Well, I've been waiting for this game for what feels like AGES. Me and my friend anxiously awaited updates and talked about this game for actual years, ever since we first saw the reveal. And somehow, through all that hype, this exceeded my expectations.
I knew that, at the very least, the game would be artistically stunning, and boy was I right. If ever you hear someone doubting video games as an art form, this completely undoes that argument. Truly sensational art direction here. And that art is accompanied by an awesome score.
The story here is gonna lose some people, 100%. The comparisons to a Wes Anderson film are very much valid, and whether that's good or bad will depend on your taste as an individual. For me, it really worked, because it's not something I encounter in video games very often at all. And while the gameplay is far from exciting, it moves along the plot fine enough. It definitely feels like an interactive movie more than anything, which is something I've always loved.
The characters are also super well voice acted and interesting. There were several plot threads that I found intriguing and worth being invested in, and a lot of that is thanks to the characters and the job the actors did portraying them. Harold himself is such an endearing guy and it resulted in so many great moments, both funny and a little more serious.
Overall, this game was beautiful, unique, weird (in the best way) and captivating. I can't believe this game finally came out and I played it. It's been great following along over the years and the end result was more than worth the wait

After playing the first level or two of Mario vs. Donkey Kong -- a modern remake of the GBA classic -- I thought there'd be no chance I'd make it all the way through. I'd just finished playing Mario Wonder, and there is a STARK difference in the controls, and especially the movement, between the two. It was pretty jarring at first. But, once I started to get the hang of the timing, the jump distance, and what I was really supposed to do, I was hooked.

I ended up not only getting gold stars ("Perfect" rank) on all 8 of the original worlds, but after rolling credits, I got gold stars on all of the Plus levels AND the Expert levels, too (though, admittedly, I bumped the difficulty down for the Expert levels bc I was kinda ready to move on to something else).

In short, this game does a lot right: the bite-sized levels on Classic difficulty come with a nice balance of push-and-pull as you make your way through each world; the world/enemy variety is nice and no gimmick seems to wear out its welcome too quickly; the boss fights were OK given you're just fighting DK over and over, but they do spice it up a little at times as they become more challenging (if you're going for the "Perfect" rank). And, most importantly, it was just a flat-out fun time for 95% of my 15 hours with it.

Sure, there were moments where I wanted to pull my hair out because the platforming wasn't always precise, and the story (like most Mario games) was pretty lacking -- I still have no idea why DK's so obsessed with these little Mini Mario toys and why he needs to steal an entire factory's worth??? -- but, overall, I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would and would absolutely consider this an under-the-radar drop from Nintendo this year.