Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago
From "07/15/25 Ask the Developer Vol. 19: Donkey Kong Bananza — Part 2: Voxel technology"
Check out the interview!: t.ly/uavXM
"
*The concept of destruction is central to this game. How did the team go about exploring and implementing it?*
Tanaka: Actually, the programming team had already been researching smashing mechanics even before development began.
*So it wasn’t that the concept of destruction came first, and then you built a mechanic around it?*
Tanaka: No. Shortly after Super Mario Odyssey was released, we started running technical experiments with the idea of, “What kind of game do you get if everything in the environment is destructible?”
Motokura: We even tried sticking arms on a Goomba.
Tanaka: That's right, we did. (Laughs) In Super Mario Odyssey, there’s a boss called Knucklotec who attacks Mario with giant hands. The programmer who created him tried attaching those arms to a Goomba as an experiment. The Goomba could smash terrain, tear off pieces to use as weapons, and throw them.
jpeg.ly/Y7q2k
t.ly/emDnW
Those actions felt surprisingly satisfying, and we got a sense that this destruction-based gameplay could be a compelling core mechanic.
jpeg.ly/aR5f6
Motokura: The results of our tests showed that destruction-based gameplay could work, and it was a good match for Donkey Kong’s enormous strength. We felt that the concept and the core gameplay had clicked into place.
"
From "07/15/25 Ask the Developer Vol. 19: Donkey Kong Bananza — Part 2: Voxel technology"
Check out the interview!: t.ly/uavXM
"
*The concept of destruction is central to this game. How did the team go about exploring and implementing it?*
Tanaka: Actually, the programming team had already been researching smashing mechanics even before development began.
*So it wasn’t that the concept of destruction came first, and then you built a mechanic around it?*
Tanaka: No. Shortly after Super Mario Odyssey was released, we started running technical experiments with the idea of, “What kind of game do you get if everything in the environment is destructible?”
Motokura: We even tried sticking arms on a Goomba.
Tanaka: That's right, we did. (Laughs) In Super Mario Odyssey, there’s a boss called Knucklotec who attacks Mario with giant hands. The programmer who created him tried attaching those arms to a Goomba as an experiment. The Goomba could smash terrain, tear off pieces to use as weapons, and throw them.
jpeg.ly/Y7q2k
t.ly/emDnW
Those actions felt surprisingly satisfying, and we got a sense that this destruction-based gameplay could be a compelling core mechanic.
jpeg.ly/aR5f6
Motokura: The results of our tests showed that destruction-based gameplay could work, and it was a good match for Donkey Kong’s enormous strength. We felt that the concept and the core gameplay had clicked into place.
"
