Highlights

  • Mario vs. Donkey Kong's 2024 remake adds new worlds like Merry Mini-Land and Slippery Summit for extra challenges.
  • Slippery Summit's levels cleverly integrate ice physics into puzzles, making them feel like a fun element rather than a frustrating hazard.
  • The short levels in Mario vs. Donkey Kong's ice world help prevent frustration and keep the gameplay engaging and challenging.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong's 2024 remake adds a good portion of new content to spice up the 2004 GBA title. One of Mario vs. Donkey Kong's new worlds includes a great play on an old trope—one that most platformers struggle with.

In addition to the original game's content, Mario vs. Donkey Kong contains two new worlds. These worlds are Merry Mini-Land and Slippery Summit, each containing six new levels, a mini-guiding level, and a boss stage. Merry Mini-Land is a carnival-themed area with wind-gusts and teleporter blocks worked into its puzzles. Slippery Summit, on the other hand, is an ice world—a very traditional concept for a Mario game.

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Mario vs. Donkey Kong Does Ice Levels Better Than The Rest

Ice levels make up some of the most frustrating stages in platformer games. Just as water levels often bore players with slow, wading movements, the slippery terrain of ice levels is similarly dreaded. For instance, some of the most frustrating levels in Crash Bandicoot involve the perils of ice physics. Mario games have also had this problem, where ice levels can often be more fun than frustrating. Slippery ice can throw off timing and cause deaths that feel unfair. Fortunately, Mario vs. Donkey Kong's exclusive ice world uses these physics in a way that will make players think rather than rage. It makes ice physics feel like a puzzle element rather than a hazard glazed over the stage to crank up difficulty.

Slippery Summit's Icy Levels Are Wrapped Into The Puzzles

The first stage in Slippery Summit does a lot to show off how well the world uses ice physics. A present box through a one-block wide gap gets the player's brain think; there's no way of moving while crouched in the game, but crouching after sliding just might work. The player then quickly learns that items can slide across the ice too, which is how the level's key puzzle is solved. This is something the best Mario games do—presenting a new mechanic in a safe environment, so a player can learn the ropes before expanding on it later on.

The rest of the world's levels expand on this premise, involving more of Mario vs. Donkey Kong's parkour elements. Challenges for bonus collectibles involve precise use of these physics, such as a section where Mario must crouch under spikes and slowly slide on ice to get a 1-Up. The mechanic really benefits from the game's minimalist design; everything in a stage is there for a reason. Ice physics in most Mario games can often feel like a terrain feature rather than its own mechanic, causing it to feel frustrating rather than a problem to be solved.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong's Ice Levels Don't Overstay Their Welcome

The ice levels added to Mario vs. Donkey Kong's remake draw another benefit from the game's format. Even with ice physics being made useful to a stage's puzzle, they could still be frustrating if levels were too long. This happens with many platformer games, where levels can be around five minutes, not including resets from death. Fortunately, Mario vs. Donkey Kong has very short levels, each composed of only two sections. Each section is either a screen or just over a screen.

The best example of this in Slippery Summit is the world's boss fight. One of the game's new Donkey Kong fights, the battle on Slippery Summit is tough. Mario will have to struggle to maintain traction, avoiding spiked barrels and picking up regular ones to throw at Donkey Kong. Mario has six hit points while Donkey Kong only has four, so it's a quick duel. However, those looking to do a perfect run face a worthy challenge avoiding hits in a quick stage.