Mario vs. Donkey Kong — Toying Around
Mini Madness, Major Mayhem
Mario vs. Donkey Kong is not a game I thought I’d be reviewing.
Yet, here we are.
Debuting on the Game Boy Advance in 2004, Mario vs. Donkey Kong revives the decades-old rivalry between the two titans. The series is a spiritual successor to Donkey Kong on the Game Boy, as well as the original arcade game. Nintendo seems keen to spark interest in Donkey Kong. He’s been away from the spotlight when it comes to the games, so it’s great to see him in a co-starring role again.
The game was announced back in September 2023. It surprised me, considering it is definitely not a game I would expect to see a remake of. I have little knowledge of the series outside of March of the Minis in 2006, the only game I’ve played. And that game is a significant departure from the original’s gameplay.
The goal is simple: Rescue the Mini Mario toys. Easy enough, right? Well, you’ll have to jump and hammer your way through various levels to do so. There are six levels spanning eight worlds, each ending with a 1v1 tussle against Donkey Kong. Each world has a unique theme attached to it, with the levels building off each one. You begin in Mario Toy Company, an industrial world with treadmills and oil canisters. Future worlds include a jungle and a theme park. The game supports local two-player co-op, with player two controlling Toad.
Stages have two parts, starting with a short intro area. You need to get a key to open a door to the rest of the level. Doing so brings you to the next area, featuring unique stage elements. World 2 uses climbable ropes affecting your movement through the level. Mario can even move faster using two ropes if they’re close enough. While the game certainly has good ideas for its worlds, they are not fully realized. I was disappointed with World 4, Merry Mini-Land, for not taking advantage of its theme park design. Some embrace the theming well, such as Spooky House, which feature Boos. Most fall short.
Mario has different moves he can perform through levels. Outside of picking up items and enemies, Mario can backflip and handstand. Handstands come through when facing falling bricks or objects dropped by flying enemies. Movement is key in Mario vs. Donkey Kong, since you have little time to rescue the toys. So while you can’t run through every level, you can exploit the level design to speed up your tasks. But don’t be fooled: Just because it’s a Mario game does not mean it won’t be difficult. Just as Mario giveth, Mario taketh away, because it is downright miserable to control him. His movement is sluggish and janky, especially in high pressure situations. You have to be real careful not to stand too close to a hazard or it’s game over.
Thankfully, Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a very forgiving game. You may fail often, but you gain knowledge about the level mechanics. And there are plenty of 1-Ups to get you through each world. Losing all your lives forces you back to the very beginning of the level. Otherwise, you can always restart from a specific point before losing a life. 1-Ups, in this case, serve to avoid the dreaded ‘Game Over’ screen.
Question blocks detailing necessary information appear in some levels as well. Though, while the game does a decent job of introducing new tactics early, they struggle later on. There are little indicators of what you can and cannot do with the game’s enemies and obstacles. And you’ll experience a lot of this as you reach the game’s later levels.
You can play in either Casual or Classic Mode, the former giving you unlimited time to complete the level. Mario has six extra lives, and a checkpoint flag keeps you from losing too much progress. If you want a smooth, light experience with Mario vs. Donkey Kong, this is for you. But Classic Mode doesn’t feel all too difficult to play either. That is, until you reach the game’s later stages. I cruised through much of worlds 1–5 until facing more annoying Mini Mario stages and DK fights. World 7’s DK stage in particular was difficult to perfect.
Speaking of DK levels, there’s little variation in those fights as well. The idea is to throw back whatever DK throws at you to injure him. Do this four times, and you’ll move onto the next world. Occasionally there’s a new wrinkle thrown in, such as dropping fruit on DK or avoiding falling objects, but the basic premise doesn’t change. The same goes for the Mini Mario levels preceding them. You need to guide the Minis to their box, collecting letters spelling out ‘TOY’ along the way. They can break if hit by an enemy or by falling onto spikes, but you won’t fail the level unless they all break. The number of Minis that make it to the end determine how many lives you’ll start with against DK. Collecting all Minis gives you two extra lives as opposed to the standard four.
This pattern of collecting minis, guiding minis, and fighting DK repeats through the game, with some exceptions. After completing all eight worlds, you’ll unlock expert levels and time attack. You’ll also unlock revamped levels from each world. Rather than simply rescuing the Minis, you’ll now have to guide them individually through each level. And so the pattern continues until you reach the game’s true ending.
For what it’s worth, Mario vs. Donkey Kong is as faithful of a remake as you can get. Not much differs between the original GBA game and the Switch version outside of new levels. And while the game introduces new features and actions often, it’s not enough to please me. Having other modes available at the start would have at least made it worth taking a look at. I understand beating the game a second time to unlock the true ending, but anything more than that is pushing it. It’s a fun game to play every once in a while, and a glow-up from the GBA original.
This is a fine game. It sets out to be a high quality remake, and it does that job well. Remakes and remasters can gauge a game’s popularity within a new, unfamiliar audience. I think this achieves this ideal, but not as well as a game like Super Mario RPG. That game had more demand for a revival than this, not to say no one wanted this to return at all. It is a quality game. It’s a good game to get your brain working. But it’s a bit of a hard sell at its price point and lack in content variety. Though, if you’ve never played the original, I can at least recommend trying its demo. There’s enough to get the general idea of Mario vs. Donkey Kong’s gameplay, though it is quite short. It supports two-player local co-op, so maybe it’ll make the experience more entertaining.
The Verdict
“A safe, quality remake that doesn’t diverge from the original, ‘Mario vs. Donkey Kong’ is a fitting game for those needing a quick puzzle to stimulate their senses.”
6.5/10
Available on Nintendo Switch. Demo available now.
