Mario vs. Donkey Kong Mini-Land Mayhem (Nintendo DS, 2010)

MArio and his Mini-Marios return once more for a puzzling adventure on the Nintendo DS.

This time around, Mario is opening a toy themed amusement park, with his old flame, Pauline at his side. Donkey Kong shows up to crash the grand opening, demanding a special edition Mini Pauline toy given out as a promotion. With none left in stock, Donkey Kong becomes cross and he makes off with the real Pauline; provoking Mario to give chase through over 130 different attractions (200 with special levels) with the Mini-Marios and the new mini Toads, Donkey Kongs, Princess Peaces, and Paulines in tow.

As far as gameplay goes, this is pretty much Nintendo's answer to the classic game series, Lemmings. The Mini-Marios start walking and you've got to keep them out of trouble by quickly drawing in girders, conveyor belts, springs, and more.

You're also on a time limit, and you have to get them all to the finish line relatively within 5 seconds of the whoever last entered, and the Mini-Marios can't defend themselves from enemies.

Predictably, this will definitely be a game that teases your brain into submission. You always have to be on the alert to keep the Mini-Marios safe and be within a few feet of each other to keep any from wandering off and being shut out of the exit.

Despite having to be vigilant, no puzzle in the game is impossible; some may seem so, almost to the point of getting this reviewer screaming mad, especially with trying to get coins, cards, and trophies littered throughout each stage, it feels so grand to solve a puzzle after so much trial and failure.

As far as graphics go, there's nothing bad. It's all fair here; with bright primary colors, varied landscapes, and standard, well known designs for all of our characters.

The same can be said for music, although there are quite a lot of charming remixes of well-known Nintendo songs like the Donkey Kong Arcade theme song, the Donkey Kong Country theme song, and the Mario 64 bonus round song, just to name a few.

There's definitely a lot of puzzles to confound you, and even if they don't, there's always the game's Construction Zone, which allows you to build your own Mini-Land puzzle and upload it to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection where other people have posted their own levels, making for tons of replayability and making for a game with some great staying power.

While a Lemmings style game with a Mario motif might be considered cheap and not worth a time by some people, considering Lemmings is free to play on the internet, and can be bought on just about every system under the sun this is still fun to play and as previously stated, has a lot of great puzzles.

Though in all honesty I really wonder what compels Mario to send the Mini's out into each attraction when he can easily jump around and deal with Donkey Kong just fine. What's more, if Donkey just wants a Pauline figure so bad, why doesn't he just take one from one of the levels? They're everywhere after Stage 5.

My 7 year old grandson specifically asked for this game for Christmas. He got many other toys but once he opened the game, he began playing it immediately while all his other toys went un-noticed. He continued to play the game all weekend every chance he got. The review from my grandson? - Great, Grandma!

The second it came through the door they were fighting over who got to play it first. They finally settled down and have been playing it about an hour now. It is a great game for children starting at the age of about 5 and into adults.

Great Nintendo game with enough challenge to make the game interesting. Can't beat the prices on Ebay.

I do childcare and the older kids love this game. It is definitely a favorite with both the girls and boys. The great thing about DS games is that they can share and play together with just the one game.