Nintendo wouldn't say who Pauline is in Donkey Kong Bananza

Ever since Donkey Kong Bananza was revealed, fans have been asking who Pauline is. She shares a name with the mayor of New Donk City in Super Mario Odyssey, who appears to be the same woman Mario rescues in the original Donkey Kong, but the ages don’t add up.

The full game, with its narrative twists and Easter eggs for long-time Nintendo fans, doesn’t provide a final answer.

When my colleague James interviewed producer Kenta Motokura and programmer Tatsuya Kurihara at the Game Developers Conference, I asked him to raise the question of Pauline’s true identity. James passed it along, but the developers declined to offer an answer.

pauline, donkey kong, bananza, new donk, super mario, mario, nintendo, kenta motokura, tatsuya kurihara, game developers