Review Normalcy1 3/5 · Apr 15, 2023
Game #17/200 In Mario vs. Donkey Kong, your goal is to collect keys by navigating some trap-filled puzzle rooms within a time limit, open the door, and proceed to a slightly harder level. It's a nicely "packaged" game; the colorful, unmistakably GBA sprites and appealing Mario-ish world design is fun to be a part of. The music and sound effects …
Read moreGame #17/200 In Mario vs. Donkey Kong, your goal is to collect keys by navigating some trap-filled puzzle rooms within a time limit, open the door, and proceed to a slightly harder level. It's a nicely "packaged" game; the colorful, unmistakably GBA sprites and appealing Mario-ish world design is fun to be a part of. The music and sound effects were serviceable (but didn't particularly stand out). And everything controls and feels really nice -- from Mario's three-stage jump ripped out of Mario 64, to throwing enemies at Donkey Kong during his (easy) boss fights, to jumping on switches and controlling platforms. It's got a nice game feel. It's rather short at under 5 hours and the first half of the game lacks any real difficulty, but by World 5 you will be finding a few thinkers. I found the timer to be more frustrating than the levels themselves; oftentimes I would want to spend time jumping around the level, trying different things out to figure out a solution, but would be punished by a loss of life due to timer running out. There's no major punishment for game over; you just start again at the beginning of the two-set of levels you were on. Either way, it is a bit annoying to feel the time crunch but no big deal either way. Other than that, you have some mini-Mario levels that had a lot of potential and that I think are explored much more in the sequel. I didn't play any of the level remixes or bonus challenge levels. Overall, I had fun with Mario vs. Donkey Kong, but it wasn't too substantial.
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