Donkey Kong Bananza began as a proposal for the 3D Mario team to make a 3D Donkey Kong game. In an interview published ahead of the game’s launch, producer Kenta Motokura and director Kazuya Takahashi explained how the team turned Donkey Kong’s physical strength into a game built around smashing and reshaping the world. Nintendo’s own developer interviews add detail on the team, its voxel technology and the move from Switch development to Switch 2.
Who was interviewed, and who made Donkey Kong Bananza?
IGN’s Rebekah Valentine interviewed producer Kenta Motokura and director Kazuya Takahashi for the July 10, 2025 feature “Our Big Bananas Interview With the Developers of Donkey Kong Bananza”. The interview was published before the game launched; its responses were lightly edited for clarity. The feature’s text is available through Yahoo Tech syndication.
Nintendo’s three-part Ask the Developer interview, published July 15, 2025, identifies more of the team: Wataru Tanaka was another director and the programming director, Daisuke Watanabe was art director, and Naoto Kubo was sound director. Some team members had previously worked on 3D Mario games, including Super Mario Odyssey. Nintendo’s English interview is translated from Japanese and was also conducted before release.
How did the 3D Donkey Kong project begin?
Motokura said Yoshiaki Koizumi asked the 3D Mario team to consider making a 3D Donkey Kong game. Recalling Koizumi’s request, Motokura quoted him as saying: “With an eye to expanding the Donkey Kong franchise further, I’d like the team that’s been working on 3D Mario games to create a 3D Donkey Kong game.” That is Motokura recounting Koizumi’s words, not a direct interview with Koizumi.
#1 Best Overall
- Explore a vast underground world—by smashing your way through it!
- A brand-new 3D platforming action adventure starring Donkey Kong and Pauline
- Bash through just about anything in groundbreaking exploration! Crash through walls and carve tunnels—the more you smash, the more areas open up to you
- Pair up with Pauline to use Bananza Transformations: smash through obstacles with the raw strength of Kong form, gallop with incredible speed as a Zebra, and more
- Team up with a friend in two-player co-op as Donkey Kong and Pauline! Blast foes and terrain alike with Pauline’s voice as you explore together
The team then sought Shigeru Miyamoto’s perspective on Donkey Kong. As Nintendo describes it, the design challenge was to express the character’s identity and strength while finding a new form for the series. That meant the game’s central idea had to feel rooted in who Donkey Kong is—not simply transplant familiar 3D platforming into a different setting.
Why make destruction the center of play?
Donkey Kong’s strength suggests actions that are immediate and physical: punching, slapping, blowing on objects and manipulating things in the environment. The developers’ interviews connect those character traits to a world that responds to force. Smashing terrain can expose routes or objects, and each change can prompt the player to try something else. Destruction is therefore more than a visual effect; it is a way to make exploration and experimentation follow from the character concept.
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- Embark on a brand-new Donkey Kong adventure exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2.
- Explore the Underground World with dynamic environments and hidden secrets.
- Battle VoidCo and its minions using DK’s signature strength and powerful punches.
- Team up with a mysterious new companion with unique gameplay abilities.
- Recover the Golden Bananas across thrilling, action-packed levels.
Nintendo’s account emphasizes iterative design and chains of player actions and reactions. Rather than treating a broken surface as the end of an interaction, the team wanted the resulting opening, material or newly reachable area to lead naturally to another discovery.
What does “voxel-based” mean in Bananza?
The developers use voxels as the game’s underlying way of representing terrain and enemies. Takahashi explained in Nintendo’s interview: “Everything in this game is made out of voxels, including the terrain and the enemies.” In this context, voxels support destructible terrain and material-specific behavior. The term describes the technology and structure used to build the world; it does not mean players should expect the game to look like a field of visible cubes.
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Rank #3
![Donkey Kong Bananza Standard - Nintendo Switch 2 [Digital Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Xv8olm5RL._SL160_.jpg)
- Uncover a wide variety of environments, like forest, canyon, and lagoon, as you delve underground
- Reshape the world as you tear through it, with the help of…an Odd Rock?
The technical challenge grows quickly with the amount of world represented. Nintendo’s interview illustrates the scaling with a simple example: doubling a voxel grid in width, height and depth means 2 × 2 × 2, or eight times as much data. That is arithmetic explaining the developers’ memory concern, not a benchmark of the finished game. The team’s aim was to make extensive destruction and the reactions it enables work together, rather than sacrifice one to support the other.
Why did development move from Switch to Switch 2?
Motokura said development began on Nintendo Switch, but the team found that the volume of voxel data and the destruction effects it wanted were challenging for the original system’s memory and processing capacity. Nintendo’s interview says the team began considering a move to Switch 2 around 2021. Motokura recalled: “We originally began developing Donkey Kong Bananza on Nintendo Switch, but we ran into some challenges. I think it was around 2021 when we started to think about moving development to Switch 2.”
Rank #4
![Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush Standard - Nintendo Switch 2 [Digital Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51qtRWiIToL._SL160_.jpg)
- Full version of game required to use DLC. Sold separately.
The developers said the newer hardware let them pursue more objects and more destruction, and achieve a 60 fps result during development. This is the team’s stated rationale and development account, not an independent performance test or a guarantee about every scene or play condition.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How did the team shape Donkey Kong’s look?
Nintendo says the art team used Miyamoto’s original Donkey Kong design as a basis while seeking to recover what it viewed as the character’s identity. The model was adjusted for expression and movement, as well as for a camera that often shows Donkey Kong from behind in a 3D environment. Those requirements make the design more than a matter of matching a familiar silhouette: the character also needs to read clearly while moving and reacting from the player’s viewpoint.
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- The next evolution of Nintendo Switch
- One system, three play modes: TV, Tabletop, and Handheld
- Larger, vivid, 7.9” LCD touch screen with support for HDR and up to 120 fps
- Explore a vast underground world—by smashing your way through it!
- A brand-new 3D platforming action adventure starring Donkey Kong and Pauline
What are the game’s release and play options?
Donkey Kong Bananza is Nintendo Switch 2 software. Nintendo’s US product page lists its release date as July 17, 2025, and its download size as 9 GB. That listing is US-specific; release and product details can differ by market. See Nintendo’s US product page for Donkey Kong Bananza for current listing details.
Nintendo describes Pauline as Donkey Kong’s companion and says her singing empowers transformations. The US listing also specifies single-system play for one to two players, two-player co-op, Assist Mode and GameShare options with conditions. The game is the software; a Nintendo Switch 2 system is required to play it.
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