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DEVELOPER
Hudson Soft
PUBLISHER
Nintendo
AVAILABLE
Now
MEDIUM
Cartridge
PLAYERS
1-4
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oy, Nintendo is full of surprises these days. Six months ago no one had even heard of Mario Party. Now that it’s been released, the general consensus (at least where I live) is still that no one has heard of Mario Party. Seriously, I haven’t seen very much publicity over this game. It appears that other key titles are monopolizing Nintendo’s ad budget. Released shortly before Christmas in Japan, this creative four player electronic board game has finally slipped onto store shelves in the U.S. Developed by Hudson Soft, the people that brought us Bomberman, Mario Party is poised to become the premiere party game on the Nintendo 64. Does it have enough fun packed into it to dethrone Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64 as the 4-player games of choice? When it comes right down to it, the story of Mario Party is extraordinarily lame. As it turns out, a bunch of Nintendo characters (Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Wario, and Peach) have gathered together to find out which one of them is the biggest super star. Each of the characters feels he or she (or it) is the best so Toad suggested that the characters compete in a board game to see who could collect the most stars to become the much-coveted super star. Yep, I warned you the story was lame. Upon starting the game there are numerous 1-player modes that you can experiment with.  These modes let the player practice some of the mini-games (approximately 50 in all). Most people will want to grab a few friends and jump right in to begin playing the main game. No matter what, the game requires four players to take part in the game. So if you don’t have enough people playing the computer will control the other characters. After choosing characters and the number of rounds the game will last (20, 35, or 50), each person hits the rotating dice to see who gets to go first. A round expires when each player has had a turn to move on the game board. A 20 round game typically lasts about an hour. There are a total of six different boards to initially choose from. Each board has its own unique features, but there are some common traits present in all of them. As the players move around the board they will land on colored spaces. The blue spaces will reward the player with three coins, but the red spaces take away three coins. Coins can be used to buy stars. Each star normally costs the player 20 coins. On most of the boards the only way to buy a star is to find Toad who will be more than happy to sell a star to you. Coins may also be used to pay tolls to gain access to different areas of the board. Also, most boards have at least one spot where a ghost resides. Here the player can try and steal coins from other players or spend 50 coins to steal a star from one of the other players. Going around the board and passing start rewards the player with an extra 10 coins. Other spaces, like exclamation marks, question marks, mushroom icons, and Bowser symbols will each result in a different activity. As you can tell, the board is very active and there is almost never a moment that passes by where something isn’t happening to at least one of the players.  The “meat and potatoes” of the game is served up in multiplayer mini-game style. After each player has had a turn, a mini-game is played where the four contestants must compete to gain coins. These games are always picked at random and with over 50 different ones to play, the action almost never becomes tedious. Each game is completely separate from the other and thus each one has its own rules and game controls. Before each game the basic rules are given on how to play and then the action starts. Most of the 4-player games are a free-for-all with every man for himself. There is a huge variety in these games and there’s bound to be some that you love and some that you hate. Some of the more interesting games are Skateboard Scamper, Face Lift, Bumper Balls, and Treasure Divers. All of these games are fairly basic and extremely easy to learn how to play. In Skateboard Scamper you basically pound on the B button as fast as you can to gain speed. You have to be quick since the ground is quickly disappearing behind you and if you’re too slow you’ll plummet into the lava pit below. The A button is used to jump obstacles and grab coins that may be floating in the air. The first person to cross the finish line wins the prize of 10 coins. Remember Mario 64’s title screen where you could grab onto Mario’s face and distort the way he looks? Well Face Lift is a similar concept except that at the beginning of the game a portrait of Bowser is shown and each player has to try and match the picture as closely as possible. The person who comes the closest to matching the distorted face will win. Bumper Balls (perhaps my favorite of all the mini-games) is probably the simplest game to play. Each player is placed on a ball and thrown onto a small platform in the middle of the ocean. Using the control stick to move, the goal is to bump into the opposing competitors and hopefully hit them with enough force to knock them off the platform. The last person standing wins. In Treasure Divers each person must swim to the bottom of the sea to pick up treasure chests and bring them back to the surface to gain the coins inside. Unfortunately obstacles like jellyfish and a shark are just waiting to bump into you and make you drop your treasure. Needless to say, the simplicity of the games is part of what makes them so enjoyable. I found that people who never dreamed of touching a Nintendo 64 game can pick this one up and do surprisingly well at it.
In addition to the 4-player games where everyone is pitted against one another, there are some 1 vs. 3-player games and 2 vs. 2-player games that will randomly pop up. The best of the bunch are Bowl Over, Tug ‘o War, and Bobsled Run. I’m not going to go into detail for all of them, but Bobsled Run is probably one of the better looking games and is very reminiscent of Mario 64’s slide levels. There are also a number of 1-player games that can be played if the player lands on certain spots on the board.  Graphically Mario Party looks good. The boards are very colorful and almost have a high resolution look to them. All of the characters retain a decent polygon count and most of the mini-games, while simple in execution, retain an above average image to them. There aren’t any cool graphical effects like lighting or reflections, but this type of game really doesn’t need too much in the special effects department anyway. Like any Mario game, all of the graphics are extremely cute and colorful. Although the game will definitely appeal to younger kids, a bunch of college buddies and I found the game to be fun despite the primary hues.
I was quite surprised with the music in the game. There are quite a few music tracks in the game that are above average for the N64. Probably the best music is at the end of the game when the winner is being announced. For nostalgia’s sake there are a few tunes thrown in from some of the older games like Super Mario Bros. to help set the mood. Probably the most disappointing part of the sound is the voices. Mario, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong all sound fine, but Wario, Peach (to an extent), and Luigi all sound different from those found in Mario Kart 64. Luigi sounds much more like Mario now and Peach is just a little bit different. I was rather upset that Wario’s trademark laugh has been replaced with nothing more than a pathetic mockery of the one found in Mario Kart 64. I’m not sure why Nintendo decided to change the voices, but it’s very noticeable and disturbing. Although most of the mini-games are fairly simple to learn and to play, I must warn potential buyers of Mario Party that this game is extremely tough on your controllers. Many of the mini-games are reminiscent of Track and Field on the NES. It’s one of those games where the faster you push the buttons or the faster you can rotate the control stick, the better you perform in the game. I cringed more than once as I watched my friends rip on the analog stick when playing games like Tug ‘o War. I just know that this game can’t be good for the control stick and I’m worried that after extended play of Mario Party my controllers will end up virtually unplayable, like those often found in many store displays.  So, is Mario Party a game worth purchasing? If you’re the type of gamer that always has friends over that like to play Nintendo 64 then I’d say this game would definitely hold everyone’s interest for a considerable time. That’s assuming, of course, that you and your friends aren’t the type of people who only like to play “mature” games with lots of blood and gore. If, on the other hand, you find that you mostly play your games alone and won’t be having too many opportunities to play this game with a bunch of friends, then you would probably be best off staying away from it. This game just doesn’t offer the same kind of excitement when played alone. Mario Party truly is one of those rare games that simply must be played with at least a couple of friends to achieve the full enjoyment intended. Virtually anyone can play this game with the simple controls and basic gameplay, and pretty much anyone can win too. As with most board games, Mario Party relies heavily on luck (the roll of the dice) and has little to do with skill. Looking for that perfect game to get your girlfriend or parents into playing the N64? This is it.
-- Craig Majaski
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