Rambi almost made the cut for Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle's Donkey Kong Adventure expansion

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was quite the hit, and Nintendo and Ubisoft followed that success up with some expansive DLC for the game. The most sizable DLC release for the game was Donkey Kong Adventure, which pit fans against Rabbid Kong, a villain who takes over a mysterious island. Donkey Kong, Rabbid Peach and Rabbid Cranky team up on a journey to stop Rabbid Kong, but it turns out another familiar face almost made the cut as well.

Hiding inside the game data of Donkey Kong Adventure is none other than Rambi the Rhino, an animal companion that joined Donkey Kong on numerous other outings over the years. It’s unclear as to whether Rambi would have been fully playable or simply a partner, but nonetheless, his character model has been found inside the game’s code, along with the Rambi Rush ability and other offensive maneuvers and animations.

Sadly, we have no idea why Rambi didn’t make the cut, but it’s clear the dev team felt it was best to leave this animal buddy behind. That’s a real shame, as any excuse to partner up with Rambi is one most Donkey Kong fans would have cherrished.