Donkey Kong Bananza Receives First DLC: DK Island and Emerald Rush Now Available
September 2025 – A considerable content update has arrived for Donkey Kong Bananza, adding teh new DK Island area and Emerald Rush mode, Nintendo announced today during it’s Nintendo Direct broadcast.
The DK Island and Emerald Rush DLC introduces a new level featuring a giant stone Kong face, offering players both climbable terrain and destructible elements.This area utilizes emeralds rather of the game’s standard gold currency. Complementing the new location is Emerald Rush, a challenge mode tasking players with collecting emeralds as quickly as possible across DK Island and existing levels. Runs are time-sensitive, ending prematurely if mini-goals aren’t met.
Launched in July for the Nintendo Switch 2, Donkey Kong Bananza was developed by members of the Super Mario Odyssey team and has been met with critical acclaim.IGN awarded the game a perfect score, calling it “a truly groundbreaking 3D platformer, with satisfying movement, powerful abilities, impressive destructible environments, and clever challenges that all come together in complete harmony to create Nintendo’s first Switch 2 masterpiece.”
For a complete overview of today’s announcements, see IGN’s coverage of everything announced at the Nintendo direct September 2025.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. you can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
