Mario Vs. Donkey Kong Review (no fat)

Game Description

Decades ago, a banana chomping ape and a diminutive mustachioed man with a red cap and dungarees squared off against each other in a pixilated platform game. Unlike his bigger cousin who scaled the Empire States Building and swatted helicopters, Donkey Kong was quite content with kidnapping maidens and tossing barrels at Mario.

Times have changed and after years of peaceful coexistence, Kong is back and in his element once again. This time the maidens are safe as Kong has fallen in love with a toy called the Mini Mario and is desperate to lay his paws on one. However, when stores run out of the toy, Kong blows a fuse and steals all the mini marios that the toy factory had produced. The objective of the game is to help Mario retrieve the stolen toys and teach Kong a lesson or two. Navigate through levels, climb and avoid dangerous elements, find keys and rescue mini marios. Once you lead them to the safety of their toy box, you get a crack at Kong…no mean task considering the fact that Kong is as strong as ever.

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong is a cocktail of several ingredients from Nintendo's gaming larder. It is the marriage of side scrolling action and puzzles that test your mental skills. It also offers a great trip down memory lane for seasoned gamers who have witnessed the evolution of video games.

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong Gameplay

Mario has added to his variety of moves and he is niftier than he ever was while facing his biggest adversary. The 40 odd levels that this game packs are all unique and require some good reflexes and contemplating to get through.

Simplicity has always been the foundation of these games and Mario Vs. Donkey Kong is as basic as it gets. The good thing about this game is the incorporation of the puzzle element into the side scrolling action. Mario has to find keys and set the mini marios free. Once they are free, guiding them to the toy box requires some Lemmings style action. This happens every few levels and once you accomplish the task of safely guiding the mini marios back to the toy box, Donkey Kong is ready to take you on.

The handful of worlds that you have to navigate through are pleasing to the eye and extremely playable. They are also fairly easy to breeze through if you are a puzzle fan and can decipher and memorize the right sequences that would help you progress.

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong Graphics & Sound

Well designed levels, colorful backdrops and enhanced sprites are the highlights of the games graphics. Being a basic game, there's not much scope for incorporating cutting edge technology. The game also banks heavily on nostalgia and Nintendo sticks to it's tried and tested formula. Sound effects are cute and sit well within the GBA’s capabilities.

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong Summary

With the kind of legacy that the two own, Mario Vs. Donkey Kong is the perfect addition to hardcore gamers who grew up on these games. The game might seem a tad outdated in this era of groundbreaking technology but Nintendo plays its cards well and delivers a polished game that offers entertainment in more ways than one. The characters have come a long way since the days of the 8086 machines and still look fresh and more realistically sketched.

Packed with little nuggets from the past, this game invokes a warm feeling inside and makes you reminisce of those good old days when plot wasn't king, passion was. These are gaming hall of fame members we are talking about and along with Pacman and those marauding Space Invaders, Mario and Donkey Kong will live forever.

One possible nag that can crop up is the fact that most gamers might be able to complete the whole game within the space of a few hours. Still, it does have good replay value.

Buy it for sheer nostalgia and sweet gameplay.

Cost

Mario vs Donkey Kong retails at $29.99US at the time of writing.