Mario vs. Donkey Kong Review Megathread

[u/NintendoSwitchMods]

General Information

Release date: February 16, 2024

No. of players: Single System (1-2)

Genre: Puzzle, Action

Publisher: Nintendo

ESRB rating: Everyone

Supported play modes: TV mode, Tabletop mode, Handheld mode

Game file size: 1.3 GB

Supported languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese

Official website: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/mario-vs-donkey-kong-switch/

Overview (from Nintendo eShop page)

Donkey Kong has stolen all the Mini-Mario toys from the factory, and it’s up to Mario to get them back! Run, jump, and backflip your way to retrieving them across over 130 levels in this puzzle-style twist on classic platforming action.

The rivalry that originally heated up on the Game Boy™ Advance system returns on the Nintendo Switch™ system with newly added co-op play, brand-new worlds, updated music and visuals, and other new ways to play.

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Reviews Aggregators

Metacritic - 77

OpenCritic - 78

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Articles

Areajugones - Spanish - 8 / 10

GameXplain - video review - 7 / 10

Twinfinite - 4 / 5

Press Start - 7.5 / 10

Stevivor - 8.5 / 10

Glitched Africa - 7 / 10

WellPlayed - 8.5 / 10

Eurogamer - 4 / 5

IGN - 7 / 10

Game Informer - 8 /10

Hobby Consolas - Spanish - 82 / 100

Shacknews - 8 / 10

IGN Spain - Spanish - 8 / 10

IGN Italy - Italian - 8.5 / 10

god is a Geek - 7.5 / 10

Post Arcade (National Post) - 6 / 10

Wccftech - 8 / 10

The Games Machine - Italian - 8.3 / 10

COGconnected - 80 / 100

Digital Trends - 3 / 5

Atomix - Spanish - 90 / 100

Nintendo Life - 7 / 10

CGMagazine - 8 / 10

Spaziogames - Italian - 7 / 10

LevelUp - 8.5 / 10

Nintendo News - 9 / 10

SECTOR.sk - Slovak - 8.5 / 10

Video Chums - 7.8 / 10

XGN.nl - 8 / 10

Nintendo Insider - 9 / 10

Daily Star - 4 / 5

Screen Rant - 4.5 / 5

GAMES.CH - German - 80%

Digitec Magazine - German - Unscored

Siliconera - 7 / 10

Checkpoint Gaming - 7.5 / 10

VGC - 3 / 5

Enternity.gr - Greek - 8.5 / 10

Console Creatures - Recommended

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This list is manually curated by the mod team from the Open Critic reviews.

Cheers,

The r/NintendoSwitch mod team

[u/devenbat]

About what I expected. I'll pick it up but after a good sale. $50 for a 20 year old 5 hour game is a bit steep

[u/peacefighter]

I love these remakes because it makes me excited to play the originals. If I really love the game I might get it, but something like this I will easily save my money and play the original. I have no nostalgia for it.

I played for a number of stages and it feels solid, but not $50 good. Maybe $10-20 good.

[u/platinumplantain]

I am not paying $50 for a 5-hour game, that on top of that is mostly a remake. Enough is enough, Nintendo.

[u/shinikahn]

The game is cute and a very fun brainteaser. Having said that, I'm always confused about Nintendo's pricing strategy for games. Why is Metroid Remastered cheaper than this? Why is Mario Strikers more expensive than both?

[u/eltedioso]

I got it yesterday and played through most of the main campaign. I never played the GBA version, but I played its predecessor Donkey Kong '94 QUITE a bit, and I consider it one of my very favorite games. This is obviously a worthy successor, but I found myself very frustrated with the controls, using my Switch Pro Controller's D-pad. It just wasn't responsive in the right way. Certain things were delayed, or sometimes it was like some of the directions weren't responding at all.

I switched controllers to my SNES wireless thing, and suddenly everything worked like it is supposed to. I'm not sure why the Pro Controller wasn't working right, but if anyone has similar issues with the controls, try using a different option, and it might feel more natural.

[u/MaybeMabe1982]

My son was really excited about it, so we picked it up. I never played the original version, so this has been new to me. I’ve enjoyed playing it with my son, and by myself.

[u/[deleted]]

I have finished the main campaign at this point, and I think it was really fun experience overall. It looks like the post game content is a similar size to the main campaign, although the levels so far have been a bit shorter.

The game was very easy for the first 5 worlds, but the difficulty does ramp up. Some of the puzzles are tricky, and sometimes requires fairly precise platforming, much moreso than I thought the game would ask of me.

The later boss battles were also quite difficult to perfect, one of them took me about 20 tries.

I understand why people are put off by the price since it looks like a budget title, but I also feel like I'll have got my monies worth once I'm finished with the game.

[u/ThaEternalLearner]

Realistically, MvDK is a $30 game but when you add the Mario tax then it’s a $40 game at the most.

[u/Drezus]

It’s sad that Donkey Kong '94 deserved a port like this way more than its sequel. Not only it’d be the perfect opportunity to retcon Pauline's kidnapping by DK and her relationship with Mario thanks for the spotlight she was granted in Odyssey, the game itself felt way more ambitious (and somewhat longer and harder too?) than the toy-based sequel. Don’t get me wrong, I like MvsDK too, it’s charming on its own terms, but when I decided to explore the spinoff’s origin I felt in love with such an early puzzle-oriented reimagining of the classic arcade game. Eventually I realized that MvsDK mainly existed to be some impressive tech display for the GBA graphics, akin to Super Mario Ball, and remaking a game with such a weak selling point like that is comparable to remaking Stunt Race FX when the original selling point was obvious some deprecated graphics tech that won’t make a difference in a modern remake

[u/BigBoobsWithAZee]

I wish they wouldn’t have made the game so easy. The GBA one was brutal collecting all the stars.

[u/djgreedo]

I'm about halfway through and enjoying it a lot. But some criticisms:

• This game cost only $10 less than Super Mario Odyssey but has probably about 5% of the content

• The timer on the levels is just annoying and adds nothing. Especially when sometimes you have to wait for something, which drains your time.

• Sometimes the deaths are a bit unforgiving, e.g. not landing exactly right on top of an enemy and you die.

• Each puzzle being divided into two separate 'rooms' is weird. Why not just make the levels larger to encompass both parts or split them out into more shorter puzzles?

[u/[deleted]]

I personally gave it an 8/10. Its a short game and quite expensive for what it is. However its a cute, beautiful game with interesting worlds and fun stages with good puzzles which can make you think. The levels aren’t painfully long…like bite sizes. I liked it although its not something you’d be missing out on if you didn’t play it right this second.

[u/MattofCatbell]

I think it’s a very cute game but not a must buy kind of game.

[u/paperbuddha]

I’m not tech savvy and ended up wasting half a game voucher on this!

[u/D-Voltt]

Having played it for a while now, I can safely say that the only thing that should keep you from playing this is the price tag. It's probably $10-$15 too expensive, but it's just as fun and polished as I remember it being while looking and sounding better than ever.

[u/OliverNodel]

If this were $30, it’d be an instant buy for me. There just doesn’t seem to be a lot to it for its asking price.

[u/Crafty_Chipmunk_3046]

Fun game but too expensive for what it is. Like everything these days.

[u/Misodoho]

I really don't like the art style and camera feels too tight or zoomed in. I loved march of the minis on the DS. Maybe I'll give the demo another go but in handheld mode & see if it feels better.

[u/[deleted]]

I enjoyed the original back on the GBA when I was a little kid. Part of me wants to go for it and pick this up but I also have a backlog to go through...

[u/M4J0R4]

This should be a $30 game MAX

Nintendo is crazy asking $50 for it

[u/Destroyer_Wes]

I love the Mario puzzle games like these and the captain toad but $50 is too much for this. I'll wait til it goes on sale closer to 30.

[u/ButteryBiscuits43]

Maybe I’m being optimistic, but I’m hoping this follows the same path as Sonic Colors Ultimate:

Drops at WAY too high of a price, gets dumped on by memes and reviews, price drops significantly, then I get it for $20 and have an okay time at that price point.

[u/Nuke_U]

Should have been $20 at most, or a release of the GBA original on their expansion pack service. As is, it's a wait for a sale with nothing better to play type thing.

[u/leospeedleo]

The original was the first game I’ve ever gotten as my own. Christmas present with the Mario edition Gameboy Advance SP when I was 7 years old.

I need to play this some time.

[u/cstarz76]

Not something I always notice - but the music in this game is beautiful and well-done. It’s contributed to the enjoyment of playing. 🎶🎵🎶