Albeit in Donkey Kong Island statue form rather than in person. Yep, the next round of rewards has been revealed for the Donkey Kong Bananza Emerald Rush after this one, and it seems like these two Donkey Kong 64 characters are the main focus. Here’s the quote about it from the Japanese version of the Switch 2 News app:
おいおいおいおいおいおいマジかよ…！！ランキーとチャンキーくるのかよ…？！😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/HOAkCN6joY
— うぱ@DKチャンネル (@upachan64) October 28, 2025
Which translates to:
In this event, you can obtain figures of Lanky Kong and Chunky Kong from Donkey Kong 64. Just like Enguarde and the others, these are exclusive items that can only be obtained here, so please join in!
So yeah, it’s awesome news for any Donkey Kong 64 fans. You’ll now be able obtain figures of two of the game’s main characters for DK Island’s gallery.
But it also makes us wonder a few things.
Firstly, how will the actual event work here? Since well, from what we’ve heard online, it’s going to take place on the Hilltop Layer rather than DK Island or any of the more… interesting locations in the game.
And the Hilltop Layer is kinda infamous for being a nightmare to rack up a good score on. So, we’re rather interested in seeing what the point requirements will be for the statues this time around. Will Nintendo make them dramatically lower to make them practical to obtain for most players? Or will there be some other setup that’ll guarantee good scores are possible/easy on such a barren level?
Secondly, what will their designs look like now? For Lanky, it’s pretty obvious, since he has a billboard in a certain endgame area…
Lanky Kong’s cameo in Donkey Kong Bananza
But Chunky hasn’t been seen in the series since Donkey Kong 64, at least outside of a cameo in the Super Mario Bros Movie. Hence we’re curious if he’ll be getting redesigned quite a bit to match that one. Or whether Nintendo will have another way to make his design stand out a bit more in the modern era.
Chunky Kong appearing in the Mario Movie alongside Diddy and Dixie
Finally, it also makes us wonder whether Nintendo has any plans for Donkey Kong 64 to go alongside the event. Since well, it seems like an obvious time to put that game on the Nintendo 64 app on Switch Online.
Eh, it could happen. The Wii U Virtual Console proved that the game wasn’t a legal nightmare to port to future systems, and Nintendo’s amicable relationship with Rare and Microsoft means that the presence of Jetpac probably wouldn’t be a dealbreaker anyway.
Regardless, that’s the next event for Emerald Rush sorted in Donkey Kong Bananza. It’ll take place on the Hilltop Layer, and have unlockable statues of Lanky Kong and Chunky Kong.
So, what do you think? Are you looking forward to it? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, or on our Discord server today!
Source:
Lanky and Chunky Are Coming Back in the Next Event (Donkey Kong Subreddit)