Nintendo Admits Donkey Kong Bananza Was Originally Meant for the First Switch—Here’s Why It Moved to Switch 2
Nintendo Reveals Donkey Kong Bananza’s Switch 2 Origins
Donkey Kong Bananza, the upcoming Switch 2 exclusive, wasn’t initially developed for Nintendo’s next-gen console. In a recent interview with IGN, producer Kenta Motokura and director Kazuya Takahashi shared that the game started its life during the original Switch era, much like Mario Kart World and Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
- The game began development on the first Switch but shifted to Switch 2 mid-production.
- Key features like “continuity of destruction” required more powerful hardware.
- Switch 2’s improved capabilities allow for large-scale environmental changes and unique gameplay surprises.
- Mouse controls and voxel-based art modes also influenced the platform choice.
Why Switch 2 Was the Better Fit
Donkey Kong Bananza may not look like a demanding title compared to visually striking games like Death Stranding 2, but it leverages voxel environments that players can destroy and interact with dynamically. The concept of “continuity of destruction” means that when players change the environment, those changes persist, creating a richer experience.
As Takahashi explains, “When destruction is your core gameplay, one really important moment that we wanted to preserve was when a player looks at a part of the terrain and thinks, can I break this? Because that creates a very important surprise that has a lot of impact for them and that was something that was best done on Switch 2.”
Motokura added that while the basic ideas were possible on the original Switch, the best version of the game required the extra power and features of Switch 2. Beyond raw processing power, the new console’s mouse controls help direct Pauline during co-op play and support the game’s voxel-based art-sculpting mode.
What This Means for Nintendo and Switch 2
This shift in development highlights how the original Switch’s hardware limited not only third-party games but also Nintendo’s own projects. Despite these constraints, the Switch has been hugely successful and might soon become the best-selling console ever. Still, Donkey Kong Bananza gives us a glimpse of what Nintendo can do with more advanced technology.
Launching on July 17, Donkey Kong Bananza promises to be a taste of what Nintendo 2.0 looks like — combining innovative gameplay with the power of the new Switch 2 hardware.
For more details, check out the full interview with the developers on IGN:
https://www.ign.com/articles/our-big-bananas-interview-with-the-developers-of-donkey-kong-bananza
