Donkey Kong Bananza is out this week, and Nintendo has released a new Ask the Developer instalment to talk about the game’s development and reveal some of the secrets and processes behind creating it.
Among the many factoids shared, we’ve now learned that the new Donkey Kong design isn’t based on the movie. In fact, Donkey Kong Bananza and its new design have been in development for so long that this version of Donkey Kong actually informed what would appear in both The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Mario Kart World.
Outside of this game, Donkey Kong has recently appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Movie released in 2023 and in Mario Kart World, but there’s a basic character design which provided the foundation for those versions of Donkey Kong. That basic Donkey Kong design has been completely revamped. While overhauling the design, we returned to where it had all started. We took Miyamoto-san’s original Donkey Kong as the basis, adding design elements from Donkey Kong Bananza here and there.
Does that mean that all of the recent Donkey Kong designs, including those from the movie and Mario Kart World, have their roots in the original one created by Miyamoto-san, with elements of Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong Bananza added to it?
Motokura: That’s correct. Donkey Kong Bananza sparked the creation of a design which I think better conveys the new Donkey Kong.
Ever since the new design was revealed, people have been saying, “Oh, it’s based on the movie?” — but it’s actually been the other way around the whole time.
Read more about Donkey Kong Bananza’s development in the Ask the Developer interviews.
