Donkey Kong Bananza's Director And Producer Have Been Confirmed

Still going for a movie tie in for the next Mario game and movie, which is scheduled for April next year. But only time will tell!

@Blofse that's not gonna happen. Why would they need to make a game to tie in with a movie that solely exists to promote their main export(which ICYMI, is games).

Interesting, this probably implies Koizumi has been producing a 3D Mario alongside supervising with Bananza?

@Nintoz Koizumi’s the main man on Mario now. There’s no way there’s not a new Mario title coming out by the end of the year.

@Suketoudara Wait, wasn't NiGHTS' director Naoto Oshima?

@Suketoudara specifically, the modern remaster of the game.

@WiltonRoots Eh, I doubt we'll be getting it this year. They clearly wanna push Bananza as their big SW2 3D platforming experience. A new 3D Mario in the same timeframe would only undermine that.

Is there another company besides Nintendo who tries to hide the developers of their games before release?

@N00BiSH the movie is the tie in for the game. Nintendo doesn't work like other companies. The whole reason they're getting into the movie business is basically as commercials for their games. They work old school, like, famously. No point in making a commercial if you're not selling anything. I don't think there's going to be a Mario game targeted to release near the movie. To me, Nintendo feels more likely to schedule the movies release near to when they think the game will be ready

@N00BiSH I removed, it was only the remaster on PlayStation he directed!

@WiltonRoots
A new 3D Mario game isn't coming out this year, it would have 100% been announced by now if it was.

Late 2026 release at earliest is my guess.

While a new 3D Mario would be nice, I'm not even getting a Switch 2 at the moment, and it's nice that DK is getting his time in the spotlight!

@N00BiSH Rather than a tie-in, do you think they'll have a new, separate 2D Mario ready for release when the movie comes out? Or maybe a remake of another Mario game?

A Mario game is likely to drop along side the 2027(2026?) movie and koizumi is likely working on it

@TheExile285 hard to say - I think we'll definitely get some sort of major Mario release, and Nintendo does have a habit of sitting on games until they're good and ready but I dunno if they'll have a big Mario game ready to release in time with the movie.

Why are they making such a big deal about who developed this game?

Familiar faces? Why not show their faces?

Koizumi is most likely involved in Bananza, but maybe not to the extent we thought. Maybe he has been working on a new 3D Mario all this time ?

@NolandC Because EPD Tokyo is Nintendo's A team. If they are involved, you can except top quality for the game

If this means we get two AAA Mario(ish) platformers in a generation instead of one, that's fine with me.

It's so weird how secretive Nintendo is with stuff like this. It's almost like they are annoyed when people want to know more information on game developers, products, etc... Most companies will immediately announce the developers of a new game and just move on. Only Nintendo acts like they are guarding Area 51 secrets.😐

a movie, another theme park opening and big new game would be a helluva way to do Mario's 40th Birthday!

I wonder what they’re gonna do for the next Mario game. After DK Bananza, Mario’s acrobatics in a sandbox world as in Odyssey will feel like a downgrade. Perhaps they could go back to the Mushroom Kingdom and make it open-world?

@Oldstalk Oh, didn't realize there was such a quality discrepancy. RARE was the OG "A team", why did they let them Go?

@AllBLK just another byproducts of the games industry being so cagey about development processes as usual.

Really looking forward to DKB. Only a week away.

@RenanKJ How would they properly make an open-world Mario game that is on the scale of odyssey? It might’ve worked for bowser’s fury, but a full-fledged open-world game sounds a bit too trendy

@DynamoDouglas And yet for some reason ppl think we’re stupid if we believe a new Mario game is coming before Christmas of next year

@westman98 @N00BiSH I could very well be wrong...but hey - new console, been a long time since Odyssey, I know they like to pull things out of nowhere.

Yeah no im sorry. I know this is some fantastical adventure. But you're not going to make me believe that donkey kong is in love with some CRYSTAL bananas. That he can't even chew. Insane and ridiculous. Ill take the transformations and everything but crystal bananas and like they say in the trailer 'you wouldn't believe the different types of terrains they have, underground' or something of the sort.
No you're right I absolutely dont believe there are completely different solar systems and suns underneath wherever this place is set. Extremely lazy writing.

It makes sense. This game is Mario Odyssey on steroids. The closer we get to the release date, the more excited I get.

I expected to see Koizumi on here. Maybe he's working on a different project, probably he is still on 3d Mario and EPD Tokyo did split development after all. I do kind of wish Koizumi was on the Zelda team and Fujibayashi was on Mario. I like them both where they are, but I can't help but we've seen what Koizumi is capable of when he works on Zelda and Fujibayashi's ideas in prior Zelda games could translate so well to 3d Mario.

@Kiliomp "But you're not going to make me believe that donkey kong is in love with some CRYSTAL bananas. That he can't even chew."

Why do you think his redesign puts more emphasis on his teeth

@N00BiSH theyre obviously trying to appeal to culture. Everyone got those big ol' cheap white veneers.

Just like the cgi animation does the same thing by making their characters more and more "full figured"

If he does eat them I wanna see those veneers crack. Honestly both things completely turned me off to the game. Won't be getting it. Gives me a major headache just thinking about it

@Kiliomp No. Wrong. It's actually because DK'S teeth are stronger than the average human's, meaning he's more than capable of chewing through these crystal bananas without dental harm. Plus, he IS breaking them into pieces every time he finds one, so that definitely helps with the eating process.

This interview confirms my guess that the cheese from Odyssey inspired this game. "We actually had used this voxel technology in some areas of Super Mario Odyssey previously where for example, you could dig your way through cheese in the Luncheon Kingdom or you could plow through snow in the Snow Kingdom. So this programmer was engaging in various technical experiments where you might even throw voxels or make a hole having done so."
Called it! (see my comment from an old thread https://www.nintendolife.com/previews/donkey-kong-bananza-dks-getting-his-own-odyssey-and-its-a-helluva-trip#comment8717995)

That seems to be Nintendo's favourite way of doing it - successful director doesn't get to direct the next game, but is instead promoted to producer.

It's not going to be a skill that directly translates to game directing, but Kazuya Takahashi is one of my favorite artists in the industry. Interesting to know he works at Nintendo now.

@Dalamar at least they have real names in the credits nowadays.

@Kiliomp boobs and butts a no go for ya? Huh?
Who do big teeth appeal to? What is happening rn, lol.

@Kiliomp bro have you any clue the things that happen in the average video game? Did you know that mushrooms don't akshuallee make you into a giant version of yourself that can break bricks by jumping into them? If you jump to the top of a flagpole, slide down to the bottom, fireworks won't go off and musical fanfare probably will not play as you march triumphantly to a castle.

Production is a full time job there is no way he was also working on Mario too.

@LikelySatan honestly I just hit ‘Ignore’ and moved on. Their either trolling or actually that boring a person and I don’t have time for either.

@LikelySatan obviously. This is just too much bs all at once. Especially when they try to explain themselves. Its dumb.