Ubisoft Milan had no business making a game this good. When the original crossover leaked, the internet collectively groaned at the idea of Minion-esque rabbits invading the Mushroom Kingdom. Then the game launched, and we realized it was basically "XCOM for kids," but with enough tactical depth to make a veteran strategy gamer sweat. But honestly? The base game was just the warmup. The real magic happened when they dropped Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle: Donkey Kong Adventure.
It’s rare. Usually, DLC feels like the leftovers—the maps that weren't quite finished or the story beats that got cut for time. This wasn't that. It was a massive, chunky expansion that completely reimagined how the game’s movement-based combat functioned.
The Bananas and the Beatdown
The biggest shift in Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle: Donkey Kong Adventure is, obviously, the big guy himself. Donkey Kong doesn't play like Mario. Not even close. In the base game, you’re mostly thinking about lines of sight and team jumps. DK changes the math because he can pick stuff up.
He can grab cover. He can grab enemies. He can grab teammates.
I remember the first time I realized I could pick up a Beep-0 and toss him across the map to trigger a tactical advantage. It felt like breaking the game, but the developers clearly intended it. That’s the beauty of this expansion; it gives you tools that feel overpowered, then throws encounters at you that demand you use every single one of them.
DK’s Bongo Blast is another game-changer. It’s an area-of-effect pull that lures enemies out of cover. In a game where staying behind a rock is the difference between life and death, forcing a Rabbid to stumble out into the open while DK smirks is deeply satisfying.
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Why Rabbid Cranky is the GOAT
We have to talk about Rabbid Cranky. He’s the grumpy old man we didn't know we needed. While DK is the muscle, Rabbid Cranky is the crowd control king. He has this move called the Long Story, which literally bores enemies to sleep. It’s a hilarious nod to the original Cranky Kong’s tendency to ramble on about how games were better in the 8-bit era, but mechanically, it’s a vital tool for managing the battlefield.
He also uses a "Boombow." It’s basically a crossbow that acts like a shotgun. If you get him close enough, he shreds. The synergy between DK throwing a group of enemies together and Cranky putting them to sleep or blasting them into oblivion creates a flow that the original Mario team-up occasionally lacked.
A Tropical Makeover That Actually Works
The Banana Lagoon. The Reef. The Jungle. These aren't just palette swaps of the base game's worlds. The art team at Ubisoft Milan clearly spent a lot of time looking at Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. The colors are more saturated. The music—composed by the legendary Grant Kirkhope—is a masterclass in nostalgia. He blends the quirky, synth-heavy Rabbids vibe with the iconic jungle percussion of the Rareware era.
It feels like a vacation.
But it’s a stressful vacation. The level design in Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle: Donkey Kong Adventure leans heavily into environmental hazards. You aren't just fighting Rabbids; you're fighting the map. There are fountains that push you around and tiles that inflict status effects. It forces you to plan three steps ahead.
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Strategy Without the Spreadsheet
One thing people get wrong about this DLC is thinking it's just a "more of the same" situation. It’s actually more streamlined in a way that makes it more fun. In the main game, you have a massive roster of characters, which is cool, but often leads to you just sticking with the three you like and ignoring the rest.
In the Donkey Kong expansion, your team is fixed: DK, Rabbid Peach, and Rabbid Cranky.
Some might call that a limitation. I call it focused design. Because the developers knew exactly which three characters you’d have at all times, they could build the puzzles and the combat encounters with surgical precision. Every map is a specific riddle that those three specific skill sets are designed to solve.
Rabbid Peach is still the star
Let's be real: Rabbid Peach carried the marketing for this game, and she remains the emotional (and tactical) heart of the DLC. Her healing ability is the only thing that keeps DK from being a glass cannon when he jumps into the middle of a pack of enemies. Her personality—obsessed with selfies and utterly unimpressed by Donkey Kong’s bravado—is the perfect comedic foil.
The Puzzles are Actually Hard Now
The base game had some block-pushing puzzles that were... fine. They were breaks between the shooting. In Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle: Donkey Kong Adventure, the puzzles feel more integrated. There’s a greater emphasis on using the environment.
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You’ll find yourself rotating platforms and timing movements in ways that feel more like a traditional Mario platformer puzzle than a tactics game. It adds a layer of "brawn and brains" that fits the Donkey Kong theme perfectly. You aren't just a soldier; you’re an explorer in a weird, corrupted jungle.
Is It Worth It in 2026?
You might be wondering if this holds up now that Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope has been out for years. The sequel changed a lot—it removed the grid and made movement more fluid.
But there is something about the "chess-like" grid of the first game that feels more rewarding to master. Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle: Donkey Kong Adventure represents the absolute peak of that specific grid-based system. It’s polished until it shines. It’s a self-contained story that takes about 6 to 10 hours to beat, which is the perfect length. No filler. Just pure tactical goodness.
What You Should Do Next
If you own the original game but skipped the season pass, you're missing the best part of the package.
- Check the Nintendo eShop for sales. This DLC goes on deep discount frequently. Don't pay full price if you don't have to, but even at full price, the cost-to-content ratio is high.
- Focus on DK’s "Hurl" ability early. Upgrading his ability to throw things (and people) should be your first priority in the skill tree. It opens up the map in ways that make the early challenges much easier.
- Listen to the soundtrack. Seriously. Put on some headphones. Grant Kirkhope’s work here is some of his best since the N64 days.
- Don't rush the bosses. The bosses in this expansion, like the Rabbid version of Donkey Kong (Rabbid Kong) returning in a new form, have specific phases that require patience. If you try to blitz them, you'll get wiped.
This isn't just a side story. It's a testament to how a weird idea—Mario, DK, and Rabbids with guns—can become something genuinely brilliant when the developers are given the freedom to get weird with it.