Mario Party

"Mario & company play some board games, but this game is NOT for one person only."

Mario Party was one of two Nintendo projects that caught everyone by surprise. The other was Super Smash Bros. In this game, you attend a, well, party. You have 6 boards to conquor, and you have to escape the evil Bowser.

Graphics: 7/10
OK, the game has 6 characters in it: Mario, Peach, Luigi, Yoshi, DK & Wario. Is it just me, or does Wario seem a little out of place, since he's a bad guy? Anyway, each of them are made with very little polygons, even less than SSB. The graphics are a little blurry, and don't have any details except for the game board, but they serve their purpose. This game was never meant to be a graphic-fest, unlike some OTHER games.

Control: Depends. Sometimes 8/10, other times 5/10.
The control is varied. There's virtually no control at all on the game board besides hitting the game die. During the Mini Games, though, is where the control slips. It's mainly the ones where you need to use the control stick. A lot of them have you rotating the stick, and that has angered many fans. Ones that don't need the stick a whole lot are a lot easier.

Music: 7/10
The music is OK. During the mini games there's different tunes, but only a few are actually good. The rest, along with the tunes to the boards, aren't annoying, but you'll forget them.

Story: 2/10
The story goes as this: Mario, Peach, Luigi, DK, Yoshi and Wario (Wario!?) are arguing about who's the best hero: The greatest Super Star. Toad breaks up the fight and announces that they can settle this by entering the Warp Pipe in Mushroom Village and save the different towns inside by collecting the Star Power. OK, so it ain't Nancy Drew. What do you expect? IT'S A FRIGGEN BOARD GAME!

Gameplay: 9/10
In this game you can either go to the different worlds, or compete for coins in the Pot 'O Luck Stadium. When you enter the Warp Pipe and complete the steps and choose the level, you'll transport there. After deciding the order, the game begins. You have to find Toad, and have at least 20 Coins, or else you can't get a star. Sometimes Toad will stay in one spot until you hit a ? space and sometimes he moves after a star is bought. There are many different kinds of spaces in the boards. Blue spaces give you 3 Coins, Red makes you lose 3. ? spaces do different things depending on the board. Bowser spaces mean that you have to play one of Bowser's games, where usually most of the players lose coins. The there's Chance Time, the ! space, where one player spins 3 wheels then depending on what happened, two players give up one of their stats. Mushroom spaces allow a player to either get a free turn, or lose a turn, while star spaces allow you to play a 1-Player mini game, ranging from the easy Ground Pound to the impossible Pedal Power. Along the way, different things will happen to make your progess easier or harder. BTW, depending on the spaces you land on, you will play one of 56 mini Games after each round. After the rounds are gone, 3 extra stars are awarded depending on game stats and the Super star is announced.

Other Stuff:
The 56 Mini Games are tough or easy. Some, like Bumper Balls and Bombsketball, are really fun. Others, like Pedal Power and Paddle Baddle, are just annoying. The games range to 4-Player to 1 vs. 3, to 2 on 2 to 1-Player. Once you see a mini game and have enough coins, you can buy them and play them whenever you want. There's also a Mini Game Island where you play all 56 games. There's not a lot of sercrets, but the ones it does have are killer. The items are mainly no help. There's different boxes that speed or slow the game down, while a cool bank gives you extra coins.

Overall:
Let's face it, this is a board game. If you don't have a lot of people or controllers, don't get this game. It's pretty boring all by yourself. If you want my advice, finish the boards and collect as much money as you can, then buy all the mini games so you can just jump straight into them. It doesn't make much of a difference which character you choose, it all depends on your skill.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/00, Updated 08/22/00