Mario Party

So, what are your impressions on the game? Is it better than MP 7/8? Is it good?

edited 2nd Mar '12 11:02:58 AM by Marioguy128

I still haven't played much to judge it yet, but from what I've played, I think this is one of the fairer Mario Parties for both hardcore and casual players that's come out recently, thanks to the luck-based minigames being done away with, and some things made me think of Mario Party 1 for some reason, like the distribution of Mini Stars in the 1-vs-Rivals minigames (though the key difference is that the Stars won does not come out of the losers' pockets).

A competent CPU will do certain games better than me though, as I found out during the game where you have to climb up a cliff by pressing buttons (though reaction games involving many things that must be done fast, as well as mind games, are games I'm not good at in general so managing 2nd place consistently is a victory for me at least). But at the same time, there's minigames where I'm clearly their master.

Also, taking out Shy Guy or Kamek at the first opportunity if allowed to do so is recommended in Story Mode.

edited 2nd Mar '12 11:15:37 AM by Folt

Tiebreaker dice rolls are programmed to never tie. (It's like the dice roll at the start of the game to determine the order.)

Regarding the "fewer numbers of board events": In comparison to what? In the first several games, all ? Spaces on a board did the same thing. It wasn't until, I think, MP 4 that you started seeing different types of ? Space on a single board. Or are some ? Space event similar across multiple boards?

Mario Party 3 actually, though Mario Party 2 flirted with the idea on Bowser Land.

Well, I've cleared the Story/Solo Mode now, and played most of the minigames and all of the boards. Impressions coming up:

• The boards and the way you traverse them are probably what separates this outing from all other Mario Parties... Well, that and the fact that you no longer have to play a board or the minigames with 3 other CP Us, only picking as many as you need or want to play against. The minigames have been designed with this in mind.
• All minigames, except Boss minigames, are unlocked at start. This is probably because you no longer play a minigame at the end of a turn and the fact that you now choose the minigame you want to play (which could become frustrating if you had to unlock them and you constantly get games you've played before and the CPU pick games you've played before, etc. etc.).
• In latter boards, Shy Guy and Kamek may both appear together in Solo/Mode to increase the odds against you even more. One or both of them will appear on all boards in Story/Solo Mode. Their AI is much better than other CPU players, and may increase as you clear boards in Story/Solo Mode. That said, I've found it easier to win when playing against both of them as opposed to playing against one (at least when it's the latter boards).
• Toad Road is an okay board, but kind of bland compared to the rest. The bosses are fun to play against though.
• Bob-omb Factory is better than Toad Road and Blooper Beach, and it's more challenging than the former, but it pales in comparison to the rest. Both bosses are okay though.
• Boo's Horror Castle is a great board, and the bosses are both in my top 5 as far as bosses go. It feels pretty long though, compared to the rest of the boards, and the Boos can screw you up in the latter parts of the game.
• I don't really like Blooper Beach. The first half is fine, but the second half features a ship that will turn all Mini Stars to Mini Ztars. If you're unlucky, you'll hit Ztar after Ztar while the others will get Mini Stars many times over. That being said, the last stretch gives you enough opportunities to come back and win the game, should you land on a Lucky Space.
• Magma Mine is probably my favorite board. The first half is just scaling the mines, and getting Mini Stars, but in the second half, the volcano erupts and lava continually rises. You have the opportunty to come out of this unscathed and in the position to easily snag a victory, but only if you can avoid getting singed by the lava, and that's not easy in the last stretch due to the Magma Spaces. Endgame can still screw you over if you land on a Bowser Space, and there's still the second boss game. The two bosses here are also in my top 5 favorites, and I think they're fun to play against.
• Bowser Station is much unlike the previous boards. You will go in a circle around the board once to complete it. It also has 3 varieties of Captain Events unlike the rest which only have 1. There's not a lot of minigame spaces, but that is remedied by the Bowser Slot Machine in the middle of the board which contain a number of Mini Stars. Landing on a Jackpot+ Space will fill it up with Mini Stars, and if the number becomes 20 or over, you all play a minigame for a chance to win those stars. You can also get them by landing on certain Lucky Spaces which function as Jackpot Spaces. As for the bosses, I hated the miniboss, but I liked the boss. A nice touch on this board has Bowser come visit you personally in his Clown Copter when you land on a Bowser Space instead of shattering the screen.
• DK's Jungle Ruins is the shortest board in the game. You have to go around it twice (which also means you have to do the Captain Event here twice), and it swaps out Mini Stars and Mini Ztars for Bananas and something called Z-Bananas. You also get Bananas or Z-Bananas on each space you traverse, and landing on a DK space makes him spin the Bananas and Banana Bunches around so you get a chance to get even more Bananas (or lose more Bananas if you're not good at timing your jumps and get a bunch of Z-Bananas and Z-Banana Bunches). Instead of bosses, you play minigames with DK and Diddy for the chance to get even more Bananas, and the Bonus Stars at the end is worth 10 Bananas instead of five Mini Stars. It might be the best stage in Party Mode to grind Party Points as every Banana you get is worth one Party Point. Just try to avoid the Bowser Spaces on the 2nd Lap, if you don't, you're probably gonna go bananas. *shot*
• None of the minigames feel luck-based in any way, but a few skirt the line, especially when CPU is involved. That being said, if your're a skilled player (like me =D *shot*), most of your Mini Stars will come from minigames, which takes me back to Mario Party 1 and 2's Minigame Stadium (kinda). The only items to be found are special dices which reminds me of Mario Party 1 (again) and some minigames are somewhat similiar to the older Mario Parties minigames ala 1 to 3 (which is a GOOD thing in my opinion).
• Winning Story/Solo Mode automatically unlocks Kamek and Shy Guy as characters to be used in any mode except Story/Solo Mode, the Bowser Station Board, allows Boss Rush to be purchased in the Museum, and gives you about 750-1000 Party Points (maybe higher or lower) depending on how many Mini Stars you collected during your playthrough. I recommend doing this mode first then using the Party Points to buy DK's Jungle Ruins and grind from there if you want all the unlockables in the Museum.
• The credits in this game was a fun watch.

Overall, this is the first recent Mario Party that, together with the DS outing, feels as if it achieves the older Mario Parties' enjoyability and fun. I still want a Minigame Island though.

edited 3rd Mar '12 9:33:08 AM by Folt

I always was a fan of Minigame Island/Stadium. Bit surprised the idea didn't stick around.

Wow, I may actually return to this series, as it sounds like they really made improvements to it.

A bit of a confession; Mario Party was one of the game series that my entire family enjoyed playing, as it was simple and easy to play. I have such fond memories of us all playing Mario Party 5 for hours into the night. Our favorite mini game was Tube It or Lose It, mainly due to just how insane it was. What about you guys? Do you have memories of this series bringing tons of people together?

It's a great party game, so I like to bring it out when my family held parties for the younger ones to play.

My favorite Mario Party party moment was when we had a bunch of us decide to find out what happens when the teams tie in 5's Manic Mallets.

We couldn't stop laughing afterwards.

What happens?

Well, the hammer turns sideways, and crushes you both. I wasn't expecting that, so it was quite a laugh.

My family regularly plays Mario Party on the weekends, so I'm obviously in favor of it bringing people together. :D

When I lived home, I'd typically play a lot of games with my sis, including Mario Party 1, 2, and 3. We have a lot of memories involving cheating each other out of hard-earned Stars or tag teaming against the computer when we had enough of their cheating. That said, I hated playing button masher type games against my sis as she would always win, but I was on much more even footing against her in other minigames (and of course, we'd eat through the CP Us like breakfast). Occasionally, we'd get more people over for a really fun night!

Now that I think back on the older ones, who was your favorite partners for Duel Mode? Mine was Goomba and Boo, and I'd always try for a combo of both or with each other.

I played as Peach, so two Toads worked best for me. Especially POWERED UP. >=3

Nice!

Awesome music!

edited 4th Mar '12 3:32:33 PM by Folt

My favorite pieces of music in the Mario Partyverse are the Rainbow Castle theme from 1, and the credits music from 2.

Duel Mode? I was always a big fan of Whomp. Sure, he's big and... big, but he's got your back, bro. Literally, in my case, given his health.

Duel Mode: Mr. Blizzard. 3 HP, a useful attack that hits the opponent furthest from you (who oftentimes was either the player or a weak offensive guy), and all for only 2 coins per turn? Awesome. That he serves well in both the front and back makes him great for those boards which like to switch your partners' orders around or make you go in the opposite direction.

Speaking of Mario Party 3, that game had some fun items. I wish there was some way to re-implement the Reverse Shroom, because that one always made for very interesting strategies. Also, the Bowser Phone, because calling Bowser and pretending you're someone else to make Bowser visit them is always amusing.

I wish I could play MP 2. Mario characters in costume? Awesome.

Reverse Shroom was a fantastic item, and I am saddened it has never reappeared.

Reverse Minigame in MP 9 is awesome! Never has losing been so profitable!

Also buying me some new vehicles to use on the boards. The Bone Marrow or whatever its name is looks especially classy!

My favorite boards for each game I currently own right now:

• Mario Party 1: Luigi's Engine Room (***), Bowser's Magma Mountain (***), Eternal Star (***)
• Mario Party 2: Space Land (**), Horror Land (***), Bowser Land (***)
• Mario Party 3 Party Mode: Spiny Desert (**), Creepy Cavern (***), Waluigi's Island (***)
• Mario Party 3 Duel Mode: Pipesqueak (**), Backtrack (***)
• Mario Party 5: Pirate Dream
• Mario Party 9: Magma Mine, DK's Jungle Ruins, Bowser Station
• Mario Party DS: DK's Stone Statue, Kamek's Library, Bowser's Pinball Machine

Top 3 Favorite Boards of all time:

1. Eternal Star (MP 1)
2. Horror Land (MP 2)
3. Magma Mine (MP 9)

My favorite items (for MP 3 Duel Mode: Partners, and MP 5 Super Duel Mode, Vehicle Parts) for each game:

• Mario Party 1: Fast Block, Plus Block, Event Block
• Mario Party 2: Skeleton Key, Boo Bell, Bowser Suit
• Mario Party 3 Party Mode: Skeleton Key, Boo Bell, Boo Repellant, Bowser Suit
• Mario Party 3 Duel Mode: Goomba, Boo
• Mario Party 5 Party Mode: Chain Chomp Capsule, Bone Capsule
• Mario Party 5 Super Duel Mode: Boo Body, E. Gadd Body, Scholar Body, E. Gadd Jet, Ztar Engine, Goomba Engine, Goomba-Trio Engine, Mr. I Laser, Bob-omb Wall
• Mario Party 9: Slow Dice Block, 1-3 Dice Block, 4-6 Dice Block, 0-1 Dice Block, 1-10 Dice Block (That's right, I love all the items in this game!)
• Mario Party DS: Triple Dice Set, Star Pipe, 2-Star Hex

May put up favorite vehicles later once I've looked at all of them.

So do you have a favorite reverse.mini game or something?

The Reverse Minigame choice just let's you play Free-For-All games that have chances of losing permanently from what I've seen, because it's the guy that lands into Last Place that gets Mini Stars. Best Bowser Space choice by far!

Yeah, it kind of turns the game into Warioware for a glorious fw seconds.

Horror Land is my favorite board in the Mario Party series, period. I love the atmosphere, I love the board gimmicks, I love the design, I love those rare and glorious moments where Big Boo sweeps in to screw everyone royally.

Since we're listing favorites, what are your favorite items in the series? I love all the classics, of course (movement 'shrooms and the Magic Lamp analogue), but my favorite more specific items? The Dueling Glove, the Reverse 'Shroom, the Boo Bell, the Goomba Orb, the Piranha Plant Orb, and the Thwomp Orb. Thwomp is hilariously good fun.

My all time favorite item? The Slow Shroom. So freaking useful. I also loved the Mega Mushrooms in 4. CRUSH, DESTROY!