By Grant Kirkhope is recognized as the creator of some of the most memorable tunes in titles like GoldenEye 007 and Banjo-Kazooie, but there’s another kind of sound he produced that might be etched in your recollection: he’s the individual who exclaimed “oh banana” in Donkey Kong 64. Interestingly, he only did it because he grew weary of persuading others to participate in the voice acting.
“I inquired among folks at Rare – does anyone wish to voice a character? – and nobody was interested,” Kirkhope recounts to industry bulletin Push to Talk, “and I became so fed up with asking that I decided, I’ll just do it myself, and to hell with it.”
Kirkhope eventually recorded a number of other brief voice snippets for the game – “OK” is the one I recall most vividly, aside from the banana phrase – and many of these would later be utilized by Nintendo for subsequent games.
At that moment, “Nintendo held half of Rare,” Kirkhope clarifies. “So when they requested the audio clips, naturally I provided them. However, I never imagined they’d genuinely make use of it.”
“Oh banana” specifically has gained a life of its own thanks to its presence in Donkey Kong Bananza. Since it plays every time you collect a banana in that game, you’ll hear it countless times if you’re diligent, and as if DK64 hadn’t already imprinted the phrase in my mind, now I find it hard to look at a real banana without whispering DK’s drooling voice to myself.
It remains uncertain if Donkey Kong Bananza is still utilizing Kirkhope’s previous recording – if so, the sound is significantly modified – but the essence is certainly preserved. The same holds true for the DK Rap, yet it appears Nintendo isn’t overly worried about ensuring Kirkhope is still acknowledged for his contributions to the franchise.
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