Mario Party

Voices of: Charles Martinet, Asako Haruhana, Eriko Ibe, Julien Bardakoff, Thomas Spindler
Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Nintendo
Directed by: Kenji Kikuchi
Rating: E
Genre: Party
System: Nintendo 64
1998

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Mario and friends engage in party games to determine who among them is the Superstar.

Review:
Tim: One of the great things about Mario (hands-down the GOAT when it comes to video game characters) is how malleable he is. Over the years, Nintendo has put Mario in a nearly endless number of different genres of video games. In 1998, that expanded further into the world of party games. Mario Party isn't a perfect game, but it thrust our intrepid plumber into a new genre and it afforded players humorous, enjoyable experiences in a different setting. Yes, it has flaws, but it's also a great success and the start of a brand-new video game franchise.

The foundation of the game is so well-established. This game features six playable characters- Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, and Donkey Kong. They are all competing to see who is the Superstar. They play an action-focused board game to determine the winner. There's six different board maps upon which they play. They hit dice to determine how many spaces they move, and where they land on the board results in a host of different activities. The heart of the game are the mini-games that players get to experience. There are a total of 50 mini-games to experience, and they come randomly as you play. So, to experience them all, you have to play multiple rounds. This is one of the most exciting aspects of the game- to see the mini-game wheel spin and to see if it'll land on a favorite, a hated one, or a new game you've never played before. The mini-games are all quite short, but mostly well-designed. They test players in various ways. Some of them are hilarious and tons of fun. Others are frustrating. A few are badly designed, but these are rare. Winners get coins, loser either lose coins or get nothing. There's a lot of variety in a game that is pretty basic and straightforward. The mini-games occur quickly enough that there always feels like there's momentum- you won't get bored playing this game.

Some of the boards are frustratingly designed. There's a few that I tried to avoid as much as possible. Some of the setbacks you run into are aggravating. Mostly the game is fun, but I do wish they had made some quality of life changes to the game. The graphics are average- you'd never look at this game in awe, even back when it was first released in 1998. It's fine, but no doubt a lesser title in the Mario universe.

Now, I played this game with my family and as I still have young kids, I tried to shift the focus away from competition and crushing each other. We certainly competed in mini-games, but I really tried to make the game feel more collaborative. We worked together to get 130 total stars. We unlocked the Eternal Star Board, we found all 50 mini-games, we bought all regular items in the shop, and then bought 18/50 mini-games. Our focus was really on total stars to feel like we "beat" the game. It was a ton of fun collecting stars for that purpose, and along the way, we played the game many, many times. Some of my fondest memories are of the bouncing ball game, where my kids are laughing and screaming as we try to bump each other off the small platform. We had an absolute blast playing this game, even with the occasionally badly designed mini-games.

As a whole, I'm a big fan of Mario Party. It further cements Mario as an all-timer and it started a new franchise for him. This game was a total blast and I loved that it wasn't just playing board games, but there were broader achievements we could work toward. This game was awesome in creating a fun (and yes, sometimes frustrating) playing experience.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Super Mario RPG, Mario Party 2