Mario vs. Donkey Kong for Nintendo Switch takes the spin-off series back to its roots as a ground-up remake of the 2004 Game Boy Advance classic. Despite being one of the most legendary games of the GBA era, the upcoming remake is probably a big reason why the original has not yet been added to the library of games available in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription service. For those unfamiliar with the series, Mario vs. Donkey Kong is an evolution of the Donkey Kong arcade games, combining the familiar platforming style of gameplay with unique puzzle solving elements to create something unique. Now that we’ve played through the first four worlds of the remake, let’s go over some of the differences I noticed and give our first impressions to help you decide if it’s worth pre-ordering or not.
Twenty years ago, Mario vs. Donkey Kong began with a charming slideshow of illustrations that told the game’s story, but now it’s a fully animated cutscene that stays true to the source material. Donkey Kong is shown at home lounging on the couch flipping through the television channels when a commercial for the “Mini Mario” toy comes on. Infatuated with the new product, DK immediately runs to the store only to find that it’s unfortunately sold out (something ironically relatable if you’re someone who collects amiibo). Frustrated by the lack of supplies, an enemy monkey bursts through the factory doors of the Mario Toy Company and steals Mini Mario figures straight off the production line. Mario himself catches him in a prank as he tries to escape, chasing after him to recover the stolen inventory.
Despite his retirement as the voice of Mario in mid-2023, the vocal talents of Charles Martinet make an unexpected return in Mario Vs. Donkey Kong. This is because much of the voice acting is reused from the GBA original, only now it’s uncompressed and has a much higher sound quality. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo continues to use archive recordings of Martinet’s voice in future adaptations and re-releases of Mario series games, or if a new voice actor, Kevin Afghani, will take over all future projects. Regardless, I was happy to hear that aspect of the game remained unchanged.
When it comes to gameplay, one of the biggest changes is that the score counter has been removed. Leveling up and getting a gold star no longer requires you to defeat all enemies and reach the end as fast as you can; now you just have to worry about finding all three gifts on the stage before time runs out. Getting these gifts often requires additional puzzle-solving skills that aren’t necessarily needed to complete the current stage and reach the Mini Mario at the end (which is your main goal).
Instead of being like a traditional side-scrolling platformer where you constantly move from left to right, Mario vs. Donkey Kong from the very beginning you see everything laid out in front of you. If the stage is too arranged to fit on the screen, you can use the free scroll mode to survey all of your surroundings and plan what to do next. For example, if the key is in one part of the stage and the door with the lock is somewhere else, you have to figure out how to get the key and bring it to the door to unlock it. There are often multiple different solutions to 100% stage completion.
Playing as Mario, you can jump, crouch, do handstands, backflip, pick up and throw objects and enemies, activate colored switches, spin on wires and climb ladders, ropes and chains, all with just two buttons and the left joystick. The controls are tight and responsive, and the difficulty gradually increases with each level as more enemies and obstacles are introduced. Touching something you shouldn’t will result in you losing a life and having to start over from the beginning of the section. However, if you choose to play using the newly introduced “Casual” game mode, which can be activated at any time from the pause menu or level selection, Mario will instead enter a bubble and return to where you left off before taking damage.
Similar to how it works in the main series of Super Mario games, stages in Mario vs. Donkey Kong is divided into worlds, each with a different theme. The remake features two brand new worlds that weren’t there in the original, including Merry Mini-Land and Slippery Summit. There are six regular stages in each world, followed by a Mini Mario stage and a DK stage. In Mini Mario stages, you lead an army of Mini Marios through areas that Mario himself can’t get through, collect three blocks of letters to spell the word “TOY” and lead them to a box of toys. DK stages are intense boss battles where you go up against Donkey Kong, and you win by avoiding his various attacks and taking enough damage to deplete all of his supplies.
Although Mario vs. Donkey Kong is far from the most graphically impressive game on the Switch, comparing the remake side-by-side with the original is a clear night-and-day difference. The technology used to develop games has obviously advanced a lot in the last two decades, meaning that virtually none of the sprites, models or assets could be reused, and almost everything in the game had to be rebuilt from the ground up. The visual style manages to retain the charm of the original, while also featuring more modern interpretations of the iconic world and characters. Of course, many of the animations had to be completely redone as well, since it was already terrifying enough to see Mario get fried in the 16-bit version, the HD version would be straight up nightmare fuel. Thank you Nintendo for the creative freedom.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong on Switch is just as faithful when it comes to remakes. With a brand new coat of paint and only a few tweaks to the game to make it look more modern, first impressions reveal that this will undoubtedly be the definitive way to play what was already a masterclass in platform puzzle game design. Keep an eye out for our full review when Mario Vs. Donkey Kong launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on February 16, 2024.
A copy of the game Mario vs. Donkey Kong was provided by Nintendo UK for review purposes.
