BlooMoon's review of Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move.

Dylan's Games Finished 2025 4. Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (3DS) Play Time: 4 hours Start Date: Late 2023 Finish Date: 2/3/2025 For some reason when the Nintendo 3DS eshop was closing, I decided to download all the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games I didn’t already have and have now become a connoisseur of this weird touch-controlled mobile-game-ass puzzle series. This game is actually one of the more unique entries in the series, as the gameplay has shifted to a 3D diorama with panels. Unfortunately this 3D effect is pretty unimportant, as most of your attention will be focused on the bottom screen where you are actually playing the game, and the display on the top screen is mostly superfluous. In this game you get tile sets given to you on the side that you have to place onto the map to guide the toy to the ending, grabbing collectibles along the way. Once you tap the screen to start, pieces start spawning and the mini starts moving. So far, the title is accurate. The dim screen before you start doesn’t give you a lot of time to soak in the level layout and what you’re supposed to do, which leads to a lot of on the fly placement. Later levels take 2 or 3 tries to figure out what you’re supposed to do. Between the mini walking off the edge or into hazards, the level time limit, or the endlessly spawning tiles topping out at 5 requiring you to constantly place them even if they aren’t what you want, there’s a lot of failure states and a lot to juggle. Difficulty ramps up steadily. The first batch of levels feels almost scripted, right down to the pieces you receive. I was happy to see this feeling went away as the levels became more complex, it wasn’t always clear where to put the next piece, and the pieces you received felt truly randomized. Overall I enjoyed the change of pace in gameplay style for this entry and was satisfied with the levels in the main mode. There are additional modes unlocked and minigames but I didn’t really dabble with them. It was nice going back to this series. With how consistent entries used to be, I have actually felt its absence in the Switch era, even though I think most fans were growing tired of the constant releases in the DS and 3DS generations. Pretty good value for an eShop title, not sure why but the DS and 3DS eshops lend themselves really well to smaller puzzle titles. I should play Picross 3D Next. Anyway, this review doesn’t matter because the eShop is closed and daddy Nintendo doesn’t let you purchase this game anymore. As an aside, did you know it’s actually incredibly easy to mod your 3DS?