Earlier today, the latest event for Donkey Kong Bananza’s Emerald Rush event went live. This event added unlockable statues of Kiddy Kong and a DKC3 Hero Coin to the game, with players needing to surf across the Resort Layer to get the emeralds required to obtain them.
It’s a fun event, and one that we’ve already maxed out on day 1:
Yet despite the event being the main focus, it seems that wasn’t the only change Nintendo made to the game. No, they also changed another level in Emerald Rush too.
Namely, the DK Island one. Now, the first level on that layer acts even more like a tutorial than it did before, complete with a significantly more limited perk pool.
Indeed, while every other level in the mode gives you the full perk list based on however far you got in Emerald Rush, level 1 on DK Island seems to now be limited to the following:
Available Perks
- Barrel Bump Up
- Buzzoid Demolisher
- Crocoid Demolisher
- Emerald Treasure
- Fossil Radar
- Goal Champ
- Healthy Heart
- Perk Champ
- Skill Champ
- Smashing Forager
- Superior Smasher
- Treasure Trove
And that’s not the only thing that seems to have changed here. No, it seems like the goal options have been limited too.
Yep, while every other level on DK Island has a wide variety of tasks that Void can set you, this level has now seemingly cut the options list down to:
- Defeat Emerald Crocoids
- Defeat Emerald Buzzoids
- Hit the Checkpoint
- Destroy Emerald Lumps
There are no goals involving Squeeloids on this level anymore, nor for doing things like giving characters a high-five, smashing terrain or going for a swim.
Nintendo has effectively turned a normal round of the game into an extended tutorial, with no option to go off script in any real way.
And while that may not seem like a big deal at first, we can’t help but be a bit concerned by this turn of events. You see, Donkey Kong Bananza hasn’t gotten an update since February 2026, and we know for sure that this change hadn’t occurred more than a week or so ago at most.
So, they’ve effectively updated the game in secret. Changed a fairly sizeable portion of the Emerald Rush DLC behind player’s backs without even a patch note.
That’s not something we’re too comfortable with to be honest. Yes, it’s always been possible. The Switch 1 and 2 telling us an update is available and giving us the choice to install it has always really just been a courtesy more than anything. Nintendo could have easily updated games like Breath of the Wild or Super Mario Odyssey in secret…
But it’s a nightmare for competitive communities and speedrunners, as well as anyone wanting to keep track of a game’s changes in general. Imagine if Mario Kart World suddenly changed the item distribution one Monday morning, or a major glitch in the next Zelda game got silently patched overnight. Those communities would be thrown into disarray overnight, and keeping track of everything would become an absolute nightmare.
At least an update gives us some hint towards what’s happening, even if that hint is as vague as “Several issues have been addressed to improve the gameplay experience”.
Either way, Donkey Kong Bananza now has an updated tutorial in Emerald Rush, and it’s one the game doesn’t even tell you has been changed. Here’s hoping other games don’t get changed in quite the same way.