It’s hard to deny that Donkey Kong Bananza is anything other than a game of the year contender. Upon its release, it took the world by storm, quickly becoming one of the most beloved 3D platformers of the decade. It was a brilliant return to form for the Donkey Kong franchise, as it managed to blend the collectathon platforming formula that Nintendo has cultivated across nearly 30 years, with a destructible sandbox that never gets old.
Combine that with a great soundtrack and story, and, despite some minor problems here and there, you’re left with a game that is almost perfect. So when Nintendo announced that it would be releasing DLC for Donkey Kong Bananza, I was thrilled. The first trailer for what would be called DK Island & Emerald Rush showcased the return of the island that served as the backdrop for the Donkey Kong Country franchise. Furthermore, it also introduced a new roguelite mode known as Emerald Rush. In theory, it seems like a perfect addition to the already great game.
However, after launch, discussions soon arose about the quality of the DLC. Namely, how the $20 price point conflicts with the fairly limited offerings of the release. So, I went ahead and bought the DLC for myself to find out if these concerns were warranted. After playing Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush for a few hours, I can say that, while it’s a fun addition to an already fantastic game, it’s hard to recommend purchasing it unless you’re desperate for more Donkey Kong action.
Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for Donkey Kong Bananza.
Welcome Home, DK!
DK Island is immediately accessible upon completing Bananza. When you try to fast travel between layers, you are quickly approached by an Eelevator, who tells you that Void Kong (whom you defeated towards the end of the game) has reappeared in Donkey Kong’s home territory. She immediately takes you there, and you’re quickly reintroduced to the surface land and a location that long-time fans of the series should be very familiar with.
To be quite honest, the novelty of being able to explore DK Island is almost worth the price of the DLC alone. The island has been lovingly recreated in 3D for the first time since Donkey Kong 64, and there are so many fun details that even newcomers will get a kick out of. I must’ve spent over half of my time with the DLC just running around DK Island, seeing if there were any details I had missed.
Obviously, I don’t want to spoil all of the details that players can encounter on their journey around DK Island. However, I think there are a few that are absolutely worth mentioning. Right as you enter the area after stepping into the zone, the first thing you may notice to your immediate left is the leftover remains of one of K. Rool’s ships, part of his Kremling army. It provides some great worldbuilding, since the complete disrepair that the ship is in alludes to certain events that those who’ve beaten the game may be familiar with.
Of course, you can also see the Kong household, belonging to Donkey and Diddy Kong. You can even see the pin-up poster of Candy Kong (though sadly, there are no appearances from Lanky, Funky, or Chunky Kong). Easily my favorite detail was right on the outskirts of the map. One of the islands that you can check out bears a striking resemblance to a pair of bongos. I had to do a double-take once I saw it, as I couldn’t fathom that Nintendo would squeeze in a reference to Donkey Konga and the DK bongos of all things. You can just tell how committed the developers were to bringing this locale to life.
As for what you can do around DK Island, this is where some of the problems with the DLC pop up. For one, you can unlock statues of popular Donkey Kong characters by speaking to Squawks (another beloved character from the series). You can purchase them with 100 Banandium Chips, and once you do, you can move the statues around the map to create your own custom setup. It’s a cool novelty, but one I never really found myself using all that often.
Aside from that, there really isn’t much else to do on DK Island. There aren’t any new Banandium Gems, and while this would’ve been a perfect opportunity to do more nostalgia-based challenge levels based on Donkey Kong‘s past, all we really get are the levels where you just get extra gold. There are some puzzles here and there around the map as well, but once again, all you get from them is gold. It’s certainly a shame, since gold was the last thing I needed at this stage of the game.
However, there is one more important new offering in the DLC, which takes up the second half of the release’s name: Emerald Rush. This new roguelite mode offers a new way to play Bananza. You can play the mode in DK Island and beyond, which sounds like a great offering for players looking for more excitement from Bananza‘s formula. Unfortunately, I found Emerald Rush to be the most disappointing part of the entire package.
Hunt for Emerald On Behalf of Your Corporate Overlord!
Emerald Rush is introduced very quickly after you enter DK Island. Immediately, you are prompted to meet Void Kong, who is stationed on a nearby island. He speaks a bit about his latest venture: hunting for emerald bananas. He employs Donkey Kong and Pauline to help him out, but at a cost: he will briefly take all of the skills you have accumulated along your journey.
This is where Emerald Rush truly begins. You are tasked with collecting as many Emerald Banandium Gems, pieces of Emerald that replace gold, and more Emerald-themed objects as possible. You must fulfill a quota set by Void Kong, which only increases with each round. What starts as 150 emeralds you must collect will soon progress to 1500. Every time you collect an Emerald Banandium Gem or an Emerald Fossil, you are prompted to pick an ability to invest in, similar to the ones you have been unlocking throughout the game. Think of it like a less elaborate version of Hades or Splatoon‘s Salmon Run.
In theory, this might seem like a really fun and enticing mode. At first, I was feeling quite optimistic about it. It is admittedly quite satisfying to plow through a near infinite amount of Emerald gems scattered around the map, and seeing the multiplier grow higher and higher. It’s also fun to unlock new abilities, use the warp barrel to get some extra air, and do some of Void Kong’s extra tasks.
However, there are a few major issues that quickly become apparent as you play through more of Emerald Rush. For starters, the already prevalent frame drops that occur throughout Bananza only become more obvious during Emerald Rush. I understand why, since there are so many particle effects on screen at once. That said, this many particle effects are unnecessary in my opinion, especially since the base game still has the aforementioned stuttering.
At the end of the day, though, my biggest issue with Emerald Rush is that I didn’t really have that much fun with the mode. It takes the thrilling, destructive environments of Bananza and strips it to its bare bones, removing the need to pick up terrain from the ground and use it to your advantage. Instead, all you do is just mash the attack buttons over and over again. Even if the difficulty ramps up as you play through more, it just made one of the best gameplay loops of the year feel mindless.
It doesn’t help that none of the rewards offered by Void Kong for fulfilling his quotas are fairly lackluster. All you get is the ability to play Emerald Rush on other layers that you’ve encountered. You also get new cosmetics, but most of these are just new neckties and reskins for Pauline (such as a gold and silver dress). You do also get a skin based on Void Kong himself for Pauline, but I wish there were more retro-themed skins similar to what you unlocked in the Mushroom Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey.
At the end of the day, I was fairly disappointed with my time with the Emerald Rush mode. With all that being said, though, that just raises one final key question: Is Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush worth the $20 asking price? The answer is a resounding “not really.”
Is It Worth It?
After beating Donkey Kong Bananza, I wanted more. More layers, more cosmetics, more fun. Yet Nintendo has been sort of lax with its DLC offerings lately, only releasing new content for its major titles like Splatoon, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Fire Emblem, and the recent Pokémon games. So, needless to say, I was very ecstatic when Nintendo announced DLC for Bananza. However, after playing DK Island & Emerald Rush for a fair amount of time, I find myself fairly conflicted about everything it had to offer.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot I enjoyed about the release: I had a blast enjoying DK Island and exploring all of its secrets. Plus, it was a treat getting to reunite with Dixie, Diddy, and Cranky Kong in a location that has stuck with me since I was a child. That said, for every one thing the DLC did right, there were two things it did wrong. The limited offerings of DK Island, combined with the lackluster Emerald Rush mode, make for an experience that was more tiresome than fun.
In the days since the release of the Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush DLC, a lot of discussion has been raised about its similarity to Super Mario Odyssey‘s Mushroom Kingdom world and Luigi’s Balloon World update. While the former was built into the base game and the latter was a free update, Donkey Kong Bananza‘s extra mode and world costs almost a quarter of the price of the base game. As such, there has been debate on whether or not these features were cut from the game and added in after the fact.
Personally, I’m not so sure of the validity of this statement. Even still, it’s hard to deny that compared to Super Mario Odyssey‘s extra content, Donkey Kong Bananza‘s comes up extremely short. It’s even more confusing since Bananza already has a very in-depth post-game, so the fairly minuscule extra content wasn’t truly necessary. As such, it’s really hard for me to recommend the DLC for players.
Maybe if you’re extremely desperate to play more Donkey Kong Bananza and really enjoy the roguelite genre, you may have some fun with DK Island & Emerald Rush. Otherwise, you’d probably be better off just replaying Donkey Kong Bananza or buying a true roguelite game, which costs $20 and features twice the content.
Disclaimer: Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 and purchased by the reviewer.
