>Donkey Kong Country and many subsequent games since confirms that the modern Donkey Kong is a completely new character that wasn't around for the arcade era, hence why Cranky Kong lectures him on the good old days (much of DKC and Cranky Kong's character hinges on this meta)

>Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis both in english and Japanese confirm that this game is the first time Modern Donkey Kong ever met Pauline and he was smitten at first sight

Man, Donkey Kong Bananza being some sort of prequel or the little girl being non-time travel Pauline or DK being reverted to the OG Donkey Kong of the arcades would mess up so much of the DK LORE. I hope it doesn't happen but I'm bracing for it, it was too confusing for dumb normalfags who couldn't handle a simple meta joke.