Donkey Kong Bananza Devs Reveal the Origin of the Game’s Destruction Mechanic

The developers behind Donkey Kong Bananza have revealed where they got the idea for the upcoming game’s destruction mechanic. One of the Nintendo Switch 2’s first major exclusives is Donkey Kong Bananza, which was announced back in April and will launch later this week. In his latest misadventure, Donkey Kong travels to the subterranean world of Ingot Isle, where he meets a younger version of Pauline from the original Donkey Kong arcade game and Super Mario Odyssey. The pair team up to travel to the planet’s core, where it is said that their greatest wishes will be granted.

Something that sets Donkey Kong Bananza apart from the many other games starring Nintendo’s resident ape is its full destruction mechanic, which allows DK to smash his way through any obstacle and locate hidden treasures using a wide range of attacks. If the simian hero gets carried away, the player can reset the environment from Donkey Kong Bananza’s map screen, allowing them to move along to wreck the rocky cliffsides all over again.

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Donkey Kong Bananza’s destruction mechanic was one of the topics discussed during a recent Ask the Developer interview on the official Nintendo website. When asked how this gameplay concept came to be, Donkey Kong Bananza director Wataru Tanaka explained that his development team was toying with the idea of a fully destructible environment after the release of Super Mario Odyssey, with producer Kenta Motokura adding that they tried to illustrate this mechanic by sticking arms on a Goomba.

Donkey Kong Bananza’s Environmental Destruction Was Inspired By A Goomba With Arms

A technical experiment of putting the hands of Super Mario Odyssey boss Knucklotec on a Goomba led to the destruction mechanic being used in Donkey Kong Bananza.— Stealth40k (@stealth40k.bsky.social) 2025-07-15T14:02:02.729Z

More specifically, these arms came from Knucklotec, a boss from Super Mario Odyssey that attacked Mario with its giant hands. Tanaka explained that one of the game’s programmers connected these hands to a giant Goomba as an experiment, with the resulting test footage showing the lowly minion smashing through rock walls, tearing chunks off, and throwing them. Motokura added that his team decided this was a natural fit for Donkey Kong’s strength, and as a result Donkey Kong Bananza would utilize environmental destruction as its core gameplay feature.

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Fans won’t have to wait too much longer to smash their way across Donkey Kong Bananza’s underground world, as the game is set to launch for the Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17. Physical copies have already been spotted in the wild ahead of Donkey Kong Bananza’s release, so gamers might want to steer clear of spoilers until they can dive into DK’s newest adventure for themselves.