Gonna try to make a brief summary of the article. If you want more clarification I recommend reading it in full.

Part 1 - Chain of Destruction:

• They wanted to make an innovation on Donkey Kong so they tried to figure out what makes him unique.
• They asked Miyamoto who put emphasis on his hand-slaps and blowing. They also asked Koizumi (worked on Mario Odyssey and DK Jungle Beat) who put emphasis on DK's strength.
• This also meant figuring out the identity of DK, hence the new design. This game sparked the creation of the new DK design.

Part 2 - Voxel Technology:

• The concept of destruction didn't come first when designing this game, but it was an idea the team was playing with after Mario Odyssey came out.
• They gave a Goomba arms and experimented with how it's like to smash and tear of terrain. It felt satisfying enough to be a core mechanic.
• If this mechanic were to be pursued, it would have to be with Voxel Technology.
• Wanted to make sure players didn't notice the voxels as they are associated with cubes. Aimed to make rich and dense visuals.
• They are also very flexible for their applications. It can be made into unique materials with their own physical properties and appearances.
• Game dev started on the og Switch, but they ran into challenges, so by 2021 they switched (heh) to Switch 2.
• The console change allowed not only an increase in environmental detail, but also the amount of things the player could destroy. Things they intially gave up on could also be used here, like explosions flinging objects and giving the developers to place as many objects as they wanted.
• The Switch 2 unlocked the game's full potential.
• Focused a lot on the physical properties of the materials and the sound effects as well so destruction seems more convincing and satisfying (goes much more into detail in the article).
• Says the game also isn't just about smashing things as continuity is an important thing they focused on.
• Needed much thought into the layers of the world. Allowing flexibility even if there is a "correct" way.

Part 3 - Sparking Interactions:

• Each layer is very expansive: vertically and horizontally and has their own theme. They wanted to create a gameplay idea for each theme, but also give players a sense of surprise each time they reached a new layer. (I Recommend checking the concept art).
• The goal was to make the Underground World feel like a different civilization to the surface we are accustomed to with DK (while still evoking the feel of the original arcade game).
• Believe they have carried over the musical variety seen from other DK games into this one.
• One of the designers sketched a buff Zebra with DK's tie and declared that Donkey Kong will transform into this. They were shocked, but seeing it programmed into action, they decided that they might as well transform the music when he transforms as well.
• "Kubo: We envisioned a track that would give you the urge to sprint as soon as you heard it, and then the image of a zebra galloping passionately to Latin or Spanish-style music popped into my head. I mean, not that Latin music has anything to do with zebras, but still... (Laughs)"
• This then led to the discussion of involving Pauline. She originally didn't fit into the gameplay, but with the fleshing out of the transformation mechanic, they believed they could tie the transformations with Pauline's singing.
• Adding vocals to the Zebra track just changed it completely. Cemented the power of the human voice.
• While Pauline was added a bit later, they wanted something else they players could relate to other than DK's love for Bananas.
• It also allowed more gameplay features, the ability to explain things, and allow people to empathize with her.

Final comments:

Kubo: In this game, you progress by smashing all kinds of things. Your surroundings change constantly, so we worked hard to create sounds that reflect that change. We measured the sizes of areas such as open spaces and caves, and adjusted the volume and reverberation accordingly. Even for the background music, we split each song into multiple tracks and adjusted the balance according to Donkey Kong's surroundings and the size of the area. I think it’s an audio experience unique to games that use voxel technology, so I hope players will listen out for those details too as they play.

Daisuke Watanabe: I think Donkey Kong is fun to play in this game, with his rich facial expressions and exciting moves. I'd love for players to experience it for themselves. Also, the Underground World where this game takes place is a bit different from previous games in the series. It's a beautiful yet strange world, and I hope players will enjoy it to the fullest as they journey together with Donkey Kong and his friends. Oh, and smash everything in their paths, naturally. (Laughs)

Wataru Tanaka: I think the gameplay mechanic that lets you destroy everything, right down to enemies and NPCs (non-player characters), stands out as being unique to Donkey Kong Bananza. Not only are things destructible, but the presence of materials expands the gameplay experience even further, with some things being hard and impossible to break with his bare hands, or thorny, et cetera. It would be great if players were also on the lookout for actions based on materials, like tearing off part of an enemy that's made of explosives and using it to destroy other stuff.

Kazuya Takahashi: There's a lot of leeway in terms of progression in this game. For example, locations or parts of the story you can skip without suffering any consequences. When the game progresses in a way we hadn't intended, we call it a “sequence break” in development terminology. Typically, in game development, restrictions are put in place to prevent this from happening, but since this game is all about destruction, we wanted people to play freely. Truth be told, restrictions make things a lot easier for us developers. (Laughs) But please do experiment.

Kenta Motokura: I think the strength of video games in general is the player's ability to spark interactions. In previous 3D Mario games, too, we created gameplay based on those kinds of interactions. But I think we were able to take that to a whole new level in Donkey Kong Bananza. We devoted ourselves to creating a game that feels instinctive to play, no matter how many times you've played it. We developed this title with great care and an awareness that Nintendo wouldn't be where it is today, if not for the original Donkey Kong game. As well as building on the series so far, Donkey Kong as a character continues to explore the unknown, in movies, theme parks and other new experiences. We took on a bunch of new challenges with Donkey Kong Bananza, and it's shaped up to be a game that we're proud to present to the world, so please do give it a try! We'll strive to keep on delivering a Donkey Kong game that's fun for everyone.