Nintendo considered having adult Pauline accompany DK in Donkey Kong Bananza

While Nintendo kept it a secret at first, Pauline was revealed to be Donkey Kong’s buddy along for the journey in Donkey Kong Bananza. DK is no stranger to having sidekicks on adventures, but seeing Pauline join him for the action was quite the surprise. Turns out we could have gotten an even more shocking version of the partner as well.

Pauline is shown as a 13-year-old in Donkey Kong Bananza, marking the first time we’ve seen a younger version of the character. In a Nintendo Dream interview, Nintendo’s Kazuya Takahashi revealed that the team actually considered having the traditional adult version of Pauline head out with DK, but that didn’t work for a few reasons. (h/t Nintendo Everything)

In order to have Pauline accompany players, we wanted her to ride on Donkey Kong’s back for the adventure. At first we tried an adult version of Pauline, but a child’s size felt right. Also we thought that many players would be playing “Donkey Kong” for the first time, so we wanted them to become familiar with the new character.

[Nintendo’s Kazuya Takahashi]