Mario Vs DK/ DS

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Alienblue

Mario Vs DK/ DS

Postby Alienblue » October 4th, 2006, 4:42 pm

MARIO VS. DONKEY KONG 2 /
March of the Minis! B+

After a long drought, another great DS game has finally appeared! M Vs. DK 2 is of course based on the original GBA game which in turn took it's inspiration from lemmings, but with a mario story twist. Mario continues to pump out toy wind up marios (this guy has-a a big-a ego, mama mia!) and has added toy DKs and toads to the line. For the grand opening of the new game based on the toys based-er-on the game (this is confusing) Mario invites PAULINE, the chick from the original Donkey Kong (who has dyed her hair brown from blonde, I guess to look less like Princess Peach!).. of course, donkey kong intervenes, kidnapping her again. But mario is not the young climber he once was so he sends his toy wind ups to save her.

The gameplay is very much like Lemmings...the idea is to get as many toy wind ups to the exit door on each level. The wind ups will walk and jump on their own, but, using the stylus, you may start/stop them, create/displace doors and bridges, and (a very cute touch) even ride elevators and weild hammers as in the old DK coin-op! This is all controlled via stylus, meaning you have a MUCH easier time getting the wind-ups to do what you want. Enemies are wonderfully varied, and include the usual shy-guys, pirhana plants and boss Donkey Kong wind ups as well. Graphics of course do not push the DS to it's limits (though the opening cartoon is cute), and the music is quiet and unobtrusive as it should be in a puzzle game like this. You only HAVE to get one toy to the door to pass a level, but getting all gives you a silver star, and do it quickly for a gold star as well; as you might expect, enough stars will unlock tons of stuff!

At first I thought this purchase was a mistake...." this is boring" I thought after ten minutes. An hour later I thought "I should have bought something else, really..." Three hours and the completion of the first level later , my thought was "Oh great, this game is so fun I am NEVER going to get any work done!"

One of the best DS puzzle games since TETRIS DS, I HIGHLY reccomend this to both puzzle and mario game fans!



a1
Posts: 3032
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Mario Vs DK/ DS

Postby a1 » October 4th, 2006, 5:39 pm

[QUOTE=Alienblue]MARIO VS. DONKEY KONG 2 /


At first I thought this purchase was a mistake...." this is boring" I thought after ten minutes. An hour later I thought "I should have bought something else, really..." Three hours and the completion of the first level later , my thought was "Oh great, this game is so fun I am NEVER going to get any work done!"

[/QUOTE]

It took 3 hours to beat the first level? How many levels does the game have?


Alienblue

Mario Vs DK/ DS

Postby Alienblue » October 5th, 2006, 5:58 am

"It took 3 hours to beat the first level? How many levels does this game have?"

Well, a, first of all that is 3 hours TOTAL, I put the unit away from time to time. I'd guess it actually took me about 45 minutes to beat the first "level" or FLOOR. The game has nine levels on each floor and (I think) 9 different floors. I'm only on floor 2. Each floor has a different theme, like store or tropical island. At the end of a floor you must beat Donkey Kong by using the minis; like, in floor 1 you shoot them at him. You can also unlock bonus mini-games to..er..play with the minis! The game is easy on the first floor but can get frustrating later on...but that's true of DK vs M one, too! (one, two?)

Shawn

Mario Vs DK/ DS

Postby Shawn » October 5th, 2006, 11:00 am

It took you three hours to get into the game? You are diligent! I like lemmings but that didn't take me three hours to get into it, do you have any idea why it took you so long?


Alienblue

Mario Vs DK/ DS

Postby Alienblue » October 6th, 2006, 6:27 am

AGAIN....not 3 hours total, just 45 minutes! I was just trying to be clever saying "after X time..". It's like this, I'm not feeling well, the DS is by my bed, so I pick it up, play a few minutes, put it back-like that. But I DID think it was a "mistake" when I FIRST played it, only to become hooked on it. I've shown it to others too: women like it because it is "cute" and a puzzle game, guys like it cause it has mario, a hot chick (pauline) and is challenging. How long each floor takes to solve depends , like lemmings, on the level. First level: 20 seconds! floor 1-9; several minutes! Longer in some of the higher levels of course. So it IS a lot like lemmings. This is one of the more expen$ive DS games but WORTH it! Watching mini mario run around beating squids with a hammer or shooting DK with fireballs is priceless for nostalgia nuts like me!

a1
Posts: 3032
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Mario Vs DK/ DS

Postby a1 » October 6th, 2006, 5:48 pm

I think I'm gonna have to pick this one up. It has been too long since I have played a good puzzle game. I don't really remember Lemmings, but I did play Krusty's Super Fun House for the Genesis. That's a Lemmings style game, right? Anyway, thanks for the review.

 


Alienblue

Mario Vs DK/ DS

Postby Alienblue » October 7th, 2006, 6:06 am

Yup, Krustys was inspired by LEMMINGS too, and this is even more like Krustys, I guess. Remember to give it a chance: It takes a few minutes to get used to the stylus controls (a good inclusion is that mini-mario hesitates when in danger, giving you a heads-up). The later screens scroll so you can't see every danger at once so take your time to look around (you can always REPLAY levels to get the "bonuses" -time, all marios, coins and spell MINI MARIO for the bonus level). Have fun!

Alienblue

Mario Vs DK/ DS

Postby Alienblue » October 22nd, 2006, 11:35 pm

...Just a last note, I BEAT this one today (10/22) - sorta; you can rarely COMPLETELY beat a nintendo game-I'll explain. After clearing all 8 "normal" and "DK" fight levels you must have at least 40 bronze stars to get to the roof;you get bronze stars for getting all marios to the exit, Silver stars for All within a short time limit and gold for chains (gold mario last). The roof is basically the first girders stage of Donkey Kong except you must get six mini-marios to the top, using hammers to smash barrels/fireballs. It is difficult but not impossible, and I won't spoil the ending here! -although it's not a TRUE ending because even when the ROOF is cleared, you find Their is a BONUS stage, DK's basement which can only be accsessed with FORTY SILVER STARS! (I have no idea if there's a gold star reward, but I don't think there are even 40 gold level marios!)....anyway it took 3 weeks of occasional play to "beat". Great game!


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