Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Grows on you"

Mario vs. Donkey Kong for the Game Boy Advance is a wonderful 2D puzzler platformer. It has some flaws, but those don't ruin the game.

The story is simple. Donkey Kong is sitting home, watching television. He finds a commercial for a toy called Mini-Mario. DK seems to want one, even though he is Mario's rival. So he races to the store, and discovers that the stores are sold out. So he finds the factory and steals all of the toys, with Mario trying to get them back.

The game play is reminiscent of Donkey Kong. Over a variety of environments, Mario must get a key for a room that has a Mini-Mario in it. He then must rescue the toy. There are several puzzle aspects to it. For instance, Mario must press correct buttons or leave a key in a specific place. The game play is flawless and works very well, although sometimes the enemies can feel very cheap, as some are placed in devious spots.

The controls are up next. To move you use the control pad, and A to jump, and B to pick stuff up. Over the course of the game, you will learn jumping combos and how to move on wires. These moves are important to the game and aren't hard to remember. They are spot-on and are tight.

The graphics in the game are pretty good. They are bright, colorful, and drab where needed. They graphics are presented retro-style, and look fine. They could be better, though.

There is plenty to do in this game. There is a main quest, over six worlds, lasting about 5-10 hours. In addition, there is another unlockable quest, over six worlds. If you get all of the presents in each level, you also unlock expert stages. Overall, there is a lot of modes and re-playability, encouraging players to continue after beating the main quest.

This game is very good. There are a few flaws, though. The graphics aren't as good as they could be, the difficulty can be high, enemies are usually cheap, and an overuse of gimmicks. But besides that, there is a lot of fun to be found in the spiritual sequel to Donkey Kong.