History YMMV / MarioVsDonkeyKong

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: The series received significantly less backlash compared to most examples (such as the ''New Super Mario Bros.'' series) mostly because this series was vastly ignored at best after the fourth game. Games after ''March of the Minis'' (other than ''Minis on the Move'', which tried to be innovative) [[MissionPackSequel were mostly the same]] with only minor changes to the gameplay or slapping a new mini character, even reusing the VideoGameSettings and plenty of musical tracks/leitmotifs outright.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: While the Switch remake of the first game was fairly well received overall, it made a handful of divisive --or outright disliked-- changes from the original Game Boy Advance version, leading a significant number of fans to feel the remake lost some of its charm. Some fans have also felt baffled by these, considering the remakes of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' and ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' have managed to stay a lore more faithful to their original games.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: While the Switch remake of the first game was fairly well received overall, it made a handful of divisive --or outright disliked-- changes from the original Game Boy Advance version, leading a significant number of fans to feel the remake lost some of its charm. Some fans have also felt baffled by these, considering the remakes of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' and ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' have managed to stay faithful to their original games.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: While the Switch remake of the first game was fairly well received overall, it made a handful of divisive --or outright disliked-- changes from the original Game Boy Advance version, leading a significant number of fans to feel the remake lost some of its charm.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: More "Video Game Trolling Potential", but putting the DS into Sleep Mode will trigger one of Mario's one-liners calling out the player. Waking the system up will make Mario happy that the player is back, but nothing is stopping the player from closing it again to mess with him. Feel free to open and close your DS over and over, and listen as Mario helplessly [[SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer urges the player to get back and play the game.]]

** In level 5-3, you must grab a key at the start of the level, take the first conveyor belt with it, switch directions before going on the second, throw the key on the third and ''immediately'' switch directions, take back the first conveyor belt, switch directions ''again'' and press the red switch, take this conveyor belt '''once again''' and hurry to get to the key before the time limit. This one is particularly difficult for newcomers who can be stressed by the conveyor belts' switch system (discovered only two levels earlier) which has to be exploited in an advanced way, the color switch system which can be forgotten because of it, and '''''especially''''' the key's time limit.
** In level 6-3, you must use a blue switch to make red barriers disappear so you can synchronize Robokikkis, then use the red switch to take the key which would be stuck under blue blocks. This one is particularly hard if you're looking for a high score.

** On more minor notes, fans even looked to how the animations felt less dramatic and/or felt stiff even when not compared to the original such as Donkey Kong not reacting much to things being thrown at him or how Mario and company come across as [[LighterAndSofter considerably nicer to Donkey Kong]] ([[AdaptationalJerkass which consequently makes Donkey Kong himself come across as meaner for no reason without the added meanness thrown in]]).

* BrokenBase: While the ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'' remake's soundtrack is generally considered to be superior to the original due to the faithfully recreated jazzy versions of the original Game Boy Advance version's OST, Fire Mountain and Twilight City had their tracks completely overhauled. Some fans enjoy the more atmospheric take on these tracks, while others felt that the new tracks did not fit the atmosphere or focused on being too "clean" respectively. It's worth noting that Fire Mountain and Twilight City had four tracks in the original as opposed to three, which might be why these worlds had their tracks replaced for the remake.

** The series in general has some pretty awesome tunes, but one of the composer's favorites seems to be the first ghost house theme in the first game, which seems to have ended up being the series' standard ghost house music (''March of the Minis'' in particular has multiple variations on that particular track instead of having more than one unique track like the original). The versions from ''March of the Minis'' return in ''Minis March Again!'' and are joined by a sped-up version of the standard version, with these being used for [[NewGamePlus Plus Mode]]'s version of Magnet Mania in that game.

** Speaking of the remake, the OST is considered to be vastly superior due to the faithfully recreated jazzy versions of the original Game Boy Advance version's ost, and even has an awesome techno remix of the first battle used for the fake final boss.

** Speaking of the remake, the ost is considered to be vastly superior due to the faithfully recreated jazzy versions of the original Game Boy Advance version's ost, and even has an awesome techno remix of the first battle used for the fake final boss.

** Speaking of the remake, the ost is considered to be vastly superior due to the faithfully recreated versions of the original Game Boy Advance version's ost, and even has an awesome techno remix of the first battle used for the fake final boss.

*** The removal of Mario's classic voice acting is all the more disappointing when one considers how this is the first game to feature TheOriginalDarrin Charles Martinet after he announced his retirement, the original GBA voice acting had what many fans considered the voice actor at his finest (especially in the [[https://youtu.be/fzaaesTSG0Q?t=501 true ending/credits]]) and its reappearance as uncompressed audio in the remake would have been a nice tribute/send-off to the actor in the video games.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The Switch remake of the first game has made a handful of divisive changes from the original Game Boy Advance version, leading to some people accusing the remake losing some of its charm.

** [[https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1751334271384474083 The removal of the original bonus minigames]] in favor of a bonus platformer level also has left fans split. Some like it for the gameplay being incorporated into it, others preferred the simple yet quirky nature of the original minigames, and dislike the new one for how it's no longer connected to the gift boxes collected in levels and feel like they could have coexisted with the new minigame.

** The end screens for clearing a world being changed to a YeahShot of Mario on a simple background themed to the world are also seen as another unfavorable change by some. This not only meant the action shots of Mario fighting DK not being remade, but also more instances of Mario's other dialogue being stuck as compressed versions on the GBA version as mentioned above.

** When the Switch remake's versions of the first two cutscenes were first shared by Nintendo on January 16th, 2024, several fans took issue with how Mario's talkative dialogue had been axed when he sees Donkey Kong making off with the Mini Marios from the factory (and the only remnant of his original dialogue in that scene being his yell of "Hey!" from "Hey! Come back here!"). [[TaintedByThePreview This wasn't well received by fans]], as many fans found Mario's dialogue in the game as a big part of their enjoyment of it. As a result of this, this has led to concerns about similar changes plaguing Mario in particular[[note]](as the commercial voices and a Toad's now-memetic voice line were shown to have been retained)[[/note]], with the biggest being that uncompressed versions of lines such as Mario's [[DeterioratesIntoGibberish Italian gibberish]] and "Come back here, you big monkey!" not seeing the light of day. These concerns weren't helped by [[https://twitter.com/NintendoUK/status/1748374759916650555 another preview of the game showing the world intros]], which seems to have all of Mario's different voice clips for each world replaced with "Stop! Come back!"[[note]](This is because that prior to the clip's release, [[https://twitter.com/adifying/status/1747317887767924796 the game's website showed this same animation for Mario, but muted]], which likely means it's the same animation for all worlds)[[/note]]. The final release confirmed this was the case, as Mario only says "Stop! Come back!" before starting each world, with the exception of the first Plus World, where he says "Mama mia... here we go again!" Related to that, Grant Kirkhope's voice lines not being reused whatsoever left a rather bitter taste in other fans' mouths who are not endeared by Takashi Nagasako's performance even if it was to be expected.

** The release of the demo and [[https://youtu.be/p_RypCfeXp4?si=1x14a0EYfuV-chVh&t=123 overview trailer]] show that at least two of the death animations have been changed, now looking more akin to the traditional death animations from the main games instead of the {{Slapstick}} from [[TheManyDeathsOfYou the many different ways Mario could die.]] While the standard animation for getting hit by an enemy or falling into spikes was less contentious since Mario only fell over from these, people especially began to take issue with how [[https://twitter.com/Akfamilyhome/status/1752868814067572761 the fire death]] was changed to a RumpRoast as if he fell in lava (and possibly implying the other animations have met the same fate). Not helping this is that the fire sound effect in incredibly quiet to go with the animation, drowned out by Mario's voice clip and the death jingle. It's likely these were [[{{Bowdlerise}} changed because Nintendo thinks the old animations are too violent now]], but fans lament the apparent loss of a key comedic element from the game.[[note]]However, it was discovered [[https://twitter.com/Fawfulthgreat64/status/1753192461701087611 that death animations resembling the original ones]] were DummiedOut in the demo files, further suggesting the new ones were a result of ExecutiveMeddling at the very least. Either that or the animations were from an old build, since this is a demo released two weeks before the game's official release date, and some of these animations were seen in the files.[[/note]] With [[https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1754580765235364311 an ad for the game]] after the demo's release showing that Mario still can get SquashedFlat while every other death animation was the typical death throes, this led to a number of fans convinced thinking the other death animations were deemed too violent and not cartoony enough, hence them getting scrubbed out.

** When the full game came out, and fans took to the music, a fair number of them expressed disappointment in that the new soundtrack largely was all over the place and either didn't fit or undercut much of the game's pace and/or moments, largely through the live instrumentation or more cartoony sounds to sound "cleaner" and less "gritty". Special mention goes to Fire Mountain and Twilight City which had their original tracks completely replaced with tracks that a number of fans felt did not fit the atmosphere or focused on being too "clean" respectively, and the Real Final Battle's track felt too action pumping for a considerably slower and less tense final battle.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The Switch remake of the first game has made a handful of divisive changes from the original Game Boy Advance version, leading to some people accusing the remake losing some of its charm in favor of being "cleaner" for a younger audience almost as if Nintendo saw the original game as not easy enough or not child friendly enough.