Nintendo Won't Reveal Donkey Kong's Switch 2 Dev, But We Might Already Know

Even if it's not outright confirmed, it's pretty much confirmed. The gameplay so far has EPD 8's prints all over them.

EPD, most likely with assistance from 1-UP Studio.

Isn't it obvious that it was developed by the same team behind Super Mario Odyssey?

I just finished Mario Odyssey for the first time the other night and Bonanza feels like a natural continuation of some gameplay from a final section in that game.
Almost picking up right where that left off gameplay-wise.

Really even just watching the Treehouse segment it looked like a slower and more plodding Odyssey (which is a game I feel like has a lot of pacing issues to begin with), feels incredibly obvious it's the same team.

@HammerGalladeBro I was thinking about 1-UP, actually. Some of the things I saw regarding the in-game map interactivity and controls reminded me of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.

EPD Tokyo. The way Donkey moves and the worlds aesthetics scream Mario Odyssey.

I was pretty sure it was the Super Mario Odyssey team. Glad to know everyone else was also getting that vibe! I'm excited to play it whenever I get to upgrade to the new system!

Odyssey was a great time, although really on the fence about DK, it looks fun but wonder if the destroy-all novelty will wear off quickly.

Something about 3D collect-a-thon games don't excite me anymore. Probably played too many games from Ubisoft and MMOs with map completion like GW2 & ESO.

DK’s art direction is nowhere near as impressive as Odyssey’s. Might be due to the destructive environment that they had to go with much simpler textures and an overall flat lighting engine (from what I’ve seen)

Pretty tone deaf of them not to immediately announce that the team behind the best selling 3D Mario game is behind this if that is the case, are they maybe worried about upsetting people over them working on this instead of a new Mario similar to what happened when Tropical Freeze was announced?

I was pretty sure it was from the Odyssey team before I even knew it was a Donkey Kong game. That particular glossy look to everything is very similar between both of them.

It's just weird that Nintendo doesn't want to reveal this information. It helps bring excitement, helps with upcoming sales, gives credit where credit is due, and shows that they care about developers and not just selling games.

This is the most excited I have ever been for a DK game (and I was happy for Nintendo for Returns and Tropical Freeze). It looks so fun and the amount of exploration possible with level destruction is impressive.

It's pretty obviously the Odyssey team. I can see why they wouldn't want to confirm that though, as it would imply that the next 3D Mario is likely years away still (as in, it will be a 2nd half of the generation release probably around the same time as the next 3D Zelda)

I figured it was them after seeing the Treehouse footage. Fitting since they also made Jungle Beat and most of the characters being original also reminds me of that game.

OK it is about time you all knew.

It's me. Music and everything.

Isn’t this supposed to be the big DK platformer that was in development for Switch for over 5 years, with rumors circulating left and right and then suddenly fizzled out? It is obvious this has Odyssey’s DNA all over it

@RetroBox I think it mostly has to do with NDAs, that's my guess.

IIRC, the old rumor was that a bunch of younger developers from Nintendo EPD Tokyo really liked Donkey Kong and wanted to work on a new title, so they spun-off to form a "new" team to work on a new Donkey Kong game while the rest of EPD Tokyo worked on a new 3D Mario (as they have done since 2005).

I wish this DK title is not being done by SMO team. If so, then the next 3D Super Mario's release date is way off.

Red Faction: Gorilla.

The soundtrack definitely sounds in house, with very similar compositions to odyssey.

I don’t blame them for not telling. Too many people try to armchair project manage and org chart when you tell who the dev is upfront. “Oh well we didn’t get this game because they made that game! They should have worked on my favorite franchise and not this! It doesn’t feel like classic/traditional game A! They are new/never heard of them, how dare they work on that game!” You know the type. You can find out the devs in the credits.

Mario Odyssey is a game I've yet to play. And I still don't want to.

Bananza, however, looks like my cup of tea.

Nintendo feels they have to lockdown all info outside of their marketing material and that’s too bad. It’s a different Nintendo today than Iwata’s Nintendo, but they will evolve from this point too

The treehouse gameplay was really good. Whoever is involved, is a top tier developer.

@RetroBox As much as they don't like to be called Japanese Disney, it's extremely Disney to act like this.

Who made this? Nintendo made this and nothing more.

Would make sense to be that time I think with how things have been going, it was taking it's time, it's the big show piece besides Mario Kart.

Why not a DK 3D game it's about time to see another one happen.

Kirby got his 3D game and has Air Riders as another go at Airride.

DK has his time to get a 2nd 3D game and they have some interesting presentation/mechanics here for sure.

Not everything has to be Mario, Luigi got his games. It may do better then Luigi's Mansion maybe. Audiences need to be open to DK, not just Mario always. The other characters have their great games with their movesets, worlds and personality, I'm fine with it they all feel different.

Most companies can't do that have a bunch of characters be all distinct yet still part of a major core universe. We see them as such characters of a brand sure, but in the way Nintendo has handled it it still surprises me.

It doesn't feel like Avengers/Justice League trying to force them together. They had their debuts and still get enough of their own identity/universes to split off to and offer more interesting games. It's so exciting to see/fun to play them.

DK getting his 3D return is great to see. DK is big enough to have a presence and with an interesting spin, so I can say it's fair to offer besides a big Mario game to offer all the time.

The UI font and fancy animations made me think of Next Level Games, but we'll see.

@Saints
This is my concern on DK Bananza as well. Maybe destroy -some would be okay, but destroy-all fun will wear off quickly.

I really hope later levels are more jungle and DK-like. At the moment it looks like a cross between Odyssey and Zelda.

would be nice for the programmers to feel some of the love...why did hiding the developer become a thing, it feels so disrespectful.

Nintendo learned their lesson from Crankygate. When Nintendo revealed that Retro was working on DK Tropical Freeze and not Metroid Prime 4 the internet unfairly took its fury out on Tropical Freeze for taking up development time from Retro. I remember being upset myself until I finally came to the realization that I like DKR games much better than MP, I just got caught up in the fury. The internets crazy like that.

This is just getting weird Nintendo.

He moves and plays exactly like Bowser when you posses him in Odyssey. Made me wonder if it didn't start out as a Bowser game. Although it reminds me of Wario World too.

I have to say the lack of, well, platforming, concerns me and the lack of relaxing aesthetic/music seen. It almost looks more like a beat em up. Like outside of the DKC 2D throwback bit where are the ropes and barrels? Where's the platforming? Even the old arcade games had these elements...

I get that they want to appeal to hyperactive kids who loved the Mario movie but I hope every level doesn't just involve smashing up the level to get through it or that will get old quickly. The minecart bit gives me some hope they haven't completey thrown out the DKC DNA though.

"check the credits"

I thought Nintendo didn’t credit the developers these days? 🤭

@SBandy1 Nice one! On your Commodore 64 as well, which makes it even more impressive!

It's clearly being done by the same Nintendo team behind 3D Mario games, which might make some people worry about the next 3D Mario. I wouldn't. I'm just glad DK got a quality studio sure to make a quality game.

Gosh I'm just not excited for this

Destructible terrain was done decades ago, and honestly it doesn't feel like a good fit for donkey Kong.

They should have had destructible terrain for Metroid and tried a donkey Kong country in 3d, strictly DK and one other ape, across tough platforming like the returns series

@IceClimbers agreed, that or they don’t want to reveal a different team is working on Mario3D for Switch2.

Come on it looks like its even running on the same engine, granted that does not mean anything. It has the same art style down to a T.

Lemme guess.
EPD?

@NoPhysicalNoBuy There were rumours going back a few years ago that it was being developed by a new group at EPD

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/05/rumour_the_next_donkey_kong_is_being_developed_by_the_super_mario_odyssey_team

I don't know why they are making this some big secret instead of just crediting the developer(s) who are making the game. Nintendo can be so weird and annoying sometimes with how they do certain things

@IceClimbers Ahh I don’t believe it’s the exact same team, I’m pretty certain a new group was formed, I’m sure the 3D Mario team have been busy developing the next 3D Mario and I have a hunch that will be an open-world Mario game
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/05/rumour_the_next_donkey_kong_is_being_developed_by_the_super_mario_odyssey_team

Did EPD ever develop two games at the same time? I'm extremely pleased with Donkey Kong: Bananaza, but it makes me curious about when we can expect the next 3D Mario. Is it 3-4 years away?

i'd be surprise if it's anyone but The Super Mario Odyssey Team (EPD Tokyo).

Lol, I remember when being concerned which team within Nintendo developing a game was not even a thing. I'll just say that I doubt that it's Retro Studios and I doubt that it's Rare doing this game.

This game is going to sell like mad. It's nice to see Donkey Kong get a real push. For me, this should easily fill the gap while the next 3d Mario cooks.

I think we all knew it was the odyssey developer. Does anyone know what Next Level is working on?

Curiously, I remember how those rumours often contradicted each other in terms of if it was going to be a 3D or 2D game. I guess the 2D people looked at the DKC-inspired level and guessed it was that way
At the end, it'll be a 3D sandbox game, but probably with small 2D levels contained

@Lizuka What pacing issues?

@Lanmanna The biggest ones for me are...

1), The game is supposedly built around exploration but having nearly every kingdom keep you mostly on the rails your first time visiting it with tons of moons that cannot be gotten until you do one specific activity the game expects of you, basically meaning you're not experiencing the actual draw of the game until repeat visits. Given they already have the, "Get so many moons to proceed," thing anyway it just feels like a pointless restriction that only serves to kneecap the game's momentum.

2), The completely inconsistent difficulty curve makes the game never really feel like it actually develops a steady pace or really ramps up so much as it just has occasional weird spikes. Some of the hardest challenges in the game are in early or mid-game areas and in terms of just the core progression the difficulty arguably peaks at the Luncheon or Bowser's Kingdom with the moon just being a deescalation despite structurally being the final dungeon.

3), It's just way, way too talky at points despite not really actually having any kind of a plot. Feels like no one has anything to say but you still pretty often just get stuck hearing them talk anyway, especially in the early game.

4), The Mushroom Kingdom is just a bad, bad choice for being the big postgame-only area. There's virtually nothing about it that's even kind of dangerous and there's way too much empty space, it just makes it feel like your grand reward for hitting the credits is a boring empty field with little to do in it.

5), The game just has way, way too many things that grind it to a screeching halt. Hunting down sheep, having to one-by-one get achievements from Toadette, the purple coins, the Goombette Moons, the Lakitu fishing parts, the taxi guy, the doors you can only enter with certain costumes... None of this has any kind of associated difficulty or challenge (other than maybe one or two of the Goombette parts having a bit of an associated puzzle at least), it's just busywork that's designed to waste your time.

The game's good for sure - granted I do kind of think it's a little worse each time I play it - but it has structural issues.

Hmm, I was getting astro bot vibes from the enemy designs. But upon watching the gameplay in the Treehouse, I can see the odyssey resemblance.

I am surprised nobody ever mentions that this game has almost no platforming, which is the core of the experience, and this game should cover for 3D Mario. There were some sections in the trailer that seem to have some 2D gameplay parts but during Threehouse Preseentations they showed huge parts of the game and there was NO platforming at all!!!!!!! The destructible gimmick seems fun but that’s not gonna be fun for a long time! I hope there will be more challenge and platforming in the gameplay since the past DK titles even though 2D, those games had phenomenal platforming crafted to perfection so I hope I am not alone who feels that this game should have platforming.