Mario vs. Donkey Kong
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Critic Reviews for Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Mario vs. Donkey Kong might not be as polished as a Mini-Mario toy fresh off the assembly line, but it's just as full of charm and fun to play with.
Overall, Mario Vs Donkey Kong is a capable remake of a game whose identity crisis between platformer and puzzler can't survive the journey from handheld to TV. Enjoyable enough but not that taxing - aside from rare spikes when it becomes too taxing - it's a good recreation that doesn't have the tools to venture into greatness. It will be an impressive enough glow-up for fans of the original, but mixes being straightforward and mildly frustrating into a colourful and charming milkshake (so close I can almost taste it), even if it's a little bit sickly. It's worth occupying a few hours with, but it won't live long in the memory, and underlines why few Mario fans would put this one in the plumber's highlight reel. Now, time for that milkshake for real.
The world didn't real need a Mario Vs. Donkey Kong remake but this is still the absolute best effort Nintendo could've made, with tons of new content and the same enjoyable but undemanding puzzles as before.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a simple game, but as is the case with Mario's best titles, there's an elegance to that simplicity. Nintendo has done a stellar job adding features to make it more palatable to a modern audience, but it only comes together because of how well the classic levels hold up. Mario and Donkey Kong have been rivals for over 40 years, and this game admirably carries that legacy forward.
Mario Vs. Donkey Kong brings the puzzle-platformer spin-off back to its roots, with clever improvements and a beautifully toyetic facelift.
I could see myself blasting through levels of Mario vs. Donkey Kong while waiting for a flight at the airport, or on the train to work, and that’s the best-case scenario for this package, brimming with bite-sized platforming challenges. It may not contain all the spectacle of others, but there’s enough precise jumping and quick calculations here to satisfy the more hardcore, goal-oriented, score-chasing Mario players around.
It's a very faithful remake in terms of gameplay, with all the good and all the bad that comes with it. But the level design is still excellent, and the new worlds that this version brings are a breath of fresh air that suits it wonderfully. Mario's reduced mobility may shock those who are more accustomed to the plumber's big jumps and pirouettes in games that are purely platformers, but what makes Mario vs. Donkey Kong shine is its puzzles and the ingenuity behind them.
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