Mario vs. Donkey Kong

"Oldschool Euphoria"

When I heard a new mario title for Gameboy Advanced was coming out, I had my doubts, it is my opinion that there hasn't been a GOOD new mario game made since Super Mario World back on the SNES.
But Nintendo didn't forget about us mid 20 somethings.
They didn't forget those of us who used to spend mountains of quarters on Donkey Kong, and Mario Brothers in the arcades.
It was a time when games were more substance then flashiness!
Well Nintendo has provided a title that delivers not only good solid, oldschool addictive gameplay, but it looks and sounds pretty nice to boot!

Graphics: 8
Alot of stuff looks great in it's prerendered format, especialy DK, but the Mario sprite really got the short end of the stick, even on GBA player mode, he looks very pixelated, but everything else looks great, it would appear that they stylized the level styles from the wonderfull Donkey Kong '94 gameboy title.

Sound: 9
Lots of standard Mario fare, which isn't bad at all, Mario has more lines in this game then usual, and Donkey Kong's grunts and other monkey sounds are about how you would expect them to sound!

Music: 10
Great stuff, it all fits in to a classic styled Mario game perfectly!
They even worked in lil bits of classic Mario tunes in there.
It doesn't push GBA's resources to the limits, but that is the beauty of making an oldschool style game!

Gameplay: 10
Again, they took a cue from both classic titles like Mario Brothers, as well as that DK'94 game, in addition to running and jumping, Mario has a number of moves he can pull off, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the moves either, a new move is shown to you before a level begins, the gameplay itself consists of an almost puzzler element as Mario must sometimes flip switches and such to get to the level objective.

Appeal: 6 to 9
That depends on the player, if you are one of these teenagers who never heard of games before PSX then you won't really get into it as well as someone who has been playing games since the days of Atari, if you were like me and born with a one button joystick in your hand then you will find this title irresistible, and very difficult to put down.

Rent/Buy: Again this depends on the person, if you are one of those kiddies who needs your Mario in 3D, you probably won't even want to rent this one, however if you are a veteran gamer like me who just wants a nice game that reminds you of the good old days, you will want to buy this!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/28/04