Nintendo’s chaotic 3D platformer and long-awaited mainline entry in the Donkey Kong series, Donkey Kong Bananza, finally released on July 17, 2025. In commemoration of the release, Donkey Kong Bananza producer Kenta Motokura, director Kazuya Takahashi and sound director Naoto Kubo got together for an interview with Nintendo Dream Web about their work on the game’s development.
Apparently, one remarkably difficult part of the development was creating the sound effects. According to Kubo, it took several years for the sound team to complete recording all the effects – and some of them were trickier than the others. In particular, the devs had problems recording some of the sounds for the Big Watermelon in the Resort Layer. After some months of crushing, smashing and squashing real watermelons, the dev team realized that they just couldn’t get the sound right – because watermelons weren’t in season.
As it was previously mentioned in the 19th volume of Nintendo’s Ask the Developer, Kubo explained that to add depth to the sounds, and to make the overall experience more realistic and engaging, he used the Foley technique. Foley refers to the reproduction and enhancement of sound effects in films, videos and other media, using everyday objects. As an example, in order to emulate the sound of gold, Kubo and the sound team used pieces of metal they bought at the hardware store. To make the apples sound realistic, the team took turns biting all kinds of food, like cookies and celery – it took them several tries until they ended up settling on recording the effects using actual apples, Kubo jokingly remarks. However, the real challenge arose when the team was trying to record the watermelon sounds.
“Recording the watermelon was tough…,” Kubo noted. “We recorded the sounds of squashing and crushing watermelons, however, the recordings happened right as summer had ended. And in October, around autumn, there were no more good watermelons.” Apparently, it was very difficult for them to find a fresh watermelon that made the desired sounds, and the recording ended up turning into a lengthy trial-and-error process. Luckily for the sound team, the development schedule got changed, giving them just enough time to try again with fresh watermelons the following year.
Interestingly enough, the watermelon sounds ended up being used for other sound effects too. The sound you hear when destroying a hamburger – that also has some watermelon sounds mixed in, Kubo reveals. So, the next time you boot up Donkey Kong Bananza and go on a destruction spree, pay close attention to the sounds you make – there might be some watermelon in your burgers.
Donkey Kong Bananza is available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2.
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