Fans of timelines and chained narratives between video games have had a pretty intense weekend, and all because of the statements made by the producer and director of Donkey Kong Bananza at EAD Tokyo, Kenta Motokura, about his protagonists. And more specifically, about the figure of Pauline.
As we all know, there is a Pauline in a prominent role in Super Mario Odyssey, the previous work of the studio that recently resurrected Donkey Kong in 3D after 26 years without new releases. It seems that theories about the young Pauline in DK Bananza and the adult Pauline in Super Mario Odyssey being the same character are now shaken. Motokura has been quite elusive about it in an interview with Famitsu. Textually, he said thus:
"That's... Sure, the developers have a premise, but I'm sorry. I'd love for you to imagine it."
A little later, asking precisely about the dialogues and stories told by the 13-year-old Pauline in the game, where she often mentions her grandmother, Motokura again shies away from explaining "Sorry, that too..."
That they're not openly confirmed to be the same person would break the idea of Donkey Kong Bananza as a prequel to Super Mario Odyssey, but fans already have ways to fill in those gaps. Apparently, one of the theories gaining momentum now is that Bananza's Pauline's "granny" is actually the same Pauline from the original Donkey Kong, who is saved by Jumpman (in this theory, that would be Mario and Luigi's grandfather!) from a giant, angry Kong, who would be none other than Cranky Kong. In this way, it would connect with the past. And a Pauline from the future, perhaps a daughter of DK's young friend, would become a singer and mayor of New Donk.
What do you think? Don't miss our interview with Kenta Motokura and his team, which sheds a lot of interesting details on the development of Donkey Kong Bananza, and don't miss our recent review and guide to the DK Island DLC.