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On first glance at the game,
there may be many gamers who would pass up this diamond in the rough. The
game merges a few elements of the old school of simple problem solving and
action for the Game Boy Advance and for those gamers that are old enough to
remember Mario climbing ladders and hopping over barrels….this game gives
Mario a few new moves to battle that big ape Donkey Kong. I love it when old
heroes from other games come back with new moves. I’m a sucker for them and
boy does this game deliver
It all starts with the big
lovable monkey Donkey Kong watching TV. As most big monkey’s do in their off
time of course. Lo and behold Donkey Kong sees an ad for the season’s latest
hot toy to have. These are little wind up plumbers; Donkey Kong falls for
these in a big way and must have one for his very own. But much to Donkey
Kong’s dismay the hot toys are of course sold out. What’s a big ape to do?
Why fly into a monkey rage, raid the toy factory itself and steal as many
little wind up plumber toys as you can!
Now it’s up to Mario to get those toys back,
what Mario ends up facing is multiple levels of chasing after Donkey Kong and
rescuing the toys. Each of the levels ends with Mario saving one of the
precious toys. The game’s beginning six levels or worlds have about eight
objectives that Mario must win over to progress.
The first six worlds are pretty much cut and dry
standards for this kind of game. Making his way through each world Mario has
to do things like finding a key for a locked door and this is where things
look a lot like the old Mario we all know. Objects such as keys and other
things that Mario can grab hold of are carried over his head. Hey it’s easier
to throw stuff that way I guess, and that is exactly how things are resolved
really as items are thrown at enemies and keys are carried to eventual use for
locked doors.
The other parts of the game are pretty much run
of the mill navigation past obstacles, hitting switches along the way to get
ladders, platforms and even walls to move into a position so that Mario can
utilize them for advancing onward, or obtaining a goal on the level.
Past the first few levels/Worlds things change a
bit as Mario must lead the toys safely to a toy box. All the while trying to
make sure they don’t get destroyed along the way. Not as easy as it sounds
because they sure break rather easily. Well, at least I kept getting them
destroyed. Around the eighth level of each world is a battle with Donkey Kong.
One would think this would be a bore after a while but there is just something
macabre and addicting about wanting to beat Donkey Kong. | 
