Screenshots from Game Spot

Year released: 2004 (Game Boy Advance)

Number of Players: 1

The need for new Mario 2D games + nostalgic for a classic that's ten years old = Donkey Kong steals some wind-up Mario action figures. Mario chases Donkey Kong to get 'em back, so he can sell them (even though he breaks every single one out of its package). I mean, you even have the parallel between the Super Game Boy and Game Boy Player.

Graphics: Rendering done right on the Game Boy Advance. Unlike Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Golden Sun (which are still great-looking rendered games), everything is small enough to look perfect. If you've played Donkey Kong for Game Boy (nicknamed Donkey Kong '94), think of those graphics, but rendered.

Play control: The same as Donkey Kong '94... for those of you who haven't played it:
Jump with A, pick up stuff with B. Move left to right and climb up or down stuff with the control pad. Mario can't change his direction mid-jump. A jump doesn't go very high (he jumps his own body height). If he runs in one direction and then changes it, then jumps, he does a really high backwards jump. Pressing down and jumping allows Mario to handstand and block falling objects (provided that they aren't too heavy). Jumping after a handstand jump allows for a high jump. Jumping immediately after a handstand jump, and then jumping immediately after that second jump makes Mario do a higher jump.

Sound: Voice clips and nostalgic sound effects fill the game. Mario sounds like he's climbing up steel ladders and rubber ropes. Music isn't the best... it's just there, nothing horrible or good.

Challenge: One hit from anything kills Mario. Falling from too high of a distance stuns him, falling from up yet farther kills him (which doesn't happen as much in this game as in Donkey Kong '94). The game is how to get from point A to point B. In the first part of a normal stage, you need to get both Mario and the key (together) to the exit. In the second part of a normal stage, Mario needs to get to the Mario doll (which remains stationary) and pick it up. In the seventh stage of every level, Mario must lead his dolls safely to collect three objects (they must, he can't) and into a toy chest. They get killed by enemies and try to follow him wherever he goes (but they can't climb up anything or do any jump beyond the standard jump). All of this is done within a time limit.
Then, for the boss stage, your amount of health is determined by how many dolls you got to the toy box in the seventh stage (you can still clear the seventh stage with only one toy, but you'll only have one health point in the boss stage--Mario can take one hit for every doll). Mario has to take whatever he gets and turn it into a weapon and then throw it at DK (which means flipping over barrels by going into a handstand and letting them fall on top of you, picking up enemies, etc.).
Most of the challenge is by time. The puzzles are relatively simple to get the hang of, but by the time you do, the timer is running down. To execute a solution to a puzzle correctly, practice is needed, and sometimes you need to get in a few tries before you get it just right. Also, some answers seem unlikely. In DK '94, you knew when you knew how to conquer a stage--in Mario vs. DK, I felt like I was bending the rules for some of these stages and just barely making it to the end of a stage using a way that the game makers did not intend to be used.

Gameplay: You can pick it up from what's said above. Basically, you have to use what you got and then squeeze it in under the time limit.

Bottom line: A great sequel! Some say it's short, but they have not unlocked the extra stages. Unlike most games, unlocking extra stuff fits in with the rest of the game--Mario has to collect three presents per stage and do it timely. Then he earns a star, and another stage to play (other than the standard 6 levels). I think this makes a possible 96 stages, a great count almost as high as the original DK '94's (which was the Super Game Boy's poster boy).

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