Nintendo Will Finally Acknowledge Donkey Kong: Bananza's Secret Character – Fans Now Convinced of Mario Kart World DLC Release Timing
Blog Andrew Joseph 05 Dec , 2025 0
With Nintendo finally looking ready to acknowledge the existence of a secret character in Donkey Kong: Bananza, fans are using the moment as further evidence of an unannounced upcoming release mario kart world DLC.
as all who have done Donkey Kong: Bananza You'll know that the final boss of the game is King K. Rool (if you haven't played the game yet, you should, it's awesome). Although he's been hinted at multiple times in the game, King K. Rool's reveal comes as a surprise – Nintendo has hidden the crowned reptile from all of the game's marketing. That is, until now.
Data miners who peeked into files Nintendo Today The smartphone app has discovered that Rool will finally be recognized on December 15, when scaled-down royal figures will star in the software's daily introductory animation (which has been documented and visible via the Mario Wiki). Now, fans are placing Ruhl's appearance alongside other events in the near future, as well as some previous hints that we'll be seeing more of the character soon.
Of course, since next week is the Game Awards on December 11, Nintendo has used the show to make some smaller announcements in the past, but it must be noted that this hasn't been the case in past years.
But it was expected that Nintendo would indeed release DLC for Mario Kart World, as the game's developers mysteriously included the voice actors of King K. Rool and Bananza's main villain, Void Kong. Neither character is currently found in the game, leading fans to believe that the two characters are coming as part of the first wave of characters after Racer's release.
Ending 2025 with DLC for the Switch 2, celebrating Nintendo's second-biggest game release of the year, makes a lot of sense, and might help move more Switch 2 consoles ahead of the holidays (not that Nintendo really needs help).
Will King K. Rool meet Geoff Keighley next week? As always, IGN will be covering all The Game Awards announcements live.
Tom Phillips is IGN's news editor. You can contact Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social