Super Mario Odyssey director and Donkey Kong Bananza producer Kenta Motokura has said he wants there to be separate 2D and 3D branches of Donkey Kong just like with Mario.
Donkey Kong as a series has primarily been set in 2D for all of its almost 45-year history, the only exception was 1999's Donkey Kong 64 (as far as mainline games go anyway, before you mention the racing games). Rare's final DK game was a massive behemoth that just so happened to arrive before a bit of a hiatus for the series after Microsoft bought the developer, and it's taken 26 years for someone to try and make a new 3D Donkey Kong game. Not that hiatuses are out of the norm for the series, as it's been on ice for the past 11 years too, but thankfully, a return to 3D doesn't mean there won't be a 2D DK again.
