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.

Development
The game was initially planned as Donkey Kong Plus, an updated version of the 1994 Game Boy remake of the original Donkey Kong arcade 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.

Story
The game's story begins with Donkey Kong watching TV. As he surfs through the channels, he sees a commercial about the new Mini Marios. He is disgusted with them but, still, Donkey Kong falls in love with the toys instantly. He goes to the Toy Store, but they are sold out. Donkey Kong turns around and sees the Mario Toy Company and decides to loot the store of all of the toys. Eventually, he checks his bag, only to see all the Mini Marios he stole have dropped, with Mario, the toys, and three Toad employees laughing at him. Enraged, he grabs the three Toads, climbs the building, and Mario must rescue the three Toads and fight Donkey Kong again. However, he must make his way through the six worlds to get to the battle on the top of the building. After the fight, he falls off onto a truck full of Mini Marios, and steals five more. Mario gives chase once again, until a similar cutscene of the one before the defeat, but only Mario laughs, until six Mini Marios come out. Donkey Kong then kidnaps the Minis with a robot, to which Mario promptly frees while fighting Donkey Kong, eventually wrecking the machine, electrocuting Donkey Kong in the process. After that, it is the final scene. Mario is scolding Donkey Kong for what he did. Donkey Kong is crying in pity and shame. Mario cheers him up by letting him have a Mini Mario. The Mini Marios and Mario cheer with Mario's mission successfully done.

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, Donkey Kong will fight Mario. Nothing will happen after he's defeated, but if the player collected all of the presents, 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 once again, 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 battle.
 * 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

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!"

Trivia

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