Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island and Emerald Rush DLC

Donkey Kong Bananza shocked fans by shadow dropping a brand-new expansion called DK Island & Emerald Rush. The new DLC, revealed at the September 2025 Nintendo Direct presentation, gives Donkey Kong Bananza players the chance to explore DK Island and engage in a new roguelike mode where the goal is to collect emerald ore for base game villain Void Kong.

The Donkey Kong Bananza DLC reveal trailer failed to disclose how much the expansion would cost, but it's available right now for $19.99. At $19.99, the Donkey Kong Bananza DLC is not the most expensive expansion ever, but some fans of the game may be wondering if it's worth the price of admission.

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By Tristan Jurkovich

Is the DK Bananza DLC Worth It?

$19.99 is a little steep for what Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush brings to the table. DK Island is devoid of any new banandium gems or fossils to collect (outside the temporary ones that appear as part of Emerald Rush), but it does feature bonus stages designed to get players a bunch of gold. It has some Easter eggs and throwbacks to classic Donkey Kong games that are cool to see, but not $20 cool. It's clear that the real meat of the expansion is Emerald Rush, but that's going to have limited appeal.

Emerald Rush is a roguelike mode where players are tasked with collecting as much emerald ore as possible under a time limit. As players reach certain thresholds and collect emerald fossils, they gain perks that make getting ore easier. DK Island is the home of the first Emerald Rush challenge and, since it's a new area, it is relatively fun to explore. The rest of the Emerald Rush stages are spread out across Donkey Kong Bananza layers that players will likely already be plenty familiar with, especially if they went through the trouble of getting 100% in the base game like I did. I had my fill of Emerald Rush after a couple of hours and feel little desire to return to it, though there will apparently be special limited-time events tied to the mode in the future.

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Only the most hardcore Donkey Kong Bananza fans should spend $20 on the DK Island & Emerald Rush DLC. There is some fun to be had, but DK Island itself is underwhelming, and Emerald Rush is effectively more of the same smashing and collecting that makes up the entirety of the base game. You can do a lot better for $20 on the Nintendo Switch 2.

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