Mario Vs Donkey Kong Switch Review
Summary: Donkey Kong has swiped some mini Mario's from the toy factory, it's your job to get them back.
4.9
Merchandising Mario
Mario making Mario merchandise in a Mario game… interesting concept. Donkey Kong desiring said merchandise enough to steal the lot of them… that means it’s time to get into some platforming action!
This is a remake of a Game Boy Advance game (I was an Atari Lynx kid so never played the original), with apparently some new twists. From the very start it’s certainly a well polished game. The opening (and subsequent) animation wouldn’t look out of place in a TV show and does a great job of setting up the premise. It seems our little moustachioed pal has a line of toys in his likeness, Donkey Kong must be a collector because he has a strong desire to get his hands on one… but seems to lack the money to buy one, so he does the next best thing (in his mind… remember, stealing is wrong!), he goes and nabs all the mini Marios.
So obviously it’s your job to recover the stolen loot. There are eight different worlds and over 130 levels. Each world has it’s own theme, forest, ice etc, creating their own challenges. You can either go it alone or you can have a friend help as Toad. My son and I played through and there are pros and cons to two players. On the one hand being able to jump off the other players head can make obtaining certain items a lot faster, on the other hand you can burn through your lives much faster (sometimes due to the screen focusing on one player which can leave the other in a dangerous position… other times because a certain players dad isn’t perhaps up to scratch ;) )
Whichever way you choose to tackle the game, it’s a lot of fun. Some levels are trickier than others in the sense of dangers, others are trickier in a puzzle sense… figuring out which buttons to press, when to enable you to reach your goal. None of it is too taxing though and any frustration is usually fairly short lived before you find/achieve the solution. Which brings me to probably the only real negative about the game… for some people it might be too short. I suspect the target audience will be fine with it and once you complete the main worlds you do unlock extra levels that increase the difficulty… but it can be completed in a few hours (I didn’t really keep track but over a week or so of playing in the evening for an hour or so we had it completed.). That’s not entirely bad… it’s just that because it is so fun you might be left wanting more.
For those who did play the original the listed updated elements are:
- Overhauled visuals and reorchestrated music
- Two brand new worlds filled with unique mechanics
- Two-player co-op
- Casual Style mode for puzzling at your own pace
- New 1-Up challenge levels
- Time Attack mode
Overall… it’s a solid game that is a lot of fun either solo or in two player. It’s got enough of a challenge to make you work for it (certainly some levels more than others… I hate iceworlds!) but it shouldn’t keep you held back too long. If you aren’t sure, you can grab a demo and give it a go… but I suspect you’ll want to grab the full game and save your mini Marios!
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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