A place for those who "Trust the Fungus"

I've recently been on a Mario Party fix as it was the one "Mario" game I could convince my girlfriend to play. For awhile, we were playing Mario party 2 nearly every night for a week, then every other day the following week. I had a lot of fun revisiting the game as well as introducing it to someone that's otherwise not a big gamer. She soon became addicted and would often request to play herself.

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.

I love the Mario Party series! Mostly the N64 ones..the later ones on the Gamecube and Wii just don't really satisfy or grip me like the N64 Mario parties did. My personal favorite is 2, but I think 3 had the best minigames, like the pizza or the vine one, those are my favorites Game Guy was also a cool addition in 3, but Mario Party 2 is the best one overall!

This is a great post, Redstar. Mario Party is one of those niche Mario franchises that largely gets overlooked.

Honestly, I'd probably play any of the MP games over the sports ones. Except Mario Tennis on the N64--that was awesome.

I've probably put the most overall playtime on the original Mario Party since it was the first one. I remember renting it and playing over at my friends' house when we were 12. Like, seriously. I also remember there was that awful minecart race (among others) where you had to spin the analog stick in circles or side to side like a madman and we all got blisters.

I'll probably agree with everyone here and say that MP2 is probably the best of the series. The more they went on, it's almost like it was just because they sold well and could add the latest peripheral or something to it.

However, I will recommend this little gem:



Mario Party-e. Now, it'll take a GBA e-reader and system to play, but once you get it all set up, it's really great. Why? Because it's a board game/card game/Mario Party hybrid. The MP "minigames" are played by scanning the cards in on the e-reader, and they're cleverly set up to where they can all be played on only one system. One of those things that's so fun because it's experimental and different.

Phlibbit wrote:Honestly, I'd probably play any of the MP games over the sports ones. Except Mario Tennis on the N64--that was awesome.

I honestly don't see the appeal of any sports game, really. The Mario sports games have brand recognition and likely some gimmick to them, but I'd never find a reason to play them. (Speaking of, Mario Party 3 had some sports-based mini-games. Guess they started ripping each other off)

Phlibbit wrote:I've probably put the most overall playtime on the original Mario Party since it was the first one. I remember renting it and playing over at my friends' house when we were 12. Like, seriously. I also remember there was that awful minecart race (among others) where you had to spin the analog stick in circles or side to side like a madman and we all got blisters.

Oh, yeah. I never really had much of a problem with the analog stick-based mini-games, though it would rough up your palm with enough gameplay. It's good that they removed that mechanic, though I would say that it made developing new minigames for Mario Party 2 and 3 a little more difficult. They managed well enough.

Phlibbit wrote:Mario Party-e. Now, it'll take a GBA e-reader and system to play, but once you get it all set up, it's really great. Why? Because it's a board game/card game/Mario Party hybrid. The MP "minigames" are played by scanning the cards in on the e-reader, and they're cleverly set up to where they can all be played on only one system. One of those things that's so fun because it's experimental and different.

Sounds fun. I'm curious to see how they integrated a card game into a virtual board game series.

On an unrelated note, I finally broke the 300-coin barrier in a single game tonight. Playing a 35-turn round rather than our usual 20 definitely helped, as well as never buying a star. I could have probably even passed the 400-coin barrier had I not lost 96 coins in the beginning of the round.

I've have 1 and 3, and I've played a little bit of 6. 3 is something that can make for fun multiplayer every once in a while. Mostly just the mini games though. The board game is alright, but they just go on for so long, and they're way too luck based that eventually it just becomes annoying. 1 is pretty much the same, though I find the mini-games in 3 to be more fun overall. 6 I barely played, and don't really remember that well, but from what I can remember it wasn't much different from the others.

CTM wrote:I've have 1 and 3, and I've played a little bit of 6. 3 is something that can make for fun multiplayer every once in a while. Mostly just the mini games though. The board game is alright, but they just go on for so long, and they're way too luck based that eventually it just becomes annoying. 1 is pretty much the same, though I find the mini-games in 3 to be more fun overall. 6 I barely played, and don't really remember that well, but from what I can remember it wasn't much different from the others.

I strongly recommend getting a copy of Mario Party 2 via the original cartridge or Virtual Console library. It's hands-down the best in the entire series.

Oh, is it on the VC now? Alright, then I'll definately have to get it one of these days.

The commercial reminds me of the Mario movie.

I stopped playing the "Mario Party" games after "Mario Party 2." I had "Mario Party 3" for awhile, but I traded it in as I hated it so much, particularly because of the inclusion of the 'character' of Waluigi-- I don't even consider Waluigi a real Mario character. I might have played "4" on the GameCube, but it was so long ago I don't really remember much.

Serum wrote:I stopped playing the "Mario Party" games after "Mario Party 2." I had "Mario Party 3" for awhile, but I traded it in as I hated it so much, particularly because of the inclusion of the 'character' of Waluigi-- I don't even consider Waluigi a real Mario character. I might have played "4" on the GameCube, but it was so long ago I don't really remember much.

Like I said above, I bought Mario Party 3 and played it a total of 1 1/2 rounds. I just could not get into it because they changes the mechanics and feel of the game from Mario Party 2 so much. If they had made these changes more gradually I might not have cared so much, but as it stands it really feels like they just knew 3 was going to be the last entry for the N64 (or for the series entirely) and they wanted to push everything they could change.

I don't mind Waluigi, but I do feel that they could have chosen someone better for the game.

MP 1 and 2 are defiantly my favorites. I started to dislike the series at 3 because like you said, of its over complication, not just the addition of Waluigi who I simply ignored. What I remember really being frustrated with was I think there was an item that allowed you to go backwards on the map or if another player used it everyone had to go in the opposite direction for a turn or three and it always happened as I was one space away from the star.

The latest of them all that I played since then was 4, I think they may have been trying to return to the original because as I remember unlike 3 it was far to simple. The maps where forgettable and felt like you where just walking in a circle or a square for 20 turns. I remember many years ago I think it may have been just after the 2nd one came out I believe that was around 98 or 99 (I payed the full 60 dollars for it back then)...and I think this is true not just something I made up over time of what I really saw that got obscured in my memory some how. But I remember an issue of Nintendo Power with a piece of fan art of Mario Party in the letters section, entitled "Mario Party 7: Rainbow Suicide Dreams" I think they're well past 7 now a days..

JayOfSuburbia wrote:But I remember an issue of Nintendo Power with a piece of fan art of Mario Party in the letters section, entitled "Mario Party 7: Rainbow Suicide Dreams" I think they're well past 7 now a days..

Yeah, they're up to eight or nine, but the "fan art" you're thinking of was from an issue of "Game Informer" parodying the release of Mario Party 6. It was entitled: "Mario Party 8: Rainbow Suicide Dreams."

JayOfSuburbia wrote:MP 1 and 2 are defiantly my favorites. I started to dislike the series at 3 because like you said, of its over complication, not just the addition of Waluigi who I simply ignored. What I remember really being frustrated with was I think there was an item that allowed you to go backwards on the map or if another player used it everyone had to go in the opposite direction for a turn or three and it always happened as I was one space away from the star.

Yeah, that's one of the items they introduced. Like I said, I wouldn't have minded new items that switched-up the gameplay, but being allowed to carry a total of three items at once just seems like a gamebreaker. There's no strategy in not even having to plan ahead because you can only make one choice.

JayOfSuburbia wrote:The latest of them all that I played since then was 4, I think they may have been trying to return to the original because as I remember unlike 3 it was far to simple. The maps where forgettable and felt like you where just walking in a circle or a square for 20 turns.

I'm curious to try the later entrants to the series, but I really have no idea which (if any) of them were able to return to the perfect balance that Mario Party 2 achieved. I've heard that the latest ones (7 and 8 ) are somewhat better after a bit of a lull in the series.

Serum wrote:Yeah, they're up to eight or nine

Mario Party 9 comes out next year.

In the meantime, if you think MP is a little too crazy, Fortune Street is good, solid fun.

Here's a good bit of Mario Party 9 info:

Articles:

Mario Party 9's Blinding Box Art

Mario Party 9 Preview




Boxart (view the article above for a bigger image)




Trailer

Release Date: March 11, 2012


I don't know about you guys, but I'm actually excited for this game. It's probably the first time I've been anxious for a Mario Party game since MP2. Hopefully it's good. I don't think there's online multiplayer or anything, but hopefully those of us who do get it can post their thoughts on the game once it's released.

I definitely am, and hope I'm lucky enough to get a review copy. It looks more action-y than some of the other Mario Parties, in a way, and I love some of the retro stuff-- that Koopa-shell/bridge/Goomba thing in particular.

I've been playing a lot of Mario Party 2 since my birthday, so there's definitely a nostalgic feeling when it comes to this new game coming out. I just like the way it looks. It seems to be a fresh take on the franchise, which is something it desperately needed.

I totally agree with the above comments. This MP9 looks like it has a level of polish on it that's close to the Galaxy games, even. And they're streamlining the board by having all four players together? Boss battles? Count me in.

Which Mario Party game was the last one you played? Did you like the series to begin with? Back up your arguments.

And surprisingly, Nintendo did give the series a break--they had Wii Party instead (and it apparently did suck according to most reviews) so maybe they went back to the drawing board and decided to make a quality product again. Don't knock it until you play it for yourself. Same deal with our dear Mario movie--you ought to give it a shot first.

jka12002 wrote:Hopefully this will be the last Mario Party game. The franchise sucks as it is already.

The franchise has certainly had its lows, but when it's strong it's always something fun to return to. Nintendo waited nearly five years between the last Mario Party and this one specifically to give the series a cooldown. They're re-imagining it and that's a great thing.

I'm looking forward to Mario Party 9, the last 3 were kind of blah for me, Looks like there even redoing some classic mini-games from the N64 era games.

Honestly, I thought that they had left out Luigi entirely.

Let's play "Where's Luigi?"

It really is pretty laughable--it just plays into the fact that Luigi gets shafted by Nintendo.

Still, he's getting his own game here in a couple of months

Phlibbit wrote:Let's play "Where's Luigi?"

It really is pretty laughable--it just plays into the fact that Luigi gets shafted by Nintendo.

Still, he's getting his own game here in a couple of months

LUIGI'S MANSION 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO! I'm excited for that so much, it looks like they got the perfect blend of horror and puzzle mechanics this time around.

MP9 looks great, I have high hopes for it too.

IGN has a pretty cool article/image detailing the entire Mario Party saga: http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1218152p1.html

Great article to really reminisce about the early entries in the series, but reading through the visitor comments shows that a lot of the strong points of the later games went unmentioned. Some of those games actually sound really fun.

I always loves the Mario Party games. It's cool when you be able to play it with your friends together and just enjoy the time! The mini games make so much fun and I was quite good in the end. In the last year I played Mario Party 1 on the nintendo 64 again with one friend... what an amazing nostalgic experience!

I'm a year late to comment on the first post, but I like the commentary, Redstar! My friends and I sunk way too many hours into the Mario Party games, and I rather shamefully played the single-player campaigns of Mario Party 3 and 4. Multiple times. ... not exactly one of my shining moments. No, I would not recommend it.

I admit I skipped Mario Party 2, but I've been curious to try it out, or even Mario Party 9 - it's just a matter of roping in some willing participants. I got loads of mileage from Mario Party 1 and 4, but I don't think we ever actually played the boards in the third game. We might've tried them once, found them too drawn-out and cluttered, and just stuck to playing minigames. There were some decent ones, but I think the other instalments' minigames were better.

On that subject, does anyone have any favourite minigames? I was always partial to Running Of The Bulb from the first game - it's probably the closest the Mario series got to a survival horror scenario, haha.

Ragey wrote:I admit I skipped Mario Party 2, but I've been curious to try it out, or even Mario Party 9 - it's just a matter of roping in some willing participants. I got loads of mileage from Mario Party 1 and 4, but I don't think we ever actually played the boards in the third game. We might've tried them once, found them too drawn-out and cluttered, and just stuck to playing minigames. There were some decent ones, but I think the other instalments' minigames were better.

I highly recommend Mario Party 2 and I believe most anyone else you ask will as well. It's widely considered to be the best in the series with the most replay value. Finding three other people to party with may be difficult, but you can download it from the Virtual Console and perhaps play it online. With Nintendo revamping its online play for the better I'm sure you could have a good experience with it that way.

Ragey wrote:On that subject, does anyone have any favourite minigames? I was always partial to Running Of The Bulb from the first game - it's probably the closest the Mario series got to a survival horror scenario, haha.

Since you haven't played Mario Party 2 you may not recognize some of these mini-games, but my favorites are:

Archer-ival
Bumper Balls
Bumper Balloon Cars
Cake Factory
Deep Sea Salvage
Hexagon Heat
Hot Rope Jump
Magnet Carta
Platform Peril
Shell Shocked
TOAD In The Box
Sky Pilots
Torpedo Targets

Mario Party 2's version of Skateboard Scamper would also fit within the genre of "survival horror" in that you must race through a dark corridor towards a light source to get away from a pursuing Boo. It's actually close in concept to the first game's Pedal Power.

So, it's almost here--Mario Party 9 comes out tomorrow.

I think I'm going to try to see if I can pick it up at Wal-Mart at midnight tonight. We'll see how it goes

Well, I failed. It seems as if the Wal-Marts here in North Carolina just aren't as friendly/helpful as the ones back in East TN.

I ended up going to two--one had no one around electronics at all, and at the other one, the guy there said that he's worked there for 8 years, and games "always come out on Mondays" and he's never seen a game come out on a Sunday. Wouldn't even bother to humor me and look.

That's too bad. You should have had a good party night this Sunday to end the week well.

Ah, well. Plan something for next weekend. You should have it by then and time to get some people together.

Hey you can always go to Gamestop if they have any there.

I probably would've gone to Gamestop, it's just that around here Wal-Mart is the only store open at midnight. Gamestop usually doesn't do midnight releases for Nintendo games--the ones here didn't even do them for Skyward Sword.

Since the time jumped ahead an hour, I should just be able to go pick it up at Best Buy or Target just as soon as I wake up

Okay, so I got my hands on a copy yesterday.

So far, I love it.

My wife and I played two boards (the Toad one and Bob-Omb factory). The "all players in one car" concept works really well and keeps the game moving. It's definitely not as sluggish feeling as some of the other MP games in terms of board traversal.

Love the boss levels. Mini-bosses at the halfway point and a main boss at the end of the level. The minigames themselves were pretty fun too. Overall there's a lot of luck involved but there's a good amount of strategy.

After you complete each board you get party points that you can use to spend on different cars/boards/extras. It's a really great way to reward players and keep them coming back to play stuff and unlock more things beyond just playing through the game.

One thing I'm not sure about is whether it's more or less fun with AI players when you have less than 4 people. Our first game we just did it with two players, and the second time we included one computer player. I kind of think it was a little more fun because you get more mini-game variation (2 vs. 1 and that kind of thing).

Played two more boards last night.

Board observations:

Boo's Horror Castle was fun--when you pass over paintings with Boos, they'll follow your vehicle and take half of your stars if it catches up with you. However, at the end of the board, you have to roll above a predetermined number to get to the final boss--otherwise, you keep going in a loop until you roll the right numbers.

Blooper Beach was great. I loved the water/beach theme, and even though you're given a choice on which mini-games to get, we went with beach/water themed ones when they were available (Blooper is even a boss level if you get him).


General observations:

There are "Captain Events" in every level, and they're different depending on what board you're on. They're usually tailored to the setting and it gives the captain a chance to control who gets more stars (if you strategize accordingly).

Like I said yesterday, me and my wife are playing with assorted computer allies. We tried Boo's Horror Castle with two computer players, and Blooper Beach with one. We think that with two human players, one extra computer player balances it out pretty well. You get more variety in mini-games and you're not having to directly compete against each other so much. When we had two computer players with us on the Boo board, it got really bogged down and we felt like we weren't getting enough turns to do things ourselves (not to mention we got a whole bunch of "shuffle" spaces that kept putting the computer players as the captain of the board).

Also--in the last third or so of each board, Bowser comes along, and asks you if you like "presents." If you say yes, you get a bunch of Bowser spaces on the board, and if you say no, you still get Bowser spaces, but you get a bit less.

So far, most of the Bowser spaces have been really fun instead of detrimental. You'll either just lose a few stars straight off, but more often than not, you'll get to do some fun/unique things, like battle for other people's stars, or play "Reverse Minigames."

What's a "Reverse Minigame," you ask? Well, it's awesome. You play one of the mini-games you've probably encountered before, but instead of winning, the goal of these reverse-styled games is to be the first to lose. It's pretty hilarious when everyone is trying to be the first person to jump into lava, or get crushed by a Thwomp or some other awful spiked object.

I must say, how they've implemented Bowser Spaces and the concept of "Reversal Minigames" both sound really fun. I've already loved the design of each board since they really seem like unique places with original event themes.

Board bosses are also a very fun idea since the end of Mario Party 1 and 2 do have a problem with having scripted endings. I'm sure that was improved as the series went on, but this addition seems to handle it especially well.

Now, is the vehicle style of play all that's available, or is the rumored classic "free-for-all" style also included?

Yesterday, we played two more boards:

Board Observations:

Magma Mine was a bit disappointing. Although the volcanic environment was great to look at, there's a gameplay hitch. You have to keep rolling above a certain threshold to escape the rising lava. If you're the captain and the lava gets to you, you lose half of your stars. This kept happening to us throughout the board that it was more of a hinderance than anything and it's hard to outlast the lava when it's basically all up to chance whether you survive it or not.

Then, we played Bowser Station. Unlike the other "standard" boards, this one was kind of one big loop, and the twist here is that there's a big "jackpot" meter in the center of the board. There are spaces scattered across the board that make the meter go up, and when it hits over 20, you play a mini-game for the jackpot of mini-stars. There are also a good number of captain events at regular intervals throughout the board, unlike the other boards where there are only one. And Bowser Jr. is the mini-boss, while Bowser is the final boss. Fighting Bowser at the end it pretty cool, it's almost a cross between a competitive mini-game and a "traditional" platforming boss fight. Pretty cool stuff.


General Observations:

As far as I know, the only way to play the game is through the vehicles. However, I also started the single-player mode and did one board of it so far. The difference in that mode is that you have one computer AI player that competes against you who's on Bowser's side--either a Magikoopa or a Shy Guy. I think after you complete the solo mode, you unlock those two characters for use in the party mode. While it's still fun, it's nowhere near as fun as going through party mode. Still, I want to beat it so I can get some party points and unlock the other characters.

Well, after a long break I decided to finally give Mario Party 3 another chance. I struggled for months to get the game off eBay for a fair price, but had to keep raising my price limit until I finally broke down and bought it for $30.

I must say that I had a much more enjoyable experience this time around. I had my girlfriend, two brothers and some friends over for a dinner party. After quite a bit of time preparing cupcakes for dessert (my girlfriend's cousin is a pastry chef) we finally settled into a game.

This is not a game that should be played with just two people, which is how I experienced it the first time. Like the original, it can only be enjoyed with three or four human players involved. The reasoning for this is that it's just not as immersive or intuitive as Mario party 2. The mini-games are more difficult with poor descriptions. You will need to Practice each mini-game a couple times to really get the hang of it.

One thing that we noticed is that the game seems to have suffered from inflation. Since you can now carry three items rather than just one, each item is less expensive to purchase. Furthermore, you're given quite a few opportunities to win items. Some of the new items, such as the Reverse Mushroom and the Lucky Lamp, add an interesting twist in playing each board. Holding three items at once may feel like an advantage, but knowing what to use and when can be a challenge.

The boards themselves are a much different experience. While the boards in Mario Party 2 were generally linear, these new boards often have loops and dead-ends as well as 'Action Time' events that change your location. We went nearly 15 turns before finally getting the star and that was only after using a Magic Lamp to take one of directly to it.

Overall, I judged this game poorly my first time around. I don't believe I could ever consider it as much a classic or fun time as Mario Party 2, but it's something that I could easily get used to and enjoy on a weekend night.