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Mario VS Donkey Kong Review - GBA

Mario VS Donkey Kong is possibly the longest running feud in gaming today, bar the two little paddles in a game of PONG. A short stocky Italian faces off against a giant monkey in the most well known platform game ever conceived. Now they're back on the GBA in yet another feud, with plenty new puzzles and items to collect as you go. Mario VS Donkey Kong is not only a great game, it's also a classic.

The storyline is quite simple, and is shown to you in an introductory FMV (if you can call it that). Donkey Kong is watching TV then all of a sudden he sees a commercial for a walking, talking Mario toy, which he must have. When DK runs down to the shops he finds that they are all sold out, so he breaks in to the Mario Toy Company and takes all the mini-Mario's that he can find. It's up to you, Mario, to battle through the game to rescue all the mini-Mario's from the evil hands of Donkey Kong.

Gameplay

There are 6 worlds, and each world has 6 mini-Mario's to collect. Each world has 8 stages, and you must collect all the Mario's in the first 6 stages, and then use them in the 7th to collect the letters T O and Y, then you put them all in a box and battle Donkey Kong in the final stage, using the mini-Mario's as your health bar. Confused yet? You'll understand it easier once you play it. Every stage consists of 2 rounds where you have the option to collect 3 presents. If you collect all 3 presents, at the end of the stage you get a bonus game where you can get as many as 5 free life's, so it's often worth the effort.

The first round of each stage involves finding a key, and bringing it to the door. You may find that the hardest stage in the game for you is one where the key starts off right next to you, or that the door starts right next to you and the key is nowhere to be found. This is what makes the puzzles so difficult in the later stages, because you have the tendency to think it's a lot easier than it really is. However, Mario has all the jumps and tricks that you've ever wanted in a GBA game which help you immensely. He can do a handstand, he can crouch, he can do lots of different jumps including the infamous backflip, and he's just a real pleasure to control as you go through the worlds that the villainous Donkey Kong has created. Although the ideas are simple, Nintendo have yet again showed us that Mario games are going to be enjoyable for many years to come.

Throughout the levels, you'll find everything that you've ever seen ... (continued next page)