Retro|Spective 159: Mario Party

[Neon Ignition]

History in Games:
1998 - Mario Party
1999 - Mario Party 2
2000 - Mario Party 3
2002 - Mario Party 4
2003 - Mario Party e
2003 - Mario Party 5
2004 - Mario Party 6
2005 - Mario Party Advance
2005 - Mario Party 7
2007 - Mario Party 8
2007 - Mario Party DS
2012 - Mario Party 9
2013 - Mario Party: Island Tour
2015 - Mario Party 10
2016 - Mario Party: Star Rush
2017 - Mario Party: The Top 100
2018 - Super Mario Party

Overview:
Putting paid to the idea that Nintendo doesn't do iterative and almost annual sequels to its franchises comes the blistering shining star of a counter-argument, the Mario Party series. An astounding example too given ho unlikely a series it was to get sequels to begin with, but five console generations later the board/mini game series is still powering along with those who have stayed with the franchise over the years locked into an eternal battle over which entry was its best. The template is largely the same, with four players marching around a board to get stars and win the game, broken up by some clunky mini-games dressed in Mario theming. It's future, well, Mario Party 12 is undoubtedly on its way.










What is your history with Mario Party and how many entries have you played?
Which was the best party...?

[Mayhem]

Most over riding memory is playing MP2 I think, at Charles' place I think at a gathering, long time ago, and it was constant "golden shower" jokes after each mini game heh.

[Asura]

I preferred Sonic Shuffle.

Seriously though, I think this has been a consistently decent series, but it's varied a great deal. One of the problems I feel it has always had is a crisis of identity, about whether they want it to be random or skilled, and the games have yo-yo'd on this.

I'd also include WiiParty in this, because while it wasn't a branded Mario game, it was almost exactly the same thing, just branded with Miis.

For instance, the first 3DS game was probably at the more random end of the scale, with many minigames that were effectively rock-paper-scissors, evens-or-odds or similar probability based games, alongside its "special stars" at the end of the game which can practically make the losing player into the winner.

And that's the thing... It's totally okay if the game is entirely random chance! If the aim of the series is to make something that the whole family can play, and the youngest child has a chance of winning sometimes instead of Mum just winning all the time because she's grown up around games consoles, then that's going to give those players a great experience.

The problem, for me, is that as I've bought and played each of them (and honestly, to my surprise, I think I've played quite a bit of every title despite the number) you didn't know what you were going to get until you tried it.

This reminds me that I really want to get the Switch game; did they do any DLC for it yet? The only thing that stopped me was that I heard it didn't have much content compared to the older ones.

[Leon Retro]

I have vague memories of playing the first and second game a few times. I thought they were pretty fun and well-made. It's very impressive to see that there has been so many iterations over the years.

[Zaki]

I've played these to death with my sister:

1999 - Mario Party 2
2000 - Mario Party 3
2002 - Mario Party 4
2003 - Mario Party 5
2004 - Mario Party 6
2005 - Mario Party 7

We still play them now

Mario Party 1 is a big "no". It's not great and damages the N64 controller

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, Mario Party 1 was one I played for a bit but quickly backed off because of the damage it does to the analogue. In total I played most of the early entries, easily the first 5 and even Mario Party e.

My main issue has always been that (unless later entries fix this) the stars system always felt broken. To play entire lengthy games and by far be the most successful on the board and in mini-games but then have the CPU or weaker player nab stars in the last turn and win has always been cheap and the awarding of bonus stars always felt like a broken admission that the core gameplay loop wasn't developed enough.

It confounds me that the audience exists and has stayed for their to be more of these that most other Mario franchises.

[phillv85]

I haven’t played a lot of the MP games, but one lasting memory is playing the first at a mates house and having rotate the N64 stick as fast as possible. I was the best at it, and for that I ended up with a massive blister on my palm. Definitely not worth winning the event for.