Donkey Kong Bananza reveals voice actors for DK, Pauline

Thanks to the credits of Donkey Kong Bananza, we have confirmation of the voice actors for both Donkey Kong himself and Pauline.

For Donkey Kong, Kouji Takeda played the part. We can probably now say that he’s the character’s new voice actor moving forward. Takeda was the Japanese voice actor for Donkey Kong in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and then just did the same for Mario Kart World.

Takashi Nagasako was the last voice actor for Donkey Kong. Starting with Mario Kart World, he was replaced – along with Samantha Kelly, who was the voice of Princess Peach, Toad, and Toadette since 2007.

Fans were disappointed to see how Nintendo handled things with Kelly. It turns out she was notified about what was happening just a day before the launch of Mario Kart World. You can check out her full statement here.

For Pauline in Donkey Kong Bananza, Jenny Kidd is the voice actor. Kate Higgins played the part of Pauline in Super Mario Odyssey, but the character is significantly younger this time around.

Voice acting has become a hot topic within the Nintendo community as of late. Aside from the changes we just mentioned, Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi were all replaced in 2023. Kevin Afghani is now voicing all of these characters instead of Charles Martinet, who is now Nintendo’s Mario Ambassador. 

Donkey Kong Bananza is now available on Nintendo Switch 2 worldwide.