The Nintendo booth bustled with throngs of Nintendo-goers who flocked around the newly unveiled Nintendo exclusives that were revealed at the Nintendo press conference earlier in the show, but I got a chance to play through a more humble title, Mario vs Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem for the Nintendo DS. Those familiar with the title should find themselves at home with two of Shigeru Miyamoto’s most widely recognized Nintendo icons.

The player is tasked with guiding slow-moving Marios safely through hazards by filling spikey voids with connecting rivets and girders. These girders can be connected horizontally to bridge gaps, vertically to re-direct the automated Marios, or diagonally to move Mario upwards. There is a finite number of girders that can actually be present at any time. So, in order to mix and match other girder-building possibilities, the player must first dismantle any existing, redundant girders. This lends a certain degree of trial-and-error on your part while trying to get Mario through the level.

When battling Donkey Kong, you must utilize speed, precision, and some ingenuity to best the oversized gorilla, who usually sits high above the level, away from Mario’s starting point.  The overriding aim is to guide multiple Marios to the multiple blue switches surrounding Donkey Kong through the construction and dismantling of the aforementioned girders. It felt similar to playing Lemmings, organizing a parade of like characters through obstacles in a level. The temperamental gorilla attempts to foil your progression by dropping barrels at random spots, so if your Mario happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, you’re forced to start over. At the time, this point was rather annoying, as failure seemed to hinge on this randomized event.

My only other gripe was that Mario shuffled far too slowly with no immediately apparent way to speed him up. I just wish there had been a fast-forward feature of some sort.

While the game does emphasize the rivalry between the titular Mario and Donkey Kong, there are also other types of challenges, such as sending characters like Mario or Toad to their respective doors and also sliding free-falling characters into the boxes that give you points. Movement on Mario’s part is completely automated, which means the player must actually plan in advance when and where to direct Mario, or learn from mistakes.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong MIniland Mayhem should be a fun title to keep an eye out for. It definitely kept my attention for more than 15 minute, even in the presence of the awesome Golden Eye Wii playing in the background. That’s saying something.

Mario vs Donkey Kong Miniland Mayhem is expected to launch on December 1, 2010.