Mario vs. Donkey Kong

released on May 24, 2004

After years of apparent goodwill, Mario and Donkey Kong are at it again--this time, on Game Boy Advance. Donkey Kong has stolen all the Mini-Mario toys from the Mario Toy Co., and now it's up to Mario to hunt down his longtime nemesis and retrieve the pilfered goods. As Mario, you must race through challenging levels while finding keys and releasing Mini Marios before time runs out. Along the way, you'll master new moves that can help you overcome new puzzles.


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A nice temporary turn for the Mario series, taking a much more thoughtful, puzzle game approach to the formula. The visuals are very silly and the voice lines from Mario are cartoonish and funny.

the first problem with this game is that it's hideous to look at. the second problem is that the sound effects are grating. the third problem is that the level design is bland and obvious. the aesthetic problems could be forgiven if the gameplay was better, and the rote levels could be forgiven if it was aesthetically pleasing, but instead i'm left with a game that isn't good at anything.

dk94 seemed to effortlessly string together interesting, challenging levels from world 1, and the challenge did not just come from completing bonus objectives. i almost dropped mario vs donkey kong after the first couple worlds, but i held on to the hope that maybe this is the kind of nintendo game that gets better in the back half. and... yeah, a little bit. not as much as i'd like. a lot of the easy levels get replaced with levels that are just tedious, or demand a precision of movement which the controls are ill-equipped for. i'd say maybe 20% of the levels do something interesting. i really wanted to like this because it's the sequel to one of my favorite games ever, but the more i tried to engage with it the more my disappointment grew.

Played through the first few stages on mGBA using my modded Wii. Since the announcement of the Switch remake, I have abandoned any plans to return to the GBA version.

This really feels like a bootleg, but not in the funny cool way, more like in the "what even is this" kind of way. Don't get it twisted, this is still a fun game but it lacks the polish you would expect out of a first party Nintendo game. The graphics are very cheap looking, a large amount of the sound effects are either really jarring or stock, the music is just outright terrible, and most of the time when I die, I feel like it wasn't my fault. Besides that, I had a decent time with this one.

can’t remember how far i got in this game, i might’ve beaten it but didn’t do the secret world or something. it was fine, honestly not as good as its predecessor DK94 or its (admittedly oversaturated) successors, but i’ll say that it was without a doubt better than the recent remake because mario straight up burns to death in this one

An extremely solid puzzle platformer and one of the defining games of my childhood that I keep coming back to over and over despite knowing all the puzzles. It's just so satisfying. After playing the remake recently, there isn't actually all too much difference between this version and that version outside of the new content - and I think I prefer this version's more cartoony visuals/SFX overall (cutting out the scene where everyone laughs at DK in the remake was a Choice). But yeah: super solid, holds up great, not particularly difficult but not mind-numbingly easy either - a great pick up and play game if you want to kill some time and have fun.