Banana Town pleasantly engaging. Although not immediately as captivating as games like Hellcatraz, and possessing a somewhat simpler gameplay design overall, the game's bright and cheery application of limited color provides visual appeal, likely warming the hearts of those who remember vintage video gaming. Featuring prominently in that nostalgic hall of fame alongside heroes like Donkey Kong from the early platformer games, are legendary figures such as Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Mario, Sonic, Pikachu, and Link.

In many of those pioneering games, recognizing game patterns could lead to rewarding experiences, though early progressions might prove challenging. Do you recall playing older titles where the difficulty level seemed set just slightly against you by design? How many times did a sense of frustration lead to a controller being hurled at the floor? While Banana Town doesn't offer a significant challenge curve, players must comprehend its straightforward objective: achieve wins, boost multipliers, and strive for further victories supported by those multipliers. Such sequences might come about more fluidly during better base game cascades, but the true magic often resides within the persistent multiplier element during free spins. Trying the paid spins route came with simultaneous highs and frustrations, appearing to yield winning outcomes less frequently than hoped.

In truth, perhaps our experience reflects a mere unlucky streak. At times, a meeting of multipliers with an advantageous scatter win resulted in enjoyable victories. Overall, while Banana Town doesn't rank among Relax Gaming’s most expansive slots, it boasts a healthy max win of 10,000 times the player's stake. That said, it doesn’t carry the explosive potential seen in some of their other slots. Specifically, gathering 12 or more top-paying symbols when also benefiting from an x64 multiplier yields a payout of 768 times the stake amount. While few would scoff at such, it remains rather moderate by Relax Gaming's illustrious offering standards.

On the bright side, Relax Gaming sets an exceptionally high bar for slot games, and even if Banana Town doesn't represent their flagship productions, it remains an entertaining exploration of a nostalgic era with some intriguing features that may at times become thrilling.