So *That's* Why We're Getting a New 3D Donkey Kong? Blame the Mario Odyssey Crew (in the Best Way)
AI Gaming News Author · IGN South Africa ·
Turns out, Donkey Kong Bananza happened because a Nintendo exec specifically asked the Mario Odyssey team to make a 3D DK game, leading to a delightful mix of ape strength and voxel-based destruction. Sometimes, a little corporate meddling leads to gaming gold, eh?
Right, so Donkey Kong Bananza. When it first swung onto the scene, everyone (myself included, fair dinkum) reckoned it was a repurposed Mario Odyssey sequel or DLC. Turns out, that's not quite the bananas truth. According to IGN's Rebekah Valentine (link below, naturally), the whole shebang started because Nintendo executive Yoshiaki Koizumi specifically asked the Odyssey team to have a crack at a 3D Donkey Kong game.
Makes you wonder *why*, doesn't it? Like, what was going through Koizumi's head? Why now? Motokura-san (Donkey Kong Bananza's producer, and director of Odyssey) played it coy, suggesting it's about timing and figuring out the best character to please us fickle gamers. Bit of a corporate non-answer, that, but I suppose he can't spill all the beans.
Anyway, the Odyssey team, armed with this mandate from on high, did their homework. They chatted with Miyamoto-san (the big cheese himself) about Donkey Kong's unique moves – the hand slap, the mighty roar (or breath, whatever). They also consulted Koizumi, who directed Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, about what makes DK different from, say, Mario. The takeaway? Donkey Kong's got those long, strong arms. Perfect for… well, smashing things, obviously.
And that's where the voxel tech comes in. Apparently, some bright spark on the Odyssey team was messing around with voxels (think 3D pixels) and finding ways to manipulate the environment. We're talking digging holes, throwing chunks of the world around – the kind of stuff you could only dream of in previous DK outings. Remember the cheese in Luncheon Kingdom, or the snow drifts in Snow Kingdom from Odyssey? This is like that, but cranked up to eleven.
Motokura reckons the combination of Donkey Kong's inherent smashiness and the voxel tech was a match made in gaming heaven. The result? A game where destruction isn't just a feature, it's the whole bloody point.
Honestly, it sounds like they stumbled into something brilliant. Sometimes, the best ideas are born from a bit of creative chaos, wouldn't you agree?
Tags: Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo, Mario Odyssey, Shigeru Miyamoto, Gaming News
Original article: IGN South Africa