{"id":290,"date":"2025-07-10T15:59:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T15:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/premiererealtymarketers.com\/?p=290"},"modified":"2025-07-11T14:42:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T14:42:55","slug":"donkey-kong-bananza-director-is-a-nintendo-newbie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/premiererealtymarketers.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/10\/donkey-kong-bananza-director-is-a-nintendo-newbie\/","title":{"rendered":"Donkey Kong Bananza director is a Nintendo newbie"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Donkey\t<\/div>
The Super Mario Odyssey director is back but in a producer role this time (Nintendo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lengthy Donkey Kong Bananza interview reveals surprising details about its director and how the game first came to be.<\/p>\n

During our hands-on preview with Donkey Kong Bananza<\/a>, we asked Nintendo<\/a> who was actually developing it, to which we were told it was, as many predicted, the Super Mario Odyssey team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This was not as unambiguous an answer as it seems, as Nintendo’s main internal studio, Nintendo EPD, has many different organisational groups and they specifically refused to say whether Super Mario Odyssey<\/a>\u2019s director, Kenta Motokura, was also in charge of Bananza.<\/p>\n

Thanks to a new interview, we now know that Motokura is <\/em>working on Donkey Kong Bananza, but that the director\u2019s seat been passed to someone else, someone who is a relative newbie at Nintendo.<\/p>\n

According to IGN<\/a>, Motokura, who has been with Nintendo since the early 2000s, is serving as producer on Donkey Kong Bananza.<\/p>\n

The game\u2019s director is instead Kazuya Takahashi, who only joined the company in 2020 and is said to have a background in open world game design, which is perfect for something like Donkey Kong Bananza.<\/p>\n

No other information has been provided and unfortunately his name is very common but this may be him on MobyGames<\/a>. Whether it is or not it’s very surprising to see Nintendo give such an important role to a relative unknown.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\tExpert, exclusive gaming analysis\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n

Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter<\/strong><\/a> for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Not only is this the Nintendo Switch 2\u2019s second major exclusive after Mario Kart World<\/a>, it\u2019s the first new Donkey Kong game in 11 years, and the first of its kind to be developed in-house at Nintendo since 2004, rather than by a third party or a Nintendo subsidiary.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a key part of Nintendo\u2019s efforts to elevate the franchise\u2019s profile to the same level as something like Super Mario or The Legend Of Zelda.<\/p>\n

This has been apparent for a while as evidenced by DK\u2019s new design, his prominence in the Super Mario Bros. movie, and the dedicated theme park expansion at Super Nintendo World.<\/p>\n

\n
\n