Donkey Kong Bananza Won’t Have One of the Best Elements from Donkey Kong Country

In 1994, Rare released Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo. The game completely revitalized the Nintendo franchise, offering a fresh new take on the character and his world. DKC brought in lots of elements that weren’t present in the original arcade games, including a new supporting cast, new enemies, and very different gameplay. For all of those reasons, Donkey Kong Country remains timeless, and one of the best games on the SNES. However, one of the single best things about the game is its soundtrack, which was composed by the legendary David Wise.

The music of David Wise is truly beloved among Donkey Kong fans, thanks to classic tracks like “Aquatic Ambiance” and “Stickerbrush Symphony.” Wise has sporadically returned to work on DK games over the last 3 decades, including 2014’s Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Unfortunately, it seems Wise will not be back for Donkey Kong Bananza on Nintendo Switch 2. In a post on X/Twitter, Wise offered some praise for Nintendo’s new game, but was quick to note that he will not be the composer.

“The new Donkey Kong Bananza game for Switch-2 is coming in July. It looks great and I’ve no doubt it will have an amazing soundtrack, from another composer,” wrote Wise.

At this time, it’s unclear exactly who will be composing the soundtrack. Many fans also hoped that Grant Kirkhope might have some involvement, given his work on Donkey Kong 64. Kirkhope similarly confirmed that he is not involved, leaving this something of a mystery. That’s not too surprising, as Nintendo has not even confirmed who will be developing the game, but with Donkey Kong Bananza set to be released on July 17th, we should get some answers in the coming weeks. Given some of the game’s similarities to Super Mario Odyssey, there has been speculation that Bananza will feature a similar development team.

Though the lack of Wise and Kirkhope is bound to disappoint some longtime Donkey Kong fans, Donkey Kong Bananza does seem to be shaping up into something special. ComicBook had a chance to go hands-on with the game, and came away mostly impressed. So far, it seems like a pretty big departure from the Donkey Kong Country series, but Nintendo clearly hasn’t forgotten the original trilogy; the debut trailer for Bananza teased a 2D area heavily inspired by the 1994 game. That area was not on display for our hands-on preview, however.

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Following Wise’s confirmation that he will not be involved in Donkey Kong Bananza, the composer pointed fans to other games on Nintendo Switch that do feature his work, including Gimmick 2 and Nikoderiko: The Magical World. Both of those games can be found on the Nintendo Switch eShop.

Are you disappointed that David Wise won’t be back for Donkey Kong Bananza? Do you like the music from the DKC games? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!