Do Bananza And Odyssey Share The Same Pauline? Donkey Kong Dev Won’t Confirm Anything

“I’d like you to use your imagination”

• by Jim Norman Yesterday, 1pm

From the second Nintendo revealed Pauline was in Donkey Kong Bananza, a timeline theory began to take shape in our heads. But then we wrapped the game up, and our prequel presumptions weren’t as nailed on as we’d expected.

We still don’t have an official answer for how Bananza Pauline is related to Odyssey Pauline, and according to producer Kenta Motokura, we ain’t going to get one any time soon.

This stems from a recent Famitsu interview (thanks for the heads up, @Stealth40K), in which some of Bananza’s key creatives sat down to chat all things DK. The answers cover many of the same topics we saw in the game’s Ask the Developer series, but the question of Pauline’s timeline is a newbie — albeit one that was somewhat brushed aside.

When asked about Bananza Pauline’s connection to Odyssey’s New Donk City mayor, Motokura deftly dodged the topic, saying (via Google Translate), “That’s… Of course, the developers have a plan for it, but I’m sorry, but I’d like you to use your imagination”. Gah! And there we were, thinking an answer was on the horizon.

And what about that Grandma that 13-year-old Pauline brings up so often in Bananza’s Getaway naps? There must be a connection there, right? “Sorry, this too”, said Motokura. Double gah!

Now, that little tease of the developers having “a plan” for Pauline’s heritage has us wondering if we’re going to return to this timeline topic again in the future — we’d be amazed if we don’t get another 3D DK game somewhere down the line. Alternatively, of course, Motokura could just be implying that the dev team has their theories, just like we all do, but we’re never going to hear ’em. The latter seems all the more realistic, knowing Nintendo.

Okay, so Nintendo isn’t going to spill the beans on this one just yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep on theorising. Don’t worry, we won’t spoil the end of Bananza here, but if you want to read all about the game’s finale and how we reckon it may/may not tie into Odyssey, you can find a full rundown in the guide below.

Do you think Bananza Pauline is the same person as Odyssey Pauline? Let us know your theories in the comments below.