The limitations of the original Switch hindered DK Bananza enough that the developers decided to wait for Switch 2.

A technical experiment of putting the hands of Super Mario Odyssey boss Knucklotec on a Goomba led to the destruction mechanic being used in Donkey Kong Bananza.

Expanding on comments previously made to IGN about Bananza's origins, producer Kenta Motokura has said that the game's development began when Nintendo legend Yoshiaki Koizumi asked his 3D Mario team to work its magic making a 3D DK game instead.

Donkey Kong Bananza has had a lengthy development time, with the director claiming work started on the game right after Super Mario Odyssey.

In a new Ask the Developer feature, fresh screenshots have been shared that shows the visual difference between Switch 1 and Switch 2 for Bananza, with Kenta Motokura, Wataru Tanaka, and Daisuke Watanabe all providing more context as to why development was shifted over to Nintendo's new console.

As previously revealed by IGN, Donkey Kong Bananza originally began as a Switch 1 project, before Nintendo realised the game's destruction-heavy action required better hardware with beefier technical specs.

Nintendo eventually decided that smashing environments was a perfect fit for Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong Bananza will be releasing at midnight of your region’s easternmost time zone on Thursday, July 17. This can be a bit confusing for those who live in larger countries, but as soon as it hits midnight anywhere in your region, the game will become available to play — barring any hiccups.

A Donkey Kong Bananza Switch 1 port could have emerged, but the Nintendo Switch 2 became the only way forward for the platform game.

Donkey Kong Bananza is the gorilla's first 3D platformer since 1999's Donkey Kong 64 and the first to be internally developed by Nintendo since 2005's Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. In our preview, it was confirmed that it is being developed by the same team behind Super Mario Odyssey.