What happened to Mario vs. Donkey Kong?

[Time Turner]

I will always be one of the first people to stand up for Nintendo when it comes to their innovation, but god, I don't think anybody could defend the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series. They recently announced the series' seventh installment, and I'm willing to bet that you didn't know there was more than two. For those who don't know, the first game was a spiritual successor to the arcade DK game, in the style of the GB game that also spiritually succeeded the arcade game. It featured these wind-up toys in the style of Mario which our favorite(?) plumber had to rescue on a regular basis. It was a bit clunky, but it had its heart in the right place. The second game dropped Mario entirely and made the focus around puzzling the wind-up Marios through levels. The third game did the exact same thing, and so did the fourth, and so did the fifth (though with a top-down perspective that severely limits the options), and so did the sixth, and it doesn't take a genius to see the seventh going down the same path. Some of them are smaller titles relegated to the eShops, but does officially licensed shovelware actually sound good? Even if there's some minute addition from one game to the other, the vast majority of its contents are copied wholesale with not even the smallest thought put into innovating at any point. From my point of view, this is a series that's clearly made because they figure someone will buy it, and nothing more.

 

[GBA]

are you talking about the newly announced Mario and Friends Amiibo Challenge

it's clear to see what nintendo thinks of mario vs. donkey kong as

edit:
for those who want more info:

このキャンペーンは、1月28日（木）以降、フィギュアタイプのamiiboをどれでも1つ購入すると、Wii U、およびニンテンドー3DSで遊べるソフト『ミニマリオ＆フレンズ amiiboチャレンジ』のダウンロード番号が書かれたチケットをお店でプレゼントするというものです。

This campaign is a promotion where, from Jan 28, if you purchase any figure-type amiibo, you'll be presented with a ticket that has a code for the 3DS and Wii U game Mario and Friends amiibo Challenge

also has rosalina, bowser, diddy kong, yoshi, and bowser jr as new characters
and scanning any other amiibo aside from the ones listed here will just give you a regular robot toy so no toy-Link et. al
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wiiu/ap5j/chara/index.html

Spoiler

 

[Time Turner]

Yeah, but every series has been getting on that train recently. Mario, Smash Bros, Animal Crossing, Yoshi... MVDK has been going on for nearly a decade, so that's a decade where everyone at a meeting was perfectly fine with shitposting the same game.

 

[GBA]

i mean counting the recently announced one above, the past three games have been eShop exclusive, so to me it seems as if nintendo considers the series to be one of smaller eShop successes and that's probably why they're inclined not to change anything

like what else can they do to change that rich and deep MvDK formula aside from adding new characters
which is clearly what they're doing here while also trying to capitalise on amiibo popularity

 

[Ray Trace]

I'm pretty sure these games are the result of that American company getting the short end of the stick.

Remember when they made games like 1080, Wave Race, and others?

 

[GBA]

I'm pretty sure these games are the result of that American company getting the short end of the stick.

Remember when they made games like 1080, Wave Race, and others?

funny because they just added those two games to the eshop over here

but yeah if the series really does require minimal effort to produce and generates lot$ of $$$ (especially this one b/c forced amiibo paywall) then i can easily see nintendo using those devs just to produce more sequels for more cash.

 

[GBA]

never let me edit the wiki again

 

[Glowsquid]

NST got ravaged by the troubled development of Project Hammer and is now focused on tech tools and low-effort digital releases.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

like what else can they do to change that rich and deep MvDK formula aside from adding new characters
which is clearly what they're doing here while also trying to capitalise on amiibo popularity

In the meantime I just want it be like the first game, or god forbid, Donkey Kong for Game Boy again...

 

[Mcmadness]

They probably can't think of much to do with the old Mario vs DK gameplay. It was one of those things they pretty much nailed perfectly.

 

[Glitchy Bowser Jr.]

I played Mini-Land Mayhem and the original and that's about it. I don't think I'm missing out on too much if the rest of the series is same-ish. I did love the original though, it's a lot of fun. They should've kept on going with that concept.

 

[NSY]

Mario vs Donkey Kong 2 and Mini Land Mayham were both great underrated games. The series is pretty much lame shovelware now and should really die. Minis March Again was pretty stupid and after Mini Land Mayham the series turned into cash ins. Plot is the same every single time, gameplay has little differences and all are lacklustre. I've not played past the 4th game and I don't intend you because I have much better games to play.

One thing I will say is that it's level editor did help inspire Super Mario Maker which went on to be really popular.

 

[yoshiking14x]

I actually miss the original concept as it actually deserved the Mario Vs. Donkey Kong title. Then again since I don't posses all of them this is just me. The puzzle concept is good but I am looking for a plumber vs gorilla game.