Nintendo Confirms Donkey Kong Game, 3D Mario Future Questioned

Nintendo has officially revealed the development team for Donkey Kong Bananza. As many fans predicted, the highly anticipated Switch 2 title is being developed by the same team responsible for Super Mario Odyssey.

In a presentation held ahead of IGN's hands-on preview, Nintendo confirmed that the staff who worked on Odyssey are also behind this new Donkey Kong adventure.

This confirmation follows Nintendo's previous reluctance to specify which internal team was developing the game, even after Bananza was publicly playable during the global Switch 2 launch tour.

Nevertheless, this news likely comes as no surprise. Fans had long suspected Odyssey's talented developers were probably working on DK's visually impressive new game, pointing to numerous connections between the two titles—most notably their shared emphasis on the character Pauline.

Odyssey, released for the Switch in October 2017, was directed by Kenta Motokura (director of Super Mario 3D World) and produced by Yoshiaki Koizumi (director of Super Mario Galaxy) and Koichi Hayashida (director of Super Mario Galaxy 2).

Nintendo did not specify whether the entire Odyssey team or only some members returned for Donkey Kong Bananza. Fans are particularly curious about Koizumi's involvement.

A key figure in the original Nintendo Switch's creation and promotion, Koizumi was notably absent from the Switch 2 announcement. With over three decades at Nintendo, he began as an illustrator and rose to direct the GameCube's flagship platformer, Super Mario Sunshine. Koizumi has since played a central role in every 3D Mario game, serving as director for Super Mario Galaxy and producer for Galaxy 2, 3D Land, 3D World, and Odyssey.

Odyssey remains Nintendo's latest 3D Mario release, with no indication of when a new installment might arrive. Confirmation that Odyssey team members have been focused on Bananza raises questions about whether a new Switch 2 3D Mario is also in development or further away than expected. A detailed review of Bananza's credits after launch may offer more insights.

For now, it's noteworthy that Nintendo's premier Mario team has created a Donkey Kong game for the Switch 2's launch year—a spot typically reserved for Mario platformers.

Regarding Bananza's connections to Odyssey, the Switch platformer famously brought back Pauline as a major character after years of absence, casting her as the music-loving mayor of New Donk City who performs the catchy "Jump Up Super Star!"

In Bananza, a younger version of Pauline serves as DK's companion, using her developing singing talent as a power-up. Nintendo has already confirmed this younger Pauline's age, leading some fans to speculate that Bananza could be an Odyssey prequel and possibly even a precursor to the original Mario arcade game, where Pauline was kidnapped by DK.

Donkey Kong Bananza launches on July 17, 2025, as Nintendo's flagship summer title for Switch 2, ahead of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Pokémon Legends Z-A later in the year.