Game Reviews

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! is one of the best DS games I’ve ever played. There, I said it. I put it all out on the table. It’s got great puzzles, a fun soundtrack, and it’s so cute it actually hurt me a little. The only thing that could be cuter would be if it came with a box of kittens. Adorable mewing aside, this is the game I wished Scribblenauts had been – puzzles that are fun yet challenging, music that is nostalgic yet different enough to feel new, and with a main character I actually cared about – despite the fact that he’s a tiny, wind-up version of Mario. The storyline is a simple one – Mario is opening an amusement park called “Super Mini-Mario World,” and the first 100 customers get a free mini-Pauline doll. Donkey Kong comes running, tossing Toads out of the way, but arrives too late: all of the dolls have been given away. Furious, Donkey Kong grabs Pauline and takes off into the amusement park. Mario, probably tired of saving girls all the time, again sends in his trusty wind-up minis to save the day – and the dame.

And that is where the fun begins. There are eight different attractions, and each one has eight levels, a Donkey Kong showdown, and an unlockable minigame. At the end, there’s also a special boss battle against Donkey Kong. Each level has coins, a special Mario coin, and a card. Collecting all the cards spells out “MINIMARIO” and unlocks the minigame. Beating the “goal” points on each level also gives you a trophy. These are important because the Mario coins unlock “Special Levels,” of which there are 20, and the trophies unlock “Expert Levels,” of which there are 10. Beating the main game also unlocks “Plus Mode,” which is all of the levels from the story mode...just more difficult. In case you were wondering and/or are bad at math, this is A LOT of content. I made it through the entire game and have unlocked maybe half of the special and expert levels, and I’ve barely had a chance to scratch the surface of Plus Mode...and I still can't put it down.