Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto explains the big ape's redesign was all in service of making him "more expressive"
One of the hot topics among Nintendo fans this year has been Donkey Kong's new redesign. When Nintendo Switch 2 was first unveiled back in January, the tiny snippet of Mario Kart World gameplay had a new design for the big ape that was more in-line with the version seen in The Super Mario Bros Movie. Then the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct showed us what Nintendo was cooking with the new design, with the reveal of Donkey Kong Bananza.
Speaking to IGN, Donkey Kong (and Zelda, Mario, Pikmin, the list goes on) creator Shigeru Miyamoto was asked about the new design, and revealed just why it was time for Rare's DK to move over. "When we were talking about trying to create new versions, evolving Donkey Kong, we created the game called Jungle Beat," Miyamoto explained, adding, "With the technology that was available at the time, we were able to make Donkey Kong more expressive."
However, DK's expressions were clearly not quite cartoonish enough, as Miyamoto said, "going back to the design that Rare came up with, we reevaluated; what can we do with the design to make it more expressive? And then when it comes to the movie, we decided to move forward with this new generation Donkey Kong design."
Expressiveness seems to be a high priority for Donkey Kong at Nintendo, as Masahiro Sakurai used the character's segment in the E3 2018 Smash Bros. presentation to show off how expressive the new fighters were. Plus, the person behind his Rare redesign – Kevin Bayliss – has been a vocal supporter of the new design, saying "His face is way more expressive now – it's really ace!"Even if he isn't confirmed for Mario Kart World or Donkey Kong Bananza yet, Nintendo has also redesigned Diddy Kong, on the sly.
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