The rivalry between Donkey Kong and Mario traces all the way back to the early 80s, where Mario was called Jump Man and was saving Pauline instead of Peach or Daisy. Although these days Donkey Kong and Mario tend to be on civil terms, there are plenty of reasons these two still decide to go head-to-head on occasion.Mario vs. Donkey Kongoriginated in 2004 where it acted as a spiritual successor to an older Donkey Kong title that came out for Game Boy ten years earlier. Following its success,Mario vs. Donkey Kongspawned multiple continuations which ended up focusing more on the Minis than Mario, but still made for an enjoyable time. Fans thought the series was dormant for a while, but the reveal of a remake caught people by surprise and ended up thrilling those who wished to see a return to form. Given how hard it can be to get copies of the original on Game Boy Advance, it was a welcome new way for people to experience this series for the first time or to return and visit.
The story follows Donkey Kong on a chill afternoon of chilling in his hut watching TV. Nothing quite catches his interest until he sees an absolutely endearingly adorable Mario toy! He becomes so enthralled he needs to get one immediately. Unfortunately, his dreams are cut short as the store has sold out, but not too far away is the Mario toy company. Donkey Kong decides that if he can’t buy one, he’s going to take them all for himself. Mario catches him in the act and chases after DK in order to reclaim his toys and set things right. The simplicity is just enough to get things moving without the story trying to be anything more than it is, a simple cat and mouse game of chase across a variety of worlds where Mario wants to stop the thief and Donkey Kong just wants to play with his adorable little Mario toys! What becomes of this delightful little romp is up to the player to get through.
Mario is up against new enemies in order to catch up to Donkey Kong
Unlike Mario’s usual adventures,Mario vs. Donkey Kongis a puzzle platformer that challenges him in two-part levels. The first part has Mario looking to find a key and open a door, while the second has him trying to get to the missing mini Mario toy somewhere in the stage. Along the way, Mario can collect three different gifts that act as collectibles for completion, although these are optional for those that don’t feel the desire to get them right away. Mario has to be careful, though, as he doesn’t have any power-ups this time around and a single hit will cause him to start a stage over.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong Enhances a Handheld Classic with New Worlds, Co-op Gameplay
Nintendo looks to bring back a Game Boy Advance classic with new levels and modes, an updated presentation and co-op gameplay
A world consists of six main stages to collect every Mini in order to use them to progress further. After those six levels have been beaten, Mario then takes the toys through a stage where he uses them to collect the letters T, O and Y before getting them safely sealed in a chest. Mario will then take DK on head-to-head in a battle where he must knock him down and send him on his way. Unlike usual levels, the fights against Donkey Kong don’t have a 1-hit KO and instead let Mario take multiple hits at the cost of losing one of the toys he’s collected. Those wanting to get the best score will want to avoid getting hit entirely, but don’t worry too much about failing the first time around as it can be repeated as many times as needed, much like any level.
The real fun and challenge inMario vs DKcomes from its extended mechanics. Mario can do a handstand and pull off a double jump, in addition to being able to fling himself from a pole and even do his classic backwards jump. These are small things that help make levels not feel so linearly designed as there are alternative ways to solve most puzzles, even if it’s just a tactic that helps the stage move quicker. The movement itself feels fantastic because of how simple it is, and it’s impressive how much fun it is to mess around with the available options. It makes an otherwise straightforward puzzle have a little more variety and options in puzzle solving, even if there’s a risk in being cheeky trying to get around the normal puzzle solution. The three collectibles found in every stage also offer additional challenges to collect them, with some being easy and others requiring a workaround to nab. Levels being as short as they are means it’s easy to jump right back in if they’ve been missed or quickly restarted if it’s right at the beginning.
Mario Vs. Donkey Kong keeps engagement with clever puzzles and movement
The visuals are charmingly toy-like, with classic Mario visuals making this title a colorful delight. The music isn’t particularly stand-out all the time, but offers songs that are great to sit back and listen to. The best part is that the music never overwhelms or feels obnoxious, instead offering a nice background theme to keep moving forward with. The difficulty consistently grows throughout while introducing new mechanics and levels always feel rewarding to complete. There are additional bonuses for beating the main story that offer even greater challenge as well, so those who have a desire for something even harder won’t be disappointed if they keep at it. There’s a life system in play on the normal difficulty which can seem intimidating when just starting and likely to get killed a lot due to almost everything being a 1-hit KO, but this is quickly mitigated as completing the main 6 levels offers a bonus level to earn lives, and lives are regular bonuses in a variety of stages as well.
Closing Comments:
Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is what sheer simple funMario vs. Donkey Kongreally is. It’s so simple in concept, but never really gets old or tiresome as they keep building up new ideas along the way. It’s hard not to keep obsessively going to see what challenge is coming next. There might be moments where it’s easy to get stumped, but it’s easily fixed simply by looking around and re-examining the options to come to the proper solution. If there’s anything that’s a downside about the title, it’s that we only wish there was even more to play. Hopefully this entry puts it back on the map for Nintendo and they consider expanding upon it even more in the future, as it’s a delight and well worth picking up for all those who love charming, puzzling adventures that won’t overwork the mind too much.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Version Reviewed: Nintendo Switch
