Mario vs Donkey Kong is the sequel (pretty much) to the original Game Boy game Donkey Kong, which in itself was a sort of huge expansion for the even older Donkey Kong arcade game. The GB game was actually the first non-Japanese game to take advantage of the SNES Super Game Boy add-on too. And it was ACES. Mario vs Donkey Kong is also ACES. Basically, you have to travel through puzzley-platformey levels, finding keys to open doors and rescuing …
Well, I made a start on Classic Mode, and completed the first two levels. And, oh dear. They’ve removed all the “non-generic” goals from this mode. What you’re left with, is high/pro/sick scores (easy), pro/sick combo scores (easy), find the hidden tape (easy), SKATE (easy) and COMBO (usually easy). Nothing else. What a waste of an opportunity.
I’ve been playing this a fair bit today, and would you believe it – I was only about ten goals away from completing it when my game was wiped! Argh! Anyway. I unlocked everywhere again, and had to do “five old-school lines”, which I’d previously found three of accidently. Basically, there are pairs of “stickers” on each of the five levels, which denote the start and end of the lines. I was stuck with the one in the School for …
After an hour’s play, I’m about two-thirds of the way back up to the point where disaster struck. I’ve found it much easier this time through, as I didn’t bother with the not-possible-yet goals, and finding items and people was made more simple by virtue of the fact I knew where they were anyway. Bizarrely, I’ve stumbled across about five goals I’d missed the first time through as well. Oh yes, and most importantly, I’m now playing as a girl …
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I just came to play it again, while it was charging, and it has wiped my saved game! Argh! That means I need to start again! Rubbish. At least I know where things are this time round, so it shouldn’t take half the time to get to the point I was at, but still. I’m crying now.
I’ve now unlocked Vans and San Francisco, and have completed loads more goals. Some have been a bit irritating (“Oh no! I’ve lost all my tools and nuts and screws and nails and stuff! Find them for me across these four areas!!!11” in particular), and some have been too hard requiring me to up my stats before trying again (such as the liptrick-the-big-blue-thing). I’m a bit stuck in San Francisco now, as I have to do some kind of special …
Where the hell is Joan? I have almost 300,000 bells burning a hole in both pockets, some bags and my house and she’s nowhere to be seen. Gah. Sold some more fruit that had grown overnight, and dug up three fossils. Bashed the Rock o’ Money too, and talked with the animals (and walked with the animals) for a bit. Found out Caroline the Squirrel won the “Bright Nights” house competition. Tortimer told me to tell her the news, but …
Blimey. I have a lot of fruit. Well actually, I don’t any more as I collected almost all of it up to sell (making almost 65,000 bells) and buried the rest to grow more trees. Found a few fossils and gargloid thingies, and talked to a few animals. I have a new resident – Antonio the Anteater. At least, I assume he’s an anteater. Alice showed me a letter she’d got from Rev at some point. It basically said “Dear …
This is the last GBA Tony Hawk game I have left to play. In fact, it’s the only one left at all. Bah. Unlike the other Tony Hawk GBA games, this one’s levels (so far) bear little resemblance to the console versions. That isn’t really a bad thing – just a bit odd. In fact, it has at least two levels completely different so far – a school level (with bits similar to the College level in THPS2) and Los …
Well, Arcade (or “Classic” as it should really be called) was a bit of a let down. Not only did I manage to walk (or, er, skate) through it in about an hour, but it posed no challenge whatsoever. Worse, was the “selection” of goals – every level was almost the same. Basically, you have the High/Pro/Sick scores, Pro/Sick Combo scores, SKATE, COMBO, and Find the Hidden Tape. That’s fine. That’s what Tony Hawk games are for. However, you’d then …
Went back to Story Mode to see what (if anything) I’d missed. It seems there were three more challenges I’d not seen in Skatopia (including a very hard Tony Hawk Indy 900 one – why can’t you bump up the pro skater’s stats? That’s rubbish), so completed them. Not that it did anything. Still no game credits or “Game Over” or anything. Pah.
At least, I think so. I completed Australia, Suburbia, New Orleans and then made it onto Skatopia – the final level. Completed the usual “starter” goals, then the “tag team” irritating goals, and then moved on to the Pro goals (or, since I only had the one pro, the “Tony Hawk Goals”. After doing a few of them, I got a “text message” from Tony to say “Well done! We won the tour!” or something to that effect, and that …
Oh. I see. Basically, you have to do the tricks right in front of them to get “ped props”. And then I had to do it again with a pro skater. Tch. After that, and some Segway and shopping trolley “action”, it was Flame On for a 100,000 point on-fire combo, and a few other bits. Now it’s off to Australia!
Barcelona came and went without any problems. One annoying niggle with the game did become apparent though: some of the challenges have to be done twice – once by “you”, and then again by a “pro” chosen by you. This just seems like some cheap way of lengthening the game without offering variety. Luckily, there aren’t many challenges like this that you have to do. After Barcelona was Berlin, and I conpleted ten or so challenges there before becoming stuck. …
Just 66 bells today. I didn’t even have a lot of fruit to harvest and sell, and what little I did have I buried to grow more of my uber-orchard of fruity delights. I did find the Rock ‘o Money, and two fossils I already had, so made some bells there. Went and paid off some 80,000 bells of my current mortgage too, although I still have a long way to go…