In the recent Nintendo Direct Nintendo announced some pretty cool additions coming the the Switch catalog in the next few months.

But one stood out to me more than the others I was a big fan of the GameBoy game Donkey Kong.

I had been known to enjoy a game or two of the original arcade Donkey Kong back in the day. Obviously I was not even in the same universe as those giants depicted in the documentary King of Kong when it came to playing the game.

Heck a lot of the time my access to a wide variety of arcade machines of any kind was when the fair came to town or a visit to the coast. Such was life in a fenland market town in the late seventies and early eighties.

So you can imagine my surprise and delight when playing Donkey Kong on the GameBoy when instead of repeating the same four levels once the fourth and “final” level had been completed defeating Donkey Kong and rescuing Pauline. There was a new level to complete.

The original Donkey Kong had been turned into a platform puzzler!

The game offered 97 additional levels to the original 4.

How far did I get back in the day when I was playing it? I didn’t complete it for sure but I got pretty far.

Now for some reason I missed the actual Mario vs Donkey Kong and its sequels that were released on the GBA and DS. I think it was parenting/married life at the time distracting me, and maybe a Pokemon addiction.

So to get a second chance to play Mario vs Donkey Kong on the Switch next year is quite exciting.

As far as I can tell looking into the game that my assumptions that this is a more colourful (ie not black and white) version of Donkey Kong with some new game mechanics might be correct.

The game introduced the Mario minis a kind of Lemmings influence on some levels. Which in the sequels became the focus of the game.

Nintendo and the developers they have entrusted with doing the remasters have been a fantastic job. I wish some others would take a leaf out of their book. And this is why I’m excited for this release. Nintendo have earned my trust and I know this release will be faithful to the original.

Other titles announced that I’m excited about, the original first three Tomb-raider games, Paper Mario remastered, Contra: Operation Galuga, and Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. And I’m sure I’ll talk more about them in the future. Some I’m aware of and have never played!