Donkey Kong Bananza is a sequel to Mario Odyssey, not a prequel.

Let's talk about this. Pauline says she was captured by a giant ape in Odyssey, which basically confirms she is NES Pauline. So here's what I think the timeline is:

Donkey Kong: DK, who is now Cranky Kong kidnaps Pauline and Mario saves her.

Donkey Kong Jr: Mario kidnaps Cranky for revenge and his son, Donkey Kong Jr, saves him.

Donkey Kong Bananza: Donkey Kong Jr. has a child who is the modern Donkey Kong. He saves Bananza Pauline, who is Odyssey Pauline's granddaughter (notice how she always talks about her grandmother, not her parents). All the other DK games take place after this.

So my theory is that Bananza Pauline is Odyssey Pauline's granddaughter, and Mario is either an old man or dead when Bananza and the other DK games take place. What do you think?