Producer Kenta Motokura stated at GDC 2026:
We will probably see the same effect as when transitioning from Super Mario Odyssey to Donkey Kong Bananza, when ideas and development suggested the direction of future projects. I expect Bananza's ideas to also serve as hints for the next game.
However, the main focus is a fresh experience for players.
The standard is what feels fresh in a new game. For example, when developing Super Mario Odyssey, we thought about Mario's transformations that no one had seen before. That is always our goal.
The emergence of new ideas in a real game can take years: Super Mario Odyssey was released in 2017, Bananza – seven years later, for the launch of Switch 2.