A good Nintendo Direct presentation is always full of surprises, ideally with most of them remaining unspoiled by leaks and early reports, and I definitely got one in Nintendo’s most recent presentation. Just a matter of weeks on from the successful launch of Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo announced a paid DLC pack for the game.
DK Island + Emerald Rush expands the game with a whole new mode for people to explore, reframing its levels as races with a ticking clock at all times, as well as adding a modest but fun new hub level, too. The DLC’s already out now, and I’ve managed to play a good chunk of it, leaving me feeling more than a little conflicted in a surprising way.
Generally, I’m not that big of a DLC guy – by the time a pack comes out, I’m often rusty enough from not playing the base game that I’m not that keen to return. Huge expansions are the exception (Shadow of the Erdtree, I’m looking at you), and Nintendo also often manages to buck the trend with sheer inventiveness.
In this case, the fact that I only finished Bananza a few weeks ago made it way easier to jump back in, but it also raises a key question – could Nintendo have packaged this into the base game and simply been more generous with the amount of content on offer? The DLC is priced at £16.99 or $19.99, which isn’t insignificant, and I think people are right to feel a little leery that it didn’t make the cut for the full game (which has much less post-credits content than the likes of Super Mario Odyssey did, for example).
Still, if you’re not worried about the price and care more about the content, then the big addition is the Emerald Rush mode. This basically sets you a series of rush modes that take place over the existing levels that you played through in the base game – and the new DK Island hub, too.
You’ll be tasked with collecting as much emerald matter as you can (replacing the gold from the normal campaign), but you can add to your haul by completing short challenges that might be anything from finding a certain character on the map to getting to a particular area in time.
As you get more and more score, you’ll also unlock level-ups for your run, modifying your abilities and making it easier to score more points in particular ways, adding a roguelite twist to things. It’s really fun, although I’m not the biggest high-score chaser, so I didn’t find it totally addictive.
That said, the mechanics on offer here are still just as brilliant as they are in the main game, and it’s a really welcome extra slice of fun for those who reached the end and wanted a new way to play it. As has been pointed out by some other critics, it’s not a typical DLC, in that it reframes the existing levels rather than offering new ones – which might be perfect for you!
