Mario vs. Donkey Kong (series)

Mario vs. Donkey Kong (known as Mario and Donkey Kong in Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move) is a sub-series of the Mario and Donkey Kong franchises. The first game, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, was heavily inspired by the Game Boy follow up to the original Donkey Kong game, and was initially planned as Donkey Kong Plus. This series features a comeback of Pauline and Donkey Kong's rivalry with Mario.

Gameplay
The original Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a puzzle-platformer where Mario is the sole playable character. Here, he must traverse various courses to obtain a key to unlock the level's door, then collect the Mini-Mario within the second part of the stage. There are also levels where Mario has to lead all the Mini-Marios he collected to a toy chest, whilst protecting them from obstacles along the way. The final level in each world is a boss-fight against Donkey Kong.

From Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis onwards, the player takes control of the Mini-Toys instead. The Minis can be controlled using the stylus and the touch screen, and must be guided to the end of the level, usually represented by a door. In these games, various items can be moved around or added from an in-game inventory in order to clear a way or make a path for the Minis.

Table of Minis
The following table constitutes the appearances of Mini toys throughout the series:

Trivia

 * All games in the series were initially released outside Japan, usually in North America, before any other regions. This is due to the fact that all games were developed by Nintendo Software Technology Corporation, which is a division of Nintendo located in North America.
 * All of the handheld games can be played on the Nintendo 3DS, as the first game can be played in the Ambassador Program, the second and fourth are Nintendo DS games, the third can be system transferred or bought on the eShop, and the fifth, sixth, and seventh are eShop exclusives.
 * Before amiibo Challenge (which doesn't feature any characters or story mode), the games barely had any references to the new Donkey Kong series created by Rare, not featuring any of the characters from those games other than the modern Donkey Kong himself and only having very minor references like remixes of DK Island Swing and the treehouse in the first game, which also is only shown inside and doesn't have any of the elements from Donkey Kong Country or Donkey Kong 64.
 * Despite Donkey Kong's permanent change of voice actor in 2004, this series kept using some voice clips of Grant Kirkhope, mostly for moments where the gorilla was full of anger or being damaged.