I don't remember struggling at all playing DK94
But in Mario Vs Donkey Kong I start struggling as early as world 5, and don't even get me started on the plus world.

Yes

>>12520046
OP here, just finished a playthrough just to see if it was as frustrating as I remember, it was.
That being said the last world was way easier than 4+ and 5+

>>12520046
DK94 is all about expressive platforming, just like SMW and 64. DK VS Mario, on the other hand, is much less expressive, and its difficulty comes from the puzzle design. I see a lot of this boxy design in later Mario games. I really don’t like how they trade expressiveness for this “intentional design” thing, which isn’t a feature of SMW and 64—those games are all about DIY platforming