Mario vs Donkey Kong Review: Not one to miss

Don't judge a rehash by its nature...

I’m that specific type of old that had an original Game Boy and refused to move beyond it until the poor thing eventually gave up the ghost (or maybe we were just poor?) Regardless, I loved my Game Boy; I had a magnifying glass and light combo that I affixed to it and played Batman the Animated Series over and over and over. Week after week, month after month, year after year… and usually on a bus heading from one hockey trip to another.

I never ended up fully beating Catwoman. I digress; far more importantly for this story, I never moved onto a Game Boy Advance.

It’s because of this that I never played the original Mario vs Donkey Kong, and also why I brushed off this remake’s announcement back in September last year. I, very incorrectly, assumed this was some old back catalogue fodder meant to bridge the gap between the death knell of the original Switch and the looming announcement of the Switch 2.

I owe Mario vs Donkey Kong an apology; even if some of my assumption is true, it shouldn’t take away from the fact that this is an absolutely fantastic little puzzler.

If you’re here for the plot, Donkey Kong gets fixated on a new Mini Mario toy and decides he needs to catch ’em all (no Marioballs needed; he just slings ’em in a comically large sack). It’s up to Mario to retrieve his mechanical brothers, chasing DK from world to world, and stage to stage.

While its premise seems childish, Mario vs Donkey Kong is anything but. Each world has six main stages, separated into two parts, and each requires you to collect a total of three presents and a key that unlocks that level’s door so you can move onto two final stages: one, a Mini Mario collection, and the other a boss battle against DK himself. Everything’s timed, too, so you really have to put your brain into gear to figure out how to collect everything and get to the exit in time.

Each level is rather complex — and difficulty is gradually amped up — requiring the player to have fairly good spatial reasoning skills. Switches will make blocks of a certain colour either appear or disappear, and most are at the very least essential platforms that’ll get Mario to his prizes. Each level isn’t just about the puzzle either, as you’ll have to steer clear of Shy Guys, Piranha Plants, and other familiar franchise baddies. Worlds have their own theme, so you never feel that you’re on a slog.

I know the “real” best NES-era Mario is Super Mario 3, but I have an incredibly large, soft spot in my heart for the wackiness that is Super Mario 2. The ability to pick up items and baddies set it apart as a rather unique entry in the original trilogy, and I was excited to see that functionality take on a newfound importance here. Enemies can be picked up and thrown off screen to easily dispatch them, or, even better, thrown into a pit of spikes to create a makeshift platform for our hero. You love to see it.

The only real gripe I have with Mario vs Donkey Kong is how it controls. I was bouncing between Prince of Persia The Lost Crown and MvDK on my Switch and was amazed at how refined Ubisoft’s latest felt in comparison to Nintendo’s. Here, Mario feels like he’s wading through molasses in many instances, and refined control of the character wasn’t possible — at least for me — when I was using the Joy-Con’s joysticks. The directional buttons somewhat fixed my issues, but it was pretty jarring there for a while.

At the same time, there’s an inconsistent need for pixel-perfect actions in levels. I’m not talking about jumps from platform to platform — though I suppose that does apply too — but moreso finicky proximity. On some occasions, I could rather far away from an enemy or an object to then pick it up, but in others — especially when on top of an object — I couldn’t pick it up because I was a pixel to the left or right of centre. While that’s more an annoyance than a problem, at times this could result in a player death.

Despite those qualms, Mario vs Donkey Kong is Nintendo firing on all cylinders. This offers up a simple, but varied, gameplay loop that’ll keep you entertained and enthralled as you play. I’m just sorry I didn’t check it out earlier, in its original form.

This is perfect for adults, though I’d imagine quite challenging for children; good thing there’s a two-player co-op mode that might help you out (though I admittedly didn’t have a chance to check that out).

Mario vs Donkey Kong heads to the Nintendo Switch on 16 February.

Mario vs Donkey Kong was reviewed using a promotional code on Switch, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.

Mario vs Donkey Kong 16 February 2024 Switch   Buy on the Nintendo eShop Buy on Amazon