{"id":51295,"date":"2025-08-22T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=51295"},"modified":"2025-08-21T19:56:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T10:56:13","slug":"nintendo-devs-spent-all-autumn-smashing-watermelons-to-record-sfx-for-donkey-kong-bananza-to-no-avail-sound-director-reveals-we-had-to-wait-till-next-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-devs-spent-all-autumn-smashing-watermelons-to-record-sfx-for-donkey-kong-bananza-to-no-avail-sound-director-reveals-we-had-to-wait-till-next-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"Nintendo devs spent all autumn smashing watermelons to record SFX for Donkey Kong Bananza to no avail, sound director reveals. \u201cWe had to wait till next summer\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Nintendo\u2019s chaotic 3D platformer and long-awaited mainline entry in the Donkey Kong series, <strong>Donkey Kong Bananza,<\/strong> 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndw.jp\/dkbananza-interview-250820\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nintendo Dream Web<\/a> about their work on the game\u2019s development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 \u2013 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\u2019t get the sound right \u2013 because watermelons weren\u2019t in season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Donkey Kong Bananza - The Giant Watermelon \ud83c\udf49\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZaQJNAeLXg8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As it was previously mentioned in the 19<sup>th<\/sup> volume of Nintendo\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/us\/whatsnew\/ask-the-developer-vol-19-donkey-kong-bananza-part-1\/?srsltid=AfmBOooN9ITIiOLlZs24mpoer_reqjRmH4lOXIJ3C3ZQtRlObqBIwlmx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ask the Developer<\/a>, 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 \u2013 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"507\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250821-512950001.jpg\" alt=\"Donkey Kong Bananza\" class=\"wp-image-51297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250821-512950001.jpg 900w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250821-512950001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250821-512950001-768x433.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRecording the watermelon was tough\u2026,\u201d Kubo noted. \u201cWe 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.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly enough, the watermelon sounds ended up being used for other sound effects too. The sound you hear when destroying a hamburger \u2013 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 \u2013 there might be some watermelon in your burgers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Donkey Kong Bananza is available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/mario-kart-worlds-controls-were-fine-tuned-by-devs-who-literally-spend-their-lunch-breaks-skateboarding-at-the-office\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mario Kart World\u2019s controls were fine-tuned by devs who literally spend their lunch breaks skateboarding at the office<br><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donkey Kong Bananza devs spent years recording SFX in the studio &#8211; but the most difficult sound to record was the one of watermelons. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":51299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-51295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nintendo devs spent all autumn smashing watermelons to record SFX for Donkey Kong Bananza to no avail, sound director reveals. \u201cWe had to wait till next summer\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Donkey Kong Bananza devs spent years recording SFX in the studio - but the most difficult sound to record was the one of watermelons.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-devs-spent-all-autumn-smashing-watermelons-to-record-sfx-for-donkey-kong-bananza-to-no-avail-sound-director-reveals-we-had-to-wait-till-next-summer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nintendo devs spent all autumn smashing watermelons to record SFX for Donkey Kong Bananza to no avail, sound director reveals. \u201cWe had to wait till next summer\u201d - 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