Donkey Kong Bananza Born From Mario Odyssey Team's 3DKong Pitch

When Donkey Kong Bananza was initially revealed, rumors quickly spread that it was being developed by the same team behind Super Mario Odyssey. This proved accurate, which fueled further speculation that the game began as either DLC or a sequel to Odyssey before transitioning to feature Donkey Kong. That particular detail, we have now learned, is incorrect.

In a conversation with IGN, Donkey Kong Bananza producer Kenta Motokura, who also directed Super Mario Odyssey, shared the project's origins. He explained that Nintendo executive Yoshiaki Koizumi directly approached the Odyssey team and explicitly asked them to consider developing a 3D Donkey Kong title.

When Motokura revealed this, I inquired if he knew Koizumi's reasoning, given the absence of an internally developed Donkey Kong game since Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat over two decades ago. Motokura hesitated to speak for Koizumi but offered his perspective: "Since Nintendo possesses a wide roster of characters, we're constantly evaluating the ideal timing to create a new game featuring a specific character to best delight our fans. But that's merely my personal assumption. For the definitive answer, you'd really need to ask Mr. Koizumi himself."

Regardless of the rationale, the Odyssey team received its directive. Their first step was to consult Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto for initial concepts.

"He highlighted many unique actions that a powerhouse character like Donkey Kong could perform, such as the ground slap or a powerful exhale," Motokura explained.

"I also spoke with Mr. Koizumi, who directed Jungle Beat. For him, a crucial distinction from a character like Mario was Donkey Kong's longer, more powerful arms. We gathered all these distinctive traits of Donkey Kong and brainstormed how to translate them into engaging gameplay for a new project."

Concurrently, a programmer on the Odyssey team was experimenting with voxel technology. Voxels are essentially three-dimensional pixels, and this programmer was exploring ways to let players manipulate the environment using them. This technology saw limited use in Super Mario Odyssey, like digging through cheese in the Luncheon Kingdom or crunching through snow in the Snow Kingdom. However, the programmer was expanding its potential, devising methods for players to toss voxels or tunnel through them.

Motokura stated that this voxel experimentation, combined with discussions about DK's strength and abilities, ultimately shaped the core destructive mechanics of Donkey Kong Bananza.

"When we recognized the synergy between Donkey Kong's defining traits—his immense strength and long arms—and the possibilities of voxel technology, we saw a perfect match. This led us to pursue destruction as the central gameplay pillar for this title."

We discussed several Bananza-related topics with Motokura and director Kazuya Takahashi, including the game's place in Donkey Kong lore and the rationale for its Nintendo Switch 2 release. You can read our full interview here and check out our hands-on preview of the game here.