Miyamoto emphasized his continued active role in character creation at Nintendo. Looking back at the development journey of Donkey Kong, he pointed to their collaboration with Rare on the original "Donkey Kong Country" as a starting point for the character's evolution. He mentioned that when working on "Donkey Kong Jungle Beat" in cooperation with the 3D Mario development team, they utilized the available technology at that time to make Donkey Kong more expressive. This exploration led them to re - evaluate Rare's original design, aiming to maximize the character's potential for expressiveness.

The redesign process, which started subtly with Donkey Kong's appearance in the 2023 "Super Mario Bros. movie," became more prominent in the footage of the upcoming "Mario Kart World." Miyamoto further stated that with the release of the movie, they decided to fully embrace this new generational design for Donkey Kong. The new look, which seems to blend elements from the movie version and pre - "Donkey Kong Country" artwork, has received support from Kevin Bayliss, the former Rare artist who initially redesigned Donkey Kong in the 1990s. As Nintendo continues to roll out the redesigned Donkey Kong across various platforms, fans are eager to see how this new iteration will breathe fresh life into the beloved character.