Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis [DS]

There's something about Mario vs. Donkey Kong that brings to mind a line from an old Redman track: "They got factories with little dolls named after me." Yes, Mario's miniscule clones with no mind of their own are back in the sequel to the 2004 hit GBA title. While plot details on Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 were sparse at Nintendo's super low-key pre-E3 event in San Francisco, we got a chance to get down and dirty with the core gameplay for a few puzzles, and suffice it to say, Nintendo's gone and done it again.

The first game involved a bored Donkey Kong sitting around watching the dregs of late night television and seeing a commercial for Mario action figures. Feeling burned that he got no love from the toy factory, DK decided to steal all of the wind-up Mario toys. It then became Mario's mission, in the words of the instruction manual, to give Donkey Kong a good talking-to about the consequences of not pre-ordering. Of course, it wasn't as easy as just catching up to the big ape; there'd be no fun in that. As a result, gamers got one of the best puzzle titles to grace a Nintendo handheld.

Now the hijinks are back, and with twice the action thanks to twice the screens. Of course, with the evolution from Game Boy Advance to Nintendo DS comes utilization of the newer technology. The best way to describe Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 is that it feels a lot like Lemmings with a little more hands-on micromanagement, thanks to the touch screen. Only instead of feeble-minded, suicidal, green-haired creatures, players are directing little Mario toys over a variety of safety hazards in the name of collecting letters, getting high numbers of retained action figures, and thwarting whatever it is that Donkey Kong's up to at this point. Visually, the game is stepped up from the GBA game, although it's nothing as dramatically beautiful as, say Metroid Prime Hunters. Backgrounds seem to look cleaner, as do the characters.

As with MvDK, the sequel has a heavy focus on balancing out options. Players can lead one Mario to a safe exit, but it could be a challenge to get the rest of them there. Utilizing the stylus on the touch screen, players will be able to draw and retract bridges for the Marios to cross. However, much like its highly challenging predecessor, MvDK 2 looks to have no mercy on players. Quick timing and quick taps will be vital to saving all of the Mario figures on each level. A few levels into the first stage, things were getting just as hardcore as the last game.

All around, we only got a few minutes of time with this currently super-secret title, but after sampling it for such a limited time, we're very much looking forward to getting a few more minutes of pulse-quickening, high-tension puzzle action soon. We'll keep you posted on this sure to be anticipated new sequel as we know more.

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