Mini-Land

The Mario vs. Donkey Kong series has never been one of the most popular franchises in the series, but it has seen a sizable life and presence throughout the years, each entry featuring the Mini-Mario’s working their way through a number of mazes to get to Donkey Kong at the end.

This stage will mirror the spirit of those stage, being a bit of a complicated level, with a number of extendable ramps, moving lifts, and springs among other common features found throughout the series.

Potential theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLEokhCpUuQ

Mini Donkey Kong

Though it didn’t make too much of a mark, Mario vs. Donkey Kong saw a sequel in 2006’s March of the Minis. This time, Mario and Donkey Kong’s feud would once again be ignited by the return of Pauline. Donkey Kong would watch as Mario presented Pauline with a Mini Mario as a gift, leading the jealous ape to present his own miniature version of himself in competition.

These were the Mini Donkey Kongs, wind-up toys designed to look like the big ape that acted as the core enemies of the Mini Marios as they set out to rescue Pauline. They had many different varieties, including some that threw you up to another level, some that would stuff you in bags on their backs, and some that would charge straight forward when they saw you.

As fighters, they will be light and speedy, being toys, but significantly heavier and slower than their Mini Mario counterparts. Their movesets would pull from all the different Mini Donkey Kong variations, almost being an amalgamation of them all.

Likelihood rating: Probably not

Mini Marios

As more and more spinoff titles received new entries, there was always room for more spinoffs. For the Game Boy Advance came a brand-new title that reawakened the old rivalry between Mario and Donkey Kong. Mario has opened up a brand-new toy store, selling tiny wind-up mini-figures of himself. The moment Donkey Kong sees them, he wants them all, grabbing them and taking off into the factory, forcing Mario to follow.

These figures are the Mini Marios. Although in the first game of the series, they were mere damsels-in-distress, if you will, later games would give them the starring role, Mario sending them in his place to get through areas he is too big to pass through.

As fighters, you will control a line of five, with a leader and four followers. They will be light and quick, and their movesets will pull from all over the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, utilizing every figure in the party to pull off strong combo maneuvers.

Likelihood rating: Could happen

Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis

MARIO VS. DONKEY KONG 2: MARCH OF THE MINIS

Today, let's cover the sequel to Mario vs. Donkey Kong and the first to feature the Minis as the main playable characters rather than Mario. The story follows Mario and Pauline opening a brand new amusement park based around the Minis, which Donkey Kong crashes, attempting to win Pauline's love and then kidnapping her when he's rejected. Mario then is unable to go after her, so he sends in a squad of Minis to do it for him.

In the game, the Mini Marios mostly walk along on their own, relying on you to use the touch screen to change things about their environment or to stop them or change their direction. Among the moves they can use, they can spring, use a hammer, shoot themselves from cannons, throw fireballs, swing on bars, wall jump, drop bombs, and use a bubble shield. Mario, I guess, is mostly taking your place as the stylus user, while Pauline is our standard damsel in distress, alongside a few Mini Peaches and Mini Toads.

Donkey Kong is the main villain, who fights you at the end of each level, dropping bananas, climbing vines, and throwing barrels at you across the various fights. He also has a number of Mini Donkey Kongs at his disposal, which all perform various actions of their own. These include Capture Kongs with big old bags that they toss your minis inside of, Circus Kongs who will toss you high into the air, Cool Kongs with large ties you can hang onto, Crash Kongs who will try to ram into you, and Kongas who are basically Thwomps/lifts for you.

Outside of these, we have returning enemies like Piranha Plants, Shy Guys, Bloopers, Bob-Ombs, Thwomps, Sparkies, Swoops, Snapjaws, and Snifits, alongside new enemies, the Cuttacuttas, which are basically just mechanical crabs.

As for our stages, each take place on a different floor. The ground floor is Mushroom Mayhem, a standard Mushroom Kingdom world; Tropical Turmoil, a beach world; Pipe Works, which makes good use of warp pipes; Magnet Mania, which makes good use of magnets; Lava Land, a volcanic area; Peach's Castle, I think you can imagine; Spooky Attic, a haunted area; and Jungle Hijinks, a Donkey Kong jungle world. Donkey Kong also has a hideout in the basement with bonus levels.

Items are about the same, but we do add in things like fire flowers.

That's about it! Let's see what we've got:

Characters:

Mario: jump, handstand, hammer, climb, swing on bar, pick up and throw, springs

Donkey Kong: bag, rocks, barrels, chains, buttons, giant mech, bananas, vines

Mini Marios: spring, hammer, cannon, fireballs, swing on bar, wall jump, bombs, bubble shield

Mini Donkey Kongs: toss, bag, ram, giant tie, lift

Shy Guy

Piranha Plant

Ninji

Thwomp

Boo

Bob-Omb

Blooper

Snifit

Stages:

Mario Toy Company

Donkey Kong Jungle

Fire Mountain

Spooky House

Mystic Forest

Twilight City

Mushroom Mayhem

Tropical Turmoil

Pipe Works

Magnet Mania

Lava Land

Peach's Castle

Spooky Attic

Jungle Hijinks

DK's Hideout

Items:

Hammers

Springs

Keys

Fire Flowers

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover Minis March Again!