Mario Party

"An good start, but can result in a messed up controller."

Mario Party was the first of a series that seems to keep going on. So far they have made 5 sequels and I feel more will be on the way. This stars Mario and his friends trying to see who can be the super star on a Board game. You play many mini-games and that is the main attraction. There is also a Mini-Game Island for 1 player that serves its challenge.

GAMEPLAY-7/10
The controls are very easy to learn and are very simple. Each mini-game has it own control setting that tell you how to play it. A few Mini-Games cause you to rotate the control stick that will eventually wear it out. I suggest you keep a special control aside for this game and just try to avoid playing these games. You can also unlock Buy mini-games and play them as often as you like, so you choose what games to play. If you ever need to know what to do in the mini game all you have to do is press start. Aside from the mini games you will play on a game board trying to land on certain spaces and get stars and coins. The one with the most stars or coins wins.

STORY-5/10
This stars Mario, Peach, Luigi, Yoshi, DK, and Wario all trying to win at a Board game. They all start arguing about who is the real super star. They decide the only way to settle it is by physical and mental mini-games while competing on a board.

GRAPHICS-8/10
All the graphics are very nice. The characters are well built the environments look very real. The spites are clear and the color is widely used. These have very great graphics.

SOUND-7/10
There are many tunes that accompany the mini-games. Some mini-games have a the same song, but we can not expect 50 different tunes. Each Board has a different tune and each tune is very catchy. My favorite is Yoshi Island tune.

PLAYTIME-6/10
It may take you 5 seconds to master some mini-games and other you will still fail at after years of owning it.
This has 6 boards and some hidden boards that bring it up to 8 boards. Also 50 mini-games and the Mini-game island can make you play this game along time. With your friends playing you can almost double the play time. Beating the game all the way takes at least a week so this has a good length of play time.

Mini Games-6/10
This has many unique and fun mini-games. All are very different. Some are fun, others are a pain, many are little tedious. I many games you have to collect more coins than the other. Treasure Divers and Deep Sea Divers send you deep for coins. Mountain Mayhem, Coin Block Blitz, and Coin Block Bash Box will make players fight over boxes of coins. Hammer Drop and Coin Shower Flower make players races to coins. Grab Bag is where players fight over others coins. Others games are a race against either time or other players. Buried Treasure and Musical Mushroom set up players to get to a chest before anyone else. Skateboard Scamper, Slot Car Derby, and Platform Peril are all racing games to the finish. The most fun are survival games where the last player left wins. Mushroom Mix Up, Bumper Balls, Shy Guy Say, and Bombs Away all set up players fighting for there life. Also many 1-Player games that give you a chance to gain yourself coins. In Memory Match and Ground Pound you try to remember the location of objects. Knock Block Tower, Ghost Guess, Slot Machine, and Shell Game are games where you have to use good eye and hand coordination. These are just few of the mini games. They are around 40 more where you work together as a team, play a bonus mini game by yourself, or point based game where the most accurate correct character wins. There are also the rotate the analog games which I would try to avoid. Cast Aways, Tug o war, Paddle Battle, and Pedal Power are a couple of these rotate the analog. This really does ruin the game mainly cause it is hard to not hurt the controller and your hand while rotating the controller enough to win the game. You will need to do this in one point of the game to unlock everything.

REPLAY-5/10
From time to time you will want to try to unlock everything, but you will not want to do it after doing the tug-o-war game and such too many times. Having friends play will make this game worth replaying even more, but it still has a good quality. Also you can set the computer on a very high difficulty to practice mini games and master them in The Mini Game House.

RENT OR BUY-I do not think 64 games are rented out now, but this game is a pretty good game that is around $30. This will keep you entertained and pleased for a while so give it a try. Just try to avoid the rotate the control games.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/05