Mario vs. Donkey Kong review: the Nintendo Switch enters its filler era

Mario vs. Donkey Kong MSRP $50.00 Score Details Pros

Faithfully remade
Lots of new levels
Excellent music

Cons

Puzzles get repetitive
Challenge lacking
Rigid movement

With Mario vs. Donkey Kong, the video game industry’s current remake craze has reached a tipping point. We’re no longer just seeing foundational classics modernized to maintain their historical impact; everything is on the table, so long as it can help plug holes in a publisher’s product release schedule.

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I suppose that’s how you end up with a left-field remake of a niche Game Boy Advance puzzle game during the final days of the Nintendo Switch’s life. It’s not that 2004’s Mario vs. Donkey Kong isn’t worthy of a revisit; in fact, I’m happy to see Nintendo give some love to a creative puzzler in an age where big publishers have all but abandoned the genre. It’s just hard to shake the feeling that the perfectly fine remake is less of a passion project and more of a business necessity to keep Switch games coming while Nintendo’s major studios cook up the Switch 2’s main attractions.

For those who harbor warm nostalgia for the Game Boy Advance era,Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a fun and faithful remake with some solid new puzzles and an unexpectedly terrific soundtrack. It’s an odd choice for a revisit, though, as the first-draft puzzles and rigid movement of the original release poke through the Switch version’s modern façade. It’s less of an exciting new Switch game and more like something light to hold Nintendo fans over while they wait for a shiny new console.

Square one

While the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series never rose to the heights of spinoff franchises like Mario Kart, there was a 12-year period where Nintendo was all-in on the series. Seven entries launched within that