Mario Party

"Ah, Mario Party. The classic party game with the voice acting you've come to hate..."

'Lo folks. The other day, I was going through my old reviews, and to be honest, I was appalled at just how stupid they were, particularly this one. That's why instead of presenting you with some brand new review for another game, I am revising one of my current ones. Yep, that's a new low, but what are you going to do?

With that, j_ohanley crumples up his original review for this game and chucks it into the fireplace

One day, sometime in 1998, the company of Nintendo got struck by a brilliant idea. They decided to create a new, and original game. One that centered around those strange Nintendo characters, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong. And we were all semiblessed with the semigenius of Nintendo. We were given an entirely new way of looking at video games, with it's originality, addicting mini games, etc. They also forced us to rotate the control stick repeatedly with the palm of our hand, thus damaging the controller and us. For this I will never forgive Nintendo...

Story: 6/10
It all started when Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, DK and Toad are all together in a clearing for no reason in particular. Ah, but you can't have a game where six people stand around in a clearing, can you? so everyone begins to boast about themselves, and a large fight commences. Toad steps in and shuts everyone up by telling them to compete in a complete and utter bloodbath to see who comes out alive. It's all true! Well, except for the bloodbath part, and even that is true to some extent. Seriously, you must play in different areas, whoever is the winner is the Superstar. Oh well, at least its more believable now then in Mario Party 2/3, in which you they have to prove yourself the damn superstar again and again, *groan*.

Graphics: 8/10
The graphics are not particularly special or not particularly bad. The board games are very well done, although the character design is nothing to write home about. Mario is really blocky, but you can't really tell, so it's okay. Mini game design, is mediocre, except for the odd game. In fact, you get the feeling the programmers was just thinking ''The graphics are only there to let you play the game, so we won't expand on anything.'' That's all right though. The graphics are only the icing on the cake, as I always say. Geez, I feel so dirty...

Audio: 7/10
<filler> Yep, that's right! I'm saying ''audio'' now instead of ''sounds and music!'' I'm saying that because ''audio'' sounds so much better, because it's a better sounding word! </filler> All right, it's another of those ''good not great'' categories. You'll cringe at the voice acting, cover your ears at the sound effects, and commit suicide at the Toad's ''Where's the Star?'' The rest of the music is not particularly special (not this again) but you'll run across the occasional catchy/scary song:

-Where's the Star? (on Eternal Star)
-Bowser theme
-Chance time theme.
-Music that plays during ''Running of the Bulb'' and ''Teetering Towers''
-Classic underground ''Key-pa-way'' music

Now, as the title of this review implies, the voice acting will drive you nuts. Not nuts enough to want to not play the game, but still nuts. Changing the subject, everything else is quite good, but not great. Don't worry, things will improve.

Control: 7/10

Since the game is basically divided into two parts, I will do the same to this section.

Part 1: Board game control: 9/10
Very easy, because you never get to control your character at all on the board. Basically, all you have to do is hit A to determine your number on the dice block. Then, your character will move that number of spaces automatically. If you come to either Toad, Bowser, Koopa Troopa, or Boo, then simply press A to skip through the text. You're on easy street here, no doubt about it.

Part 2: Mini game control: 7/10
If you know me, then you know I'm going to start cutting up the rotate the control stick games. You are correct. I HATE SPINNING THE CONTROL STICK! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS NINTENDO!!!!! I PROMISE YOU THAT YOU LITTLE @#@@!#!#@...okay, done. You will come to several mini games where you are forced to rotate the control stick with the palm of your hand. Ouch. You can easily move with what's left in your poor analog stick (its all a scam to make N64 owners buy new controllers, if you ask me), and jumping is pretty good too. In the mini games, the control is usually different, but you can easily master it. Unless you've got no brains. Oh well.

Gameplay: 9/10

This is one of the games three ''awesome points'' in my opinion. Heres how the game works: After you pick character, world, and skill level, you determine turn order. After that, the game starts. Toad is somewhere on the map, and is holding a star. You must make your way through the many obstacles, reach Toad, and give him 20 coins for a star. You must watch out for Bowser himself, because he is nastier than ever (still sore at you from Mario 64 I suppose) who will take coins from you for the most ridiculous reasons. Boo is around too, and if you reach him, he will steal coins from one of your rivals, or maybe even a star! Once all the characters have their turn, a mini game begins, and you compete in it to try to get coins. When the game ends, three bonus stars are awarded for excellent performance. In the end, whoever has the most stars wins! And now, to go a bit more in depth...

On the Board: 7/10
The boards induce boredness. This vague bit of alliteration sums up life on the main board itself. It is really boring for the wait in between turns, ESPECIALLY when a character lands on a one player space. Get some kind of distraction ready...

Mini-Games: 10/10
The best part about Mario Party! You see, on the board is blue spaces and red spaces. If you all land on the same color, a 4 player-free-for-all game will start. If two characters land on blue, and the other two on red, then a two-versus-two game will start. Finally, if three land on the same color and one lands on another color, then a three-versus-one game starts. The mini games themselves are very fun, particularly:

-Mushroom Mix-up
-Balloon Burst
-Face Lift
-Bumper Balls
-Bobsled Run
-Tightrope Treachery

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, everyone else seemed to like these as well, and they made an encore presentation in Mario Party Two. Is that good or bad? I don't know.

Originality: 10/10
Completely original! Hasn't been done before! One of a kind! Well, until it's sequels were released with their awful storylines...

Replay Value: 10/10

One of the better party games out there, Mario Party has quite a bit to offer!

-Unlock Bowser's Magma Mountain
-Unlock Eternal Star
-Find and Buy all the Mini Games
-Complete Mini game island
-Find the Bumper Ball mazes
-Just have fun with your pals

Yes, that should occupy you for a short time.

Buy or Rent? Well, I would suggest a rent first, and if you enjoy it, then fine! Buy it if you have some extra money for new N64 controllers Mario Party 2 is slightly better, but Mario Party is better than Mario Party 3 by a long shot!

The Final Word:
Well that's that. I finally got around to making this review something that is not a total embarrassment to myself. Hah! To all my fellow peers who saw my former review and laughed at me, bite me I say, BITE ME! I'm on the Internet, you're not.

Good night.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/00, Updated 12/13/01