Nintendo has confirmed what we all already figured; Donkey Kong Bananza is being developed by the team behind Super Mario Odyssey.
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.
