Can't get any better than Mario in a cowboy hat
Once we had played all the boards, some more than once, I decided to slot in the original Mario Party so we could experience additional boards and the original mini-games. Needless to say, we quit our first board and only reluctantly played a second one. While I remember having a fun time playing it when it first came out, it was now nearly unplayable. The boards were very short and luck-based while earning and holding onto coins was incredibly difficult. It simply wasn't fun anymore. (However, I will say that the boards were pretty inspired. I did like the unique event theme for each board)
We decided to return to Mario Party 2, but even then we were still eager for more. I decided to try to buy a copy of Mario Party 3 since it's the last title in the franchise for the N64 and as such the only one I had always wanted to try. After several failed auctions I finally got a copy and eagerly slotted it in for a game.
And, sadly, we didn't really have that much fun. The mini-games had become more complicated and the addition of 70 new ones, while at first an exciting prospect, made us play a new mini-game every turn. Sometimes you just want to play something familiar, but now we weren't given a chance to develop any favorites. Perhaps adding to the complication was the addition of over 10 new items and the ability to carry three at a time. Having one or the other could have been good, but implementing both removed a lot of the strategy and foresight once necessary to gameplay.
The maps themselves are confusing to follow as they're so cluttered with spaces and background visuals. They're also over-saturated with Tournament and Bowser spaces, which led to at least one Tournament a turn as well as one, if not more, players visiting Bowser. Because of this, it was once again difficult to hold onto coins. We're constantly losing them in Tournaments.
This also made gameplay much longer. While a 20-turn game in Mario party 2 generally ran for about an hour and a half, a similar round in Mario Party 3 would run for as long as two and a half hours. I couldn't imagine attempting a 35 or even 50-turn round.
Plus hours of needless additions to a supposedly casual franchise!
Another thing I was really disappointed with were the new visuals. Mario Party 2 was very streamlined and simplistic, yet still managed to tap into our individual sensibilities with themed boards. We each had favorites. With Mario Party 3 it's almost as if they wanted to push the final 64-bit Mario Party game by making everything have a fancy animation. This just makes cut-scenes and load times before mini-games much longer to the point that I'm often not even sure if the game is actually starting. On a related note, every character now says "I'm the best!" in a terrible Martinet voice. My girlfriend and I both really enjoyed that each character had a specific "catch phrase" in Mario Party 2.
Additionally, the "story" (as much as there is one) is split into a "Story Mode" while "Party Mode" (now known as "Battle Royale Mode") has no real point. The boards no longer have themed-costumes, meaning that overall end "goal" (defeating Bowser) is absent. He's there simply for the sake of being there.
Now, what do you all think about the Mario Party franchise, and these three in particular? Am I just being overly nostalgic or does Mario Party 3 really seem too stuffed full of new mechanics and visuals to really be fun on a casual level? Additionally, are any of the later titles worth playing? I'm sure they'll only get more complicated as the series goes on, but I may be willing to try any of the titles available for the Gamecube, though I have reservations of playing Mario Party 5 and further due to the removal of Donkey Kong as a playable character.
Game Guy was also a cool addition in 3, but Mario Party 2 is the best one overall!
