Current:Home > FinanceNintendo amps up an old feud in 'Mario vs. Donkey Kong' -MarketStream
Nintendo amps up an old feud in 'Mario vs. Donkey Kong'
View
Date:2025-04-18 08:57:37
Let's say your nemesis broke into a factory that made deluxe toys in your likeness, ran off with dozens of them, and then dropped them across a series of exotic locations. What would you do? Call your lawyers? The police? Or would you chase the thief, painstakingly reclaiming the merchandise?
Such a farce might face a millionaire, but in Mario vs. Donkey Kong, it plagues the iconic plumber himself. It's unclear what relationship Mario has with the "Mario Toy Company" that makes his clockwork mini-mes, but he's as dedicated to reclaiming its property as a hen would be to wrangle her chicks.
In this remake of a 2004 Gameboy Advance title, you'll steer Mario through levels that are tactical puzzles as much as they are action challenges. Presented with new cutscenes nearly as polished as The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the game is exquisitely animated and precisely engineered. But it can be just as frustrating as fun — and it seesaws between both extremes most when you're playing its new cooperative mode.
Where last year's Super Mario Bros. Wonder returned the series to its sidescrolling roots, Mario vs. Donkey Kong's 2D levels are usually confined to a single screen. You'll complete each by flipping switches, climbing ladders, jumping on moveable trashcans, and avoiding enemies like purple rhinos (no Koopas and Goombas here!).
Without the traditional Fire Flowers and Power Mushrooms, a single misstep will cost you a life. While the game's shortest levels can take less than a minute to clear, repeated deaths eventually drove me to the forgiving "casual mode," which bubbles Mario when he perishes and safely deposits him at the latest checkpoint.
My decades of Mario experience notwithstanding, the game forced me to relearn the basics. For example, a short button press and a long button press both result in a jump of the same height, which caused me to misjudge important distances. You also can't defeat enemies by leaping atop them. Instead, you'll often use them as platforms. You can stand on them, pick them up, and then toss them to give you a leg-up in new areas.
After you collect all six of a world's Mini-Marios, you'll have to shepherd them through a final puzzle stage. They'll follow you, heedless of their safety, as you guide them to collect big capital letters that spell the word "TOY" (they'll also cry out in cute, plaintive voices should you abandon them). Once they're safely stowed, you'll face Donkey Kong himself in boss fights that resemble his original arcade game.
If all that sounds daunting, adding a partner can take the edge off — sometimes. While the second-player Toad character can boost your jumps, the cooperative mode also introduces a silver key to collect and a gold one that normally unlocks each exit. While my wife and I relished the extra complexity on some levels, others completely drained our lives and left us despondent. Over time, we lost the appetite to play together.
Despite souring on the multiplayer gameplay, I still found Mario vs. Donkey Kong to be compact and clever. Think of it as an amuse-bouche compared to the sumptuous buffet that was Super Mario Bros. Wonder. $50 is steep for such an appetizer, but Mario fans and puzzle gourmands will surely eat it up.
veryGood! (7)
Related
- USA men's volleyball mourns chance at gold after losing 5-set thriller, will go for bronze
- Why Julianne Hough Sees Herself With a Man After Saying She Was Not Straight
- Hoda Kotb says she is leaving NBC’s ‘Today’ show early next year
- Erradicar el riesgo: el reto de Cicero para construir un parque inclusivo que sea seguro
- Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
- Appeals court sends back part of Dakota Access oil pipeline protester’s excessive force lawsuit
- College football Week 5 predictions for every Top 25 game start with Georgia-Alabama picks
- A Nebraska officer who fatally shot an unarmed Black man will be fired, police chief says
- Golf's No. 1 Nelly Korda looking to regain her form – and her spot on the Olympic podium
- Alan Eugene Miller to become 2nd inmate executed with nitrogen gas in US. What to know
Ranking
- Elon Musk’s Daughter Vivian Calls Him “Absolutely Pathetic” and a “Serial Adulterer”
- Lady Gaga's Hair Transformation Will Break Your Poker Face
- How New York City Is Getting Screwed Out of $4.2 Billion in State Green Bonds
- Oklahoma prepares for an execution after parole board recommended sparing man’s life
- 'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
- Hurricane Helene cranking up, racing toward Florida landfall today: Live updates
- Rooting out Risk: A Town’s Challenge to Build a Safe Inclusive Park
- Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan's divorce nears an end after 6 years
Recommendation
British swimmer Adam Peaty: There are worms in the food at Paris Olympic Village
A Nebraska officer who fatally shot an unarmed Black man will be fired, police chief says
Activists Disrupt Occidental Petroleum CEO’s Interview at New York Times Climate Event
Opinion: UNLV's QB mess over NIL first of many to come until athletes are made employees
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
California fire agency employee charged with arson spent months as inmate firefighter
Man charged with killing 13-year-old Detroit girl whose body remains missing
Revisiting 2024 PCCAs Host Shania Twain’s Evolution That Will Impress You Very Much