From Nintendo’s American development studio in Redmond, WA comes Mario vs. Donkey Kong, a brutal little puzzle game with some platforming elements. The game marks the first time in ages that Mario and Donkey Kong have confronted each other directly, and aside from the silly story, this legendary rivalry is best depicted in a series of great boss battles against the mighty DK.

The simple goal of Mario vs. Donkey Kong is to guide Mario as he retrieves all the stolen Mini-Mario toys and defeats DK once again. The game seems simple enough at first; you directly control Mario and his small but familiar set of platforming moves. He jumps, picks up enemies (a la Super Mario Bros. 2), does a handstand to deflect falling objects, and performs a couple of high-jump maneuvers. It’s all very responsive, although Mario moves quite slowly. The timing for the advanced moves is very unforgiving, especially for the U-turn jump, but it is satisfying when you pull off one of these tricks.

This game is really all about level design. Each level is constructed from a relatively small set of elements: enemies, spikes, ropes, lasers, switch blocks, conveyer belts, etc. New objects are introduced as you go through the game, and towards the end, you’re going to have a lot to deal with in any given level. That’s when the game starts getting very hard, but more on that later. Most levels are split into two parts. In the first part, you are trying to find a key and take it to the locked door. In the second part, you’re just trying to reach the Mini-Mario toy. In each world is one special Mini-Mario level, in which you lead the little guys Lemmings-style through a series of obstacles, eventually to arrive at a toy box in which they can be stored. Each world also has a boss battle against DK, and these are set up much like boss battles in Super Mario Bros. 2. DK will throw out barrels or bombs that you can pick up and throw back at him…if you can get around the random junk falling from above, not to mention the conveyer belts underfoot.

In spite of its platform game controls, Mario vs. Donkey Kong is really a puzzle game at heart. Eventually I learned to immediately pause and look around on a new level, trying to plot out my path to the goal. Even with some preparation, the levels often throw surprising object interactions in your way, and platforming skill does become a factor on certain levels. By the midpoint of the main quest, the game’s difficulty has ramped up considerably, and most levels will require several lives to beat. The game can be downright infuriating at times, but sheer perseverance will usually get you through. The level designs are undeniably clever, even insidious, but they’re always fair…at least in the first quest.

You see, after beating DK “once and for all” at the end of the main levels, the game opens up a whole new set of puzzles, this time with a gameplay twist. The second quest’s levels are no longer split into two; the key you need happens to be attached to a Mini-Mario, which means every stage now has one of the little buggers to follow you around and get into all kinds of trouble. It’s at this point that the game becomes most irritating, because many of these new levels are hard only for the fact that Mini-Mario’s AI doesn’t know when to run, when to jump, or when to get out of the damn way. He’s supposed to follow Mario and imitate every action, but getting him to jump across platforms works only if you never stop your forward momentum. The AI responds very poorly to Mario reversing directions, as some levels practically require. Mini-Mario also has a nasty habit of stopping right in front of important springs and switches, which requires some shuffling around to correct…not a good thing when you’re both standing on a tiny platform above rising lava, with birds flying back and forth trying to drop eggs on your face. Eventually, though, you can learn to work around Mini-Mario’s various shortcomings.

My only other complaint with gameplay is that lives and extra lives mean nothing. I spent a great deal of effort conserving lives and working hard for one-ups, only to eventually realize that nothing is lost by running out and having to “restart” at the same level. All your progress is saved, and continues are infinite. Scores reset between levels anyway, so you don’t actually lose anything by continuing. There is still plenty of challenge in the game, and getting all the bonus items will eventually help unlock secret levels, but it seems wrong that having two lives is just as good as 37. A more serious side to the issue is that one-up mushrooms, which can be found in most levels and are always treacherously placed, are completely worthless.

The game is presented with static, pre-rendered scenes telling the story, with the help of quite a few voice samples by Charles Martinet. Special mention is warranted for the sound effects, many of which are lifted from the original Donkey Kong arcade game and still work perfectly well. As has been the case with most of his GBA outings, Mario tends to be a little too talkative during gameplay, and there’s no way to turn down the voices separately from the sound effects. The game uses pre-rendered sprites, in the style of Donkey Kong Country, for all its characters. The sprites look great in motion or standing still, and the biggest benefit from their use is that Mario can be given very detailed animations that are recognizable despite his very small character sprite. The special color setting for Game Boy Player is a nice touch, though it’s disappointing to see that the connectivity-enabled level editor had to be dropped.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong may not have as much universal appeal as a typical Mario platformer, but the puzzle-heavy gameplay is engaging and addictive in its own way. There are a ton of levels, and the level design is interesting enough to maintain your interest for a long while, so the game is definitely worth buying for fans of tough puzzlers or Mario himself.