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Kevin Bayliss, the artist behind the Donkey Kong look associated with Donkey Kong Country, responded positively to a fan video criticizing the character’s newly seen design in Nintendo Switch 2 reveal footage. “Everything changes! — Change is good!” he wrote, according to Nintendo Life’s January 21, 2025 report. His reply was a personal reaction, not a formal Nintendo statement.
What Kevin Bayliss said about the redesign
The fan video suggested Nintendo had removed Rare’s Donkey Kong Country design and returned to earlier looks. Nintendo Life paraphrased the video’s position but did not reproduce its exact wording. Bayliss answered with a joke that played on the series name, then made his view clear:
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“You can take the KONG out of the Country, but you can’t take the Country out of the Kong! (I love it – this is really funny! – Everything changes! – Change is good!)”
Bayliss’s response treated the debate lightly and welcomed change. It does not establish Nintendo’s reasoning for the design or mean that the company had issued a statement about the criticism.
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Why the January response is easy to confuse with later comments
Bayliss made a separate, more emphatic response on April 3, 2025, after Nintendo showed Donkey Kong Bananza. In a later Nintendo Life report, he said, “I don’t understand why there’s any debate to be had. It’s still DK, only better looking. People need to embrace change more!” He also argued that character evolution should be gradual and sympathetic to the original, calling the Bananza design “perfect imo.” Those remarks were about the game’s revealed design, not the fan video that prompted his January reply.
Donkey Kong Bananza was listed for Nintendo Switch 2 with a July 17, 2025 release date in GameSpot’s release-date report.
Nintendo’s explanation came later
Bayliss’s personal reaction is distinct from Nintendo’s stated design rationale. In a May 21, 2025 report, Nintendo Life relayed Shigeru Miyamoto’s explanation, citing an IGN interview: “And going back to the design that Rare came up with, we reevaluated; what can we do with the design to make it more expressive?” That is Miyamoto’s account of Nintendo’s process, not an explanation supplied by Bayliss.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the coverage establishes about fan reaction
Coverage described mixed reactions to the redesigned character, but the cited reports do not provide a representative measure of fan opinion. A poll is mentioned in the January report without a usable result in its article text, so there is no supported percentage or basis for saying most fans approved or objected.
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Timeline
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| January 21, 2025 | Nintendo Life reported Bayliss’s response to a fan video about the Donkey Kong design seen in Switch 2 reveal footage. |
| April 3, 2025 | Bayliss separately praised the Donkey Kong Bananza design and discussed character evolution. |
| May 21, 2025 | Nintendo Life reported Miyamoto’s explanation of Nintendo’s design process, citing IGN. |
| July 17, 2025 | GameSpot listed Donkey Kong Bananza for Nintendo Switch 2 with this release date. |
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