Logan Plant
Guest
I’ve put over 100 hours into Donkey Kong Bananza since July. I reached 100% completion on my first playthrough, did a zero-banana run on my second, and I’ve been using a third to practice crazy speedrun techniques and push DK’s incredible movement in more extreme ways. Two months after giving Bananza a 10 in my original review, I remain in awe of how DK’s frenetic, destructive abilities work masterfully in tandem with the underground’s meticulously-designed breakable environments. Nintendo nailed the relationship between Bananza’s world and its main character, and the new DK Island and Emerald Rush DLC is a really fun excuse to keep experimenting in this playground in a remixed, more frantic way, even if a slight lack of content and a few minor issues keep it from reaching the same inspired heights as the base game.
Before we get too far into things, a quick note. Bananza’s DLC is only accessible after clearing the main story, and it acts as somewhat of an extended postgame. I’m not going to outright spoil Bananza here, but if you’re still drilling your way to the planet core and don’t want to know anything about it, you may want to come back to this review once you’ve reached the end credits. That said, you should also do so before you dive too far past them, because the DLC makes some helpful changes to the original endgame grind that you may want to know about. There are two intertwined halves of the DLC to discuss: DK Island is a new level to explore, while Emerald Rush is a roguelite take on Bananza that makes up the majority of the content found in this combined package.
What I said about Donkey Kong Bananza
The leader of the bunch is finally back to kick some tail in Donkey Kong Bananza, a brilliant successor to Super Mario Odyssey and a smashing return for a classic Nintendo character. It was a bold choice to build the Switch 2’s first 3D platformer around Donkey Kong instead of Mario, but it’s proven to be the best decision Nintendo could’ve made. DK’s satisfying, expressive movement and powerful, dynamic abilities create a truly groundbreaking adventure. The ambitious, destructible layers of this underground world are densely packed with satisfying collectibles, abundant charm, and clever challenges that never seem to run out of smart ideas, even long after the credits have rolled. Bananza is a constant crescendo across its 20-hour campaign and beyond, with puzzle-platforming concepts that only grow richer as DK and Pauline dive deeper toward the Planet Core. Every element comes together in complete harmony to create Nintendo’s first Switch 2 masterpiece. - Logan Plant, July 16, 2025
Score: 10
Read the full Donkey Kong Bananza review.
DK Island is a wonderful love letter to Rare’s Donkey Kong Country trilogy and Donkey Kong 64. It’s a nostalgic return to where DK platformers really began, comparable to exploring Super Mario 64’s Mushroom Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey’s postgame. It’s overflowing with great references, from obvious ones like DK’s treehouse and King K. Rool’s Gangplank Galleon from Donkey Kong Country, to deeper cuts like DKC 2’s goal target tucked away in the corner on the ship’s main deck. As a huge fan of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat – the last DK platformer Nintendo developed internally prior to Bananza – my favorite part of DK Island has to be the bongos out at sea. There are so many more references to DK history I don’t want to give away, but if you have any love for this series, you’ll probably get a kick out of discovering all its easter eggs too.
Beyond that, though, there’s actually not that much to do on DK Island. There are no Banandium Gems or fossils to hunt down and no challenge rooms to conquer. Instead, the gold bonus stages found in Bananza’s main layers are all collected here, making DK Island a convenient place to grind for cash. Bananza’s original postgame sees Grumpy Kong demanding tens of thousands of gold pieces to unlock some of the final collectibles and reach 100% completion, and those who have access to DK Island will have a much easier time grinding than I did before the DLC was out. Elsewhere, DK’s old parrot companion Squawks is here, and he will hunt down one of DK Island’s dozens of collectible statues in exchange for Banandium Chips. Shiny replicas of Bananza’s allies, enemies, and Kongs live in galleries across DK Island, adding to its value as a nostalgic DK history museum. In classic Bananza fashion, you can pick them up, turf surf on them, and use them to carve through the island’s central mountain. You’ll need to grind thousands of Banandium Chips to buy them all, but thankfully, those are the main reward of the Emerald Rush mode.
DK Island is a rush of nostalgia, but there's actually not that much to do.
Besides DK Island’s role as a rush of 90s nostalgia and a place to store cool trinkets, there’s not much to it, and I wouldn’t recommend buying the DLC if you’re only interested in this component. It’s a little odd that DK Island wasn’t included as a postgame reward in the base game since it’s so comparable to Odyssey’s Mushroom Kingdom, and gating it behind paid DLC feels kind of like a money-hungry move from Nintendo. This is the company that just charged $10 for Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, though, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised at this somewhat eyeroll-worthy choice.
Fortunately, Bananza’s DLC does a much better job justifying its $20 price tag in its Emerald Rush mode. Void Kong has found his way to DK Island, and he’s moved on from his obsession with Banandium Gold to set his sights on a new prize: emerald ore… which is the exact same, but green. Void hires DK and Pauline to collect as much emerald ore as possible, and this introduction includes some cute followups and resolutions for Bananza’s main story and characters.
I’ve seen some online chatter calling Emerald Rush a simple minigame that should have been free, but it’s much more than that: it’s a fully-featured side mode that turns Bananza’s destruction-based platforming into a fun, replayable roguelite. Each run takes place across a series of rounds – ranging from six to 15 depending on the difficulty level selected – where you have 100 seconds to reach a quota of emerald ore to pay Void. If you don’t reach the goal, your run comes to an end right there. If you do, you can keep working on your build for the rest of the timer to stock up for the next round, where the quota progressively multiples.
Emerald Rush feels like a combination of Splatoon’s Salmon Run and Side Order modes. Personality-wise, it clearly takes inspiration from Salmon Run: both feature a hilariously mean boss screaming at you to meet your quota through a walkie talkie over increasingly difficult rounds. This is also Nintendo’s first take on a roguelite since last year’s excellent Side Order DLC for Splatoon 3 which, notably, also came bundled with a nostalgic hub to explore. It feels like Donkey Kong is following the exact same playbook, as Emerald Rush features dozens of perks that impact your score multiplier in a very similar fashion.
Each run of Emerald Rush begins by stripping DK of all his skills – including his five Bananza transformations at higher difficulties – and it’s up to you to power him back up while also gathering piles of emerald ore. This is done by frantically exploring layers, fast traveling around with a limited number of barrel cannons, collecting emerald bananas and fossils that restore DK’s skills and give you the choice of one of three perks, and completing goals Void Kong assigns you at specific locations across the map. I love starting from nothing, giving me a place to put all of DK’s high-level base techniques to use, and I found I was able to reach a lot of areas in really cool, satisfying ways – for example, using a chunk to essentially quadruple jump to a platform I traditionally would have used Ostrich Bananza to reach. Emerald Rush challenges advanced players to go for the highest score possible, and there’s always room to grow by deepening your understanding of how DK moves.
Emerald Rush turns Bananza’s destruction-based platforming into a frantic, replayable roguelite.
But even if you’re not interested in crazy parkour tricks, the most important part of Emerald Rush are the perks that alter how much emerald ore appears. There are generic power-ups like generating more when defeating a certain type of enemy, but the most exciting ways to score are the Groove subset of perks, which revolve around multipliers that increase the more you perform a specific action. For instance, my favorite is Turf Groove, where more emerald ore appears based on the total distance traveled by Turf Surfing. The second this perk shows up, my whole playstyle changes. Suddenly, I’m trying to get everywhere by Turf Surfing, which is a big challenge on denser layers. Emerald Rush leads to scenarios you’d never see in the base game, and with such an incredible foundation to build a roguelite on, it’s always fun seeing how you can push the mechanics.
Stacking multiple perks like this on top of each other can lead to completely busted results, and I scored well over one million points on a few runs where my target goal was less than half that. If you thought the base game had a lot happening on-screen at once, Emerald Rush achieves a new level of unregulated chaos, like one run where I got tons of bonus emerald ore for defeating enemies as Zebra Bananza, leading to 30 minutes of sprinting around nonstop, destroying everything in sight to flood the screen with an overwhelming, borderline unbelievable amount of emerald ore.
How to Unlock the Donkey Kong Bananza DLC: DK Island and Emerald Rush
To access this new Bananza DLC content, you’ll need to both purchase the DLC and beat Donkey Kong Bananza’s final boss, then talk to one of the elders where they reside in the Layers you’ve completed – no need to play their tough post-game Encore challenges, though. From that point you can freely access the DK Island and Emerald Rush. However, you can preview the DK Island DLC early by going to the Race Layer and talking to Squawks the parrot, who will newly appear there after purchasing the DLC -- Squawks can send you to the DK Island but it will not be unlocked on your layer map/fast travel until you beat the game. Full article: How to Unlock the DK Bananza DLC. Still making your way through DK Bananza? We’ve got you covered with our full walkthrough, interactive map, and elder locations if you are returning to unlock this DLC. You’ll be there in no time!
It’s not always a breeze, though. Like most roguelites, a lot of your success depends on what skills randomly show up, and I lost multiple runs by banking on a certain Bananza to spawn by building my perks around it, and ultimately failing when it never arrived. Speaking of Bananzas, Emerald Rush really rewards mastery over these five powered-up forms, as knowing the best way to take advantage of their unique strengths and swapping between them on the fly results in a high skill ceiling fitting of an endgame mode.
I do wish Emerald Rush went a little bit further with its abilities, though. Seeing big numbers get bigger is always enjoyable, and the way Emerald Rush overlays your multiplier onto every individual explosion is a nice touch – but with a few rare exceptions, there are no brand new abilities to find, and the perks simply make DK’s already-existing moves worth more points. It changes the scoring and the way you play, but beyond reclaiming powers I’m already very used to using in the base game, it never meaningfully expands the options available to you. The best roguelites make you feel more powerful throughout a run by giving you fresh moves as you go, and adding more exciting techniques to DK’s toolkit could have elevated this from a good roguelite mode to a great one.
Completing runs earns you piles of Banandium Chips and rating points that unlock cute bonus costumes, more powerful perks in the rotation, and new layers to tackle. Emerald Rush doesn’t take place in new areas besides DK Island. Instead, DK and Pauline return to familiar locations from Bananza’s campaign, and one of the coolest parts of this mode is how it rewards you for being intimately familiar with these layers. Emerald versions of Banandium Gems and fossils are found in the same locations as their counterparts in the main campaign, and knowing exactly where to find a vein of three fossils or a bunch of bananas makes Emerald Rush feel like a cool B-side to the main story. And, the Getaways you’ve built during the main story become essential fast travel points during a run, further incentivizing you to explore each layer to the fullest.
In that same vein, Void Kong’s objective will sometimes vaguely order you to do something like give Cranky Kong a high five, or take a swim in a layer that doesn’t have much water in it. Unlike the usual orders, these objectives don’t place a marker on your map, leaving it up to you to find them on your own. Thanks to my 100+ hours and multiple playthroughs, it didn’t take long for me to pinpoint Cranky hanging out on a big tree branch in the Forest Layer, or to find a quick pond to dive into in the Hilltop Layer. I initially thought reusing areas from the base game would be a weakness of Emerald Rush, but the way it leverages your knowledge of familiar locations is a really smart, novel way to effectively reuse old content.
I wish Emerald Rush had added a little bit extra to keep things fresh.
Still, this is another place I wish Emerald Rush had added a little bit extra to keep things fresh. There are no new enemy types, and it never introduces boss encounters that could’ve nicely broken up the pace of runs that last up to 45 minutes. I reached the end credits after about six hours, and while the DLC’s postgame opens up several more layers to play Emerald Rush in, I’m starting to feel a little burnt out on the formula. I’ll probably only stick around to reach 100% completion out of obligation to the base game I’ve so thoroughly completed. And when I do return, I’ll almost certainly throw on my own music or a podcast – the pair of main themes is undeniably catchy with flourishes from Pauline that change depending on your active transformation, but I could definitely go without hearing either for a while after 10 hours in the DLC.