When Donkey Kong Bananza’s post-launch plans were first unveiled in September, I questioned how the developers could have downloadable content ready so close to release and not simply ship it with the base game or introduce it as a free update. After all, it is not like this is an investment in development that was greenlit after the release of the base game, and it coming out less than 2 months after the original release certainly did not alleviate concerns that this was a piece of the original puzzle sold to us after the fact, so we would have to buy it to see the whole vision realised.
Now that I have experienced the content in question, the $33 NZD/$30 AUD price point stands out as a sore point. To be clear: nothing present in this DLC is poorly implemented, lazy, or non-functional. The issue is that what is present is not what most would consider valuable enough to fork over 20 dollars, let alone a whole 30 buckaroos in this economy we find ourselves in. Overall, what you are getting is one additional level, although this comes with a caveat I will discuss shortly, and an extra game mode, which is admittedly extremely fun and smartly designed. The base game contains well over a dozen dense levels and considerable post-game content involving the village elders, so one would be forgiven for questioning why they would even need this post-launch pack if they have already purchased the original release, which was already flush with a wealth of content. Let’s dive deeper into the two pieces to this DLC to see where the value really lies.
I found the DK Island portion of this package to be the weaker element. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s not poorly designed, in fact it is a stunning location, featuring beautiful vistas and lush flora, like the Hilltop Layer from the base game, but with more elements present in the player’s peripheral vision. From a visual perspective, I particularly appreciated the cave at the entrance of the level, which featured a breathtaking interior space with a picturesque waterfall and a lens flare prominent enough to make prime JJ Abrams blush.
There is a nice tie in with the Emerald Rush mode, where the chips you find in it can be exchanged to unlock various statues around the island, which are detailed and surprisingly destructible (luckily, you can have the statues reset once you are done pummelling them). The mine cart tracks that go around the island are also well placed and make it easier to get from one side of the level to the other, in case you are too lazy to use your Bananza skills. Finally, I liked that the island had multiple bonus stages that were hidden under barrels around landmark areas, such as the mountain peak pictured below. These aren’t as tough as the platforming challenges in the base game; in fact, they are seemingly designed as reward stages, which are centred around gifting gems to the player.
So, the issue with DK Island isn’t what is present, because what is here is broadly fine. But if you compare it to a level from the base game, it is an area lacking in challenge, momentum and platforming sections in general. It feels like an explorable demo map, which would have been a mind-blowing demonstration of what the Switch 2 can do visually, but without the incredible platforming design that makes the original release such a phenomenal achievement.
For example, if you look at the Feast Layer from the base game, you are introduced to this burger that is in the middle of the level. And as you proceed through the level, you are going to various corners of the map, experiencing different platforming challenges, some requiring you to ride platforms through oil baths, others needing you to use the ostrich power to glide up these rotating salt platforms, and with each challenge you clear, that burger in the middle of the map gets more patties, lettuce and cheese slapped onto it, until it becomes this mammoth structure that you can scale to advance to the next section. It’s an incredible level that is varied in its design, wildly creative and enjoyable. By comparison, DK Island is simply a small explorable area without any tangible level progression or platforming challenges, which is disappointing for sure.
What isn’t disappointing though is Emerald Rush, the new game mode featured in this DLC. I found this mode to be smartly designed, in that it prioritises the collection, within a limited time window, of emerald gems, which can be found throughout the level inside what were previously the yellow Banandium roots from the base game (now appropriately deep green coloured), as well as by completing various goals given to DK by Void Kong. Adding this time crunch element is a great choice, as it adds an extra dimension to the gameplay. Where before the player could smash their surroundings if they wanted to, now they have no choice but to engage with that mechanic as they only have a limited time to gather enough Emerald Gems before the round ends, and they are mostly gathered through destroying roots or randomly spawning enemies.
The primary aim in each round is to gather the quota of Emeralds set by Void Kong in 100 seconds, whether it be 50, 75, 450, or more, and if you earn less than the quota before the end of the round, you must start again from the beginning, roguelike style. But Void also doles out these additional goals that can be completed to boost your emeralds, which makes getting through the rounds much easier. I love how varied these sub goals are. While I came across a few enemy elimination goals, like go to location X and beat up enemy Y, there are also an array of other tasks thrown in there, ranging from something simple like taking a swim to a tricky objective that required me to search for a specific NPC, who is not marked on the map, and high five them. These contrasting objectives made Emerald Rush infinitely more repayable, as it prevented the sub-goals from getting repetitive and kept the gameplay loop fresh as a result.
The beauty of this mode is created in that time pressure, as unlike in other roguelike experiences, where the player is concerned about preserving their health and the fear of having to start all over again, here the risk of the game ending is more tied to the accumulation of Emerald gems, as the quota gets turned up significantly each round. There is even a hilariously sad life parallel to this, as DK gets given an employee badge when hired by Void Kong, and he climbs the ranks of the company, all while completing gruelling days where his workload gets increased exponentially as time progresses, mirroring the bleak reality many workers face in their day jobs.
This mode does not want you stressing about health, to the point of automatically reviving you if you die, at the cost of some Emeralds being cut from the round total, although it’s worth noting that the combat here is relatively simple and most players would not have to worry about dying anyway. The time crunch requires intimate familiarity with where the bananas are in each level, as they provide extra skills and increase emerald earning rates, as well as the positions of different fossils for skill progression throughout the mode. It thrives as a post-game mode and contains higher difficulty options that are genuinely brutal, as they ratchet up the quotas and take away Bananza skills at the beginning of the Rush, requiring you to improvise and figure out the best routes to get around the offered levels and meet the insane quotas before each round ends. These higher difficulties will please those who enjoyed the base game but craved a more challenging experience, which has now well and truly arrived with this mode.
The skills introduced here are also versatile and allow for a surprising level of optimisation depending on the player’s choice. For example, when playing a level 3 difficulty Rush, I opted to optimise by only selecting skills that boosted emeralds gained by using the Kong Bananza. By pilling unlock points, which are gained by smashing the bananas and fossils, into 3 skills that boosted my gems gained when beating an enemy at full health, during a Bananza and with the charge punch ability (exclusive to the Kong transformation), I managed to get a ludicrous 117 times multiplier on emeralds dropped after smashing a group of Squeeloids. That really demonstrates the depth to this system, as the skills are tuned in a way that both rewards players who are strategic, and simultaneously provides a crutch to those who aren’t as skilled with the platforming elements and may struggle to reach multiple goals per round.
My only real complaint with Emerald Rush is the way it is implemented in the Canyon Layer. Unlike the other levels which support this mode, with DK Island being the best as it contains the most layer specific goals and is relatively easy to traverse, keeping the player focussed on collecting emeralds, the Canyon Layer has multiple sections, or sub-layers as they are called, which means that when goals are handed out, they require the player to ascend or descend the sub-layers before even being able to attempt that specific goal.
As an example, if you are in the first sub-layer, and the goal requires you to beat enemies in the second sub-layer, your focus is no longer on trying to collect emeralds, it is now on trying to get to the next layer, as you can’t just smash your way down and need to find a specific spot on the map, which I found got tiresome quite quickly. Because of this, I feel that including an Emerald Rush in this level was a miscalculation and the development team should have considered another layer from the base game, or ideally, created more new layers that take advantage of the unique structure and mechanics introduced within the mode. The other layers that support Emerald Rush, including the Feast and Hilltop Layers, fare a lot better in this regard, as the goals don’t require as much sub-level traversal.
Overall, I found DK Island and Emerald Rush as a package to be broadly fine. DK Island is not much of a level, despite how well it is rendered, but it undeniably shines as the best layer that supports the Emerald Rush mode, which in contrast is an excellent addition to Bananza and really makes the most out of its time-restricted mechanics and diversified objective system. At the beginning of this review, I posed a question as to where the value lies in this DLC and the answer clearly is this Emerald Rush mode, but even still, I question whether this package in its entirety is worth the $30 price point. In its current state, this package feels like it’s caught in an awkward middle ground, as it is too expensive for what it offers but also too hefty to be a free download. Personally, I would have happily paid $50 for Emerald Rush plus 3 brand new levels that were built completely around the mode. But that is not what we have received with this content pack, which falls short when compared to the brilliant base game.
Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2.
Review code provided by the publisher.
