This copy of Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush was provided by Nintendo.
If there’s one thing you can’t call Donkey Kong Bananza, it’s “incomplete.” Nintendo Switch 2’s stellar 3D platformer was giant on both the macro and micro levels, with over a dozen huge sandboxes and far, far more mechanics to sustain them. In my review, I wondered if it even warranted a sequel, as it was so big and fully formed that nothing felt missing. Well, Nintendo’s not only decided to try and answer my question, they gave me a front row seat. The somewhat pricey Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush is Nintendo’s newest piece of downloadable content, announced and shadowdropped in their September Direct.
Image: Source Gaming. This isn’t a profile of the island itself, but it’s a good example of how it bursts in color wherever DK goes.
As implied by the title, the expansion has two selling points. At the start, Donkey Kong and Pauline get a new Layer to explore: DK Isle, off of Donkey Kong 64. While there, they can ride surfboards, enjoy a minecart ride, and—at least, once the main story is finished—talk to Void Kong, Bananza’s main antagonist. Reappearing after a rather sudden late game exit, he’s got a job for Donkey Kong, one whose randomness leads into Nintendo’s second stab at the roguelike genre. These two features make the DLC both chill and frenetic, and also oddly convenient for a review. We can break them down one at a time.
THIS ISLAND KONG
Aesthetically, the DK Island portion of the expansion is gorgeous. It looks as good as any Layer in the game, perhaps a bit better. The remix of the island’s theme from DK64 is lovely. Each color pops. There are all sorts of fun little bits, like a pirate ship half-submerged after Donkey Kong Country 2 or a cave beneath the giant stone head of Donkey Kong. Being one of the prettiest sandboxes of a game full of pretty sandboxes is no mean feat. The island also features several repeat versions of those “get all the Gold” timed challenges from the main campaign, to help with farming for the more expensive purchases in the postgame.
Image: Source Gaming. The main unlock of the mode is to see DK Island at sunset, which only makes it look all the prettier.
At the same time, it is very slight. There are no bosses or enemies, no reason to explore beyond your own curiosity, no sense of mystery, no new mechanics. The level even lacks the preexisting wacky terrain varieties, like the unsalted chili sauce or the Switcheroo Goo or the disintegrating light stone. Probably the most notable absences are any other Kongs. For all that the island solely exists as a nostalgia trip, it’s best served as a way to get screenshots with Bananza palls Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky Kong (and Rambi, who can move the NPCs to different locations for photo ops). Squawks from Donkey Kong Country is here as well, but his only job is to make immaculate statues of characters. They’re pretty, but they do little to stem the feeling that DK Island was a postgame victory lap that just missed the launch window. The one really new thing is one particular puzzle, though it is pretty crazy; it’s the kind of ridiculous deductive reasoning question employed by Tunic, not a Nintendo platformer.
The comparison I kept thinking of while playing was to the Mushroom Kingdom level in Super Mario Odyssey, which is only unlocked after beating the game. It’s a fun bonus area with some in-game Achievements, a few remixed boss fights, and some clever environmental puzzles and nods to Mario’s past. It’s slight as well, but far less so than DK Island, which is mostly nothing. On its own, it’s fun to run through once but doesn’t stick out. Where it shines, though, is as a testing ground for the new mode. It’s well-built for it, which makes the lack of content slightly weirder.
ROGUEFORMER (OR PLATFOROGUE)
The main appeal of the expansion is in Emerald Rush. Basically, it rewrites a level so that every gold thing in the base game—Banandium Gems, veins, and Chips—is now emerald, and DK has to collect a certain amount of the stuff before time runs out. Each match lasts for a number of ninety second rounds; fail to meet the quota and the match ends, but meet it and everything collected afterwards is stored for the next, invariably higher quota. Donkey Kong gets scored on his performance in each run, and those points unlock new elements, like unique conditions or the option to play in older sandboxes. That includes higher difficulties, which demand more Emerald Ore and take away the extremely useful Bananza transformations.
Image: Source Gaming. The most optimal way to play Emerald Rush will likely involve seeing that bar at the top a lot. Hopefully with higher numbers every time.
The roguelike elements come in through the Perks DK gets. As he starts every match back at zero (the skill tree is reset in this mode), he collects various abilities along the way to bolster his abilities. Some of these fill out the skill tree, some increase the Ore he gets from veins or enemies, some empower specific Bananza Forms, some are tied to other Perks, and some to treasure chests, balloons, Chips, or other features of the base game. Every Fossil offers the choice of three random Perks, like the Boons in Hades, while Bananas also dole out a specific power. Chips can also be used to unlock Skills in a way that finally makes the currency useful, but as the cost of each one is quite pricey, don’t expect to unlock more than a few before the end of the run. Those postgame powers that turn the whole level into gold? They’re there, just very hard to unlock in a single go, and only on the difficulties long enough to accommodate that.
Emerald Rush is quite fun, though it might take a bit of time to adjust. That’s partially because it’s a roguelike, but also because it’s not interested in doing some of the things expected from modern roguelikes. For instance, the whole layout of the level stays the same, which includes the locations of Bananas and Fossils. It’s good for consistency and mastery as players choose routes based on their powers (it’s probably also good for the developers, who don’t have to fully randomize already complex sandboxes), but it removes some of the tangy randomness fun. DK’s upgrades are also largely passive by design, so he’s not going to have the kinds of bonkers builds that pop up in the likes of Balatro and Inscryption. It’s not as though the game lacks synergies; it’s great getting the Perk that gives you more Chips and the Perk that multiplies your Ore by how many Chips you’ve found. But it feels more muted on the less advanced runs, maybe because Donkey Kong Bananza is already a wildly overstimulating action game. Or maybe it’s because DK already has a very adaptable moveset. He’s overpowered as it is, and even though the transformations are blocked on higher difficulties, they’re still collectible as Perks. Either way, DK Island & Emerald Rush feels unique from modern standards in the genre.
Image: Source Gaming. Though you shouldn’t take that to say that the mode isn’t more stimulating. On higher difficulties, the numbers can just explode past the thousand mark.
What’s probably most interesting about this mode comes from Void Kong, who spends much of his time giving random Goals: beat three Crockoids near this checkpoint, use a Barrel Cannon, high five Dixie Kong. These persist between rounds and are only given one at a time, and they’re vitally important because they pay out ore, Chips, and a Perk. It takes around two or three runs to realize that these are not simply worthwhile but essential. The cash is valuable, but Perks even more so, and passing them up is a one-way ticket to flaming out after a few rounds. At the same time, fast travel is restricted to three times per round—and even fewer on higher difficulties, though of course there’s a Perk for that—so zapping to every goal isn’t an option. Plus, it’s important to hit as many Fossils and Bananas as possible because, again, Perks are necessary.
It is here that Emerald Rush does something no Layer of Bananza was able to do: make DK hustle. While there are very hard postgame challenge rooms, the sandboxes are ultimately as fast as you want them to be. Their appeal was in a destruction that was entirely player-driven. But Emerald Rush is on a timer, one that feels increasingly tight as you start trying to count just how many of those bonus jobs you hit and whether that’ll be enough three rounds from now. It prioritizes learning the maps, particularly the locations of Bananas and Fossils and when to teleport between sub-Layers. It even made me think of the terrain itself differently, because if my latest goal is to chuck rocks at two flying enemies, and I forgot to upgrade DK’s ability to pull up dirt, it kinda matters whether the rock comes from a tougher stone or a soft dirt. And exactly where those enemies fall—near DK? Far from the nearest vein of emerald ore? Into lava, where all their loot disappears? Things that were ignorable in the base game are suddenly important.
Image: Source Gaming. The victory screen. I was playing on a lower difficulty (with a smaller set of Perks to match) because even after hitting the credits, the game can be challenging, and Forest Layer is tough.
What comes out of playing this mode? Mostly, the opportunity to keep doing it. There are cosmetics to unlock and a truly fantastic end credits sequence, but the main rewards are simply things to enhance Emerald Rush itself. As old levels and new Perks get unlocked one at a time, the real goal (other than, of course, to simply get a higher score) is to make the mode itself more robust through repeated runs. So while it does offer some spiffy VoidCo duds for Donkey Kong and Pauline, Emerald Rush is otherwise a fully siloed mode. This is true of the DLC as a whole. DK Island & Emerald Rush is almost totally disconnected from Bananza, with content that largely won’t feed back into the main story. It won’t change basic traversal, it won’t uncover a secret in the Freezer or Feast Layers; it exists for its own sake.
HARDCORE SMASHING
The appeal, value, and fun of DK Island & Emerald Rush will depend on what a player personally got out of Donkey Kong Bananza. The complex platforming, which lent itself to problem solving and exploration, gets an absolutely stellar venue. The low level of challenge that players both praised and criticized has been ramped up dramatically. And while DK Island’s shores are another example of Bananza’s reverence for Donkey Kong history, the island itself just doesn’t hold a candle to King K. Rool’s last minute entrance or the incredible remixes or the way series lore seemed to jut out of the dirt like a skeleton. For me, what made Bananza special was the imagination of its mechanics, and the way Donkey Kong’s moveset interacted with them, and that’s still the focus here. It remains incredibly fun to tear up the Layers of this game, and the timer and the genre shift both recontextualize the game in a way no other part of the game had. But it is just that, so anyone hoping for more gimmick terrain types or classic Donkey Kong characters is not going to be satisfied at all.
Image: Source Gaming. The ending of DK Island & Emerald rush. It’s very colorful.
Ultimately, Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush is everything in that ungainly title, nothing less and nothing more. DK Island is charming but insubstantial, best treated as the first stop of a great new mode rather than a new Layer filled with hours of secrets. And the Emerald Rush mode is fantastic for what it is—a surprising blend of roguelike scorechaser and 3D platformer—but it’s geared for players itching to push Bananza as far as possible. It’s not a package we can recommend sight unseen, as it’ll only appeal to some fans. However, those people will find something very special. There’s not much like a great run in a roguelike, with unbridled momentum crashing into a harsh challenge, and that’s here plenty.
Final score: 7/10: Good
Thanks to Hamada for edits.
