Donkey Kong Bananza’s DK Island and Emerald Rush DLC reviewed by Logan Plant on Nintendo Switch 2.
“The best part about Donkey Kong Bananza’s DK Island & Emerald Rush DLC is that it gives me a reason to keep experimenting in one of my favorite playgrounds Nintendo has ever created. DK Island is a nostalgic rush that prioritizes fun callbacks to Rare’s golden era over stuff to actually do. Despite the warm, fuzzy feelings I had while exploring, I can’t help but think this would have been more fitting as a final postgame reward in Bananza itself rather than DLC locked behind a paywall. But the bulk of this expansion is housed in Emerald Rush, which let me unleash DK’s craziest parkour possibilities and strategically balance each transformation’s strengths to set new high scores. Its perk system creates unique ways to play you’d never consider in the original campaign, and it smartly returns to old locations and tests your knowledge of important places in a way that feels like a fitting endgame counterpart to the main story. That said, I wish Emerald Rush had introduced more new abilities and enemies to keep me around a bit longer than the 10 hours I’ve put in so far. If you’re hungry for more DK and aren’t opposed to a remixed, roguelite formula, Emerald Rush is probably worth the additional investment. Otherwise, Bananza’s DLC is an enjoyable but inessential expansion to DK and Pauline’s grand adventure.”
