Donkey Kong Bananza

• 1. Introduction

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  Donkey Kong Bananza gives a gorilla one job: dig down, and smash whatever gets in the way. Nintendo EPD developed the 2025 platform game for the Nintendo Switch 2, and its landscapes crumble under nearly every punch, slap and throw.

  The game raises a handful of questions. Why did the team behind Super Mario Odyssey turn to a gorilla next? What technology lets a console tear up entire worlds without stuttering? Who is the companion at his side, and what waits at the bottom of the hole? And why does a game about destruction care so much about song?

  The answers begin with a request from one of Nintendo's senior managers.

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• 2. A Manager's Request

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  Yoshiaki Koizumi, a senior general manager at Nintendo EPD, had directed Donkey Kong Jungle Beat in 2004. When Production Group No. 8 finished Super Mario Odyssey, he asked the same team to make a 3D Donkey Kong game.

  The last original Donkey Kong release was Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in 2014, and Koizumi wanted to expand the series. Nintendo had also not built a Donkey Kong game in-house since Jungle Beat. The company hoped to give the gorilla separate 2D and 3D lines, just as it had with Super Mario.

  Kenta Motokura, who directed Odyssey, became the producer. He had worked as a character artist on Jungle Beat. Motokura said the team hoped to innovate the way earlier games had. The 1981 Donkey Kong brought story-driven play and varied stages, and Donkey Kong Country in 1994 brought pre-rendered graphics.

  To understand the character, the team consulted Koizumi and Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Donkey Kong. Both stressed strength, from different angles. Koizumi pointed to the large arms that set the gorilla apart from Mario. Miyamoto pointed to a wild, goofy nature and abilities such as slapping the terrain.

  Kazuya Takahashi and Wataru Tanaka became the directors. Takahashi had joined Nintendo in 2020 after working on open-world role-playing games, and Tanaka had been a programmer on Odyssey. Nintendo Life reported that development began in 2017 or 2018. GamesRadar+ speculated that full-scale production likely waited until Takahashi arrived and EPD finished Bowser's Fury in 2021. The staff began work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Tanaka said he was "obsessed" with Donkey Kong Country as a child. Other staff grew up on the Rare-developed games, and the art director, Daisuke Watanabe, grew up playing the 1981 game on the Famicom. The first sign that these lifelong fans had something new to offer came from an engineer's side experiment after Odyssey.

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• 3. Voxel Playground

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  Tatsuya Kurihara, a software engineer, began experimenting with voxel technology once Super Mario Odyssey had shipped. Odyssey used voxels sparingly, letting Mario dig through cheese and plow through snow. Motokura thought the idea could go much further.

  In one test, Kurihara gave a Goomba oversized hands so it could rip up terrain and hurl it. Tanaka said the team found this "surprisingly satisfying" and saw a possible core mechanic. Motokura argued that Donkey Kong's physical strength suited the technology. He also cited the second level of Super Mario Bros. from 1985, where the player can break blocks to open a path.

  The original Nintendo Switch was the first target. Around 2021, development shifted to the Switch 2. The older console's limited memory struggled with the detailed environments, and Tanaka doubted the game could be made as envisioned.

  The newer hardware held a stable 60 frames per second, allowed larger and more detailed worlds, and made room for ideas that had been dropped. Takahashi added that the team was also tempted by the Joy-Con 2's mouse controls. Watanabe said the Switch 2 did more than open up the game's potential. In his telling, it made the game possible.

  Every piece of terrain in Bananza is built from voxels, which Motokura named as the main difference from Odyssey. The average level holds more than 347 million of them. Takahashi found voxels more convenient than polygonal modeling, because developers could combine voxels and materials and test the result right away.

  EPD wanted players not to notice the voxels at all. The team found objects more fun when they did not look destructible, and it limited polygons to keep the frame rate smooth. A new virtual camera system lets players see while digging underground. Programming help came from two outside companies, 1-Up Studio and tri-Crescendo.

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• 4. Digging Downward

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  Takahashi replayed every Donkey Kong game before shaping the world, and he singled out Donkey Kong Country as a particular influence. Because Bananza was the first 3D Donkey Kong platformer since Donkey Kong 64 in 1999, Watanabe wanted it to feel new in both gameplay and art direction. Motokura added that the team did not want to rely only on nostalgia.

  Minecarts, barrel cannons and Animal Friends such as Rambi return, but voxels let EPD present them in new ways. Side-scrolling areas bridge the gap between the 2D and 3D games. The team wanted to satisfy veterans while welcoming players who had been put off by the series' high difficulty. That goal produced the skill tree, an easier game mode and optional co-op.

  Each underground layer carries its own theme, including ice, lava and tropical biomes. EPD generally picked a theme first and then asked which voxel mechanics would fit it. The ability to surf on chunks of terrain, for example, inspired a layer of rolling hills.

  The 3D Super Mario games send players upward, but these levels guide them down. Designers built each one around landmarks such as basins, craters and buildings running through the ground, to keep players destroying terrain. They drew the primary route first and designed alternate paths afterward. Sinkholes connect the layers, so players reach new places through gameplay, which Odyssey did not do.

  Destruction has a floor, because an unbreakable layer of bedrock sits at the bottom of each level. Large bosses block the routes between layers, and the player must defeat each to progress. Progress appears on a 3D world map, and giant eels let players fast travel within a layer or between layers.

  Freedom was a priority. Players are not tied to one route, sequence breaking is possible, and it is easy to rejoin the main path after a detour. Destruction also pushed the team away from the pattern-based boss fights of Super Mario, so players can deal damage at any time. For collision, EPD placed rough shapes beneath characters and objects so that hits would connect. Objects sometimes clip through walls, a break in immersion the team accepted for the sake of enjoyment.

  The team designed the underground as a hierarchical society, with structures modeled on either the animal inhabitants or bananas. They wanted it to feel strange and unlike the surface settings of earlier games, with a wide range of colors. Even so, they evoked the series' Brooklyn-inspired original look and used the neon pink and blue of the 1981 game as highlights. A counter shows how many meters underground the player is, echoing the 1981 game, which used height to mark its levels.

  The Fractones are mineral characters with sparkling eyes, and Takahashi described them as symbolizing destruction. Motokura wanted voxels used for more than terrain, and Takahashi liked the idea of characters the player could smash or use as materials. Voxels allowed many variations, so Fractones appear in shapes suited to their roles and surroundings. Like other underground characters, they were written as lovers of destruction and violence. That trait adds humor, separates the underground from the human world where common sense prevails, and nudges players toward the destruction mechanics.

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• 5. A Stronger Kong

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  Kevin Bayliss of Rare gave Donkey Kong a cooler, more adventurous look in the Country redesign. Bananza's version combines that look with the expressiveness of Miyamoto's original. The design was created for Bananza but first appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023 and Mario Kart World in 2025.

  Watanabe said the team tried to capture what makes the character appealing, stay true to Miyamoto's vision and account for how different generations of fans see him. They consulted previous Donkey Kong artists for advice. Donkey Kong's model is much larger than Mario's, so the team emphasized his facial expressions. They also gave him overalls and thick fur so he looks interesting from behind. Cranky Kong now carries a shovel instead of a cane.

  The punch was one of the hardest parts to design, because EPD wanted to keep it from becoming monotonous. That meant fine adjustments to sound design, controller rumble and camera effects. Slow motion and freeze frames add emphasis.

  Motokura conceived the power-up transformations, thinking they would make destruction more fun. EPD discussed elemental forms such as fire. The animal forms grew out of concept art showing Donkey Kong as a muscular zebra. The gorilla form came from the idea of a "dark hero", and the ostrich honors Donkey Kong Country, which features a flying ostrich character. The others were built around what they could do.

  Elders among the non-player characters teach the player five transformations. The gorilla form adds strength, the zebra adds speed, and the ostrich glides and drops egg bombs. The elephant inhales and spits terrain, and the snake jumps higher. Players can swap between them at any time, but an energy meter limits how long each lasts. EPD hoped they would encourage revisiting levels in new ways, yet designed the game to be completed without any of them.

  Banandium Gems, golden banana-shaped diamonds, are the main reward, and the player spends them on a skill tree. Reportedly up to 1,000 can be obtained, and 777 are tracked as unique collectibles. Collecting them is optional. Gold serves as currency and fuel for transformations, while balloons rescue Donkey Kong from bottomless pits. Fossils can be traded for clothing for Donkey Kong and Pauline.

  Miyamoto played the game throughout development and suggested a change to the controls. The game first used the Super Mario button layout, with the lowest face button for jumping, but Miyamoto thought digging would suit that button better. Takahashi found this more intuitive and made it the default, keeping the Mario layout as an option.

  The optional co-op mode lets a child or friend join in with the Joy-Con 2's mouse controls. EPD gave the second player more agency than in the co-op modes of Super Mario Galaxy in 2007 and Odyssey. A separate mode, DK Artist, lets players carve and paint sculptures. It began as a debugging tool for sculpting environments, and the team compared it to the interactive Mario face in Super Mario 64 from 1996, which served a similar purpose.

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• 6. Pauline and the Root

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  The word Bananza fuses banana and bonanza, a pun that arose while EPD discussed an opening sequence showing a gold rush. Tanaka thought the title perfectly described a game about digging up bananas. The studio also treated the Banandium Root as the source of the world's energy, and it used the banana prefix for objects that draw on that energy.

  On Ingot Isle, Donkey Kong arrives hunting Banandium Gems amid the gold rush. A mining corporation, VoidCo., steals the gems to power its ship. Its president, Void Kong, wants to reach the planetary core and claim the Banandium Root, a magical object that grants its wielder's wishes.

  Donkey Kong is swept underground and rescues Odd Rock, an anthropomorphic purple stone who points him toward objectives. They find a vast Hollow Earth-like region of animal societies and ancient elders. A Kong elder grants Donkey Kong new powers and restores Odd Rock to its true form, a teenage girl named Pauline. She explains that Void kidnapped her, believing her singing voice could awaken the root.

  As the pair descend, Pauline dreams of becoming a famous singer and grows more confident about singing. Void's subordinates become disillusioned and quit to help Donkey Kong instead. At the core, Pauline awakens an object that Void takes for the root. It frees King K. Rool, who had been trapped with his Kremling Krew while searching for it.

  K. Rool dispatches Void and wants to turn the world into rotten banana mush to eat. Donkey Kong and Pauline defeat him and claim the root. Donkey Kong wishes for a large supply of bananas, and Pauline wishes to go home. The root carries them on a tower of bananas to New Donk City, her hometown.

  Early in development, EPD decided that another character should accompany Donkey Kong. One developer suggested Pauline, but the software design description named no one. Motokura recalled the team revisiting the idea while building the zebra transformation. Naoto Kubo composed music for that sequence, and the team decided to turn it into a song that Pauline, established as a singer in Super Mario Odyssey, could perform.

  Pauline is depicted as a 13-year-old girl, in contrast to her earlier appearances as an adult. Takahashi felt that riding on Donkey Kong's back would look more natural for a girl. He said 13 is an age when children begin to worry about their futures, which gave the story a direction. The reason for the age difference is never explained, because EPD wanted to leave it to fans' imagination.

  Motokura decided that a mining company would make a suitable antagonist, which led to Void Kong and his subordinates. EPD focused on VoidCo. before deciding whether any characters from earlier games should appear. K. Rool replaces Void as the villain in a plot twist. It was his first appearance in a Donkey Kong game since DK: Jungle Climber in 2007, and it explained his long absence. Motokura insisted that Cranky Kong, a character he enjoys, be included. After release, debates ensued over whether Bananza was a prequel or a sequel to Odyssey.

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• 7. The Sound of Smashing

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  Kubo had to wait a full year for harvest season so he could record the sounds of watermelons breaking. He was Odyssey's lead composer and served as Bananza's sound director. EPD used Foley techniques and wanted destruction to sound varied and satisfying. The sounds of mining gold came from metal he bought at a hardware store.

  Food-related objects were recorded from staff chewing apples, candy, celery and cookies. For a level where Donkey Kong can punch hamburger meat, the team used a modified watermelon sound, since a good hamburger recording was hard to get. They added randomness and tuned the sounds so they were not too loud or high-pitched. Unusual objects in later levels received fun and flashy sounds.

  Miyamoto told Kubo, after playing an early build, that Donkey Kong felt too light and suggested louder footsteps. Kubo found this difficult, since he did not want to weaken the impact of the destruction sounds. He had Miyamoto listen to his adjustments and felt he had struck a balance.

  Voices mattered because of Pauline's role. EPD used her singing to signal routes and break barriers, and she is the only character who speaks a real language. Other voiced characters use fictional languages, which Kubo thought would deepen immersion. He cast the American actress Jenny Kidd as Pauline's singing voice and chose other actors whose voices matched hers. For the first time in 21 years, Takashi Nagasako did not voice Donkey Kong. Koji Takeda, who had voiced the character in the Japanese dub of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, replaced him.

  Daisuke Matsuoka, Reika Nakai, Yuri Goto and Tsukasa Usui composed alongside Kubo. He said they aimed for a soundtrack with "a wide range of expression". They felt constant high energy would become tiring, so the music suits both fast destruction and methodical exploration. Level themes are split into parts that shift with the player's surroundings. Kubo tied music to the animal transformations, much as Super Mario music changes with certain power-ups.

  At Motokura's request, Kubo wrote a song for each transformation, and Kidd performs several of them. Some are slow, while others are energetic or rap-like. They use fictional languages so the action stands out over the lyrics. The gorilla theme mixes African music, rock and electronic dance music. The zebra draws from Latin music, and the ostrich mixes rock and pop. Takeda sings background vocals on each.

  The series composers David Wise and Grant Kirkhope were not involved, yet the game features pieces from Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong 64. Kirkhope was amused by the remix of the Donkey Kong 64 "DK Rap", which he called "the worst rap track in the history of rap tracks". Kubo said the composers put original material first, though rearrangements appear throughout.

  The main theme, "Breaking Through (Heart of Gold)", is a ballad that sums up the game. Kubo wrote it as a retrospective of Donkey Kong and Pauline's adventures. He worked in the melody of the original Donkey Kong theme to join the franchise's past and future.

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• 8. Launch and Verdict

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  Nintendo revealed Donkey Kong Bananza on the 2nd of April 2025, as the closing trailer of a Nintendo Direct focused on the Switch 2. Journalists in New York City then played a 20-minute demo. Game Informer wrote that many had expected a 3D Super Mario announcement instead. The reveal made it the highly anticipated second major Switch 2 exclusive, following Mario Kart World.

  The campaign that followed included Nintendo Treehouse streams, the Nintendo Today! app, a dedicated Nintendo Direct and live-action television ads. Events in live service games such as Super Mario Run and Tetris 99 joined in. Players could try the game at Nintendo Switch 2 Experience events held worldwide between April and June. In June, Nintendo placed ten-minute demos at Switch 2 kiosks in Walmart and Target stores in the US. Shoppers at EB Games and Costco stores in Canada got demo events between the 18th and the 20th of July. In Japan, keychains and plushes accompanied the release. An Amiibo figure of Donkey Kong and Pauline arrived with the game, and Nintendo restocked Diddy Kong and K. Rool figures that had been out of print for several years.

  K. Rool was the name missing from the marketing. Nintendo left him out of its materials, which sparked debate over whether he would appear. A popular theory held that Void Kong was K. Rool in disguise. GamesRadar+ argued that his return seemed natural, given his long absence and the warm response to his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2018. Nintendo began featuring him in marketing in December 2025.

  Nintendo released the game on the 17th of July 2025, though copies had circulated by the 14th. Radio Times saw the launch as part of a wider effort to rebuild Donkey Kong as a major franchise. That effort also included his role in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a themed area at Super Nintendo World and a reported film adaptation with Universal Pictures.

  By the 23rd of June 2025, Bananza was already the bestselling game on Amazon. It debuted at the top of the UK physical sales charts, selling three times as many copies as the Switch version of Tropical Freeze. Sales ran at about half of Odyssey's launch, which an analyst blamed on the release coming closer to the console launch and in a slower sales period. In Japan it debuted in second place with 127,905 copies in three days, and 207,055 by the 3rd of August. In the US it was the bestselling game on Nintendo platforms in July and third overall. By the 31st of March 2026 it had sold 4.52 million copies worldwide, second among Switch 2 games. As of November, more than a third of Switch 2 players owned it.

  Metacritic recorded "universal acclaim", and OpenCritic reported that 99% of critics recommended the game. Reviewers called it the Switch 2's killer app. Logan Plant of IGN called it "Nintendo's first Switch 2 masterpiece", and The Washington Post likened it to Super Mario Odyssey. Critics praised the visuals and gameplay. IGN called it "a smashing return for a classic Nintendo character". Adam Newell of Destructoid praised the surprises, gameplay and story, and Jim Norman of Nintendo Life praised the variety, sense of adventure and challenges.

  Critics criticized the camera and frame rate. 4Players and NME disliked the co-op mode, which NME said felt "like an afterthought". Jeuxvideo.com called the bosses too easy and "recycled", and said the music was not impactful enough and the game had few "wow" sequences.

  Bananza ranked as the seventh-highest-rated game of 2025 on Metacritic and the fifth on OpenCritic. Publications including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, NPR, Rolling Stone and Der Spiegel named it one of the year's best. In a poll of 191 Japanese game developers and industry figures, it ranked as the fourth most popular game of 2025. Naoki Hamaguchi, director of the Final Fantasy VII Remake series, named it a favorite. It earned many nominations, including Game of the Year.

  On the 12th of September 2025, Nintendo released a patch with gameplay adjustments and a demo on the Nintendo eShop. That day also brought paid downloadable additions, DK Island and Emerald Rush. DK Island is an explorable area that was the setting of earlier Donkey Kong games. Emerald Rush is a roguelike mode in which the player collects emeralds for Void Kong. Metacritic listed the add-ons as "mixed or average reviews". IGN called them "a pretty irresistible proposition for Donkey Kong fans and retro gamers in general", and praised Emerald Rush as refreshing. Critics and players judged the price excessive for the limited size. Eurogamer and TechRadar enjoyed the add-ons but asked why they were not included at launch or released for free.

  On the 19th of September, Nintendo released nine soundtrack tracks on the Nintendo Music service, plus Bananza-themed profile pictures for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Limited-time Emerald Rush events, beginning on the 28th of October, offered special challenges to earn new character statues.

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