Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush review: neat, but should’ve been free

Had Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush been released as a free update, I would be singing its praises.

After all, if I had one complaint with Donkey Kong Bananza in the weeks since it launched, it’s that there’s no real reason to keep coming back for more after the credits roll, and this new downloadable content (DLC) expansion remedies that somewhat by bringing back the fan-favorite Donkey Kong Island and introducing a replayable side mode to dive into.

It’s an enjoyable diversion for a couple of hours and gives you a delightful excuse to rediscover some of the best locations from the main game, but for $19.99 / £16.99, the content on offer is just too slim to fully recommend.

That’s the exact same price as the recently launched Drag X Drive and most Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrades, not to mention indie titans like Hollow Knight: Silksong if you venture outside the first-party catalog – all of which would be better value purchases.

Switching sides

The entirety of DK Island & Emerald Rush takes place after the main game, with the new DK Island layer appearing the next time you visit the Eelevator. Situated on the surface, a short distance from Ingot Isle, the map is a novel interpretation of how the setting appeared in the original Donkey Kong Country. It’s a joy to explore for a little bit, with memorable landmarks like Donkey Kong’s little hit and the massive Kong head-shaped volcano sure to delight long-time fans.

There’s loads of gold to hoover up, particularly in the smattering of small challenge levels hidden in its various nooks and crannies, which makes it all feel like a fitting celebration now that you’ve finished the game.

Unfortunately, there’s very little to do beyond exploration. There are a few locations clearly designed for taking screenshots in the photo mode with the likes of Diddy Kong and Cranky Kong, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that there’s no real progression like a standard Bananza stage. There aren’t even any enemies to defeat, which leaves it all feeling rather empty.

Most of your time on DK Island is clearly meant to be spent in the Emerald Rush mode, accessed by visiting Void Kong on a wrecked piledriver adjacent to the island. There’s a sliver of story content, with Donkey Kong and Pauline unwillingly drafted into joining Void Company in order to collect a new emerald substance, and then you’re thrust straight into it.

In the mode, you run around a past level in which all of the existing gold has been turned into bright green emerald. Your task is to smash through it quickly and hoover up as much as possible within ten timed rounds, meeting a certain threshold in each in order to continue into the next.

Void Kong feeds you objectives as you go, which usually boil down to defeating some special green enemies that have spawned on the map or completing a quick task like dipping yourself in water or using a nearby barrel launcher.

Completing objectives or collecting one of the now green Fossils or Banandium gems lets you choose a perk, mainly centered around increasing your rate of Emerald collection.

There are a decent number of them, and they stack in interesting ways, leading to some satisfying rogue-like progression. On one run, for example, each enemy I defeated at full health would result in a deluge of Emerald thanks to multiple similar bonuses, and on another, I earned hundreds of times the usual reward for each completed objective.

Climbing the corporate ladder

Finishing Emerald Rush runs awards Banandium Chips that can be spent placing statues of characters on DK Island.

There’s no real way to interact with these statues beyond bashing or throwing them, so this whole addition feels completely superfluous unless your idea of enjoyment is tossing around an inanimate idol of Squarks the Parrot.

Thankfully, there is a much meatier progression system tied to your current employee rating, which increases with each successful run. Working your way up the ranks gives you the chance to return to other past maps (there are a total of six), puts new perks into rotation, and unlocks some cool Void Co outfits to wear.

Beyond messing around with the option to increase the difficulty of each Emerald Rush run, which raises the required quota to progress and removes some starting abilities, there’s really not much else to this DLC, and you’re going to have had your fill after just a few hours. The perks add plenty of variety, but many of the objectives in Emerald Rush are quite samey and mean that it gets stale before you’ve even managed to max out your employee level.

What’s here certainly isn’t terrible by any means and does successfully extend the game’s overall runtime, particularly if you want to unlock everything, but it’s not unreasonable to expect something more substantial at this price.

Should I play Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility

As an expansion, Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush has the same suite of accessibility features as the base game. This means you can access an assist mode, which makes the game easier overall, in addition to the various difficulty options for each Emerald Rush run.

Camera controls can also be inverted, and your main actions can be customized using some presets. Subtitles are enabled by default.

How I reviewed Donkey Kong Bananza

I spent over three hours in the DK Island & Emerald Rush expansion using a Nintendo Switch 2 in handheld mode using the standard Joy-Con 2 controllers and the system’s built-in speakers.

Having written our Donkey Kong Bananza review, I compared my experience to that of the base game and carefully considered the value for money offered by this DLC compared to other Nintendo releases and various Nintendo Switch 2 games.

First reviewed September 2025