Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush review – the price tag is bananas

Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush – it makes Silksong look like even more of a bargain (Nintendo)

Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive Donkey Kong Bananza gets its first paid-for DLC, including a new location, a new game mode, and a sky-high price tag.

If we told you that the recent Nintendo Direct saw a shadow drop of new DLC, for one of the Switch 2’s major launch window games, you’d probably think that was the perfect timing for some new Mario Kart World courses and characters. As it turned out though, Nintendo didn’t mention that game at all and it is in fact Donkey Kong Bananza which got an expansion.

Bananza is a big game, that’s not short of content, but getting more of a good thing is seldom reason to complain – except in this case.

The awkwardly named DK Island & Emerald Rush is some of the worst DLC we’ve seen in a long time. Not because of its quality, but because of its absolutely shocking price tag. As we describe the expansion, and its pros and cons, bear in mind that it’s actually slightly more expensive than Hollow Knight: Silksong in its entirety.

Considering it has an expansive and rewarding endgame, there was never anything very obvious to do with a Bananza expansion. However, fans of the Rare games would not doubt liked to have seen more of the ancillary characters from the franchise, which were only hinted at before, and so it is that the DLC includes a fully explorable version of DK Island, complete with Donkey Kong’s hut and huge piles of bananas.

It also features returning characters such as Squawks the parrot and… that’s it. Maybe you can get to meet Funky Kong and the like through some obscure unlock but beyond Squawks the only members of the Kong family we can confirm are Cranky, Diddy, and Dixie from the main game.

Sadly, DK Island is disappointingly empty. Apart from Void Kong, who we’ll get to in a minute, and a few Fractones, there’s no one else on the island, with no enemies to fight, and no additional subterranean levels. All you can do is search for six bonus stage challenges (the gold-collecting types that only last 60 seconds or so) and pay Banandium chips to Squawks, for him to unlock a random statue of an ally or enemy from the game.

And that’s it. The island is small and easy to traverse, so there’s really nothing to do but stock up on gold from the bonus stages and go and talk to Void Kong. Since you have to beat the game to access the DLC we’re not going to spoil why Void Kong is there but he’s not very repentant and insists on employing you to mine emeralds, which take the place of gold from the rest of the game, when playing Emerald Rush mode.

Emerald Rush is a little contrived, but it mixes elements of a roguelite and MOBA, although only in a fairly superficial way. The idea is that you have to collect a certain amount of emeralds in a series of rounds, primarily by either smash outcroppings or Banadium gems. You start off on DK Island and then slowly unlock the ability to play on other existing layers – although not all of them support the mode.

Once you start an Emerald Rush all your skills and abilities are removed, except the ability to transform into the various animal forms, and you have to earn them back by collecting specific Banadium gems. Also, if you collect fossils these allow you to pick one of three perks that are offered at random, most of which take the form of a multiplier for how many emeralds are generated via the various means, including destroying enemies and digging up treasure chests.

This is all quite fun and if it had been an unlockable at the end of the game, it would’ve been lauded as a clever reuse of the game’s existing levels. Although, like the rest of the main story, it’s very easy on the default setting. And yet the more you turn up the difficulty the more rounds are added, which drags down the pacing.

You also have to repeat runs multiple times in order to unlock the ability to play Emerald Rush on other layers, via what is essentially a battle pass – which also unlocks unique new clothing and additional perks to add to the mix.

Emerald Rush isn’t amazing but if it had been part of the existing game, or free DLC, it would’ve been regarded as a welcome addition, that adds a few extra hours to the game’s playtime. But this DLC is not free. At £17 it is monstrously expensive, and we can only imagine Nintendo would’ve rethought their plans for it if they’d known Silksong was going to offer such a stark comparison in terms of value for money.

Traditionally, Nintendo isn’t a particularly prolific producer of DLC and what it does release tends to be quite modestly priced but the obvious fear here, is that DK Island & Emerald Rush is a sign of things to come for this new generation. We’ll have to wait and see on that but what we can say for now is that while this is a moderately entertaining diversion in theory, the ridiculous price tag means only Nintendo’s most dedicated and/or richest fans need apply.

Formats: Nintendo Switch 2
Price: £16.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EPD
Release Date: 12th September 2025
Age Rating: 7

The best bit of DK Island is the GameCube bongo reference (Nintendo)

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