Our suspicions were correct - the team behind Donkey Kong Bananza is, in fact, the same as the development team that created one of the best Mario games of all time. It also may explain why we haven't seen a sequel to said game.
The team is the same as none other than Super Mario Odyssey, the incredibly good Nintendo Switch launch title featuring Mario going to the city, the desert, and much more in a unique adventure. We're yet to find out who the director of the game is, as it isn't confirmed to be the same as Super Mario Odyssey, Kenta Motokura, though it could be if the rest of the team is involved.
We all expected a sequel to the best Mario game ever to come to the Switch 2, but with the confirmation of the team working on Bananza, it might explain why there hasn't been a second game just yet. It also gets our lore senses tingling as a young Pauline is present in Bananza, whereas her grown-up self is in Odyssey. Is it a canonical timeline? Just what does it mean?!
As much as we want Super Mario Odyssey 2, a new Donkey Kong game was definitely overdue. You might be thinking, "but there are a few DK games knocking around now." Well, you're sort of right - there are a lot of ports and remakes, but Bananza marks the first original title in quite a few years.
On Nintendo Switch, there's Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, both of which are remakes of Wii U and Wii games, respectively. Before that, there was another version of Country Returns on the 3DS and a Mario vs. Donkey Kong title on both Wii U and 3DS.
If you're interested in the first new Donkey Kong game in quite a few years, you can check out our Donkey Kong Bananza preview here, and take a gander at our Super Mario Odyssey review for good measure, too.