Nintendo talks about why they included Pauline in Donkey Kong Bananza

As the launch of Donkey Kong Bananza approaches, Rolling Stone has interviewed the game’s producer, Kenta Motokura, and director, Kazuya Takahashi. The two developers answered several questions about their behind-the-scenes development, including the reasoning behind Pauline’s partnership with Donkey Kong in Bananza.

While the developers kept quiet about Pauline’s new child form, they talked about her compatibility with the overall game. She wasn’t the first choice for Donkey Kong’s partner in the game’s early stages. Motokura commented, “I think that moment was when one of our concept artists created this image of Donkey Kong transforming into a zebra. When we implemented this into the game, we also had the composer make music that was specific to this zebra transformation. Then we started to think, ‘This would be a really interesting time to have Pauline, as a character, singing.’ And so, we thought it really made a lot of sense, and we went back to the composer to make that request. That was a key moment where, once we had decided on that, a lot of other pieces started to fall into place.”

Since the majority of characters are inhuman, like the Void Company and fractone villagers, they don’t speak English. Takashi said, “Pauline, being a human character, one of the greatest merits of including her is that she speaks in a way that players would be able to understand and can be a little more empathetic or resonant for them.” This makes Pauline step out more as the only character to speak English, especially when singing. Her scripted dialogue makes players feel more immersed during cutscenes and gameplay.

Her musical voice even helps emphasize the series’ core strength in the new entry: the soundtrack. Motokura says. “That is what introduced music as a key element to the world and drove a lot of these later design sessions. There is a connection throughout the series with music.” Music is more than just a level soundtrack in Donkey Kong Bananza; it’s a main gameplay feature to guide level progression, interact with sealed mechanisms, and strengthen Donkey Kong’s powers.