Mini
- This article is about the toys from the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series. For the form a character takes upon collecting a Mini Mushroom, see Mini Mario. For the status effect in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, see Tiny (status effect).
| Mini | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 A few different types of Minis as they appear in Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars | |||
| First appearance | Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2004) | ||
| Latest appearance | Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Nintendo Switch) (2024) | ||
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Minis, or Mini Toys,[1][2] are a line of character-based robotic toys that appear in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series. The manual for Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! sometimes generically refers to the group as toys.[3][4] Produced and sold by the Mario Toy Company, these figures are capable of walking, jumping, and performing other contextual actions depending on the game they appear in. The player has to protect the Minis as they are maneuvered to the goal. Each Mini, with the exception of Mini Spek, is based on a pre-existing character of the Super Mario franchise. In most games, different types of Minis do not move in different ways. The recurring exception is Key Mini Mario, who uniquely responds to locks on the goal by opening them.
History[edit]
This section is a stub. Please consider expanding it to include any missing information. Specifics: Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move section, cutscenes, minigames, boss fights, and endings for all games
Mario vs. Donkey Kong[edit]
In Mario vs. Donkey Kong, only Mini-Mario is present. They form the crux of the storyline: When commercials for Mini-Marios entice Donkey Kong to buy some, and the toy's extreme popularity means that DK arrives at toy store only to find they have no Mini-Marios left, he breaks into Mario Toy Company and steals all of the Mini-Marios.[5] Mario goes after him to retrieve the toys. Each Mini Mario is packaged in a crystal ball.
Mini-Marios still in crystal balls are Mario's goal in normal levels. When Mario picks it up, the Mini Mario is freed and the course ends. DK is shown dropping some of them from his bag of stolen toys as he escapes through locked doors, so it is implied that Donkey Kong drops all of the Mini Marios that are level goals.
In each world's seventh level, which is always a Mini-Mario level, Mario's goal is to guide the six Mini-Marios he rescued from the other levels in the world to the toy box. Once the Mini-Marios jump inside, picking up the toy box completes the level. Mini-Marios attempt to match Mario's horizontal position to follow him, and can jump one block high to do so, but cannot use Marios advanced jumps or climb ladders, but they can at least use the Spring Jump on any springs they encounter. These limitations generally prevent Mini-Marios from matching Mario for an entire level, but since Mini-Marios are only one block high compared to Mario's normal two block height, Mario can lead the Mini-Marios into passages that he himself cannot enter. Mario walks through Mini-Marios and is unable to pick them up, but he can stand on their heads. The Mini-Marios lose track of Mario if he gets too far away, correlating to when the Mini-Marios are off screen. The Mini-Marios stop, sit down, and and call out to Mario until he returns. Indicators at the edge of the screen tell the player where off screen Mini Marios are. Enemies and hazards destroy Mini-Marios on contact, but all of the remaining Mini-Marios get mercy invincibility. The Mini-Marios are the only characters who can collect the three Letter Blocks, which are required to open the toy box. Mini-Marios prioritize entering the toy box if it is open and nearby over following Mario. Mario only has to save one of them to proceed, but the number of Mini-Marios he saves in each Mini-Mario level is the number of hits he can take when fighting Donkey Kong in the succeeding Donkey Kong level.
In the Plus worlds, the Mini-Mario level of each world is removed and instead the goal of every non-Donkey Kong level is to lead a Mini-Mario with a key to the locked door.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis[edit]
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis increases the role of the Minis, The story of the game is that the success of Mini Mario allows the Mini Mario Toy Company to create Super Mini Mario World. a theme park based on the Minis. Mini Toad, Mini Peach, and Mini Donkey Kong are introduced and noted as new toys in the opening cutscene. The opening ceremony includes pyramids of Mini Marios in their crystal balls on tables. At that ceremony, Pauline accepts Mario's Mini Mario gift over Donkey Kong's Mini Donkey Kong gift. This makes Donkey Kong throw a tantrum, with his angry stomps causing some of the crystal balls to roll off the tables. Donkey Kong incidentally stomps at least one of them, and multiple balls are shattered by some means by the end. DK kidnaps Pauline and runs into Super Mini Mario World before Mario can catch up, but the Mini Marios volunteer to help Mario.
In this game, Mini Marios are the main characters, as Mario uses them to chase Donkey Kong through the park and does not take an active role in standard gameplay. Most of Mini Marios behaviors are introduced in this game: They start inactive and immobile and the player tapping them makes them activate and start moving. Once a Mini Mario is activated, it keeps moving unless the player stops it again with a second tap. Mini Marios that collide with walls or each other turn around, and if the second Mini Mario is not moving the collision makes it start moving. Colliding with one block tall walls simply has a Mini Mario jump over it. A Mini Mario with no terrain beneath it stops and falls straight downward. The player can direct Mini Mario's movements with further use of the Touch Screen, such as having them turn around and jump arbitrarily by swiping in the corresponding direction. Some objects require the player's intervention to use, like jumping on Yellow Springs. Other objects are used automatically when collected, such as how Mini Marios can wield Hammers to attack enemies. Mini Marios collect items like coins and Mini Mario Cards. Mini Marios that take damage, either by touching obstacles like spikes, enemies like Fireballs, or by hitting the ground after falling too far, are destroyed. The other Mini Marios do not get mercy invincibility if this happens. Mini Marios who are about to walk off a cliff that would make them fall from a height that would break them hesitate for a short moment. Mini Marios can stand on the heads of certain enemies, such as Shy Guy and Snifit. Mini Mario can collect a Fire Flower to temporarily transform into Fire Mini Mario, who automatically throws fireballs forward to attack until the transformation ends.
Mini Marios must be led to the Goal Door to complete levels, with each Mini being worth points and more points being earned for having the Minis enter in quick succession. Levels end in a Game Over if all Minis are broken. Gold Mini Mario only appears in some levels. It moves just like the others but it is worth more points if it is the final Mini through the Goal Door in a chain.
Mini Toad, Mini Peach, and Mini Donkey Kong only appear in gameplay in levels created in the Construction Zone. They can also use Fire Flowers just as Mini Mario can.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again![edit]
In Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!, the toys are less involved in the story. Donkey Kong goes to the opening of a new expansion of Super Mini Mario World, but there are no tickets left when he arrives. Angered, he kidnaps Pauline and escapes before Mario can stop him. The Mini Marios again volunteer to help Mario stop Donkey Kong.
This game removes most of the player's control over the toys: they cannot be stopped and cannot be directed arbitrarily to turn around or jump, and all objects are interacted with automatically. Mini Marios and other toys can no longer stand on the heads of some enemies and no longer hesitate at potentially deadly falls from cliffs. Levels only end when all of the Mini Marios use the Goal Door, thus failing if any toy breaks. Further, all Mini Marios must reach the Goal Door in a chain. If any toy takes too long to enter after another toy does, the Goal Door closes and ends the level in failure. While Gold Mini Mario and Fire Mini Mario are not present, Key Mini Mario is reintroduced. It appears in the final regular level of each floor, all levels with a locked Goal Door that other Minis treat as a wall. Key Mini Mario has to unlock the door so that the Mini Marios can use it.
Mini Toad, Mini Peach, and Mini Donkey Kong are used instead of Mini Mario in certain levels of the Rooftop, and the last three levels of the Rooftop have the player use all four of Mini Mario, Mini Toad, Mini Peach, and Mini Donkey Kong in the same level. After beating each grouping of Rooftop levels, the Showroom section of the Options menu allows the player to set the Minis that appear in each level to the kind of Mini that was in the grouping of Rooftop levels. This option does not affect the Rooftop's levels, the levels with Key Mini Mario, or levels with boss fights.
In Plus Mode, instead of being able to activate Mini Mario and other toys one at a time, all toys are activated at the same time through tapping a singular "START" button. A 3-2-1 countdown is done before the toys actually start, and until then the player also cannot manipulate the environment.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem![edit]
In Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!, Mario creates Mini-Land, a theme park about Mini Mario. At the grand opening, Mario hands out Mini Paulines to the first 100 customers at its grand opening. Donkey Kong is the 101st customer and Mario is sold out by then. Because Donkey Kong could not get a Mini Pauline, he kidnaps the real Pauline and runs away. Mario and the Mini Marios ride the Super Mini Mario Express to chase after them, This game introduces capsules as the packaging for toys, as seen in the opening cutscene for the Mini Paulines.
The gameplay follows from Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!, and even includes Key Mini Mario again in the final level of each world. The game introduces Multi Door levels: levels with multiple exit doors that involve toys aside from Mini Mario. In the main campaign, these are always the fourth level of each world. Each exit door in a Multi Door level has a picture of the head of one of the toys in the level, and only the toy that matches each door is able to enter it. All other toys walk past these doors. These exit doors do not close, in part because in every level there is only one toy for each exit door. At first only Mini Toad appears, but as the game progresses Mini Peach, Mini Donkey Kong, and Mini Pauline appear in these levels. All of the toys aside from Mini Mario in these levels are capsule toys,[4] that is, toys trapped inside a capsule. Capsule toys cannot be activated by tapping them. Instead, another toy must bump into the capsule of a capsule toy to free the toy, at which point the second toy automatically activates. The toy who freed the capsule toy does not turn around due to the collision. Exit doors and capsules in Multi Door levels are color coded such that the toy in the capsule of one color is the toy that goes through the exit door of that color. These usually match the color scheme of the toy, but this is tenuous for Mini Donkey Kong and does not hold for Mini Pauline.
In Plus Mode, the set of Mini Mario, Mini Toad, Mini Peach, Mini Donkey Kong, and Mini Pauline are used in every level, though the game again introduces the non-Mini Mario ones over the course of the main campaign. In each normal level, the toys have to reach the exit door in a order specified for each level. In each Multi Door level, the toys have to enter their exit doors in a order specified for each level. Failure to follow the order results in a Game Over.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars[edit]
In Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars, Donkey Kong kidnaps Pauline and Mario uses the Mini Marios to chase him.
This game goes back to the gameplay from Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!. Levels can contain Minis aside from Mini Mario without being Multi Door levels, but every level in the main campaign has at least one Mini Mario. The set of standard Minis from Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! appear, but Mini Peach is introduced before Mini Toad and Mini Pauline is introduced before Mini Donkey Kong. The fourth level of each world in the main campaign is always a Multi Door level. Key Mini Mario returns, and the seventh level of each world in the main campaign always has a Key Mini Mario. Cursed Mini Mario, a Mini Mario under the control of a robotic monkey that turns it into an enemy, is introduced. Cursed Mini Mario activates automatically when levels start, and is immune to enemies, hazards, and falling, but it cannot collect items. It must be attacked to break the monkey and restore the Mini Mario to normal, then brought to the Goal Door like other Mini Marios. The eighth level of each world in the main campaign always has a Cursed Mini Mario, and it is possible for a level's required Mini Mario to be the Cursed Mini Mario. Gold Mini Mario is reintroduced, but has no mechanical distinctions from the other Minis. He does not appear in the main campaign, instead being exclusive to the Bonus Levels Level B-23 and Level B-24. Mini Luigi is new to the series, but is also not in the main campaign. He first appears in the Bonus Level Level B-18. Gold Mini Mario and Mini Luigi can also be used in user made levels from the Workshop.
Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge[edit]
In Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge, all levels only have one Mini Toy in them. This further removes Key Mini Mario, Cursed Mini Mario, Multi Door levels, and capsule toys. The player selects a Mini Toy to use by scanning an amiibo figure, with the Mini Toy corresponding to the character of the figure. Every amiibo depicting a Super Mario character released at the the launch of this game, excluding Wario, is compatible with Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge, and because of this the game introduces five Mini Toys to correspond to characters who do not fit with the existing Mini Toys: Mini Bowser, Mini Bowser Jr., Mini Yoshi, Mini Diddy Kong, and Mini Rosalina. There was no Pauline amiibo at the time of the game's release, and therefore Mini Pauline is not in the game.
Each Mini Toy tied to an amiibo depicting a Super Mario character has a unique ability that allows it to reach areas and collect amiibo Tokens that the other Mini Toys cannot. For example, Mini Toad has Small Crawl, so it can fit into passages whose ceilings are too low for other Mini Toys to enter. These abilities are also necessary to reach amiibo Doors, which are alternate Goal Doors in most cases but open access to a world for the Mini Toy who used it in the game's main levels. The levels of worlds accessed through amiibo Doors in this way are built around the ability of the Mini Toy that unlocked it, and they cannot be entered using any other Mini Toy. Mini Spek, an additional character associated with any amiibo that does not have a specific Mini Toy in the game, does not have a special ability.
The player can tap an active Mini Toy to make it move faster for a short time,[6] a mechanic introduced in Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move.
Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge is the first game of the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series to have a world map, and on that map the player directs their current Mini Toy to move between levels and enter levels. The player can use directional input or taps on the destination level to so. As such, the game can be considered the first game since Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis to allow the player full horizontal control over the movement of Mini Toys.
List of Minis[edit]
It has been requested that more images be uploaded for this section. Remove this notice only after the additional images have been added. Specifics: Given the premise, gathering images of each character's packaging makes sense
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italian | Mini[?] | - |
References[edit]
- ^ How to Play - Mini Mario & Friends amiibo Challenge. minimario.nintendo.com. Archived August 2, 2016, 07:43:05 UTC from the original via Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
- ^ "Score boxes are marked with a number indicating how many points you will earn for guiding a Mini Toy into that toy box." – 2010. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! instruction booklet. Nintendo of America. Page 23. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
- ^ "In a minigame, you score points by guiding the toys that appear from the pipes into the toy boxes at the bottom of the screen." – 2010. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! instruction booklet. Nintendo of America. Page 23. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
- ^ a b "In areas with toys other than Mini Marios (capsule toys), you must lead each toy to the corresponding exit door with their face on it." – 2010. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! instruction booklet. Nintendo of America. Page 15. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
- ^ "Donkey Kong has stolen all the Mini-Mario toys from the factory, and it’s up to Mario to get them back!" – 2024. [[Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Nintendo Switch)|] product page]. Nintendo of America (American English). Retrieved 27 July 2025. (Archived March 8, 2025, 09:31:13 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
- ^ Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge Tips and Tricks. Play Nintendo. Retrieved 26 July 2025. (Archived August 24, 2020, 00:12:06 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
