The reviews are in, and it looks likeDonkey Kong Bananzaisa chest-thumping hit. The game has beenin development longer than GTA 6, and was originally planned for the original Switch. However, it seems Nintendo wanted to up the ante with this one, resulting ina higher quality launch on the Switch 2.
The central mechanic of Bananza is Donkey Kong’s strength, which allows him to destroy almost any surface in the game. It seems this idea was born during the development of Super Mario Odyssey, when some devs were messing around with ideas for destructible environments.
The Idea For Donkey Kong Bananza Came From Experimenting On Mario Odyssey
In the latest edition of Nintendo’sAsk the Developerseries (viaGamesRadar+), producer Kenta Motokura and co-directors Wataru Tanaka and Kazuya Takahashi revealed that the team started experimenting with destructible environments, and that’s where the idea of a new Donkey Kong struck them.
“Shortly after Super Mario Odyssey was released, we started running technical experiments with the idea of, “What kind of game do you get if everything in the environment is destructible?” revealed Tanaka. “We even tried sticking arms on a Goomba,” added Motokura.
“That’s right, we did,” laughed Tanaka. “In Super Mario Odyssey, there’s a boss called Knucklotec who attacks Mario with giant hands. The programmer who created him tried attaching those arms to a Goomba as an experiment. The Goomba could smash terrain, tear off pieces to use as weapons, and throw them. Those actions felt surprisingly satisfying, and we got a sense that this destruction-based gameplay could be a compelling core mechanic.”
“The results of our tests showed that destruction-based gameplay could work, and it was a good match for Donkey Kong’s enormous strength. We felt that the concept and the core gameplay had clicked into place,” revealed Motokura.
This resulted in some amazing footage of a giant Goomba ripping up the land around him. Mario would have definitely had a hard time dealing with him. This eventually evolved into the core mechanic of Donkey Kong Bananza, giving us the playground of destruction that we see in the game today.
