User Rating: 7.8 | Mario vs. Donkey Kong GBA
Donkey Kong was Shigeru Miyamoto’s first creation when joining Nintendo’s regime. The game was about a plumber trying to save his girlfriend, Pauline, from an evil ape named Donkey Kong. Why would someone name a game after the bad guy? The world may never know. Either way, the game revolutionized gaming as a whole, and most 2D platformers of today are still built upon Miyamoto’s original creation. The first follow-up to the game was released on the original Game Boy in 1994. Again, the game starred Mario on his path up all sorts of ladders hopping barrels but adding some variety this time around with the courses. Originally entitled Donkey Kong +, Mario vs. Donkey Kong is essentially a huge and more varied update to the 1994 Game Boy classic. There’s no hopping around barrels this time. The game is more puzzle-oriented allowing you to make use of a lot of multitasking. There’s no princess to save in Mario vs. Donkey Kong, but Nintendo stays as random as ever with their plots in games like these. The game begins with a bored Donkey Kong flipping through channels on his TV set until he comes to a commercial showing off the new fad, Mini-Mario toys. Gazed by their cute appearance and cool features, Donkey Kong goes out to his local toy store to buy one of these plumbers and finds that they’re all sold out. Enraged by this loony disaster, Donkey Kong runs over to the factory and steals every Mini-Mario toy in the building and runs off into various places holding the Mini-Mario’s hostage. You take on the roll of Mario, and it’s up to you to bring all the toys back to the factory before the next shipment. At first glance, Mario vs. Donkey Kong looks to be a relatively short game with only six worlds to navigate in order to recover the lost toys. Each world consists of eight levels. The first six of the eight levels are regular maps that you navigate with Mario to find a Mini-Mario hidden in convenient places within the second area of a level. First you’ll enter a map with one gift, a golden key, a locked door in which you need a key to open, and a different variety of items depending on your location. There’s a set time limit of usually 200 seconds, so you’ll have to work fast, but these maps are generally easy, and the puzzles pretty much solve themselves. They’ll eventually get harder as you ease halfway through the game. Once you open the door, you’ll unlock the second area of the level in which you can find a Mini-Mario toy encased in a glass bubble. There you’ll have to continue navigating through obstacles using all sorts of maneuvers in order to get to the toy. After obtaining the toy, the level is beat and your score is calculated. As with most Mario games, the plumber has to have his insane abilities. The moves Mario possesses pretty much retrospect his older games. Aside from running, jumping, and talking too much, Mario can perform triple jumps and back flips as he did in Super Mario 64. The game’s formula of combat in the game is a lot like Super Mario Bros. 2, where you can stand on enemies, and lift them over your head to toss at different areas or other enemies to knock them both off the screen. Another retro move Mario can perform can be found in Donkey Kong Jr. where he can swing from vine to vine to get to impossible-to-reach places. Mario also steals a page from Donkey Kong’s book as he can walk with his hands to get by falling, projectile items. Whenever an item hits him in this position, 50 points is gained. Of course, it isn’t a game a follow-up to the classics if you don’t have the Hammer complete with its own “hammer music.” The seventh and eighth levels in a world aren’t at all like the first six. In the seventh, you must guide the six Mini-Mario’s you’ve saved safely into a toy box through another obstacle course. Again, a time limit is given, so you’ll have to think fast on your feet. Be as careful as you can because its possible to end the level without saving anybody, and therefore, not earning any points. The eighth level in a world is what makes the name of the game. You’re in a one on one match against Donkey Kong with six hit points each. Donkey Kong will throw stuff at Mario, and avoiding those items is all you. Fighting back usually has Mario dropping or throwing stuff at the ape. Any wrong move will cost you a hit point, so it’s as important as ever to handle with care. Aside from its engaging nostalgic gameplay, Mario vs. Donkey Kong gets a lot of its replay value from its scoring system. Instances like how fast or how well you complete a level affect your score. There are also three gifts to collect in each level, and depending on whether you have all three or not, a bonus is given for each gift you recover. Defeating enemies and getting rid of projectile items is a way to increase your score. The system also counts up how many Mini-Mario’s you have after level seven, and how many hit points you have after defeating the boss in a world. Fans should find the scoring system very pleasing in Mario vs. Donkey Kong, and it should keep players coming back for a while. The games visuals aren’t bad at all, retaining a Donkey Kong Country look with its somewhat polygonal graphics. The backgrounds, platforms, and items all look good, but Mario’s blocky look really doesn’t go well with his surroundings, and neither does Donkey Kong either. Either way, the visuals are great improvement of its 1994 predecessor and work well on the Game Boy Advance. The sound to Mario vs. Donkey Kong is, however, somewhat questionable. The background music during gameplay don’t sound much like any tune from a Mario or Donkey Kong game at all and sound generic for the characters. As weird as the music is, it’s definitely well played and sounds good despite how non-Mario or Donkey Kong the score is. The game also has lots of dialog too, and depending on whether you like to hear Mario screech excessively throughout your day, it can really try your patience. Overall, the audio in this game isn’t one of its strong points, but the game works well and retains a good feel with it. Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a good game with good graphics and sound, and great gameplay. The game owes a lot to the past of both Mario and Donkey Kong, and Nintendo has played their cards right when forming this type of feel to an already classic game. If you’re looking to go retro without dishing out $20 for every Classic NES game Nintendo releases, Mario vs. Donkey Kong should fit the bill nicely, and keep you coming back for more.
