Mario vs. Donkey Kong – Riot in Miniland – User article

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With Mario vs. Donkey Kong – Riot in Miniland, NST stayed true to touchscreen puzzle games, this time back in physical stores.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 – March of the Mini Marios was no longer a platform game, but a pure puzzler, but they then stayed with this concept. The Return of the Mini Mariosa download-only title, had that lemmings-similar gameplay slightly revised, and Mini-Land Mayhem keep going right there. The episode, which was released again on Modul in 2010, is also under the Germanized title Riot in Miniland known.

The story hardly differs from that of the predecessors: Mario and Pauline open a new mini-land and give away mini-Paulines to the first 100 guests. Donkey Kong comes in first in the hundred, gets angry and once again grabs the real Pauline and runs off with her, leaving Mario to send the minis after him again.

Builder in mini-land

In every regular level there are at least two mini Marios that can start in different positions. You have to bring them to the goal gate in the side view – all of them, not just as many as possible. You operate the game with a stylus (you can still scroll with the control pad or buttons): tap the initially stationary mini Marios to let them start running; further commands are no longer possible, which makes the game less complicated, but we can only prevent them from running into thorns or other doom by manipulating the environment – in fairness we can plan as long as we like at the beginning of a level. This time it’s mostly girders, which we’ll rebuild off and on elsewhere – between given blocks of rivets, and we only have a limited supply mind you; they act as bridges, stairs and barriers and steer the little robots on the right path to the goal and also to small treasures. As the game progresses we’ll also do it in a similar way with conveyor belts, ladders and tubes and the like, and we’ll also encounter opposing robots that have to be overcome in different ways. An additional problem is that the minis have to reach the goal gate in quick succession. There’s also a time limit, but that doesn’t really matter, as the countdown doesn’t start until you actually activate a mini. Some levels are varied by having a mini carry a key and running in front, or having multiple types of minis each with their own doors.

When all Mini Marios have reached their destination, the level is won and the next one is unlocked. However, we will also be challenged to score as many points as possible to earn a trophy. On the one hand, our score is determined by the elapsed time, on the other hand, the minis should also collect items such as coins and cards for additional points. It often takes a few tries to get the best run. If someone despairs of a level, he can have an assistant play it for him at some point.

As always, hammers help against fireballs. In this case, however, the ladder will be a problem. If you then want to challenge other players yourself, you can also create your own levels.

Architect in Mini-Land

The game contains eight regular worlds, each with eight regular levels, followed by a fight against DK. There it is necessary to guide the Mini-Marios to switches or something – to do that without losing a Mini and thus the trophy to Donkey’s various chicanes is unfortunately partly a matter of luck. In these nine levels it is optional to collect one more card; when we have them all, another mini-game appears in which we have to transport as many minis as possible into the correct box. In addition, a second run with tightened conditions is also offered.

In addition, the editor has also been retained, with which we can create our own levels. During the course of the main game, you can unlock various “construction kits” based on the individual worlds. There’s room for 160 levels (own and received), far more than March of the Mini-Marios, and like the main game, your high score is recorded for each one. You can pass on the levels locally, originally up to 20 could also be put on the Internet (unlike comparable titles actually for the general public and not just for “friends”, and there were competitions) and download more from Nintendo itself. Unfortunately, the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection operated by Gamespy has now been switched off.

I guess I should also point out that the game has a restricted region lock that affects Nintendo DSI and 3DS devices – it’s only ineffective on original DS and DS Lite models.

My conclusion

Riot in Mini-Land retains the simplified rules of Return of Mini-Marios without significantly changing the largely fresh and successful gameplay of its immediate predecessors. If you liked them and want more of them without putting value on big new features, you can access them again here. Newcomers, on the other hand, need not be put off thanks to optional assistance. Additional playing time is gained with a second, more difficult passage, trophy challenges – which are error-intolerant and therefore have a slight potential for frustration – and the opportunity to create your own levels – which, however, since the Internet server no longer exists, are only passed on locally can become.

Unfortunately a bit of luck: get to the switches without being hit by the barrels. Optionally, we can then try to land the minis in the best boxes.