Rumor swirls as Donkey Kong Bananza leak hints at Pauline’s inclusion in the game

Donkey Kong Bananza may have intriguing implications for the Donkey Kong timeline, based on a leak for the ape’s upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 game. A piece of artwork apparently leaked by Nintendo of Korea, and then spotted by a poster on Resetera, indicates that another well-known Donkey Kong character heretofore unannounced for the game may appear in Bananza.

And her appearance could imply that Donkey Kong Bananza is a prequel to Super Mario Odyssey and perhaps even the original Donkey Kong.

Or maybe not! Because what even is the Donkey Kong timeline? But let’s dig in… and wade into potential spoiler territory.

While official artwork and box art for Donkey Kong Bananza — seen above — shows DK being joined by a purple crystal blob known as “the Odd Rock,” nearly identical artwork for the game posted (and later pulled) by Nintendo of Korea shows what appears to be young Pauline adventuring with Donkey Kong. That version of Pauline wears a bracelet that matches the material and color of the Odd Rock.

So, what’s up with that?

Pauline is, of course, a character from the original Donkey Kong, and the woman that Mario is tasked with rescuing from DK’s clutches in the 1981 arcade original. Pauline later appeared in Nintendo’s Mario vs. Donkey Kong games and was prominently featured in 2017’s Super Mario Odyssey as the mayor of New Donk City. Pauline has been represented as an adult human woman in all of her Nintendo game appearances.

The Pauline seen in leaked artwork of Donkey Kong Bananza, however, has childlike proportions. If she’s a child in Bananza, that would mean the Switch 2 game is set before the events of the original Donkey Kong. That, however, makes no sense, given that Donkey Kong encounters Cranky Kong in Bananza in his aged, bearded form, and Cranky is — as established by Rare’s Donkey Kong Country — the original Kong that appeared in Donkey Kong. Cranky even references his early battles with Mario in dialogue from Bananza.

However, Nintendo has contradicted itself many times over regarding the relationship between Donkey Kong and Cranky Kong, and which of the two characters was the Donkey Kong that appeared in original arcade game. Suffice it to say, Nintendo’s Donkey Kong lore is a mess.

So there is a chance that Bananza is a Donkey Kong prequel, and that it establishes an early relationship between Pauline and her primate kidnapper. There’s also a strong chance that Pauline is also Odd Rock, made that way as part of a curse inflicted by Bananza antagonists VoidCo. Odd Rock is convinced to join Donkey Kong on his adventure in Bananza through the power of music, and Pauline is famously an accomplished musician.

There’s also a chance that whatever magic VoidCo used to transform Pauline into a tiny purple rock also made her a child. That would still be weird.

But the Donkey Kong timeline, and the general Super Mario timeline, is extremely weird. It was established in 2005’s Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time that Mario and Luigi have time traveled to the past and even interacted with infant versions of themselves. In the current Mario Kart canon, Mario and Luigi coexist with Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, indicating that the Mushroom Kingdom and adjacent kingdoms exist within some sort of time paradox. Baby versions of princesses Peach, Daisy, and Rosalina also exist alongside their adult counterparts, so maybe Baby Pauline does too…?

Maybe that’s not Pauline at all in the Bananza artwork. Maybe it’s a young relative who has adopted adult Pauline’s style of dress and makeup. This possibility almost seems the most logical, if Nintendo’s goal is to further confuse the Donkey Kong timeline.

The most important thing to take away from this thought exercise, however, is that the Donkey Kong timeline does not matter. Nintendo should not attempt to explain it, devote a website to it, nor try to fit future Donkey Kong games into some sort of logical sequence.

Nintendo likely will explain Pauline’s role in Donkey Kong Bananza closer to the game’s launch in July. I think the best thing for the company to do at that stage is signal that Cranky Kong is actually Donkey Kong’s son, or that they’re baby and adult versions of the same ape, throwing the entire franchise into temporal chaos.