Per a Eurogamer report, Donkey Kong Bananza was created by the same team who worked on Super Mario Odyssey, which, at last count, had sold over 29 million units. It’s safe to say, then, that Donkey Kong Bananza is in safe hands, opposable gorilla thumbs and all.

If you need a reminder of what we thought of Super Mario Odyssey back in 2017, it’s one of the few games to which we awarded a full 10 out of 10 score, with our very own Andrew calling it “one of the best Mario games ever made”. It’s hard to disagree with him on that score, quite literally.

Donkey Kong Bananza is in good hands when it comes to development.

As for Donkey Kong Bananza itself, it’s the latest major 3D platforming outing for one of Nintendo’s most popular characters, and it’s also the beloved gorilla’s first 3D platformer in 26 years.

The game will see Donkey Kong setting out to recover the “Banandium Gems” from the evil VoidCo., which seeks to exploit them in order to reach the planet’s core, which is said to grant wishes.

He’ll have assistance from a younger version of Pauline, who can sing in order to assist DK in various ways. She’s also part of Donkey Kong Bananza’s two-player mode; she can throw out damaging explosions if a second player is controlling her.

You’ll also be able to destroy much of Bananza’s scenery, which you’ll need to do in order to uncover secrets and defeat enemies, as well as to open up your options for exploration.

You’ll be able to check out Donkey Kong Bananza when it launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17th.

Since Donkey Kong Bananza was confirmed during the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct, the question on everyone’s mind has been, “who is developing this.” Nintendo, as of late, has been weird about not saying who is behind some of its games, notably with Super Mario RPG and Mario & Luigi Brothership, and Bananza was no different. Mind you, from the vibes alone, as well as some dead giveaways like the UI design and weird co-op mode , everyone – including Nintendo’s former marketing managers – was convinced it was the Odyssey team.

Alongside our Donkey Kong Bananza preview , Nintendo has confirmed that “the development team of Donkey Kong Bananza is the same as for Super Mario Odyssey.” That development team is Nintendo EPD Tokyo, which has been responsible for the 3D Mario games since Super Mario Galaxy in 2007 (with their first release being Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, so this is a full circle moment).

The question is now what that means for the 3D Mario series, which hasn’t had a proper full entry since Super Mario Odyssey eight years ago (although there was the Bowser’s Fury expansion for the Switch release of Super Mario 3D World in the meantime). Ahead of this confirmation, there had been speculation online that this was perhaps a spinoff team at EPD Tokyo working on it while another works on whatever Mario is up to, but considering Nintendo’s wording was “the same as for Super Mario Odyssey,” that may not be the case.

Donkey Kong Bananza is the perfect time to bring back an AWOL villain, and I’m already uncovering conspiracies that say our favorite crocodile will turn up.