More than twenty years ago a young Japanese game designer by the name of Shigeru Miyamoto created an arcade game by the name of Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong introduced two of Nintendo’s top modern day franchise characters, the immortal Super Mario and the loveable Donkey Kong. In the game it was Mario’s duty (then known as Jumpman) to save his girlfriend Pauline from the clutches of the simian Donkey Kong by overcoming many obstacles by way of proper timing and flawless execution. Donkey Kong was Nintendo’s first true gaming hit, propelling the gaming giant to where it is today, and not only did it spawn two Arcade sequels, but as well as many rip-offs including SEGA’s own Crazy Kong.
In 1994 Nintendo brought back the Arcade themed Donkey Kong with Donkey Kong 94’ for the Game Boy. Donkey Kong 94’ put Mario back in the starring role and emphasized on his athletic abilities in addition to implementing a heavy puzzle element into the game.
"very difficult and at times frustrating"
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Unfortunately, this long time Donkey Kong fan never truly experienced Donkey Kong 94’ but luckily Nintendo and developer Nintendo Software Technologies (NST) have managed to breathe new life into DK 94’ with Mario vs. Donkey Kong for the Game Boy Advance.
The plot behind Mario vs. Donkey Kong is an odd, yet lighthearted and enjoyable one told by a beautifully rendered opening movie sequence. It goes like this… One day, Donkey Kong is sitting at home extremely bored watching TV. As he browses through channels, he can’t seem to find anything interesting, but soon an advertisement appears for Mini Mario toys and it’s love at first sight as Donkey Kong immediately becomes obsessed with the toys. He runs off to the nearest toy store and to his dismay finds that all the Mini Mario toys are sold out. DK then throws a fit and storms towards the Mario Toy Company and terrorizes the place, stealing a bag full of Mini Mario toys. That’s where Mario comes in. Mario mutters some gibberish to DK and chases after him in order to get back the stolen toys… After viewing this cinema, it becomes time to play.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong initially features six worlds, with each world featuring eight different levels, five of which are comprised of two sub-levels. Each sublevel features a different objective, the first being the acquisition of a key that must be carried over to a locked door, and the second being the acquisition of a Mini Mario toy. Both objectives seem simple enough, but in truth they can unleash the raging, swear-word spewing beast within all of us. The cause, the many obstacles encountered throughout the game... Players will have to jump onto moving platforms, climb ropes Donkey Kong Jr. style, perform handstands to shield Mario from falling objects, perform back flips and double jumps to escalate to higher levels, toss enemy Shy Guys into spiked chasms to use them as moving platforms, step on switches that make red, blue, and yellow platforms and objects appear and disappear, and take in account the game’s winding clock, amongst many other obstacles found within the game. However, these platformer obstacles aren’t everything gamers must take into consideration. Mario vs. Donkey Kong also requires plenty of strategy in order to accomplish each level’s goals, which often comes in the form of stepping on colored switches in a specific order, opening up new paths that were once blocked off. Involving an even more strategic approach are the Mini Mario stages, in which Mario must guide the Mini Mario into a toy chest preferably unharmed. These stages are comparable to the gameplay found in a Lemmings game, and pose a great challenge at later stages. Because of this strategic element found within the game, Mario vs. Donkey Kong becomes more of a puzzle game than platformer, unlike the previous titles in the franchise.
"near flawless and extremely enjoyable"
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Fortunately, the game’s execution is near flawless and extremely enjoyable, making the game one of the best puzzle games this reviewer has ever gotten their hands on; easily up there with the likes of Nintendo’s own Tetris Attack, and Dr. Mario. Now, for where the game gets its namesake, the Donkey Kong boss battles… The last stage of each area involves a boss battle with Donkey Kong. Your main objective is to launch some sort of object a DK, who is standing on a platform at the center of each stage. While some sort strategy is needed to defeat DK, these battles are without question the easiest part of the game, partly due to the fact that you’re given more than just one life, as is with all other areas of the Mario vs. Donkey Kong.
Most would think that a game of this nature wouldn’t appeal to a person for all too long. Well, that statement couldn’t be any further away from the truth. Mario vs. Donkey Kong is an ideal game to play in short periods of time. However, once the first six worlds are completed, more difficult ones are unlocked; difficult enough to keep players stuck for an annoyingly lengthy amount of time before completing and heading off to the next stage. Additionally, a harder difficulty can be unlocked once players earn Gold Star ratings for each stage. Which can be earned by collecting all the bonus items found on each stage, while completing each stage within a short time period, or in the case of a DK boss battle, defeating DK unscathed and in a short amount of time. Accomplishing these goals earns players high scores, and if high enough, players will earn a Gold Star rating. With all this said, I think it’s safe to say that the game will eat up plenty of hours.
The technical achievements of Mario vs. Donkey Kong are some of the most impressive found on the Game Boy Advance. The game’s visuals are highly commendable for the platform, borrowing rendering techniques from Rare’s classic Donkey Kong Country games for the Super Nintendo in order to create highly detailed and nicely animated characters used in conjunction with simple 2D backgrounds to give off a colorful and classic Mario look and feel to the game. From the audio standpoint the game is even more impressive.
"feels incredibly refreshing"
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Plenty of dialogue has been jammed into this GBA cart, most of which consists of the always funny gibberish of Charles Martinet as the voice of Mario. Additionally, the game’s soundtrack is excellent; being comprised of remixed tunes and effects from both characters’ franchise history, including a remixed Super Mario Bros. title theme and the return of the “I’ve got hammer” theme from the original Donkey Kong, or from a more recent title, Super Smash Bros. Melee for the GameCube. However, the most impressive technical aspect of Mario vs. Donkey Kong is without question the opening cinema. The rendering techniques used in the opening cinema, different from those in game, can really impress due to the amount of detail and semi three dimensional perspective used to create these images. However, things may seem a bit blurry due to compression; this becomes evident when playing the game on a television set with the use of the Game Boy Player. Nevertheless, it’s still an impressive technical feat for the Game Boy Advance.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong follows some very simple concepts. However in that classic Nintendo fashion, the game proves that sometimes accomplishing a seemingly simple task can prove to be very difficult and at times frustrating. Despite that fact, this challenge is welcomed. The game offers an old school style of gameplay that feels incredibly refreshing and I would suggest Mario vs. Donkey Kong to anyone who has been a fan of the classic Arcade Donkey Kong titles, simply because this is the best iteration yet.
The GamersMark Network reviewed Mario vs. Donkey Kong with a copy of the title purchased from retail.
