Donkey Kong Bananza's developers revealed that they added Pauline into the game after deciding Kong could turn into a zebra.

An official Nintendo interview went over the Donkey Kong Bananza transformations and how Pauline triggers them.

Super Mario Odyssey originally launched for Nintendo Switch in October 2017, meaning Donkey Kong Bananza has likely had a sizeable development period of close to eight years.

Nintendo eventually decided that smashing environments was a perfect fit for Donkey Kong.

The first thing players will notice upon booting up Donkey Kong Bananza is that its titular ape looks pretty different. Although DK has sported multiple styles before (and the name’s been used for different characters entirely), his core aesthetic has remained mostly the same since the series’ first reboot in 1994’s Donkey Kong Country .

An all-new 3D platforming game, Donkey Kong Bananza, is launching exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17th. Donkey Kong punches, grabs, tosses, climbs, smashes and flexes his strength as he explores the depths of this wild action adventure together with his new friend Pauline.

Donkey Kong Bananza will be releasing at midnight of your region’s easternmost time zone on Thursday, July 17. This can be a bit confusing for those who live in larger countries, but as soon as it hits midnight anywhere in your region, the game will become available to play — barring any hiccups.

Donkey Kong Bananza features a younger version of Pauline from the original DK arcade game, and she makes a fun reference to her older appearances.

After playing Donkey Kong Bananza, it sure seems like the game is a prequel to Super Mario Odyssey, and the DK series as a whole.

As many previews for the game have pointed out, Donkey Kong Bananza seems to have some performance issues thanks to its modular environment destruction system. However, it appears that the development team at Nintendo is well aware.