Okay, what number of of you mechanically went to press the ‘B button to leap the primary time you picked up Donkey Kong Bananza? It has been a staple in Mario video games for a very long time, so it is fairly pure to imagine issues could be comparable right here. Besides it is not, however the change really makes loads of sense right here. And we’ve got one Shigeru Miyamoto to thank for that.
In an interview with Nintendo Dream (translated by Nintendo Patents Watch on Blusesky), the sport’s director, Kazuya Takahashi, revealed that Miyamoto was the one who recommended that ‘B’ needs to be Dig, not Soar.
Acknowledging that B has traditionally been the leap button in lots of Nintendo platformers, Takahashi stated “Miyamoto-san identified to me, “’for digging downward, wouldn’t the B button be extra intuitive?'” And, on condition that the B button is the underside face button… yeah, that is sensible.
> Initially, [the button mapping] inherited from Mario, utilizing B button to leap. Nevertheless, Miyamoto-san identified to me, “for digging downward, wouldn’t the B button be extra intuitive?” Once I really tried it, this key mapping certainly felt extra intuitive. In order that was Miyamoto-san’s suggestion.
4/— Nintendo Patents Watch (@ninpatentswatch.bsky.social) 2025-08-20T12:51:14.656Z
Looks like Takahashi agrees, too — “Once I really tried it, this key mapping certainly felt extra intuitive. In order that was Miyamoto-san’s suggestion.” Properly, there you go then.
In fact, for these traditionalists who cannot recover from the B button not being leap, there’s the choice to assign Soar to the B button. All’s proper with the world, then.
There are another enjoyable tidbits within the interview, like how lengthy the crew spent balancing the sound of DK’s footprints with the sound of destruction. It is value testing the entire piece for an actual deep dive into DK’s newest outing.
Are you continue to having fun with Donkey Kong Bananza? Have you ever swapped the Soar and Dig buttons round? Tell us within the traditional spot.
[source ndw.jp, via bsky.app]
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Alana has been with Nintendo Life since 2022, and whereas RPGs are her old flame, Nintendo is an in depth second. She enjoys nothing greater than overthinking battle methods, characters, and tales. She additionally needs she was a Sega air pirate.
