Nintendohas cheekily been hinting at Odd Rock’s real identity inDonkey Kong Bananzafor months, and fans are only now just pointing out how obvious it was.
A few days ago,Nintendo came out of the woodwork with a Donkey Kong Bananza Direct that absolutely blew us all awayand reminded us who the king of 3D platformers is. Beyond that, it also confirmed once and for all what we all already knew -DK’s new companion Odd Rock is actually a younger Pauline.
If Nintendo’s Korean website hadn’t spoiled this months ago already, it would have been quite a massive reveal for us all. Still, even if it had been accidentally revealed some time ago, it was an exciting moment for Bananza. As it turns out, though, Nintendo has already been teasing Odd Rock’s true identity for some time.
Donkey Kong Bananza’s Soundtrack Hinted At Pauline Being Odd Rock
It’s So Obvious Now We Know For Sure
Over on Twitter,DaNintendude shared a brief clip of Odd Rock’s introduction in Donkey Kong Bananza, which was shown off by Nintendo in a Treehouse a few months ago. The clip shows DK looking at Odd Rockwhile an instantly noticeable musical theme playsin the background.
That musical theme might not sound important, but it’s actually a big tease as to who Odd Rock really is. DaNintendude pointed out that Odd Rock’s theme is actually a variation (or leitmotif if you’re fancy) of the jingle that plays when rescuing Pauline in the original Donkey Kong.
If you place the two side-by-side, as DaNintendude has done, it becomes immediately obvious that it’s a purposeful wink towards who Odd Rock is supposed to be. Of course, that knowledge was only just confirmed by Nintendo, so it would have been a bit of a reach before, but now we know Odd RockisPauline, it’s a very cheeky reference to include.
Don’t even ask me what an original Donkey Kong reference isgoing to mean for Bananza’s timeline…
The initial leak made it clear that Nintendo wasn’t too fussed about Pauline’s identity being revealed ahead of time, but it is at least funny to know that it’s been hinting at the truth for so long without many of us catching on.
