The original Mario vs Donkey Kong was a game I played a lot growing up, I don't know what it was that made me love it as much as I did but I've since replayed it multiple times as an adult now and I can say without doubt this is one of Mario's finest games. I think the overall structure of this game lends well its arcadey nature. I love how getting that gold star requires you to master the level, but also making sure you do it in a fast amount of time also. Sometimes you'll get the gold star no problem, other times, you're gonna be replaying the same level trying to get faster times and thinking up your own solutions. The beauty of this game is that just because there's an intended way to beat a level, doesn't mean you can't improvise. Mario's moveset is so fluid and fun to use in this game, part of the fun is just trying to make the solution yourself. Not every level is like this, but most definitely are and that adds so much to the replayabilty factor.

The main reason I came back to this was to see how my opinions on how the remake would be, but as it stands yeah this is a must play for gameboy advance.