Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush DLC Review

Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush DLC
Version reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2

Donkey Kong Bananza is already a landmark release. With its fully destructible environments, powerful game engine, and a level of creativity that sets a new standard for 3D platformers on the Switch 2, it’s Donkey Kong at his absolute best. It’s no surprise then that the game earned our What’s It Like Certified Exceptional rating, standing tall as one of the most impressive platformers of this generation. Now, the adventure grows with its first major DLC. DK Isle brings a fresh world brimming with challenges and easter eggs, while Emerald Rush introduces a high-speed, rogue-like mode designed to test your smashing skills in brand new ways. What’s it like? Put on your tie, pick out your best shorts, and prepare to smash as we review the DK Isle and Emerald Rush DLC for Donkey Kong Bananza.

DK Isle

DK Isle is pure fan service, packed with Easter eggs and nods to earlier entries in the series. Much like the “Vacation Level” in the original game, it’s a space built more around nostalgia and atmosphere than challenge, offering players a chance to explore at their own pace. The island itself is varied and vibrant, featuring a lush rainforest to wander through, a shipwrecked galleon washed up on the shore, and even minecart rides that call back directly to the Donkey Kong Country series.

It’s not a sprawling new campaign, but in terms of size, it’s closer to Splatoon’s Inkopolis DLC hub, a cosmetic area filled with character and history. With DK’s friends to meet, statues to unlock, and secrets tucked away in every corner, DK Isle is less about pushing the game’s mechanics forward and more about celebrating the legacy that made the series what it is today.

Emerald Rush

While DK Isle is where you run into Void Co’s former boss, Void Kong, he’s no longer scheming to take over the world, instead, his ambitions have shifted. Because you clobbered enough of his VoidCo employees in the main game, he’s now facing a serious labour shortage. So what’s his new venture? He’s now looking for minions to grab as many emeralds as they can because “Banandium gems are old news now.”

Emerald Rush is the real gem of this DLC. It’s a new mode where you temporarily trade in your usual DK skills, strap on a VoidCo helmet, and become an emerald-hunter. The job: over six rounds, you are required to gather as many emeralds as you can to meet quotas. Each round gives you a strict time limit and throws in small challenges like defeating certain enemies, etc., for bonus points. Banandium gems and fossils are still around, only this time they feed into skill upgrades and multipliers that help you reach your quota, and any extra emeralds you collect carry over to the next round, going towards the next higher quota.

I found the first run on DK Isle pretty easy, and honestly thought maybe that was all the DLC gave. Thankfully, there’s more: after that initial run, you level up, unlock Emerald Rush runs in different “layers”, and get exclusive VoidCo gear as rewards. There are also difficulty modifiers you can toggle to crank up the challenge and the rewards.

The real depth of Emerald Rush comes from these difficulty modifiers. They crank things up with longer runs, steeper quotas, and tighter resource management. While my first trip through DK Isle felt laughably easy, by the third difficulty layer, I was carefully weighing every upgrade and multiplier, stacking skills in just the right way to survive. Completing tasks under specific conditions, like turf surfing into enemies for a 150% multiplier, became essential rather than optional. When I finally cleared DK Isle on the higher settings, it felt genuinely rewarding. The challenge highlighted just how replayable Emerald Rush is, pushing me to refine my strategies with every attempt.

Each subsequent layer escalates further, with emeralds becoming scarcer and smart barrel management turning into a necessity. Warping barrels let you skip to key mission areas, and learning when and how to use them often made the difference between smashing quotas and falling just short.

If the base game was already a showcase for the Switch 2’s power, the DLC keeps that standard intact. In fact, with Emerald Rush there’s significantly more chaos on screen as you’re frantically smashing through environments, chasing quotas, and juggling multipliers, yet the game never misses a beat. Performance stays smooth throughout, even in the busiest moments.

Value is a trickier question. At first, $30 felt a little steep for what looked like a mostly cosmetic hub in DK Isle. But after sinking more hours into Emerald Rush, it became clear there’s far more here than I expected. For players who want to coast through on the base difficulty, the DLC can be cleared fairly quickly. But for those who want to take on every layer that has Emerald Rush, push through the modifiers, and unlock everything VoidCo has to offer, there are a fair few hours of smashing fun ahead. It’s more of a good thing, and it rewards those willing to dig deep.

I’ll admit, I went into this DLC with a bit of pessimism, unsure whether it could live up to the exceptional standard Bananza had already set. But after a few days with Emerald Rush, I can confidently say it’s fun, challenging, and well worth the price of entry. DK Isle works as a fan-service staging area, packed with Easter eggs and nods that feel like a brief reunion with the series’ history, while Emerald Rush delivers a fresh mode that keeps me coming back for just one more run.

This DLC is like adding the perfect topping to an already delicious ice cream. If you enjoyed Donkey Kong Bananza, you’re going to have a smashing time with DK Island & Emerald Rush DLC.

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