Donkey Kong Bananza’s Destruction Idea Came From A Goomba With Hands

A fresh Ask the Developer interview focused on Donkey Kong Bananza is now accessible for your inspection, brimming with anecdotes and details regarding the forthcoming 3D platformer.

One particularly captivating detail was that the notion of destruction was reportedly under exploration prior to the official commencement of development on Bananza. In fact, a concept video illustrates that the team played around with attaching hands onto a Goomba – more specifically, Knucklotec hands from Super Mario Odyssey.

Here’s what the team expressed:

So it wasn’t that the notion of destruction was established first, and then you devised a mechanism around it?

Wataru Tanaka: No. Shortly after Super Mario Odyssey launched, we initiated technical trials with the idea of, “What kind of game arises if everything in the environment is destructible?”

Kenta Motokura: We even attempted affixing arms to a Goomba.

Tanaka: That’s correct, we did. (Laughs) In Super Mario Odyssey, there exists a boss known as Knucklotec who assaults Mario with large hands. The programmer responsible for him tried attaching those arms to a Goomba as an experiment. The Goomba could demolish terrain, rip off pieces to utilize as weapons, and toss them. Those actions felt surprisingly gratifying, and we sensed that this destruction-focused gameplay could serve as a compelling central mechanic.

Motokura: Our test outcomes indicated that destruction-oriented gameplay could be effective, and it matched well with Donkey Kong’s tremendous strength. We realized that the concept and primary gameplay had aligned perfectly.

And take a look at the concept video itself (courtesy of Stealth40K on BlueSky):

It’s a quite simplistic video, but you can undoubtedly see how it influenced the gameplay presented in Donkey Kong Bananza. It piques our curiosity about what other types of concepts Nintendo has accumulated in recent years, too. Just envision the possibilities!

The same interview also unveiled what Bananza resembled during its development for the Switch 1. The team mentioned that they started contemplating transitioning the game to Switch 2 in 2021 after it became evident that the enhanced specifications would facilitate more satisfying destruction.

Alright, so the crucial question here is: would you like to see a Goomba with Knucklotec hands make an official debut in a Nintendo title? Share your thoughts with a comment in the usual section.