Koizumi pitched 3D Donkey Kong, sparked DK Bananza

Upon the initial announcement of Donkey Kong Bananza, speculation quickly arose that it was being developed by the same team behind Super Mario Odyssey. This proved accurate, fueling further rumors that the game had originated as DLC or a sequel to Odyssey before later shifting to feature Donkey Kong. That specific detail, we have now learned, is incorrect.

In an interview 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 approached the Odyssey team and explicitly proposed they consider developing a 3D Donkey Kong game.

When Motokura revealed this, I asked if he knew Koizumi's motivation, given that Nintendo hadn't internally developed a Donkey Kong title since Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat over two decades prior. Motokura hesitated to speak for Koizumi but offered, "Since Nintendo has a wide roster of characters, we're always considering the right timing to create a new game featuring a particular character to best delight our fans. But that's just my personal assumption. For the definitive answer, you'd really have to ask Mr. Koizumi himself."

Regardless of the reasoning, the Odyssey team accepted the challenge. Their first step was to consult Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto for initial ideas.

"He emphasized the unique actions a powerful character like Donkey Kong could perform, such as the hand slap or a powerful breath attack," Motokura recalled.

"I also spoke with Mr. Koizumi, who directed Jungle Beat. For him, a key distinguishing trait compared to a character like Mario was Donkey Kong's longer, stronger arms. We gathered all these distinctive character traits 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 the three-dimensional equivalent of pixels, and this programmer was exploring ways to let players manipulate the environment using them. This technology saw smaller-scale use in Super Mario Odyssey's Luncheon Kingdom, where Mario digs through cheese, and in the Snow Kingdom, where he crunches through snowdrifts. However, the programmer was pushing it further, developing systems for players to throw voxels or tunnel through them.

Motokura stated that it was the combination of these discussions about DK's physical prowess and the experiments with voxel tech that crystallized the core destructive mechanics of Donkey Kong Bananza.

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

We discussed numerous topics with Motokura and director Kazuya Takahashi, including Bananza's place in the Donkey Kong series canon and the decision to release on the Nintendo Switch 2. You can read our full interview here and check out our hands-on preview of the game here.