Mario vs. Donkey Kong

Mario vs. Donkey Kong GBA is a 2004 puzzle-platform game for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, developed by Nintendo Software Technology and published by Nintendo. Released first in North America in May 2004, it revives the classic Mario-and-Donkey Kong rivalry in a form that draws closely on the 1994 Game Boy Donkey Kong game while building a new puzzle campaign around the Mini-Mario toys. The trouble starts when Donkey Kong sees an advertisement for the wind-up figures made by Mario's Toy Company, finds them sold out, and raids the factory. Mario sets off after him to recover the stolen toys, turning a familiar rivalry into a sequence of compact, obstacle-filled challenges.

The main stages blend careful planning with quick platforming. Mario commonly begins by finding a key, carrying it through a room of traps and enemies, and placing it in the matching locked door. Reaching that door opens a second area where a Mini-Mario waits to be rescued. Because a carried key can be set down, thrown, and used to trigger devices, the route is rarely just a straight run to the exit. Players read each small screen for the correct order of switches, ladders, moving platforms, springs, conveyor belts, and hazards, then execute the solution before the stage timer expires.

Mario has a larger tool set here than in a basic side-scrolling platformer. He can run, jump, climb and grab, but also use acrobatic moves including handstands, side somersaults, and high jumps to reach awkward ledges or avoid danger. The design asks players to apply those moves to the room's layout rather than simply react to a long scrolling course. A misplaced key, a badly timed jump, or an activated switch at the wrong moment can block progress, while a clean solution can turn one object into the route to the next. This makes individual levels well suited to short handheld sessions without reducing their later puzzles to simple action tests.

The campaign alternates its key-and-door stages with different kinds of challenges. In some sections Mario must lead a group of Mini-Marios safely to a toy box, so the small wind-up figures become part of the puzzle instead of merely a goal at the end. Donkey Kong also confronts Mario at the end of each themed area, creating boss encounters that break up the precision platforming. After the regular journey, tougher Plus and Expert stages add further opportunities to replay the game and pursue stronger results. Its environments range from construction-inspired rooms that recall the arcade roots of the characters to more hazardous settings built around heat, heights, and moving machinery.

Although its title is shared by later games, Mario vs. Donkey Kong GBA is specifically the original entry in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, not the Nintendo DS sequel Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis or the 2024 Nintendo Switch remake. The Game Boy Advance release has its own sprite-based presentation, single-player campaign, and puzzle sequence. Nintendo's European release followed in November 2004, bringing the game to that region later in the year. By combining Mario's expanded movement with the key-based puzzle design associated with Game Boy Donkey Kong, this installment established the Mini-Mario premise that later series entries would develop in different directions.