Actually, that's not entirely fair to Pauline, whom a Nintendo rep referred to as a "co-star" instead of a "sidekick" at an extensive Donkey Kong Bananza hands-on preview event I attended recently. The second big Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive,

After playing Donkey Kong Bananza, it sure seems like the game is a prequel to Super Mario Odyssey, and the DK series as a whole.

Players who bought the Nintendo Switch 2 with the laser focus of playing Nintendo’s exclusive titles may have been disappointed that the sole first-party experience available at launch was Mario Kart World.