Mario vs. Donkey Kong

My first hour with this remake had me doing something I did not expect: relearning how Mario moves. Forget Wonder or Odyssey - this is a heavier, more deliberate Mario, where handstands, pivot jumps, and triple jumps are the tools of the trade, and a single mistimed step costs you a life. That recalibration period is actually the best part of the experience, because once it clicks, navigating these compact single-screen stages feels genuinely satisfying. The structure is tight and repetitive in roughly equal measure. Each of the eight worlds strings together six standard levels, each split into two halves: hunt down a key to unlock a door, then reach the Mini Mario waiting on the other side. Colour-coded switches flip blocks and ladders on or off, timing determines whether you snag a floating key, and later levels layer in teleportation boxes, robot monkeys, and icy platforms. The two brand-new worlds - Merry Mini-Land and Slippery Summit - slot into the middle of the game and fit well enough that you probably will not notice where the original content ends. There are also Mini Mario stages that drop the action in favour of a Lemmings-style escort run, and boss fights that deliberately echo the original Donkey Kong arcade game. After the main run, a full set of Plus World stages unlocks, remixing every level with harder layouts and a Mini Mario companion in tow, which meaningfully extends the challenge for anyone who blew through the main content. The jazz-heavy soundtrack is a genuine standout - Twilight City in particular has a moody, noir film quality that feels completely at odds with the bright toy-factory premise, and it works. Visually the game matches the modern Nintendo aesthetic, with animated cutscenes replacing the GBA's static slideshows. One common criticism worth flagging: some of the original game's personality was scrubbed in translation - Mario's exaggerated Italian-gibberish dialogue and Donkey Kong's enthusiastic exclamations are gone, replaced by something more generic. Small thing, but fans of the 2004 original will notice. Co-op deserves a nuanced read. A second player controls Toad, who shares Mario's full moveset, and the mode adds a silver key to collect alongside the standard gold one. With young children it is reportedly the strongest version of the experience, since Toad's bubble-respawn mechanic cushions frustration and the shared objectives give both players genuine agency. Between two equally capable adults, though, the cooperative levels can feel more adversarial than collaborative - the added keys create genuine chaos, and the single-screen camera struggles when players drift apart. Casual Mode, which removes the time limit and grants extra hit points, is the right call for stress-free play without gutting the puzzle logic entirely. The honest concern here is length. The main campaign runs around six to seven hours at a solid pace, and while Plus World and Time Attack add replay hooks, this is still a remake of a niche GBA title whose design constraints are visible throughout. It does not push any ideas as far as Nintendo's recent originals have, and that gap is impossible to ignore. What it does do - well and consistently - is deliver a clean, brightly coloured puzzle-platformer that is ideal in short sessions, easy to pick up on the go, and genuinely fun as a couch co-op starter for mixed-skill households.

Alex · Scout Team

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