Nintendo Switch Online’s DK Challenge Is Kind Of A Letdown

This morning during Nintendo‘s big Direct presentation, one of the announced new perks of Nintendo Switch Online was DK Challenge, a compilation of tasks from various levels in Donkey Kong games that are playable on NSO (and Donkey Kong Bananza). NSO has offered things like this in the past (Super Mario Bros 35 comes to mind), but if you’re thinking it’s gonna be similar in any way, prepare for disappointment.

First off, it’s not a separate app. DK Challenge is part of the NSO menu. I guess that would make it easier to take down once the event ends on September 1, but a simple menu doesn’t have the same pizazz as a full app. Scroll left and you get access to levels from Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Donkey Kong 3, Donkey Kong Jr. Math, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2 , Donkey Kong Country 3, Donkey Kong Land, Donkey Kong Land 2, Donkey Kong Land 3, and Donkey Kong 94 (the newly added Donkey Kong 64 did not get a challenge). Scroll right and you find checkpoint challenges for DK Bananza.

These aren’t specifically culled moments from a level, like in NES Remix and similar titles. They are the full level, loaded directly from the respective NSO app they’re on. All you have to do is complete the level, and it gets more unspectacular. You’re not on a time limit, you’re not competing with others online for the best score or best time, and…THE REWIND FEATURE IS FUNCTIONAL. How is it really a challenge? It feels like Nintendo threw this together in an afternoon, with the workforce being one intern.

Once you complete each challenge, they become inaccessible from the menu, but you get a card marking your victory. Get all the cards and…maybe something will happen, or maybe something won’t. It doesn’t feel like there’s much of a motive to do this. It wasn’t really worthy of mentioning during the Direct.

Anyway, if you’re bored and want to mess with it, DK Challenge is available on the Nintendo Switch Online menu through the summer. I wish the challenge was real.