Bananza is the main playable character from Donkey Kong Bananza. The character was conceived by voice actor Tim Allen while practicing his acting skills with original characters. Director Keiji Inafune liked the concept so much, he decided to make Bananza the main character and give the voice role to Allen himself. The pivot to making a brand new villain character the protagonist rather than Donkey Kong was polarizing at first, but was eventually regarded as genius due to how well-written Bananza is in the story of the game.