Rumor: 3D Open-World Donkey Kong Game Is In Development For Nintendo Switch 2

A new rumor has revealed that a Donkey Kong game is in development for the Nintendo Switch successor. This new Donkey Kong game is supposed to be in 3D and has been in the works for years. Vicarious Visions, an Activision studio responsible for co-developing the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, was developing this title. Besides being 3D, the Donkey Kong game would be open-world.

Nintendo Prime reported this rumor in a new episode of their podcast and revealed how this project didn’t last at Vicarious Visions. Due to issues resulting from another game being in development at the studio, Donkey Kong moved to Nintendo EPD Tokyo. Nintendo gave this project to the younger members of Super Mario Odyssey’s development team.

More senior members replaced them to work on the 3D Mario game, as the Nintendo Prime podcast tells us from 1:21:04 onwards in the video below ahead. 

According to this rumor, Nintendo titled this project “Donkey Kong Freedom” unofficially. Shigeru Miyamoto was heavily involved with its development and contributed ideas. Originally, Donkey Kong slid on vines barefoot, but Miyamoto wasn’t a big fan of this concept.

The team came up with a new idea that put bananas on Donkey Kong’s feet. This earned the Nintendo director’s approval. Miyamoto wanted to revitalize the franchise and make it an A-list IP, as per the rumor. He was behind the switch to internal development from Vicarious Visions mid-development. Now, coming to the game’s current status, Nintendo prime podcast revealed that it is “absolutely” still in the works.

If the rumor is true, Freedom will be the launch title for the sequel to Nintendo Switch. As the first 3D title from the franchise since 1999, it will be a big deal. Nintendo Prime also revealed they got this info from an insider who showed them a 40-second footage of the project. Due to the importance of the content, no one will ever see the footage publicly as it could threaten the insider’s job, according to the podcast.

You should take this new info with a huge grain of salt because even with the specifics, it’s a rumor. Previous Donkey Kong reports do corroborate this, but nothing is official as of now.