With the release of Donkey Kong Bananza looming just over the horizon, producer Kenta Motokura and director Kazuya Takahashi have revealed that the game has been in development for eight years. In an interview with La Vanguardia (courtesy of The Gamer), the duo revealed that they started working on the title right after wrapping up Super Mario Odyssey back in 2017.
“I can’t give you very precise details, I can tell you that we started developing it after finishing Super Mario Odyssey (2017),” said Motukura. For context, Super Mario Odyssey was released on the original Switch in the same year that the console had come out. With Donkey Kong Bananza, it means that the same team has worked on two separate projects, both within their consoles’ launch years.
The duo also spoke about some of the differentiating factors between Super Mario Odyssey and Donkey Kong Bananza. Motokura noted that one of the key differences between the two games is how players interact with the world around them. While Mario interacted with the world through Cappy, Donkey Kong Bananza makes use of voxel technology to allow Donkey Kong to change the environment around him.
Takahashi brought up how even something like the flow of levels in both games is different. While the studio wanted each level in Super Mario Odyssey to be distinct and fun in its own way, with Donkey Kong Bananza, there was a stronger emphasis on “the element of destruction and the continuity it generates”. This includes things like causing chain reactions by destroying random things to reveal secret rooms.
“As a different character, we thought it was natural to differentiate playability as well,” said Motokura (via machine translation). “The team thoroughly debated Donkey Kong’s own features and how we could make them stand out in the game.”
In the same interview, Takahashi had also spoken about his history with the Donkey Kong franchise, and how he decided to revisit the classics in the series to get ready for his role as director for Donkey Kong Bananza. “I do have very fond memories of playing Donkey Kong Jr. and later Donkey Kong Country,” he said. “After I learned I’d been assigned to the Donkey Kong Bananza team, I replayed all the games in the franchise.”
Takahashi also brought up Donkey Kong Country, which was a major entry in the series thanks to its (at the time) cutting-edge visuals that melded 3D graphics with 2D sidescrolling gameplay. The title also introduced many mechanics that have become synonymous with the Donkey Kong franchise, including minecart and barrel cannons.
“In particular, Donkey Kong Country introduced unique mechanics like barrel cannons and minecarts,” explained Takahashi. “I wanted to revisit those elements and add a sense of destruction. That motivated me to incorporate past memories along with new ideas.”
Donkey Kong Bananza is coming exclusively to the Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17. For more details about the game, check out how it was originally envisioned as a game for the original Switch before it was decided to bring it to the Switch 2 instead.
