Mario vs. Donkey Kong

Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a game for the Game Boy Advance. It brings back Mario and Donkey Kong's rivalry from the Mario series' first game, Donkey Kong. The game was re-released as a free downloadable title for the 3DS on December 16, 2011. However, it was only available to people who purchased a 3DS prior to the August 12, 2011 price drop, meaning they had to be a part of the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program.

Story
Mario has become so famous in the Mushroom Kingdom that he decided to found the Mario Toy Company, which has developed a new toy called the Mini-Mario. As Donkey Kong surfs through the channels of his television set, he sees a commercial for the Mini-Marios. Donkey Kong instantly adores the toys and heads to the Toy Store, but he did not think to pre-order and finds that they are sold out. Donkey Kong turns around and sees the Mario Toy Company, deciding to loot the store of all of the toys. After Mario chases Donkey Kong for a while, he eventually checks his bag, only to see all the Mini-Marios he stole have dropped, with Mario, the toys, and the three Toad employees laughing at him. Enraged, he grabs the three Toads, climbs the building, and Mario rescues the three Toads while fighting Donkey Kong. Upon his defeat, he falls off onto a truck full of Mini-Marios, and steals thirty-six more, now with keys attatched. Mario gives chase once again, until a similar cutscene occurs in which he checks the bag again. Only Mario laughs until six Mini-Marios come out. Donkey Kong then grabs the Minis with a giant robot, to which Mario promptly frees while fighting Donkey Kong, eventually wrecking the machine and electrocuting Donkey Kong in the process. After that, Mario is about to scold Donkey Kong for what he did, but finds that Donkey Kong is crying in pity and shame. Mario cheers him up by giving him a free Mini-Mario. Donkey Kong gets what he wanted all along while Mario and the remaining Mini-Marios celebrate.

Gameplay
Each of the games six worlds is divided into eight levels. For the first six levels within each world, Mario must find a key and open up a door to the second half of the level. There, Mario will find the toy that Donkey Kong dropped.

Unlike other Mario games, when Mario takes a hit, he loses a life. He can also lose a life from getting squished and falling on from a great height. If the fall is not big enough, Mario may get stunned on his back instead. Mario can defend himself from falling bricks by performing a handstand and having the bricks fall on his feet instead.

The seventh level in each world is a Mini-Mario level. Mario leads the six Mini-Mario toys he collected back to their toy chest; however, he must make sure they avoid obstacles along the way. This leads into a battle with Donkey Kong, with each Mini-Mario saved becoming a "hit point". For example, if Mario saves all six of the Mini-Mario toys, he'll be able to be hit six times by Donkey Kong before losing a life. If the player fails to defeat Donkey Kong and chooses to replay the fight without doing the Mini-Mario level, Mario will start the fight with four hit points.

After beating the six worlds and defeating Donkey Kong, six "Plus" Worlds are unlocked, numbered 1+, 2+, and so on. There are seven stages in each Plus Worlds, and there are no Mini-Mario levels. Mario must get to a Mini-Mario holding a key and lead it to the exit doorway. There is only one part per level in the Plus Worlds, and they are designed to be more difficult than the main worlds. There are still Donkey Kong boss levels in the Plus Worlds.

After beating all of the Plus Worlds, Mario fights Donkey Kong for the final time. If the player found all of the remaining presents in replay mode, the "Expert: levels will unlock; instead of completing them one at a time, the player must beat the game's default high scores (from the "Main" and "Plus" levels) to progressively unlock the levels.

The Japanese version of the game features e-Reader support and had space for 12 levels, but only 5 cards were released.

Plus Worlds
After clearing Twilight City Plus, Mario faces Donkey Kong for the final time.
 * 1) Mario Toy Factory
 * 2) Donkey Kong Jungle Plus
 * 3) Fire Mountain Plus
 * 4) Spooky House Plus
 * 5) Mystic Forest Plus
 * 6) Twilight City Plus

Development
The game was initially planned as Donkey Kong Plus, an updated version of the Game Boy Donkey Kong game. The only known difference between the original and Plus, aside from the graphics, was the addition of a level designer, to be used through the Nintendo GameCube's Game Boy Player. However, the game vanished the following year, and was replaced by Mario vs. Donkey Kong, with the level editor gone and the graphics replaced with pre-rendered graphics. However, the game's sequel, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis had this feature and took advantage of Wi-Fi Connection.

Mario

 * "Come back here, you big monkey!"
 * "Ah, that Charles Martinet! Nice Italian boy."
 * "Oh yeah, don't forget to thank Mr. Miyamoto!"
 * ""Let's-a go, little guys!"

References to other games

 * Donkey Kong (Game Boy): The game was originally planned to be a Game Boy Advance remake of this game, but ended up being a semi-sequel. As such, it uses all gameplay elements from this game, although it has a very different story.
 * Donkey Kong 64: Several of Donkey Kong's voice clips are recycled.
 * Luigi's Mansion: Several of the Toads' voice clips are recycled.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: Several of the Toads' voice clips are recycled.

References in later games

 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis: This is the sequel to Mario vs. Donkey Kong.
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!: This is the third entry in the series.
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!: This is the fourth entry in the series.

Trivia

 * This is the only game in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series to feature Mario himself as a playable character.