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GAME: Mario vs Donkey Kong Game Review




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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1260
PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2024 1:52 pm Reply with quote
Smartphones existing now mean they shouldn't have remade this game? Why would this need to be free to play? Because it's based on an old game? What?

I understand the complaints about the price point vs the availability of arguably more sophisticated, cheaper puzzle platformers since. I could even understand if you just said it should be like, 30 dollars, 20 dollars. But, c'mon, just because it's based on an old game doesn't mean they have no right to charge anything for it.
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Farafra



Joined: 29 Jan 2021
Posts: 137
PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2024 1:55 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The most interesting part of Mario vs Donkey Kong is trying to figure out why Nintendo released this title, in this way, at this time.




Uh, money. That's why.
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Posts: 1256
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2024 6:51 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Even if you've managed to avoid the mobile gaming vice, your phone still probably has social media apps, which are also scarily good at filling free time.
Games from the dedicated handheld era still very much have their place. Wherever I go, I almost never have a phone on me, instead I tend to have 1-3 handheld systems on me (I never got rid of a single handheld). When I do social media (I still do a good amount of YouTube, Twitter, and now Bluesky), it's on a computer, not a phone (in part because I hate mobile keyboards with a passion, I'm exponentially slower at typing when it's not a fullsize laptop or PC keyboard).

I got the original version of the game as a Christmas present back in 2004 when I was 10 (I feel so old...). Wherever I brought one of my multiple Game Boy Advance SPs (I currently have 3 of them, the most recent I got in 2007, the coveted AGS-101) be it a restaurant, in the car, at the doctor, the dentist, lunch break in high school, the school bus, I often would have this game on me. You could easily play for a set period of time and easily put it away, not having to wait to reach a save point.

Heck, I was bringing this to play in the break room at work 5 years ago when after 14 years I finally fully completed the game (I simply beat it long ago, but didn't 100% complete it), I got all the stars and beat the extra levels unlocked after beating the game. It still remains a blast.

Besides the obvious reason of money, remaking this game with updated visuals and such for a new generation for the Switch and Switch Lite makes sense. This game will still appeal to people, just like how the original Donkey Kong game does nearly 33 years later.
Kicksville wrote:
Smartphones existing now mean they shouldn't have remade this game? Why would this need to be free to play? Because it's based on an old game? What?

I understand the complaints about the price point vs the availability of arguably more sophisticated, cheaper puzzle platformers since. I could even understand if you just said it should be like, 30 dollars, 20 dollars. But, c'mon, just because it's based on an old game doesn't mean they have no right to charge anything for it.
Yeah, the argument just makes so little sense. The 3DS was around during smartphones too (2011-2020), and yet it still sold. Nowhere near what the original Game Boy nor the DS did, but still plenty of units sold. It had both quick pickup and play experiences (like this remake for the Switch), and more lengthy console-like experiences (3DS was like a portable GameCube).

As for the price point, yeah it's iffy, especially when you consider the original game on the GBA was around $30 or so, though unadjusted for inflation. Nintendo will do what they always do with prices. Shame the Switch doesn't have Nintendo Selects, the successor to Player's Choice. Remember when budget re-releases were more common? Sigh.
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Arale Kurashiki



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 781
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2024 8:49 am Reply with quote
Quote:
But now we have phones! More importantly, kids about as old as I was when I got a Game Boy Advance have phones! Those things have games designed with the precision of a neurosurgeon to stimulate specific parts of our brains to feel like THE BEST way to kill time (so long as you're okay with being pressured into paying for microtransactions). Even if you've managed to avoid the mobile gaming vice, your phone still probably has social media apps, which are also scarily good at filling free time.

Where does that leave the Mario vs Donkey Kong remake in 2024? Nowhere


This is an absolutely terrifying series of words, like, absolutely horrifying on a psychological level in ways I can't even begin to break down (though I am tempted to try). And just to be sure, checking the summary:

Quote:
− This game feels like it's more suited to the mobile platform with a free-to-play monetization model than it is as a $50 Nintendo Switch release.


Yes, I'm not misunderstanding, the opinion presented in this review is that it is a negative that this game is not literally abusing the player; specifically in the context of this game being aimed at children:

Quote:
If this remake were tailored for the mobile platform, it'd have a broader appeal. This is a shame since it's a solid puzzle-platformer that could be a great introduction to the genre for younger players.


So, to be even more specific, this is a review advocating for using abusive microtransaction models, designed to manipulate dopamine receptors, on children. As a good thing.

I understand to people who have had this normalized in their lives that my reaction here might be seen as alarmist or overreacting, but this kind of viewpoint is so destructive to me that, again, I don't even know where to begin. I could list 20 different counterpoints as to why a game being a real game instead of an addiction machine is, in fact, a good thing (even if it's overpriced on release, sure), but most of them kind of seem like a waste of time to type out in the context of what the review is advocating being so blatantly, um, evil. Like, has it come to the point where the existence of videogames really has to be argued point by point?

The only bit I'll add is this, returning to something I've already quoted:

Quote:
Those things have games designed with the precision of a neurosurgeon to stimulate specific parts of our brains to feel like THE BEST way to kill time (so long as you're okay with being pressured into paying for microtransactions).


These things don't make me feel like I'm using my time in a good way at all. Without exaggeration, they make me feel like I'm dying.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 6358
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2024 3:32 pm Reply with quote
BigOnAnime wrote:
Games from the dedicated handheld era still very much have their place. Wherever I go, I almost never have a phone on me, instead I tend to have 1-3 handheld systems on me (I never got rid of a single handheld).


Wish I had your luck I’ve had a Gameboy Pocket, Color, & Advance Iost while I’ve 3 DSes that broke one of which came with a broken microphone out of the box, A 3DSXL that met it’s end via cracked shoulder button leading to cracked hinge, and a Gamegear that I may have gotten the not bright idea to pour cold water on the cartridge connector.

Only handhelds that I still have is my New Nintendo 2DS which I bought 3 years before Nintendo stopped manufacturing the 2DS/3DS line and my launch PSVita with phone capabilities that I removed and once had to fix when weird shit kept happening with the battery….which also led to me frying my 64 GB card wiping out a good chunk of save data.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4555
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2024 6:47 pm Reply with quote
BigOnAnime wrote:
This game will still appeal to people, just like how the original Donkey Kong game does nearly 33 years later.


I think you mean 43 years later (although the 1980s still feel like they were only around 20 years ago to me).
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4660
PostPosted: Tue Mar 05, 2024 11:57 am Reply with quote
Kicksville wrote:
Smartphones existing now mean they shouldn't have remade this game? Why would this need to be free to play? Because it's based on an old game? What?

I understand the complaints about the price point vs the availability of arguably more sophisticated, cheaper puzzle platformers since. I could even understand if you just said it should be like, 30 dollars, 20 dollars. But, c'mon, just because it's based on an old game doesn't mean they have no right to charge anything for it.


I'm a bit confused about this take, as well. Plenty of people question the $50 price, especially compared to something like the Metroid Prime remaster for $40.

There was a time when it seemed like smartphones were going to replace handheld gaming, but the industry's hard turn towards the mobile games we see being made, ironically, kept that from happening because you got something that was a cash shop wearing a game's skin. I'd say the runaway success of the Switch, which includes a version that is strictly a handheld, sort of proves that gaming on the go that is just an up front 'buy game, then play it' transaction is still something people want.
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