Donkey Kong Bananza's Destruction Gameplay Can Be Traced Back To A Goomba With Arms

With Donkey Kong Bananza just two days away from launching on the Switch 2, Nintendo has released a three-part interview series with the game's leads. That's how we learned you can skip locations and part of the story in Donkey Kong Bananza, thanks to the game's destruction gameplay. It's also how we learned the game's destruction gameplay can be traced back to a Goomba with arms in Super Mario Odyssey. 

When asked by the interviewer about the origins of Bananza's destruction mechanics, one of the game's directors, Wataru Tanaka, explained the team (which also developed Super Mario Odyssey) had already been researching smashing mechanics before development on Bananza began. "Shortly after Super Mario Odyssey was released, we started running technical experiments with the idea of, 'What kind of game do you get if everything in the environment is destructible?'" 

That's when producer Kenta Motokura chimed in to add, "We even tried sticking arms on a Goomba." 

"That's right, we did," Tanaka said. "In Super Mario Odyssey, there's a boss called Knucklotec who attacks Mario with giant hands. The programmer who created him tried attaching those arms to a Goomba as an experiment. The Goomba could smash terrain, tear off pieces to use as weapons, and throw them. Those actions felt surprisingly satisfying, and we got a sense that this destruction-based gameplay could be a compelling core mechanic." 

The interview features a short behind-the-scenes clip showcasing this Goomba with arms smashing a prototype rocky environment – check out the screenshot below: 

Motokura concludes the question by explaining, "The results of our tests showed that destruction-based gameplay could work, and it was a good match for Donkey Kong's enormous strength. We felt that concept and the core gameplay clicked into place." 

Fast forward a few years, and Donkey Kong Bananza is just two days away from launching exclusively on Switch 2. 

In the meantime, read Game Informer's hands-on preview impressions after two hours with the game, and then check out this Donkey Kong Bananza New Gameplay Today. After that, check out the Donkey Kong Bananza amiibo and then catch up on everything we learned about the game during the Donkey Kong Bananza Direct last month.

Are you picking up Donkey Kong Bananza this week? Let us know in the comments below!