Nintendo famously designs its video games with its gameplay systems established first, but the defining feature ofDonkey Kong Bananzaseems to have been the result of a single developer experimenting with voxel technology. DK’s first 3D adventure in over two decades is just the second majorNintendo Switch 2 exclusive, followingMario Kart World, which released on the system’s launch day. WhileMario Kart Worldis impressive,Bananzaseems poised to really show off the Switch 2’s capabilities with its fully destructible environments.
Letting players destroy practically everything in a game is exceptionally fun, but extremely difficult from a design perspective. Nintendo has always put the actual gameplay mechanics above all in designing its many iconic franchises, which has led to certain narrative confusion, like the notoriously nonsensicalThe Legend of Zeldatimeline, but it’s hard to deny Nintendo’s games are singularly fun because of this philosophy. The wayDonkey Kong Bananza’s producer tells it, though,the game’s central gameplay idea was born almost through happenstance.
Donkey Kong Bananza’s Destructible Environments Started As Voxel Experiments By A Nintendo Programmer
Building On Super Mario Odyssey Tech
Donkey Kong Bananzaproducer Kenta Motokura spoke withIGNon a range of topics surrounding the game, but what caught my eye was the origin of its destructible levels. Motokura explains that it was Nintendo executive Yoshiaka Koizumi who urged the development team ofSuper Mario Odysseyto take a crack at a newDonkey Konggame.
In the conceptual stages of the game’s development, the first stop was, unsurprisingly, Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto, creator ofSuper Mario,The Legend of Zelda, and, of course,Donkey Kong. According to Motokura,Miyamoto focused on “the unique actions that a really strong character like Donkey Kong can engage in.“Koizumi would subsequently reinforce that notion, pointing out DK’s uniquely long, strong arms.
The key puzzle piece, however, wasa lone, unnamed “programmer on the Odyssey team [who] was experimenting with voxel technology.“The most common explanation of voxels is that they are the three-dimensional equivalent of pixels.No Man’s Skyis a good example of how voxels can be rearranged to create landscapes (and whole planets and moons) procedurally, but the destruction puzzle gameTeardownemphasizes how voxels can be utilized forBananza’s purposes.
We saw that this was a good match that led us to the idea of pursuing destruction as core gameplay in this title.
A voxel is essentially a building block in a 3D grid, and can be used in games to create objects that aren’t a single model.IGNpoints out thatNintendo already used voxel tech inSuper Mario Odyssey, thus the programmer’s interest in exploring the idea further: “in the Luncheon Kingdom, where Mario can dig through cheese, and in the Snow Kingdom to crunch through snow drifts.”
The unnamed programmer was then looking into further applications of voxel tech, like “finding ways to let players throw voxels around, or dig holes through them,” which was then combined with Donkey Kong’s aforementioned abilities to create the main design principle ofBananza. Motokura toldIGN:
“When we realized the compatibility of Donkey Kong’s distinctive characteristics, being strong and having these large long arms, and the possibility of voxel technology, we saw that this was a good match that led us to the idea of pursuing destruction as core gameplay in this title.”
Video games are clearly the products of many, many people (solo-dev projects aside), so it’s fascinating to hear thatone of Nintendo’s biggest releases of the year had relatively humble beginnings in a lone programmer’s tinkering with voxels. I’m used to hearing about the genius of Miyamoto, not some unnamed developer – not to downplay Miyamoto’s contribution toBananza, of course.
This Isn’t The First Time Nintendo Stumbled Into A Genius Idea
It’s pretty common to hear about the development breakthroughs coming out of Nintendo, especially from its most notable figures. Miyamoto tried for years to makeSuper Mario Galaxy’s gravity mechanicswork, and he was adamant thatOcarina of Timeinclude Young Linkeven though development was well underway, focusing on Adult Link.
What’s sometimes more interesting is when great ideas come from unexpected places – when game mechanics aren’t necessarily planned, but end up in the game through some serendipitous means.Donkey Kong Bananza’s destructible levels are just the latest example, butthere’s another recent one fromThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: Link’s Ascend ability.
In a game full of remarkable physics, Ascend still remains one of the more fascinating mechanics, letting Link leap through the ceiling above him and pop out on the other side, whether that’s just through a wooden platform or a whole mountain. According toPolygon,Ascend started as a debug featurebefore it was implemented intoTOTKproperly.
Producer Eiji Aonuma and director Hidemaro Fujibayashi would use it to quickly get out of the caves they’d explored while testingTOTK: “When I was exploring the caves, I would get to the destination where I was trying to get to, and once I checked it out,I would just use the debug code to get to the top,“Fujibayashi said. “And I thought, ‘Well, maybe this is something that can be usable in the game.'”
Just like destructible environments, though,Ascend caused all sorts of development obstacles. “If you give someone the ability to just pass through a ceiling anywhere, there are all sorts of possibilities to account for,” Aonuma said. “We need to make sure there aren’t locations where you’ll pass through the roof and find nothing there because of some data-loading issue or something like that.”
BothTOTK’s Ascend andBananza’s ripping and throwing of voxels are game mechanics not widely seen. They go beyond the regular exploration you tend to see in games, giving players unnatural control over environmental manipulation. Nintendo has a long track record of bold ideas, and whileDonkey Kong Bananzaisn’t the first game to take destruction to such extremes, its core design coming from a single programmer’s experiments shows that it’s something of an unexpected breakthrough.
Sources:IGN,Polygon
Donkey Kong Bananza
Donkey Kong Bananza marks the iconic ape’s triumphant return to 3D platforming, offering players an expansive underground world to explore. In this adventure, Donkey Kong embarks on a mission to retrieve stolen golden bananas from the nefarious VoidCo. Utilizing his formidable strength, he can demolish terrain to uncover hidden paths and secrets. The game introduces a new sidekick, Odd Rock, who assists in overcoming obstacles and navigating treacherous environments.
