Hmmm Maui Mallard...
Yeah, in my book this game deserves to be on the same tier as Donkey Kong Country 2 and let me explain why.

At first glance and first trying out the game, it's very visually appealing and super amazing to look at. You get to play as Maui (basically Donald) and the animations are smooth, cartoony, and just looks great to look at. All enemies and bosses have all their animations done with the same care and are just as expressive (Like even on the same level as Ace Attorney character levels of exaggerated expression).

When first trying this game out, I had some really huge mixed feelings. Sure, it feels great and looks great, but the camera pans very fast and swings really suddenly and it made me feel motion sick (The other game that made me feel motion sick was Jet Set Radio). The other issue that I was mixed about was the combat as the hitboxes were quite awkward (particularly in Cold Shadow or ninja form). These are minor complaints but they don't take away from the experience of the game, it just takes time to get used to how this game plays.

After a few hours of playing, movement just 'clicked'. I had the feel of how the levels were designed and moving around just felt smooth (Hitboxes were still awkward at times though). I also noticed that there are sometimes multiple paths in levels and there are lots and lots of hidden secrets and hidden areas to find and discovering them is especially satisfying (which I would say means that this game is very replayable)

Something that I noticed that really awesome platformers have is that they change the formula up and explore new ideas from time to time to prevent the game from feeling the same. Maui Mallard is no exception to this, in fact, not only is the game short and sweet and can be finished in a few hours but no two levels of this game feel the same. Pretty much every level is very very different and is constantly turning the tables of how to play the game... and this gets tricky see?? because you'll be doing a regular platforming level and then the next couple levels later you have to bungee jump and do a side mission of transporting muddrakes to the other side of the level. Ideas like these are really creative and fresh in my opinion but a small complaint is that it can be tricky at first to adjust to what you have to do in a level because it's not always clear at first, but each level is very memorable.
(Oh yeah and you get to play as two characters in this game and switch between them at any time which feels great).

Lastly, the audio is just on point. The sound effects are just perfect at every point in the game, in my opinion and the soundtrack hits really really hard especially after Ninja Training Grounds (I played the SNES version). Honestly, if you're on the fence of playing the game or not, play the game for the soundtrack and let yourself be impressed with the journey on the way there as I did and you'll have a good time (after you adjust to the game first hahaha)

Something I want to mention is this frog boss in this game... (feel free to stop reading and see for yourself if you are planning on playing it)


Anyway, I've never seen a boss fight in any other game where you interact with the boss (you shoot it so it lashes its tongue out to capture muddrakes above). The idea is that muddrakes (regular enemies) are attacking you from above and they all have to be fed to the frog boss in order to win. The idea of interacting with the boss rather than fighting it just feels really original in this style and I've never seen it in any other videogame ever and it's just really awesome to me.