Donkey Kong Bananza Leak Might Have Revealed a Multiplayer Mode

Donkey Kong Bananza is set to be released in July, but Nintendo has kept a lot of elements of the game secret thus far. There’s a lot we don’t know about the game, but fans might have uncovered an unannounced local multiplayer mode. On the Famiboards, a user named Triistan discovered and shared a Nintendo Store listing that lists Donkey Kong Bananza among several games with local multiplayer elements. It’s possible that this was a mistake on Nintendo’s part, but Triistan also points out that the eShop page for the game has a big “TBD” in the section for the number of players.

Unsurprisingly, this has already led to some speculation about what the local multiplayer elements could be. Famiboards users have guessed that the game could implement an option similar to Super Mario Odyssey, which allowed a second player to control Cappy. It’s possible players could similarly control Odd Rock, Donkey Kong’s new companion. At this time, we don’t know who is developing Donkey Kong Bananza, but it has been heavily speculated that Nintendo EPD is responsible for the Nintendo Switch 2 game. If it really does share a development team with Super Mario Odyssey, it’s possible it could offer a similar multiplayer component.

Odd Rock briefly appeared in our hands-on time with Donkey Kong Bananza, but little information was provided about the character. Odd Rock seems to serve as a source of exposition and tips for the player, but there have been hints that there could be more to it than that. A leak last month suggested that Odd Rock could actually be Pauline, a character that was kidnapped by Donkey Kong in the original arcade game.

Since Odd Rock’s role in the game is being kept under wraps, the character having some connection to the multiplayer would make the most sense. However, other posters have guessed that Donkey Kong Bananza‘s multiplayer component could have some connection to Diddy Kong. Despite the character’s huge popularity, Diddy Kong has yet to appear in any screenshots or videos revealed for the game thus far. It’s hard to imagine the character not appearing in some capacity, even if it’s just in a supporting role like we’ve seen with Cranky Kong. For that matter, most of the major Kongs seem to be missing, including favorites like Dixie and Funky.

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

While Nintendo has kept largely quiet about Donkey Kong Bananza since its announcement, that will likely change over the next few weeks. The game is set to be released on July 17th, so we can probably expect more news next month. Over the next few weeks, we’ll probably see a bigger focus on Mario Kart World instead, since that will be the major launch title for Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5th. Once that game is out, we can probably expect to see a shift towards Donkey Kong Bananza, and several other Switch 2 titles launching this year, including Drag x Drive, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, and Pokemon Legends: Z-A.

What kind of multiplayer mode would you like to see in Donkey Kong Bananza? Are you excited for the game’s release? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

[H/T: Nintendo Life]