Players control Mario through small sets of challenge to find a key and rescue Mini-Marios from Donkey Kong.

It spawned a franchise of the same name with the first sequel, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, was released on Nintendo DS in September 2006.

The third type is the boss level, where Mario must fight Donkey Kong in order to proceed to the next world.

Upon realizing that all the stolen toys are now gone, Donkey Kong kidnaps all of Mario's Toad workers and imprisons them on the tower of a big building.

Donkey Kong then promptly steals this set of toys as Mario pursues him once again to reclaim them.

Following another cat-and-mouse chase, Mario gets back all but six of the captured Mini-Marios, which Donkey Kong holds captive and guards with a large robot mech.

During the show, Plus had a feature that allowed players to design and save their own levels on the GameCube, then copy them to the Game Boy Advance using a link cable.

This offer was available in all territories, and only to those who became eligible in the Ambassador program (by accessing the Nintendo eShop before the date of the price-cut).

Casual removes the time limit, adds checkpoints to levels, and lets Mario take five hits before losing a life, while Classic is akin to the original game.

Two new worlds have been added: Merry Mini-Land, taking place in an amusement park, and Slippery Summit, an icy mountain.

[32] It received a runner-up position in GameSpot's 2004 "Best Puzzle/Rhythm Game" award category across all platforms, losing to Katamari Damacy.

While they said that it doesn't feel as good to play as other 2D Mario platformers, they acknowledged the need to make a moveset that can facilitate complex puzzles, and concluded that "it's a very well-made middle-ground".

[24] Digital Trends lamented the exclusion of the original's e-Reader levels, the majority of which were never made officially playable.