(Review)
Mario VS Donkey Kong is a series that has evolved with every installment, and Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is no exception. This iteration, sold exclusively through the Nintendo 3DS eShop, brings in a new style of gameplay and many variations of it. The core is still the same, however: guide the Minis, a line of toys based on Mario, Peach, Toad, Donkey Kong, and now Pauline, to the goal of the stage while preventing them from getting destroyed.
The new main gameplay style featured in Minis on the Move revolves around placing randomly-generated tiles onto the stage, each tile guiding the Mini in a certain direction. The player must utilize the tiles given to him or her in a resourceful manner to guide the Mini to the goal while also making sure not to let the toy drop off the edge of the stage, into a spike pit, or run into an inescapeable dead-end, all while solving the puzzle within a predetermined time limit. In the main game mode, Mario's Main Event, you must also manage your tile reserve; if you have five unplaced tiles and a sixth one drops into your inventory, you must start the whole puzzle over. Trash can tiles and bombs help with keeping your inventory in check; they allow you to throw away stored tiles or destroy ones that are already placed. Strategetic tile placement can also increase your time limit, send you to a bonus game, or create trash can tiles. This game mode can get stressful after a while, however, so there are two other modes that have the same premise but a different control scheme. The first is the Puzzle Palace, my personal favorite. In this one, players are given a set amount of various tiles with no time limit and the player must use up every tile in their inventory to guide the Mini to the goal. Because this mode has a set solving method, it makes it a little less annoying due to the lack of a luck mechanic, but still very fun. The third mode is Many Mini Mayhem, in which you're given multiple Minis to manage, hence the name. This time, however, players are not given any reserved tiles; instead, they must utilize the rotating curved tiles or, in other levels, move and shift around the blue tiles on the stage to guide the many Minis into the goal in a set time limit. Bonus points are awarded if Minis are chained into the goal. A fourth game mode is present, as well - Giant Jungle - which functions exactly like Mario's Main Event, only with an absolutely massive map. Every game mode, with the exception of Giant Jungle, comes packed with 50-70 levels each, and completing them all unlocks even more levels, these ones being Expert Levels. Every level also has three colored coins scattered throughout; getting the Mini(s) to pick them all up on the way to the goal is part of the challenge of the game, and players are awarded with a Star if all three are collected. Stars unlock minigames to play and Minis to view in the gallery. Minis on the Move also comes packaged with a level editor, and custom levels can be shared between friends and on the internet. The only downside to the level editor is that you can only create levels in the Mario's Main Event style of gameplay; I'd much prefer to create levels based on Puzzle Palace. It's still a versatile builder, however, that I hope people will make creative use of.
Unlike previous entries in the series, Minis on the Move does not have a story of any kind, which would explain the replacement of "VS" with "and", which was a slight disappointment considering the original point of the series: to return Mario and Donkey Kong to their rival status. I really wasn't expecting a story to begin with, though, since this is just a puzzle game. The soundtrack to Minis on the Move hasn't derived much from the style of the DSiWare title Minis March Again!, but it still sounds great nonetheless, and it comes with a few little cameo songs, such as Princess Peach's Castle in Puzzle Palace and the Super Mario Bros. 2 overworld theme in Many Mini Mayhem.
The absolutely massive amount of content present in Minis on the Move could make it a full-price retail tile, but it can be purchased for a meager $10. This extensive and addictive puzzler is a steal at such a low price, so it is highly recommended even if you've never played the Mario VS Donkey Kong series. Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is available now on the Nintendo 3DS eShop.
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