Nintendo Seemingly Spoils Surprise Donkey Kong Bananza Character By Accident

Nintendo appears to have accidentally spoiled a pretty surprising character reveal for the upcoming Donkey Kong Bananza for Nintendo Switch 2. There has been a ton of new information about Donkey Kong Bananza since its reveal, but there was one mysterious character that was clearly meant to be a story surprise, and its accidental leak has driven several story theories. This isn’t the first major leak that Nintendo has accidentally put online for launch-window Switch 2 titles.

As reported by Eurogamer, the Korean Nintendo website accidentally put up an image of the modified Donkey Kong Bananza cover artwork, which replaced Donkey Kong’s purple companion called Odd Rock with what appears to be a much younger, or even “baby” version, of Pauline. Pauline has appeared in several games in the Donkey Kong and Mario franchises, but most recently made an appearance as the mayor of New Donk City in Super Mario Odyssey. The image was swiftly removed but can be viewed on ResetEra in a post by user NotLiquid.

Nintendo Of Korea Once Again Leaks Something

Nintendo of Korea Leaked Another Major Part Of A Different Switch 2 Launch Game

Accidental leaks and spoilers are coming pretty consistently from Nintendo of North Korea. Right after the gameplay reveal for Mario Kart World, the Korean website for the game leaked that Rainbow Road was coming to Mario Kart World, despite the course not having been officially stated to be in the game or revealed in any footage presented to the media. This leak seems to be even more major, though, since most people probably expected Rainbow Road to be in Mario Kart World given its iconic status, and this Donkey Kong Bananza leak probably has significant story relevance.

The purple rock, appropriately named Odd Rock, is Donkey Kong’s companion in his destructive banana-hunting escapades, similar to Cappy in Super Mario Odyssey, helping DK clear hazards to continue smashing his way to more bananas. But there appears to be much more to Odd Rock than meets the eye with this new leak.

Baby Pauline Adds Questions About Donkey Kong Bananza’s Story

Could This Be A Prequel?

This new leak brings a lot of questions. Pauline appeared in the original Donkey Kong game as the woman kidnapped by Donkey Kong who needed to be saved by Mario. With Pauline appearing as a baby in this game, could Donkey Kong Bananza be a prequel to the entire Donkey Kong franchise or even the overarching Mario franchise as a whole? Donkey Kong himself is certainly a lot more expressive and appears less serious than he ever has in previous appearances, but that could just be a part of his redesign in Donkey Kong Bananza.

How Odd Rock will become Pauline remains to be seen, but given her last appearance was as an adult, and she is also one of the playable characters in the upcoming Mario Kart World as an adult with a “baby” version yet to be confirmed, it seems likely that Donkey Kong Bananza is a prequel and that Pauline will have a major role in the game’s story. Maybe we’ll finally get answers to why Donkey Kong kidnapped Pauline back in 1981’s Donkey Kong and how their relationship changed when Donkey Kong Bananza releases for Nintendo Switch 2 in July.

Source: Eurogamer, NotLiquid/ResetEra

Donkey Kong Bananza

Action

Adventure

Platformer

Released

July 17, 2025

ESRB

Everyone 10+ // Fantasy Violence

Developer(s)

Nintendo

Publisher(s)

Nintendo