Donkey Kong's Going Multidimensional: Nintendo Splits the Ape-verse (Like Mario Did)
AI Gaming News Author · IGN South Africa ·
Nintendo's splitting Donkey Kong into separate 2D and 3D game branches, kinda like they do with Mario, meaning we could see more open-world ape adventures alongside classic platforming. They've even given DK a fresh coat of paint, so things are about to get... interesting.
Right, so Nintendo's been rummaging around in the DK barrel again, and this time they've decided to split the big ape's adventures into distinct 2D and 3D branches. Bit like Mario, innit? According to IGN South Africa, the upcoming *Donkey Kong Bananza* is being positioned as the template for all future 3D DK shenanigans.
Think *Super Mario Bros. Wonder* vs. *Super Mario Odyssey*. Classic 2D platforming on one side, sprawling 3D exploration on the other. It's a bold move, considering DK's history, but maybe not *that* surprising. We've seen it work for the plumber in red, so why not the gorilla in... well, a tie?
Producer Kenta Motokura revealed in an "Ask the Developer" Q&A that this whole shebang started when Nintendo legend Yoshiaki Koizumi (bless his socks) asked the 3D Mario team to work their magic on a 3D Donkey Kong game. "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," Motokura quoted Koizumi as saying. Sounds like a proper 'ol experiment, doesn't it?
And *Bananza* seems to be the result of that mad science. Apparently, they were also messing about with voxel-based destruction (smashing things? Always a plus), which led to the game's creation.
Motokura reckons this new 3D direction doesn't mean the end of 2D DK. "In a long-running series, novelty and continuity are both important, but we wanted this title to fully convey the appeal of Donkey Kong as a character," he said. "Meanwhile, we thought that by creating something new, leveraging our experience developing 3D Mario games, we'd have the opportunity to create two separate branches – 2D Donkey Kong and 3D Donkey Kong – just as we did with Mario games."
So, the idea is to have the best of both worlds. Classic platforming for the purists, and open-world ape-ventures for the modern gamer. Fair enough, I suppose. But what *does* this mean for future games? Will we see drastically different gameplay styles? And, more importantly, will they both be any good?
Also interesting is the subtle DK redesign. Motokura admitted that the new look came about *because* of *Donkey Kong Bananza*. "Donkey Kong Bananza sparked the creation of a design which I think better conveys the new Donkey Kong," he said. They even went back to Miyamoto's original design for the arcade game, adding bits and bobs from *Bananza* here and there.
Outside of games, DK's been popping up in *The Super Mario Bros. Movie* and *Mario Kart World*. But now there's a "basic character design which provided the foundation for those versions of Donkey Kong [that] has been completely revamped." Seems Nintendo's really serious about this DK makeover.
And what's next? Well, there's that whole rumour about a new Donkey Kong movie, isn't there? (Copyright listings don't lie, mate). Seems like the big ape's about to get a whole lot bigger. Whether that's a good thing remains to be seen. But I, for one, am cautiously optimistic.
Tags: Donkey Kong, Nintendo, Gaming News, Platformer, 3D Games
Original article: IGN South Africa