Blair Loveday
Forty three years ago Mario and Donkey Kong went to head for the first time.
This iconic arcade game put Donkey Kong on the map, and Mario, who was known as Jumpman, was an icon soon after. twenty three years later on the GameBoy Advance they went head to head again in Mario vs. Donkey Kong. And now twenty years later, you can check out this interesting puzzle game again with the remake Mario vs. Donkey Kong on Switch.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong has a pretty light plot.
Donkey Kong is watching an ad on TV that shows a Mario toy. He gets down to the store as quickly as he can to get one to find they are sold out. Dismayed he looks across the road and sees the factory that makes the toys. He jumps in there, fills his sack with Mario toys, and does a runner. Fortunately, Mario was walking past at the time and runs after him.
And that’s it. It’s dumb and silly, but honestly I didn’t need a giant plot to enjoy this puzzle game.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong is first and foremost a puzzle game.
Each stage gives you two sections, the first of which requires you to get a key to get through a door. The next section has you trying to get the Mario toy that was left behind. The puzzles involve having to climb ladders, swing over gaps, ducking through gaps, and more. They are never overly complex, but they are just cleverly built enough to get you feeling smart when you nail it. Even if you nail a pretty substantial number of them on the first try.
After six of these types of levels you get hit with an interesting puzzles where you need to lead the toys to collect a bunch of letters, and then get them to a box for Mario to return them to the store. After this you have a boss fight where Donkey Kong throws stuff around, some of the things you use to throw back at him. Again none of these are too complicated, but they are just creative enough to make you feel clever.
One of the weirdest parts, especially as you start, is the controls.
Mario doesn’t move anywhere near as fluently or quickly as he does in platforming games. It’s got a weird sluggishness that feels like Mario is walking on glue. That’s not a major problem, because while it was annoying at first, it didn’t take too long to get the hang of. This is more of a puzzle game that has platforming in it, as opposed to a platformer.
The overhaul has brought a bunch of new levels.
As a new player I haven’t seen the old version so have no idea which levels are new. But treating it as a new game in 2024 they all felt like they could have been created now. Added to this is the graphical overhaul, which again looks like a game that was released in 2024. It’s gorgeous.
On the whole, I have to say I really enjoyed my time with Mario vs. Donkey Kong. It’s not overly difficult, but it’s fun. Once you get past the slow platforming, it’s a damn entertaining and simple way to chill out.
Released: February 2024
Rating: G
Platforms reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo