Mario vs Donkey Kong demo goes live as classic remake hits the Switch

When two of Nintendo’s (and gaming in general) cultural icons smash together the result is going to be monumental and a demo for the Nintendo Switch remake of the 2004 puzzle platform game has just gone live on the eShop bringing two of them into the same arena.

The original Mario vs Donkey Kong was released in 2004 and was billed as the spiritual successor to Donkey Kong and saw Mario needing to find keys to open up a locked box and rescue lots of mini-Marios.

Now, some 20 years later the game is back for a whole new generation of gamers and you can give it a try for yourself in the short demo you can download now.

The demo lets you play through four levels from the first world in the game and you can pick either Classic or Casual mode with the latter getting rid of the timer for some stress-free gaming fun. You also get checkpoints along the way so you do not lose as much progress should you fail miserably. Basically, it is the ideal mode to introduce younger gamers to the joys of Mario and Donkey Kong and is a smart move considering a lot of Switch players are kids.

The full game will be released on 16th February just over a month before a further Mario spin-off title, Princess Peach: Showtime comes out towards the end of March.

You can cast your eyes over a new trailer for Mario vs Donkey Kong that has also been released today to help make your mind up whether you want to try things out for yourself. As you can see it looks like a lot of fun for Mario fans and rescuing your mini-Marios could well become very important to you in the coming weeks if you get obsessed with it!

Paul McNally

Gaming Editor

Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title published by IDG Media.

Having spent time as Head of Communications at a professional sports club and working for high-profile charities such as the National Literacy Trust, he returned as Managing Editor in charge of large US-based technology websites in 2020.

Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the The Mirror. He has also hosted panels at retro-gaming conventions and can regularly be found guesting on gaming podcasts and Twitch shows. He is obsessed with 3D printing and has worked with several major brands in the past to create content

Believing that the reader deserves actually to enjoy what they are reading is a big part of Paul’s ethos when it comes to gaming journalism, elevating the sites he works on above the norm. Reach out on X.