Lurker > Kamekguy

Phew, this one took a minute, but thanks for putting it together! Fun little thought experiment that showed "wow, I am influenced heavily by the power of the crappy 90's cartoons some of these received"

Ordered within tiers.

https://i.imgur.com/SqZYlez.jpg

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Claude
Bow
Dee
Toad

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Link Between Worlds

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Yoshis Tropcial Island (MP1)
Probably the most fun board theme out of any Mario Party title. The melody is so strong and so quickly pops into your head, and the song just feels like it has a lot more punch to it. Definitely either it or Space Land stand out the most in that regard. As for the board itself I actually rather like it. Theres only one stretch of spaces on the entire board that doesnt run the risk of a player landing on a Happening Space (and even then, they could roll high and land on a Mushroom Space, roll again, and THEN land on a Happening), and the gimmick of Toad and Bowser changing sides every time any player lands on one ends up INCREDIBLY aggressive. While you can still go star hunting and swap islands, the Thwomp bridges make that very difficult if a player decides to up the toll, and given how every pass of the board is going to result in a coin less, makes maintaining your coins frustratingly difficult. I like the dichotomy Koopa Troopa and Boo have going on this board, too - Boo is limited to randomly stealing between 1 and 15 coins in this game, while Koopa is always a +10, with +20 being very possible if two or more players decide to stick on his island. Due to the Toad/Bowser check being right before Boo, a player is going to need around 70 coins minimum in order to steal a star proper (or over 50 while saying NO to Toad, which is undesirable but possible). This makes farming the far more reliable Koopa Troopa a potential strategy, using the amassed wealth and guaranteed boost after seeing Bowser or Toad in order to gain the Coin Star and pass over when the money is plentiful and Boo looks appetizing. For a board without much choice and mercy, theres a good deal of strategizing that can go into when you cross over, especially if not going in Lite Play and the Thwomp prices can absolutely skyrocket. Its a chaotic time, but its always a fun one, exemplifying the cruelest aspects of Mario Party 1 without making it a slog to play. Also Bowser fat shames you here. Hes funny.

Bowser Toss (MP3)
I am physically incapable of playing this game well. If ANY game warranted control stick spinning, it would be this one. Instead, its a weird mixture of endurance button mashing and lining up an angle, which only really comes from trial and error. Unlike other learn it games, Im less of a fan of this one, as performing both tasks tends to leave your attention divided so as to prevent you from learning the proper arc. Or I could just be bad at it and dislike it because Im bad. Probably among the worst things in the series with Bowser in its name.

Shroom City (MPA)
Do you ever have a game that you know is bad, Hell it doesnt even really do anything that remarkable, but you like playing it anyway? Maybe its just a good way to pass the time, maybe it does little things and have little character moments, maybe its just got some good animations or pretty colors sometimes, maybe you keep putting money into it in order to get sexy jpgs, but it brings you comfort in spite of its lack of quality. For me, that game is Yu-Gi-Oh: The Falsebound Kingdom, without a doubt. But Shroom City in Mario Party Advance is probably up there, too. Theres no real meat to this mode, you just kinda go back and forth between Mario characters, doing fetch quests and occasionally doing mini-games, with the only pressure on you being a limited dice roll counter that you can only occasionally supplement. Along the way, Bowser exists and challenges you to various things, revealing that he is basically Brutus from Popeye and is really good at everything, but SLIGHTLY worse than you at everything. Is it impressive? No. Is it even that fun? Not really. But it is comforting. Sometimes, a game can just be played for its own sake, and this is definitely one of those times. Games totally over when you beat it, though. Lol most of these mini-games. Broom Zooms okay though.

Bowser Tier
Bowser
Bowser Land (MP2)
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Shy Guys Perplex Express (MP8)
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Wacky Watch (MP3)
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Control Schtick (MP6)
Donkey Kong
Castaway Bay (MP6)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Peak Precision (MP9)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Pushy Penguins (MP5)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Golden Mushroom
Day At The Races (MP2)
Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
Waluigi
Last Five Turns Event
Mini-Game Island (MP1)
Luigi
Stake Your Claim (SMP)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Daisy
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Faster Than All (MP1)
Time To Shine (SMP)
Mushroom Genie
Yoshis Tropical Island (MP1)
Costumes (MP2)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Bash n Cash (MP1)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Team Names (MP5 & MP6)
Domination (MP4)
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Couldnt Be Better (MP2)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Spiny Desert (MP3)
Blooper (MP8)
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Shroom City (MPA)
Rockin' Raceway (MP3)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Baby Bowser Host (MP2)
Locked Out (MP3)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Skateboard Scamper
Toad (Playable)
Saving Courage (MP1)
Mecha Fly Guy (Mini-Game House)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Crazy Cutter (MP1 & MP2)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
Insectiride (MP6)
Fowl Play (MP3)
Shell Shocked (MP2)
give me the ball papa
Western Land (MP2)
Happening Star

Happening Star Tier
Yoshi
Koopa Kid
Bowser Suit
Grand Canal (MP7)
Face Lift (MP1 & MP2)
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
MC Ballyhoo
Cake Factory (MP2)
Honeycomb Havoc (MP2)
Grab Bag (MP1)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Commercial (MP1)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Card Party (MP5)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Lottery Shop (MP4)
Kamekguy
"Good Choice!" (MP3)
Aces High (MP3)
Practicing Mini-Games
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Mushroom
Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Poison Mushroom (MP3)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Choosing Not To Buy A Star
Look Away (MP2)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
DK Space
Platform Peril
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Steamer
Creepy Cavern (MP3)
Mario Party Boss Battles
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Windmillville (MP7)
Talking Parrot (MP1)
Piranhas Pursuit (MP1)
Snowflake Lake (MP6)
Twila (MP6)
Hotel Goomba (MP5)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
Blowhard (MP3)
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Snifit Patrol (MP2)
Mic Easter Eggs (MP6)
Woody's 777 Coins Message (MP2)
Marios hat
Mario
Shy Guys Jungle Jam (MP4)
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
King Boo's Haunted Hideaway (MP8)
Tumble (MP3)
Instruction Manual (MP7)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Chance Time Music (MP3)
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Bowser Toss (MP3)
Koopas Seaside Soiree (MP4)
Stardust Battle (MP3)
Hammer Bro
Pirate Dream (MP5)
Shock, Drop, or Roll (MP2)
Mini-Game Shop (MP1)
Coward Gloves (MP1)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
Dueling Glove (MP2)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Memory Match (MP1)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Sparky Sticker (MP4)
Sweet Dream (MP5)
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
Crate & Peril (MP6)
Duel Game Themes (MP6)
Spotlight Swim (MP3)
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Big Top (MP8)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
End Of The Line (MP3)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Cast Aways (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)
Mario Party: The Top 100

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://i.imgur.com/3oc8QIq.png

The most powerful item in all of Mario Party? Perhaps not quite to the level of flexibility of the Reverse Mushroom, but certainly the most fun item in all of Mario Party. The Wacky Watch changes the state of the game where the next turn will be the beginning Last Five Turns. This not only includes advancing the game state forward to skip up to 43 turns of Party, but this also INCLUDES during the last five turns, REWINDING the clock to do the Last Five Turns event again and play out a few more rounds. Absolutely nothing commands more respect that this item, but considering its incredible rarity, it's not much of a surprise. The Wacky Watch can only be obtained either from Toad appearing on an Item Space and responding to him with a medium response (where he'll usually give you a single item instead and even if he rolls 'rare item' it's a 1-in-4 chance to get the watch), as a very rare drop from a Hidden Block containing an item, OR as an exceptionally rare pull from Baby Bowser's Item Bag. The game ceases to be about proper strategy once the watch is in play - EVERYTHING turns into damage control for whenever the lucky player decides to use it, or otherwise trying to Plunder Chest it away to get that incredible advantage. If it were any more common, it would definitely overstay its welcome. But it's a rare item that I'm really disappointed hasn't returned in any other Mario Party installment - sure would be more impactful than the Bowser Suit in 4.

Team Names (MP5 & MP6)
This is probably the strongest identity-building thing in the Mario Party series other than MP2's costumes and the character dice blocks. Just little names like these add so much personality to these characters' relationships that goes unexplored. In general, Waluigi's got some absolute great ones with the Princesses in Awkward Date and Anti-Couple, and I love the Toadette/Luigi team of "Forgotten Force". However, my absolute favorite has to go to the team of Wario/Koopa Kid - the Bad Baddies. It's just... so bafflingly, hilariously lazy that I desperately want to root for them. If there were baseball tees made of these teams, sign me up for team Bad Baddies, because I might just buy one of those. The worst are... honestly probably some of Toad's. Just no creativity. "Best Buds, Good Pals, Royal Pals, Cute Buddies" - no real investment other than propagating the lie that Toad is shaped like a friend. "Mushroom Stinkers" is probably the worst of these, just doesn't sound right phonetically and it's another "haha Wario you smelly" example, which I'm never a fan of compared to just going "haha Wario you are a greedy sociopath".

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

VLR

My ideal final would be Uprising Vs Robobot, but they came along really nicely.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Mushroom
The quick and easy. Mushrooms are greatly underestimated by beginner players wanting to hold onto their coins. They are very wrong. Mushrooms offer a 10% chance at a total refund at their most expensive, with a slightly lower chance of getting Double 7s and getting 20 free coins. They are utterly invaluable on boards like Pirate Land, Space Land, and Spiny Desert, where getting past specific board features for cheap is an absolute godsend. Do they have the potential to blow up in your face and only move you 3 spaces? Sure, but youd have those crappy turns anyway without it. The Mushroom is more strictly an early game item, as when the Golden Mushroom becomes both more accessible and more affordable, the Mushrooms cheapness stops being a strong advantage. But it has its uses as an early-game item and is occasionally invaluable at pressing the advantage.

Hammer Bro
I kind of love the necessary existence of Hammer Bro in Mario Party. They made Koopa Troopa a buddy for Mario, but needed some character to be antagonistic. Thus, Hammer Bro exists in the first three Mario Parties for the sole purpose of being asshole Koopa Troopa. Its amazing that the debut of the hardest enemy in Mario 1 in 3D, AND the only appearance of Hammer Bro on the N64 other than as a late-game enemy in Paper Mario, is in the Mario Party series. And instead of a regular Koopa, hes this weird, angry, beaked monstrosity. And its not like Hammer Bro didnt have Mario RPG to fall back on for a cleaner, modern design - for some reason hes just a really angry bird-aviator man. I also really love how in Mario Party 5, his Capsule is just come down, gank you, do a chicken dance, leave. No fanfare, no mocking, just business.

Why, then, does he suck so much as a playable character? Hammer Bros had tons of personality in their first playable appearance in Mario Superstar Baseball, kind of a breakdancing and flipping all over himself vibe reminiscent of him jumping all over the place in Mario 1 and Mario 3. And then hes just kinda toned down. He does poses with his hammer and junk and thats about it. Hes also got this wannabe rapper vibe to him where he says yo in a high-pitched voice like an 11-year old playing Halo 2 on their dads Xbox Live. His dice block is kind of bad? Like mostly focusing on 5s is fine, but then hes got an uneven spread of 1s and + coins that makes handling with him not as consistent as Daisy or Shy Guy, but not as rewarding as Boo. Hammer Bro is the weird case where making him playable made him SIGNIFICANTLY less interesting - he doesnt even get oh neat, a weird character to play! points because Blooper just utterly outclasses him in that regard, as does Monty Mole. He managed to somehow endure past Birdo but also be less interesting than her, which is quite the feat in futility. Hes lucky he has earlier appearances, because yikes.

Locked Out (MP3)
This is a very fun battle game for one reason and one reason alone: sandbagging one specific player with the most to lose. In most battle games, either players act independently of one another, a sandbagged player can at least guarantee theyll take a target player out with them, or its Grab Bag or Hot Bob-omb and its too chaotic to ensure that strategy will last compared to survival instinct. Locked Out is different, though - single-elimination, freeform standard character control, the only goal being to get a key to unlock a door with there being one less key than the number of players. The ability to bully one player is FIERCE. I mean past that, its luck with spawns and then reading your opponents input, but this is always a frenzy and there is ALWAYS the chance to utterly RUIN someones day. And I, for one, am all for that.

Bowser Tier
Bowser
Bowser Land (MP2)
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Shy Guys Perplex Express (MP8)
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Control Schtick (MP6)
Donkey Kong
Castaway Bay (MP6)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Peak Precision (MP9)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Pushy Penguins (MP5)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Golden Mushroom
Day At The Races (MP2)
Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)
Luigi
Stake Your Claim (SMP)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Daisy
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Faster Than All (MP1)
Time To Shine (SMP)
Mushroom Genie
Costumes (MP2)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Domination (MP4)
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Couldnt Be Better (MP2)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Spiny Desert (MP3)
Blooper (MP8)
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Rockin' Raceway (MP3)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Baby Bowser Host (MP2)
Locked Out (MP3)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Saving Courage (MP1)
Mecha Fly Guy (Mini-Game House)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Crazy Cutter (MP1 & MP2)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
Insectiride (MP6)
Fowl Play (MP3)
Shell Shocked (MP2)
give me the ball papa
Western Land (MP2)
Happening Star

Happening Star Tier
Yoshi
Koopa Kid
Bowser Suit
Grand Canal (MP7)
Face Lift (MP1 & MP2)
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
MC Ballyhoo
Cake Factory (MP2)
Honeycomb Havoc (MP2)
Grab Bag (MP1)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Commercial (MP1)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Card Party (MP5)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Lottery Shop (MP4)
Kamekguy
"Good Choice!" (MP3)
Aces High (MP3)
Practicing Mini-Games
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Mushroom
Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Poison Mushroom (MP3)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Choosing Not To Buy A Star
Look Away (MP2)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
DK Space
Platform Peril
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Creepy Cavern (MP3)
Mario Party Boss Battles
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Windmillville (MP7)
Talking Parrot (MP1)
Snowflake Lake (MP6)
Twila (MP6)
Hotel Goomba (MP5)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
Blowhard (MP3)
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Snifit Patrol (MP2)
Mic Easter Eggs (MP6)
Woody's 777 Coins Message (MP2)
Marios hat
Mario
Shy Guys Jungle Jam (MP4)
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
King Boo's Haunted Hideaway (MP8)
Tumble (MP3)
Instruction Manual (MP7)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Chance Time Music (MP3)
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Koopas Seaside Soiree (MP4)
Stardust Battle (MP3)
Hammer Bro
Pirate Dream (MP5)
Shock, Drop, or Roll (MP2)
Mini-Game Shop (MP1)
Coward Gloves (MP1)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
Dueling Glove (MP2)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Memory Match (MP1)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Sparky Sticker (MP4)
Sweet Dream (MP5)
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
Crate & Peril (MP6)
Duel Game Themes (MP6)
Spotlight Swim (MP3)
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Big Top (MP8)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
End Of The Line (MP3)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Cast Aways (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)
Mario Party: The Top 100

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Mushroom Genie
"Mushroom-Kadabra" is a lame saying, and the far cooler "Fungus-Pocus" is used, disappointingly, on the inferior Mushroom Jeanie. However, you gotta appreciate the moxie of this guy. The dude is an absolute powerhouse, flying through the sun AND doing a Charizard Seismic Toss in order to get you to land on the star. He doesn't just fly ten feet, no, this absolute beast will make a show of his time freed from the lamp. I love the Arabian Nights aesthetic in general, and this loser with his watermelon pants makes the absolute most of perhaps being secretly the strongest Mario character. However, his true star shines in Mario Party 4. Like it or not, that's what peak performance looks like; being able to create earthquakes with nothing but your own girth SO accurate that you're able to blast someone off to a specific location within a one meter diameter. You can do this a lot more boringly, as the Flutter orb would later prove, but the genie decides to style and be a highlight. Good on you, getting over even when you've let yourself go horribly.

Domination (MP4)
Will a certain member of each friend group win this every single time? Yes. But this is the best pure mashing game in the series. Simply telling you how well you're mashing in a 10 second sprint lets you know just how far away you are from your friend group's peak, lets you observe what they're doing, and allows you to improve with further practice and thought. This is a mini-game that elevates the average, and the visual spectacle of seeing each Whomp fall is really fun. As a pure masher, it can only get SO far, but it's probably the mini-game that lets you improve at it the most.

Shy Guy's Jungle Jam (MP4)
Yet another board suffering from the "too many spaces" disease. The bottom right section of the board where you begin has 11 spaces in a row that range from Blue to Red to Mushroom, ensuring that each match is off to just the most RIVETING of starts. The path from the right Klepto peak, meanwhile, has NINETEEN spaces between it and the next junction, with the most interesting space in between it and said junction being ONE Warp Space. The Item Shop is a full 17 spaces away. This is a board that BEGS for the Mega Mushroom in order to be interesting, but requires about the 3rd or 4th turn to get there. That's really the main crime of the board - it's just boring. Junctions exist to either progress you back down a linear path to get back to the dull-as-Hell Start loop or to do a temporary loop... that ends up back at the dull-as-Hell Start loop. Klepto SHOULD, in theory, give easier access to the Boo pipe, but the ghost's presence is diminished, as usual, by being locked behind a Mini pipe WITH A WARP SPACE RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM, AND Klepto always begins closer to Boo and would only alternate to take players back down the boring jungle path at the start. The Happening Space gimmick is actually really nicely done, the spaces always located after a player crosses a river and giving a 50/50 if they'll be able to guard their position. Three Happenings in a row make them farmable with mini-mushrooms, and that ends up as really appealing design. What's frustrating about Jungle Jam is that it doesn't really have a reason to be as bad as it is - remove about six spaces from the starting loop and take out the Mini pipes entirely and this board actually has some relatively nice flow to it. But what obstacles are there just make it a slog to play.

Spiny Desert (MP3)
Hey kids, do you like Boo? How do you like an almost guaranteed 3 passes of Boo with a Reverse Mushroom? Spiny Desert is one of the most degenerate maps in all of Mario Party, and it's fun purely because of that. Sure, the bottom left of the map is a big nothing with Too Many Spaces disease, but there's a lot of fun to be had. The Happening Spaces are intensely farmable, as each sand pit spits you out to another and sends everyone in it to the same space, resetting your position and letting you infinitely loop to farm to your heart's content. This also creates the opportunity for a TON of Duel Mini-Games on the Last Five Turns. The mirage star is actually decently clever, always spawning in a space where the star hasn't been before unless the game outright runs out of Star Spawns, making it not something that can be easily cheated... except for the Mushroom Genie, who'll go straight to the star every single time. This makes the lamp EXTRA desirable on this map, especially if you're trapped in the sand pit. But Boo... oh baby, Boo. This map has the best skeleton key gate placement in the entire series, one gate guarding Boo and the other providing a shortcut to the top of the map at the start. However, what's also there is a cactus. By hitting Mr. Cactus, the player is sent to the far right side of the board, directly underneath the path that Boo lurks. By using a Reverse Mushroom after hitting the cactus, it is INTENSELY easy to hit Boo twice in a single turn, bouncing off of the Skeleton Key gate. OR you could simply open the Skeleton Key gate from the top, get Boo, and pop a reverse the next turn, triple dipping so easily that it should be criminal. This is only further intensified by the amount of Reverse Mushrooms you can carry, which is made EVEN EASIER because there is an item shop RIGHT IN FRONT of Mr. Cactus. This game can turn into absolute degeneracy with Boo getting more work in this one board than in the entirety of Luigi's Mansion, and that's... not really the MOST fun position to be in, but usually players will let up before it becomes too bad. The only major issue are those sand traps - due to the strength of the Magic Lamp, Skeleton Key, and Reverse Mushroom, it's unlikely that players will invest in the usual movement items. It's VERY possible to have an utterly miserable game, sitting in the sand trap and praying for a high roll, duels happening twice a turn in the Last 5 and slowing the game state to a crawl. There are some really solid things that can be done with this map... but they're a bit overcentralized and most players are going to aim for the same strategy. It's a strong board, but an inflexible one.

Practicing Mini-Games
I personally think that, after you establish a basic familiarity with video games, this should be turned off, along with mini-game explanations. It just saves time and watching people flounder like it's WarioWare is funny. However, I do admit it's very necessary for newer players and the 'board game' audience Mario Party wants to attract. Players need to feel comfortable, and some people playing Mario Party might not even feel comfortable with their controllers, much less how to control their character. Practice allows a risk-free environment to get used to the control schemes of Mario Party (of which there are often just, like, eight per game and then variations therein). Do I think it slows the game to a crawl? Absolutely. But it's a nice concession to have.

Faster Than All (MP1)
I love fiddles. This is just a fun, high-octane sprint song, really love it. I remember specifically setting this song to play on one of the random MUGEN stages.I had back in the day, I think related to Cheese Land from Mario Kart: Super Circuit? Simple, but clean. Yeehaw.

Platform Peril
Honestly, it's one of the weaker platforming games in the series. The perspective is somewhat necessary in order to properly illustrate depth, but awkward to control as you move in a slight diagonal slant. The consistency of the platforming also makes it less a test of reaction and more "how well can you rhythmically hop and short hop", with the players at the far sides often getting screwed by the moving platforms in 2 moreso than the players in the center getting stopped by the weird pyramid things. There's no particularly strong fluidity to it... but it is platforming. The basis isn't bad, the execution is just uninspired.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Kirby6417 posted...

Also a general discussion topic that Kamekguy might weigh in on: What is the best way to enjoy Mario Party?

First off, thank you for the comment!

As you might surmise from... more than a few of these write-ups, I find that Mario Party is a fun force of uncontrollable chaos. However, I find that there are ways and strategies to sift through and better control that chaos, making the game much stronger than simply "roll dice, see what happen, be good at mini-games" (that's what Peach's Birthday Cake is for, after all). It's a game about pressing the advantage whenever possible, but also thinking about all of the behind the scenes factors. Take just Boo, for instance. The obvious inclination, if you have 50 coins when you reach him, is "steal a star from 1st place". However, what if 1st is behind you and also has 50+ coins? If you stole coins from someone else, you could potentially ensure a coin star lead, which is still a +1 star advantage for you, and the player in first has a target on their back. But you could SPIN that into negotiating with the player in 1st, "you don't steal from me, I don't steal from you". If they betray you, they have no honor and no one will make deals with them whilst knowing that you're a man, princess, dinosaur, or Donkey Kong of honor. If they don't, you've painted a target on their back as they're in the PRESENT lead and you're in.a far harder to take lead (it's way harder to take a coin star of 110+ or so than it is to steal a star). You can then start targeting Happening Spaces to get yet another unstealable and throw mini-games where you'd benefit your "partner" in order to ensure that they don't get mini-game star.

Mario Party, to me, is about taking these meta decisions and going along for the ride for a MASSIVE turnabout. I have lost games where I have played excellently due to neglecting the bonus stars. If you're exceptionally bored, I was on a stream with friends on a 50 turn game of Bowser Land wherein victory was choked away by EVERYONE present at least once. If you couldn't gather by this topic, I'm the lout playing as DK.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/568122375?filter=archives&sort=time

That's what I feel Mario Party should be: constantly floundering and debating on how and when to make the best decisions and make the best of bad situations. I feel like, if everyone is expecting their leads to be taken at any time, then the best you can do is get that lead, then rush like crazy to try to pad it up. I find boards like most of Mario Party 5's to end up more as novelties in that sense; fun for the amount of chaos that can be rought, but you're just rolling dice and praying more often than you're trying to control the dice to screw the person who can hurt you the least over so you can press advantage in one of several categories. The game behind the game and being able to influence that by gaining more options or shake up the game state dramatically is what I find to be the most fun way to play Mario Party. Does that require a specific mindset? Yeah, it does, but it's one pretty easily fostered by a good game of Castaway Bay or Horror Land! But I'm also a person who tends to keep rolling tallies for sets of boards and I don't usually let an individual loss get me down, as I can win the next game more spectacularly or negotiate "hey, if I help you win this one, alliance on the next game?" You're totally fine to play pure chaos, keep everyone as healthy as possible rules, and MP5 having no on-board Boos definitely lends itself to that nicely, Hell MP9 and MP10 lend themselves to that pretty comfortably. I just like using everything at my disposal.

More write-ups happening after I get biscuits out of the oven and into my stomach.

---

Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Yoshi
Oh poor, naive Yoshi. Hes told a direct lie by Toad at the beginning: the Super Star requires kindness. And the poor sucker takes those words to heart, defining himself as the kindest of all (note: if you are bragging about how kind you are to prevent someone else from fulfilling their dreams, you have problems). However, there is one undeniable fact: Yoshi is cute as heck in the N64 games. The Mario Party model of Yoshi is probably the greatest balance between his Super Mario World dinosaur design and his Yoshis Story straight upright human in a dinosaur costume design; hes got a little lean as he goes forward, always leading with his head, but his bodys pretty squat and keeps him standing upright. Combine that with his big ol eyes and youve got an intensely cute character to look at. Couple this with having arguably the strongest Duel Mode partner in Boo, who is weaker than Luigis Goomba economically but far better on Blowhard and Backtrack due to knowing Destiny Bond, and Yoshis greatest time is, inarguably, on the N64. His signature item is Warp Block, which is kind of eh compared to most of the other sigs, but it just makes Yoshi more agreeable and enjoyable as a computer player. Youre never upset to see Yoshi; he is, by all accounts and definitions, a good boy.

As with a lot of characters, the Gamecube severely screwed up Yoshis voice. While not quite as grating as waiting for Peach and Daisy to get their footings with their characters or unintentionally hilariously bad as Scott Burns as Bowser yeah the pwee pwoohs! of old being replaced with Yoshis Storys best, combined with Yoshis established modern design taking over, really didnt do the guy any favors. Yoshi continued to be a good part of the cast, dont get me wrong - its hard to HATE the guy and he was STILL the cutest until Boo showed up - but he settled into a very average role. His orb in 7 was middle of the road, he became more tired the more and more games used the same damn Yoshi voice clips, and perhaps rubbing the most salt in the wound, hes probably the worst character in Super Mario Party. 0-1-3-3-5-7. Worse than the regular dice blocks average, unable to get a reliable stall, his small advantage in having a 7 too inconsistent to hope for - only Koopa Troopa really comes close in how bad he is (and some would argue Monty, but 0 > 1 every day, baby).

Yoshis a sad story - hes never bad (except when he is), but hes far from his glory days. Hell always have his fans, and they absolutely deserve to ride or die behind him, but that spark of a young, naive boy is gone, replaced with the complacency of a veteran just riding out his contract that he realized too late will never end. He doesnt hate the game - partying was his life for a time - but hes numb to it, recycling the same old gimmicks and putting on a tired little show. I respect the dino, few have given more for this business than he, but he needs to innovate on his presentation instead of just hoping new fans will meet him for the first time and latch onto what was cool all those years ago. I feel like Im doing him dirty, but perhaps its a mercy? Or maybe its just animal rivalry as a DK main, I dunno.

Bowser Tier
Bowser
Bowser Land (MP2)
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Shy Guys Perplex Express (MP8)
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Control Schtick (MP6)
Donkey Kong
Castaway Bay (MP6)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Peak Precision (MP9)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Pushy Penguins (MP5)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Golden Mushroom
Day At The Races (MP2)
Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)
Luigi
Stake Your Claim (SMP)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Daisy
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Time To Shine (SMP)
Costumes (MP2)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Couldnt Be Better (MP2)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Blooper (MP8)
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Rockin' Raceway (MP3)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Baby Bowser Host (MP2)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Saving Courage (MP1)
Mecha Fly Guy (Mini-Game House)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Crazy Cutter (MP1 & MP2)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
Insectiride (MP6)
Fowl Play (MP3)
Shell Shocked (MP2)
give me the ball papa
Western Land (MP2)
Happening Star

Happening Star Tier
Yoshi
Koopa Kid
Bowser Suit
Grand Canal (MP7)
Face Lift (MP1 & MP2)
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
MC Ballyhoo
Cake Factory (MP2)
Honeycomb Havoc (MP2)
Grab Bag (MP1)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Commercial (MP1)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Card Party (MP5)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Lottery Shop (MP4)
Kamekguy
"Good Choice!" (MP3)
Aces High (MP3)
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Poison Mushroom (MP3)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Choosing Not To Buy A Star
Look Away (MP2)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
DK Space
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Creepy Cavern (MP3)
Mario Party Boss Battles
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Windmillville (MP7)
Talking Parrot (MP1)
Snowflake Lake (MP6)
Twila (MP6)
Hotel Goomba (MP5)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
Blowhard (MP3)
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Snifit Patrol (MP2)
Mic Easter Eggs (MP6)
Woody's 777 Coins Message (MP2)
Marios hat
Mario
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
King Boo's Haunted Hideaway (MP8)
Tumble (MP3)
Instruction Manual (MP7)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Chance Time Music (MP3)
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Koopas Seaside Soiree (MP4)
Stardust Battle (MP3)
Pirate Dream (MP5)
Shock, Drop, or Roll (MP2)
Mini-Game Shop (MP1)
Coward Gloves (MP1)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
Dueling Glove (MP2)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Memory Match (MP1)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Sparky Sticker (MP4)
Sweet Dream (MP5)
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
Crate & Peril (MP6)
Duel Game Themes (MP6)
Spotlight Swim (MP3)
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Big Top (MP8)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
End Of The Line (MP3)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Cast Aways (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)
Mario Party: The Top 100

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Happening Star
Definitely the weakest of the three classic Bonus Stars, but it's always an interesting, alternative win condition. I was a kid who ran Wildfire mill decks in Pokemon and Exodia decks in Yugioh - in short, I was a horrible child. This fits in with finding that secret, bonus objective off the beaten path. How GOOD the Happening Star actually was and how fun it was to seek out depends on the board. Some (Bowser Land, Deep Bloober Sea, Waluigi's Island) use it to great effect in order get you to stall at particular areas in order to try and get a huge lead on it. Others (Yoshi's Tropical Island, Mystery Land, Pirate Land) have it so baked into their identity that individual sprints toward it MAY be difficult, but it'll always be there, causing some mischief. And then you have boards that just suck with it and you'll be lucky if anyone gets the Happening Star at all (Boo's Haunted Bash, Wario's Battle Canyon). I'm very glad it's in, there definitely needs to be an equalizer solely based on board play since the Mini-Game Star is based on the other, and I think it's superior to the Far Star or Red Star in that regard, but it's too board dependent to be anything but better than its own tier.

Duel Game Themes (MP6)
Space is pretty boring, the weird pastel factory is SUPER boring, and spooky world is actually a pretty cute aesthetic. In general, I hate reusing aesthetics for mini-games, though, and these are no different. Surreality is one of Mario Party's greatest artistic strengths, stripping that away from it is just intensely disappointing. At least space and spooky SOMETIMES try to mix it up and look different, that factory aesthetic is just dull and disappointing every time it appears.

Honeycomb Havoc (MP2)
You have zero agency if you are third or fourth and the player in first or second has any idea what they're doing. Negotiate for your life so you get to choose which of you gets to live, but SOMEONE is going to get screwed, which isn't very fun. Otherwise, it's one of the more fun 'cerebral' games. It's not terribly hard, as all you have to do is be able to count to 5 and you win once you're down to 3 players. Force whoever's going next to have 5 fruits or coins remaining and the absolute worst they can do is reduce you to a state of either 1 or 3 fruits left on your next turn. Take 1 or 2 reactionarily and you win. Then for the 1v1, ensure that you'll have either 5 or 4 fruits remaining on your turn. Take the exact number needed to get 3, and your opponent will be unable to react, guaranteeing the beehive lands on them. You CAN screw yourself up trying to overthink it, but you're given long enough to think that it's not exactly difficult to picture things in your head. Just limit your opponent's moves rather than trying to calculate all the possibilities and negotiate if it's not a 1v1. Sometimes you'll just lose, and that'll suck, as the environment isn't QUITE controlled enough to purposefully sandbag as you can't count on everyone's mental state to be sharp enough to use this game smartly (it's Mario Party, your brain will deteriorate). But the music is pitch-perfect for it and it makes people feel stupid, so that's good.

Hotel Goomba (MP5)
Such an awesome idea for a mini-game. This is one I would've loved to see the "bonus" treatment with, just tons of different rooms with a limited number of resets. Unfortunately, the execution leaves a LOT to be desired. If it's been played even twice before, pathing is super easy as the puzzle is always consistent, and you basically have to rely on someone having sub-optimal movement or making a mistake to have this not come down to a coin flip. Super fun game ruined by its lack of ambition.

Snowflake Lake (MP6)
It has Whacka from Paper Mario on it. Whacka is the greatest Mario character ever invented, so clearly the map should be great, right? Well... not entirely. Of the recurring gimmicks in 6 and 7, "start with 5 stars and have Chain Chomp steal for you" is one of my least favorites. The way Chain Chomp function is you pay him coins, like Boo, and then get to roll dice blocks based on the number of coins you gave him at night or 20 coins for one during the day. Anyone you pass during that roll gets their star stolen, essentially a Bowser Suit on steroids. My issue is that there... really isn't much strategy to this. If you're buying during the day, it's an absolute Hail Mary, as you could just roll a 1 and there's your money for nighttime all gone. If you're rolling at night, you're getting the 3 dice option because of course you are, but most players with the lead are going to try to stick the night out in the central area, where you get to play a fun ice rink game way too often because everyone goes to the center area and keeps stepping on the damn Happening Spaces. There are some light strategic elements - you could buy a Triple Shroom Orb and then power forward past.a dog house to the next in order to make someone who's safe feel off-guard - but the fact that the Chain Chomps move you anyway makes buying movement options feel redundant for the most part, as you're already extending your rolls with the doggos. It's a cute idea and honestly pretty fun board design, but the way the chomps function overcentralizes strategy waaaaay too much.

Sparky Sticker (MP4)
Garbage item. I understand that it's meant to be a counter to the Mega Mushroom - you're guarding a pathway so that someone can't run over you. However... it costs 15 coins to get this item. The item takes away 10 coins. Just by buying the item, in the best case scenario, you are losing 5 coins compared to your opponent so that they don't MAYBE run you over when you could probably very easily do the same to them. Considering how easy it is to get Megas and that Mega Mushrooms SKIP THE STAR in general... this is just useless. It might have some use if you could get it from an item space, but whoops! Those are gone, more mushrooms in your diet, please! There's an idea behind this thing's design, but it's done so badly compared to everything surrounding it that it's just a waste of money every single time. Please just save for a Gaddlight, Crystal Ball, or Magic Lamp - that's about all the store's good for in 4, anyway.

Mario Party: Star Rush
Unfamiliar! I skipped out on the 3DS games (besides Top 100, which I borrowed and watched enough of to hate on principle that it exists), but this one intrigued me with the mode that would eventually become Partner Party. And... yeah, that was interesting! I'm fine with cute experiments like this, I wish they wouldn't sell it as a full retail game, but it's fun to see them experiment!

Couldn't Be Better (MP2)
Theme of hijinx. I love how this mini-game tends to sync to the main cymbal crashes at the start. The START voice usually syncs to right before the last notes of the intro, and then that tends to time out to time-based games ending right at that same loop point. That's fun and strong sound design, really appreciable.

Talking Parrot
Not quite sure it's a Top 5 parrot in games - video games have a SHOCKING number of good parrots, after all. I appreciate that the Mario Wiki specifically says that "The parrot is only for show and a good laugh". Is it sad that, due to the randomized nature of the voices coming out of its beak, you can't just spam D'OH I MISSED to your heart's content? Yeah. But such is the burden of Talking Parrot. He's also got a little head bop with attitude, that's cool.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Bowser Tier
Bowser
Bowser Land (MP2)
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Shy Guys Perplex Express (MP8)
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Control Schtick (MP6)
Donkey Kong
Castaway Bay (MP6)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Peak Precision (MP9)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Pushy Penguins (MP5)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Golden Mushroom
Day At The Races (MP2)
Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)
Luigi
Stake Your Claim (SMP)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Daisy
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Time To Shine (SMP)
Costumes (MP2)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Blooper (MP8)
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Rockin' Raceway (MP3)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Baby Bowser Host (MP2)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Saving Courage (MP1)
Mecha Fly Guy (Mini-Game House)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Crazy Cutter (MP1 & MP2)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
Insectiride (MP6)
Fowl Play (MP3)
Shell Shocked (MP2)
give me the ball papa
Western Land (MP2)

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Bowser Suit
Grand Canal (MP7)
Face Lift (MP1 & MP2)
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
MC Ballyhoo
Cake Factory (MP2)
Grab Bag (MP1)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Commercial (MP1)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Card Party (MP5)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Lottery Shop (MP4)
Kamekguy
"Good Choice!" (MP3)
Aces High (MP3)
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Poison Mushroom (MP3)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Choosing Not To Buy A Star
Look Away (MP2)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
DK Space
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Creepy Cavern (MP3)
Mario Party Boss Battles
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Windmillville (MP7)
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
Blowhard (MP3)
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Snifit Patrol (MP2)
Mic Easter Eggs (MP6)
Woody's 777 Coins Message (MP2)
Marios hat
Mario
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
King Boo's Haunted Hideaway (MP8)
Tumble (MP3)
Instruction Manual (MP7)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Chance Time Music (MP3)
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Koopas Seaside Soiree (MP4)
Stardust Battle (MP3)
Pirate Dream (MP5)
Shock, Drop, or Roll (MP2)
Mini-Game Shop (MP1)
Coward Gloves (MP1)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
Dueling Glove (MP2)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Memory Match (MP1)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Sweet Dream (MP5)
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
Crate & Peril (MP6)
Spotlight Swim (MP3)
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Big Top (MP8)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
End Of The Line (MP3)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Cast Aways (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)
Mario Party: The Top 100

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Snifit Patrol (MP2)
Well first of all, they're Snufits in this game, not Snifits. You can tell by the shape of the mask looking less goggle-like and the portrait not having a lower body. People get confused with the Whomp/Thwomp bullshit when these guys have been faking their race for 20 years. There's a joke to be made about law enforcement here, as well as needing to pay them to do their job. I like the idea of them more than the implementation - every time that you set up a speed trap, you're essentially causing everyone who hits a Happening Space at either the top or bottom of the board to be in the path of Black Hole Bowser's poverty beam. The issue is, it's only really advantageous in a situation where you're already ahead of someone with more coins than you positionally, are not landing on a Happening Space in the next turn, AND the black hole counter is low. It can optionally also be used if the Star Spawn is on the laser's path, you're landing on a Happening Space, and there's no one else on the row in front of you. It's an occasionally useful movement option, moreso than the Hootenanny in Western Land, it's just... very rarely good? It'll be ranked lower because Wigglers are way cuter than Snufits.

Instruction Manual (MP7)
https://i.imgur.com/1cNZc3V.png

I wonder who she is, what's her story. Who are you, Instruction Book Mic Lady? Anyway the rest of the book gives the most low-effort job possible trying to be, like, travel brochure advertisements for places, and it's colored a nifty blue. It's very aesthetically pleasing to look at. But also it's significantly worse than Wario World or Donkey Kong Country's, and if you're not aiming high, like, what're you doing?

Golden Mushroom
The holy grail of "I want to move somewhere RIGHT NOW". A potential movement of 30 spaces is HUGE - Mario Party boards range from about 70 to 100 spaces, so moving somewhere around a third of all the spaces potentially is INCREDIBLE. However, it is always very cleverly balanced. In Mario Party 2, it's often the worst of the "great" items, normally passed over for a Boo Bell or a Magic Lamp, even occasionally a Bowser Suit or Plunder Chest. Its 20 coin price tag keeps it VERY hefty - in order to properly use it, you have to have at least 40 coins in order to afford both it and a star, possibly 45 in the very likely case a bank is in the way. At that point, you COULD instead be saving for Boo, and it's only 10 coins more to bypass the whole damn rolling process and get a Magic Lamp instead. In 3, it only shows up in Toad's shop, but interacting with board events is MUCH more powerful in 3, as the cacti in Spiny Desert and Monty Mole checkpoints in Woody Woods can attest to. However, that also means passing up on Boo Repellant, making it a strong comeback item instead of a "secure lead" item in most situations, and it's weaker than a Magic Lamp in the same situation as both have been given a 10 coin discount in 3. The Golden Mushroom is shockingly well-balanced to never be the BEST option in most situations, but always being a GOOD option. And if a star should happen to align itself right in front of Boo or before an advantageous board event (Space Land especially), it has the potential to to better than its betters with the power of sheer board awareness. Whereas most Mario Party items are hyper specialized, the Golden Shroom proves to be intensely flexible.

Shy Guy's Perplex Express (MP8)
I LOVE this freakin' map. First off, it's a train. Walt Disney loved trains more than he loved animation and slightly less than he loved capitalism, which makes it the perfect amount of great without becoming controversial. Perhaps less importantly, train levels are almost always great. Uncharted, Wario Land, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, A Hat In Time, Red Dead Redemption, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door - if a train is involved, shit is crazy. Secondly, this is the "linear" map absolutely perfected. The head of the train holds the Shy Guy conductor, who sells stars like normal, but if you land on a DK Space, shit goes off the rails. DK gives out a star for FREE to the first person who gets to him, and people LOVE free stuff. This would make movement-increasing Thrice Candy insanely powerful... except if a player lands on a Bowser Space, Bowser puts his OWN train in place, forcing a star out of anyone who meets him. This would make the Bowser and DK space super valuable to target at specific times... except Happening Spaces cause Kamek to change the position of the train cars, yanking someone who was just about to get a star to the back of the line. So obviously you'd only want to target Happening Spaces at the back of the train... EXCEPT once you visit the train cabin, you're forced on the roof to traverse the train in reverse on a top path, meaning that you WANT the front car to go to the back. AND there are OTHER happening spaces that spit you out from the roof to the cabin and vice-versa. No matter where you are on the train, you can have SO many game plans based on what Candy you've picked up, who's running the train, where the Golden Space has moved to, where your opponent's are - there is not a single board other than maybe Bowser Land that explores the item system more thoroughly. The linearity makes all of the offensive candies SO much stronger strictly due to the lack of junctions, and it turns the slow-rolling shroom from a game breaker at times into a strategic option that EVERYONE has access to at all times. Almost worth playing Mario Party 8 for this board alone. And the fact that DK and Bowser's trains are just giant versions of their Mario Kart Double Dash karts is just... mwah. Beautiful.

Card Party (MP5)
I mean, it's a total luck-based crapshoot... but I'm a sucker for revealing a whole map and weighing my options. It's a "press your luck" style game executed in an... admittedly slightly creepy way with the weird Mario chess pieces. It's not deep or anything, but it's fun.

Commercial (MP1)
Confirmation that Mario resisted arrest and cannot return to Brooklyn because of crimes against palms. I miss the Play It Loud days of Nintendo commercials - you had a bunch of over the top, in-your-face attitude ads like this, Yoshi's Island, Pokemon, and Donkey Kong 64, then the utterly somber Majora's Mask commercial, and the "fun with live action" ones in Paper Mario and Super Smash Bros. This one doesn't rank QUITE as high, takes a while to get to the punchline, but the animation of Mario kicking his baby legs as the police hoist him up is pretty great.

Shock, Drop, or Roll (MP2)
A very fun game until someone figures out the strategy for winning the game easy every time (just spam jump). Then it's horribly unbalanced in favor of the 3. It gets a few points over its "free coins for a certain group" contemporaries, though, for being just... so needlessly cruel. Why did Mario design this death trap and why did his friends agree "yeah, running on a treadmill to avoid death by electrocution after a fall sounds like a GREAT idea?" Among the most true examples for this comic.

https://i.imgur.com/jngTY.jpg

Blowhard (MP3)
The best duel map... basically by default. It has junctions that are short enough that you can chase your opponent down well, but the giant fan in the middle keeps them from over-extending. Belltop being in the middle also keeps it from being TOO abused, as then you're offering your opponent a positional advantage in an attempt to either escape or press your own. It's, like, the only actual strategy other than "well HOPEFULLY I'll come out somewhere good" in Pipesqueak. Which doesn't carry the mode out of being bad but... it's a start?

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Grab Bag (MP1)
AKA "ensure that whoever is in the lead for the mini-game star has a miserable time". It's not my favorite of the needlessly cruel mini-games when Bash 'n' Cash exists, but it's a fun enough time. Rarely does Mario Party just let you go "yeah, screw with each other's coins willy nilly, do whatever you need", and rarely can friendships be strengthened and ended so quickly as they can playing this game. The controls do suck, which both helps and hinders it - it's hard to hit, but the lag after you complete a jump leaves you nice and vulnerable for even a bad player to take advantage of. I don't find that the coin swings it gives are large enough to matter in most situations, but if a player is only a few coins away from a Star or Star Steal... oh baby, the bullying potential is so strong and snowballs so hard.

Blooper (MP8)
Too cute. Just utterly adorable in all animations. Mario Kart regulates him to a worthless item because they are terrified of what would happen if they allowed this adorable monster to reign free. Probably the most instantly appealing "cute and cool" character since Yoshi himself, only matched by Monty Mole. But I actually think I like his animations a bit more than Monty - there's so much you can do with a free-floating character who actually has limbs to express himself with. My instant go-to for MP8, and I don't see why he wouldn't be someone else's.

"Good Choice!" (MP3)
Good choice! Waluigi > Luigi > Daisy > Mario > Wario > Peach > Yoshi > DK for a "Good Choice" tier list. Waluigi channeling all of that Dick Dastardly energy into one line, Luigi sounding like he ran out of breath between each word, Daisy not sounding like a vapid airhead and actually confident in herself, Mario sounding like Mario, Wario's choking a bit on his own words and doesn't sound quite as German as before, Peach is just her usual airhead serenity from this era, and Yoshi noises are cuter than DK noises.

Woody's 777 Message (MP2)
... huh, I was actually now years old when I learned about this. Neat, thanks! I like learning new things! Too minor to really rank fairly, but cool!

Bowser Tier
Bowser
Bowser Land (MP2)
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Control Schtick (MP6)
Donkey Kong
Castaway Bay (MP6)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Peak Precision (MP9)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Pushy Penguins (MP5)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)
Luigi
Stake Your Claim (SMP)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Daisy
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Time To Shine (SMP)
Costumes (MP2)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Blooper (MP8)
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Rockin' Raceway (MP3)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Baby Bowser Host (MP2)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Saving Courage (MP1)
Mecha Fly Guy (Mini-Game House)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Crazy Cutter (MP1 & MP2)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
Insectiride (MP6)
Fowl Play (MP3)
Shell Shocked (MP2)
give me the ball papa
Western Land (MP2)

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Bowser Suit
Grand Canal (MP7)
Face Lift (MP1 & MP2)
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
MC Ballyhoo
Cake Factory (MP2)
Grab Bag (MP1)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Lottery Shop (MP4)
Kamekguy
"Good Choice!" (MP3)
Aces High (MP3)
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Poison Mushroom (MP3)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Choosing Not To Buy A Star
Look Away (MP2)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
DK Space
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Creepy Cavern (MP3)
Mario Party Boss Battles
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Windmillville (MP7)
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mic Easter Eggs (MP6)
Woody's 777 Coins Message (MP2)
Marios hat
Mario
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
King Boo's Haunted Hideaway (MP8)
Tumble (MP3)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Chance Time Music (MP3)
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Koopas Seaside Soiree (MP4)
Stardust Battle (MP3)
Pirate Dream (MP5)
Mini-Game Shop (MP1)
Coward Gloves (MP1)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
Dueling Glove (MP2)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Memory Match (MP1)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Sweet Dream (MP5)
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
Crate & Peril (MP6)
Spotlight Swim (MP3)
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Big Top (MP8)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
End Of The Line (MP3)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Cast Aways (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)
Mario Party: The Top 100

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

The Mario Cast's Facial Hair Grooming Practices
I mean... neat, but creepy. Like, just get married at that point if you're coordinating that hard, Peach. With Daisy at least it makes more sense - Luigi's a good guy, but he's too scared to leave his status quo, scared enough that he just has mansions sitting there collecting dust and lives in a shitty house with Mario despite being rich enough to buy the kingdom twice over. But it's just inexcusable for the main couple, like, just pick the loser with a heart of gold or the loser who will take 20 coins from you and you'll feel great about it, Peach.

Lottery Shop (MP4)
I mean, there's no reason NOT to use it. Five coins for a 25% chance of a far greater return (with the scratch card, at least - ball rolling game is a total crapshoot) is an absolute "why not". You could, of course, choose not to use it... but then also you'd be boring and no one else playing will like you, because not gambling is always far less fun than gambling, and the chance to win big and gloat is always better than the expectation of merely losing five coins. It's strictly a worse Game Guy due to the diminished potential reward compared to the far lesser risk (unless you count the Last 5 Turns Lottery, which would be fair and is a reason that you should try to visit the Lottery Shop at least once), but it's inoffensive. I wouldn't care if it came back or no, but it at least gives SOMETHING to try to work toward and use as a last-ditch desperate effort in some boards.

Wii Party
Honestly I've never played it! I'm fine with Party Phil, and I've seen some gameplay of Wii Party U and it looks like a decently frustrating, ultimately harmless time, but of the major Wii partiers this is the one I just don't have experience with.

Time To Shine (SMP)
I mean... it's Rhythm Heaven. Right down to the sound design for the beats, this is just Rhythm Heaven with a Mario coat of paint, and not even a particularly effective coat. I mean, it's still placing intensely high because Rhythm Heaven is amazing, and seeing characters like Monty Mole do the running man will always be amusing. I just wish it were a Rhythm Heaven game instead. Probably the most negative "I love it" write-up you'll get outta me.

Sweet Dream (MP5)
Oh boy, I sure do enjoy futility and looping around the same few areas of the board again and again! Sweet Dream combines all the joys of Mario Party 5's bad board design and mixes it with some Toad's Midway Madness crap to make something almost insufferable to play on! Mario Party 5 tends to have a focus on its boards having lots of circles to loop around on (Toy Dream excluded), and Sweet Dream is no exception. It is VERY easy to either get stuck in or just kinda find no reason to leave a specific section of the board for turns on end. This is exacerbated by the falling bridges of cookies, alternating with each pass through. I am NEVER a fan of these, locking players out of a choice just for the sake of some who roll higher and go first randomly getting an advantage sometimes. Gnarly Party's tend to be a little better due to requiring multiple passes to go through, more reminiscent of the check in Deep Bloober Sea than anything, but here it's just going through the motions. Happening Spaces are intensely dull outside of the BIG BIRTHDAY BASH which can just randomly net you a star from every player. Y'know, that super important, super expensive thing that you needed The Big Boo for in MP2? It's just free sometimes if you land on a space now. Otherwise, it's just slices of cake moving you to other parts of the board. Sweet Dream just has the issue of being so damn BORING most of the time. It can't take advantage of the Capsule system since the alternating pathways prevent consistent chokepoints, movement is dull, Happening Spaces are either dull or busted. The only real benefit is if you litter the board with Capsules - but then why are you not playing on any other board to do that? Except the one that's worse, of course.

Spotlight Swim (MP3)
If either the diving player didn't have a period of time where they couldn't move after going underwater OR they were completely impossible to track underwater, this would be.a fairly decent 3v1 about deception and reads. As-is, it's ten free coins for the 3 players. I like Lakitu coming in if the one player wins to rescue helicopter them out of jail, but you'll never get to see that. One of the go-to examples for unbalanced mini-game design.

Creepy Cavern (MP3)
One of the more underrated tracks in Mario Party, Creepy Cavern's got such a nice, chilled-out beat to it. The remix of the 1-1 theme is used to great effect as the bridge here, fitting in as the percussion while the synths get to do their work. That is where my praise for the board ends. I understand the conceit of a board divided in half by Skeleton Key gates, and the idea of passing behind with the Thwomp mine carts is a very fun one. The issue is, it's a board designed around limiting movement options as much as possible in the Mario Party with perhaps the most freeform and interesting board movement in the series. So many turns in Creepy Cavern end up being a waste, and due to it taking so long for everyone to get to the side that they want, low-star games are very frequent. This isn't as much an issue in boards like Mystery Land or Yoshi's Tropical Island, where players are separated but keep moving often due to Happening Spaces. But the Happening Spaces of Creepy Cavern are so linear, the state of the game doesn't really change with them - they're strategic tools to be used if a player happens to roll close to them. There are strategic item applications for this board - Warp Blocks, Poison Mushrooms, and Skeleton Keys can be used to great effect here, and the Magic and Lucky Lamps are significantly more powerful. However, this is a map that limits the power of the Mushroom and Golden Mushroom by design, which makes the glut of spaces you have to traverse before you can make any big plays agonizing. If you cut out about 18 or so spaces from this board, movement would be snappy and it'd be a very kinetic board that still has SOME problems (I think a different pattern than 'straight back and forth', like diagonals, or a crossing box shape, would make the mine carts more interesting), but would be a Hell of a lot more fun than it is now.

Bowser Suit
The eternal flaw of the Bowser Suit has always been that it does not increase the amount of dice you roll when using it. The possibility of getting a 1 and failing spectacularly to Bowser up anyone is always there. In spite of that... God is this thing a fun item. Characters always look so doofy in it, and that animation where the single player wins Tug-O-War and attempts to laugh is an absolute favorite. The way it interacts with board events is also pretty hilarious - the Millennium Star being scared of you, Baby Bowser giving you ALL THE MONEY he's collected during a board in Mario Party 2, being able to pick what direction to go at the Banana Peel Junction in Koopa's Seaside Soiree because "Bowser does not slip on banana peels" - the flavor that you get with this item is exceptional. Buying it is very rarely a good idea, and it's often surrounded by much more appealing items, but it's fun and can be incredible in certain situations. If only it wasn't so damn RARE in Mario Party 4 - that game desperately needs more fun items. A great item brought down by how generally impractical it is.

---

Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Control Schtick (MP6)
If I'm honest with myself, in spite of the significantly worse flavor, this is probably the superior version of Shy Guy Says. Having to point in two different directions with two different sticks isnt too hard, but requires just enough brain power to do it under the time limit to be constantly engaging. Sound design with the big BWOOM whenever players have to choose a direction is really solid. I am slightly disappointed that the speed cap goes faster than human reaction - one of my favorite bits of Shy Guy Says was that duels could last FOREVER as endurance matches until someone blinks. But it more than makes up for that by being a Battle mini-game, meaning that investment in pure skill and reaction time absolutely matters. Plus thats an utterly aces pun.

Baby Bowser Host (MP2)
Toad should stay kidnapped, weve found the superior model. I love the little scene of Toad getting kidnapped starting with the regular music, it just makes it such a shock seeing Toads little room from a further out angle as he gets mugged and beaten. Legitimately a super cool surprise and makes Bowser Land look super appealing.

Bowser Tier
Bowser
Bowser Land (MP2)
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Control Schtick (MP6)
Donkey Kong
Castaway Bay (MP6)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Peak Precision (MP9)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Pushy Penguins (MP5)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)
Luigi
Stake Your Claim (SMP)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Daisy
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Costumes (MP2)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Rockin' Raceway (MP3)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Baby Bowser Host (MP2)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Saving Courage (MP1)
Mecha Fly Guy (Mini-Game House)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Crazy Cutter (MP1 & MP2)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
Insectiride (MP6)
Fowl Play (MP3)
Shell Shocked (MP2)
give me the ball papa
Western Land (MP2)

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Grand Canal (MP7)
Face Lift (MP1 & MP2)
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
MC Ballyhoo
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Aces High (MP3)
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Poison Mushroom (MP3)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Choosing Not To Buy A Star
Look Away (MP2)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
DK Space
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Mario Party Boss Battles
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Windmillville (MP7)
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mic Easter Eggs (MP6)
Marios hat
Mario
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
King Boo's Haunted Hideaway (MP8)
Tumble (MP3)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Chance Time Music (MP3)
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Koopas Seaside Soiree (MP4)
Stardust Battle (MP3)
Pirate Dream (MP5)
Mini-Game Shop (MP1)
Coward Gloves (MP1)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
Dueling Glove (MP2)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Memory Match (MP1)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
Crate & Peril (MP6)
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Big Top (MP8)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
End Of The Line (MP3)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Cast Aways (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)
Mario Party: The Top 100

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Mario Party Boss Battles
Honestly, this depends on your implementation. For Mario Party 9 and Mario Party 10, where bosses are essentially glorified mini-games with that obnoxious "Last Hit!" bonus tacked on, I don't find them any different than normal mini-games and strictly unnecessary, even if Whomp Stomp is really good. In Mario Parties 1 and 2, where they're essentially just Hard Mode versions of regular mini-games, I don't really see the point, either. Toad in MP1 is just a Super Hard computer and Baby Bowser's Shell Shocked has all of the joy of a fighting game boss, trying to find the lamest strategy possible with the most consistent moves. This leaves the rest of the Bowser fights and the Millennium Star fight, and these are.. a mixed bag, to be honest. The issue with a lot of Mario Party bosses is that they only end up as poor man's Bowser fights, occasionally introducing light platforming. Their appearance and set dressing can be cool, but you're fighting against Mario Party's rigid controls more than the boss itself. Bowser's Lovely Lift is a nice deviation from this, essentially being a COMPETITIVE boss fight where you each take turns and Bowser has a consistent health bar, but is generally too easy and doesn't last long enough. I think the idea of a Mario Party boss fight is very fun, but they haven't really done a great one yet. I'd rather it be Banjo-Kazooie styled, where it ends up testing all of your skills. Imagine if there was an MP2 boss fight - it starts against Bowser in a Lava Tile Isle styled brawl where you dodge his attacks then punch him, then randomly he'll paralyze you in place and you have to dodge his fireballs in a game of Shy Guy Says, then he destroys the floor and you have to outrun him in a game of Skateboard Scamper, culminating in him being exhausted enough for you to overcome him in a game of Saber Swipes. You could ease these fights by adding items off the beaten path that give you revives, or just Bowser giving you continues the more you fail. Mario Party really fails to hit the "final exam" boss particularly well, putting over just how fun Mario Party is as a whole. There's a lot of potential here, it just needs to be used to its fullest.

Stardust Battle (MP3)
The song's kind of a bop. It's got a really dreamlike element to it, and fits the kinda trippy background really well. As for the difficulty... the challenge is literally "what if we make the slippery controls EVEN SLIPPERIER? Grabbing projectiles is super awkward, the stars from the sky aren't really dangerous as much as their lingering hitboxes on striking the ground are, and the only thing really difficult about the game is its time limit, since missing more than a cycle is probably a death sentence. It's a really cool concept but MAN does it suck to play. Probably the most miserable-playing boss game, even including Baby Bowser's Shell Shocked.

Poison Mushroom (MP3)
The most situational of the shrooms. There are some decent strategies you can implement with this thing - if you purchase one in Deep Bloober Sea, you can basically guarantee a two Happening Space minimum when going to the Top Left, more if the giant angler fish decides to blow you to the right, letting you loop back to him after passing Boo - but this is mostly a reactionary item that's too slow to utilize. The obvious usage of "play on your opponent when they're close to, but not within 3 spaces of, a star" is something that can only be used in reaction, and likely something you'd only play if you had randomly gotten it from an Item Space or Item Bag. However, it's got the same price as the Reverse Mushroom, comes from the same shop, and has roughly the same usage in denial, the Reverse Mushroom having more utility on top of it. There are fringe uses to the Poison Shroom, but it's often not better than the Reverse. Play only if you're in contention for Happening Star and the board has two or more happening spaces in a row.

Mario's hat
Colorful and playful. Sturdy enough to fit his head in even the most adverse of conditions, but comfortable enough with enough poof under it to not be making his hair drenched in sweat. Is apparently worth more than a treasure chest in the Slot Machine mini-game, so that's cool. But it can't brainwash people or make Mario die of heatstroke without it in Mario Party so it's very badly nerfed here.

Big Top (MP8)
why is the hat alive i hate it. Not only is it alive, but it's got that ugly clown makeup with the three eyelashes. Clowns can be really cool, but the three eyelash makeup is a death sentence that ensures that the only one having fun is the clown. Adds nothing to Ballyhoo as neither is a straight man to the other, or even trying different styles of comedy; his hat just talks for some reason and is boisterous and makes unsettling noises. Gross hat man.

Coward Gloves (MP1)
https://comb.io/FgwCpp.gif

Whilst I do find it hilarious that Nintendo lost thousands of dollars having to send out gloves to protect the children, and I do appreciate them being cute little Mario gloves, anyone who uses these is missing the point. You don't play Mario Party 1 to NOT be in physical pain. It turns all the control stick spinners into merely "uncomfortable" instead of a moral choice. There's novelty in here and it completes the story and legend of the control stick spinning, but if you use them you're officially the least powerful member of your friend group. Ties are decided by who suggests gloves or put them on first.

Grand Canal (MP7)
If you tried to create the most average board possible, inoffensive in almost all areas but without anything particularly exceptional, you would end up with Grand Canal. The venice theming is fine if feeling very "safe", the cool juggling Blooper is almost never interacted with due to only being on a few star paths, the Shy Guys that throw coins at the peasants down below for their amusement is pretty fun but gives you a few too many coins, and there are a bunch of junctions that get more limited when Bowser decides screw it, I want to blow up a bridge today. Grand Canal stands out as just "a good-ass board for good-ass Mario Party". Pretty much all are equal here, you can go for rolling big or try to set traps at chokepoints, you can play the long con game with Orbs or you can try to target Happenings. Of the "generics" I think I prefer E. Gadd's Garage to it as those Happening Spaces just have a lot more going on, and the flavor is weak in general for this one, but it's entirely inoffensive. Which... technically makes it a good board since a ton of Mario Party boards have major issues!

Mini-Game Shop (MP1)
The store owner is less interesting than a literal tree. I do kind of like the idea of purchasing mini-games in order to play them, but then I'm a weird person who thought that unlocking the Smash Ultimate roster was fun. The Pot 'O Skills leads to one of the most boring maps in all of Mario Party (mini games just aren't as fun without Boo to screw with you after) and is a disgrace to fictional pots. Also you could RENT mini-games in this one, which is weird and dumb, you get so much money from the boards why would you do that? And you don't have to actually interact with this place at all to play on Mini-Game Island. Honestly the most interesting thing here is Mecha Fly Guy, which is... kinda sad, really.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Mac
Pit
Funky
Adeleine
Giovanni

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Kirby: Planet Robobot

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Bowser Tier
Bowser
Bowser Land (MP2)
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Donkey Kong
Castaway Bay (MP6)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Peak Precision (MP9)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Pushy Penguins (MP5)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)
Luigi
Stake Your Claim (SMP)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Daisy
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Costumes (MP2)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Rockin Raceway (MP3)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Saving Courage (MP1)
Mecha Fly Guy (Mini-Game House)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Crazy Cutter (MP1 & MP2)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
Insectiride (MP6)
Fowl Play (MP3)
Shell Shocked (MP2)
give me the ball papa
Western Land (MP2)

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Face Lift (MP1 & MP2)
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
MC Ballyhoo
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Aces High (MP3)
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Choosing Not To Buy A Star
Look Away (MP2)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
DK Space
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Windmillville (MP7)
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mic Easter Eggs (MP6)
Mario
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
King Boos Haunted Hideaway (MP8)
Tumble (MP3)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Chance Time Music (MP3)
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Koopas Seaside Soiree (MP4)
Pirate Dream (MP5)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
Dueling Glove (MP2)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Memory Match (MP1)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
Crate and Peril (MP6)
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
End Of The Line (MP3)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Cast Aways (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)
Mario Party: The Top 100

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

King Boo's Haunted Hideaway (MP8)
Probably the most amazing board the first time you ever play it. A totally randomized layout made of a hodgepodge of various rooms? Awesome! However it becomes... REALLY overcentralized with time. The only real strategy becomes "buy a lot of Thrice Candy" and "go in different directions". This wouldn't be too bad... except this totally screws with the board events. Every time that a player finds King Boo and takes his ridiculously cheap star (10 coins for a star, KB? Are you TRYING to cause Star Inflation?), he kicks everyone out of the mansion and shuffles the rooms around. This eliminates any active DK or Bowser Events (who replace dead ends with star giving/star losing opportunities) and actively screws anyone on a Golden Space, forcing them out. All alternative conditions other than "roll big, win mini-games" are thrown out the window except in very specific circumstances. It's probably a very good board if you are a few drinks in and no one can brain hard enough, but I really enjoy the deeper board mechanics and am not a fan when a board tears it out. Also animations are REALLY long on this board. Like, really, annoyingly long.

Luigi
Luigi's an unsung hero in Mario Party. He is also, however, Mario Party's perfect victim. Due to his love for the Skeleton Key, an item with intensely situational usefulness, he is, by far, the least threatening CPU aside from MAYBE Wario, but even then Wario can occasionally screw you out of money. Luigi is the perfect target to make the Easy CPU and laugh as he flounders about, desperately trying to make something of himself and making terrible decision after terrible decision. This is only compounded by his post-Luigi's Mansion, cowardly personality. No matter which Mario Party he's in, Luigi is the perfect butt of any joke.

But don't let that status fool you - Luigi is a stone cold killer. In Mario Party 3, the Millennium Star is searching for a superstar who represents every possible quality that a super star could represent. All of the other characters lean toward a specific trait - Wit, Kindness, Strength, Love, Courage, Beauty, or Mischief. Luigi... doesn't have any of these, taking up the slot of whatever character you chose that best represented that quality in the story's duel mode. This means that, if you are playing Luigi, he canonically bests every single other Mario character in a competition of what bests defines them. Hell, he defeats Waluigi one on one to avenge Bowser, in spite of Waluigi destroying Luigi's house and slandering his good name. Luigi is, canonically speaking, the most powerful, adaptable, and clever Mario character of all time. He just chooses to play the fool because it's more comfortable that way. I think that's why "Luigi wins by doing absolutely nothing" is so strong - this is Luigi's world, he's just letting us party in it. He doesn't play to win, he plays to handicap himself, to pretend anyone else has a chance.

Balance-wise, Luigi's all over the place. Mario Party 3 he has Goomba, and is top tier because of it. 2 attack, 2 salary - a perfect combination that lets Luigi roll over any defensive partner other than Whomp, AND he can freely take advantage of the Power Up squares with absolutely no risk to the double salary cost. Double Goomba, due to the cost, is probably the easiest to get, most powerful force in Duel Mode, and can net Luigi super easy victories in no time flat. The ONLY counterplay to Goomba is Mr. Blizzard, and as he's not a starting partner, Luigi's basically got it made. However, he's got the severely underpowered and limiting Fireball orb in 7, and his dice block in Super is... midling. It's not bad, three 1's followed by 5, 6, 7. Keeping consistency in your lows and then a growing number exceeding the regular '6' isn't bad at all, but as has been discussed, 0 is always better than 1 in SMP.

Luigi's an odd case - underestimated by the masses, intentionally showing weakness, and secretly the greatest partier who ever lived. I don't think he's incredible - Luigi's Engine Room sucks, after all - and he's got stiff competition as most of the original Party cast is pretty fantastic. I feel like I can only give him an unassuming - but high - ranking, just as the man himself would want. In the words of the master, "Oh yeah, Luigi like-a dat".

Also his MP1-2 voice is super underrated and weird. What an odd, prissy bastard he is.

Rockin' Raceway (MP3)
I mean, it controls better than Epona! The theme of this mini-game is absolute top shelf stuff - a rocking horse race is hilarious and the clopping sound design is just masterful. The actual gameplay is... a bit less so. Of the methodical mashers, this one falls somewhere near the middle, all strategy coming from timing your presses right to nab the carrots. I do appreciate how each carrot gate is timed differently, with the first having about a three-second interval between changing whilst the second has a mere one-second interval. The photo finish potential, like a real horse race, is kind of amazing, especially with the characters bobbing back and forth being relevant for some really amusing moments. It's a simple game that doesn't reach the heights of, say, Mario Medley, but the presentation alone makes it a fun time every time.

Chance Time Music (MP3)
Significantly worse than Mario Party 1 and 2's. While those had a sort of jazzy upbeat swing to them, this somehow combines the up-tempo jazz feel of a casino track with a repetitive baseline better found in an elevator than in a glitzy showroom. The issue here is, Game Guy's Theme COMPLETELY shows this one up in every way, having a very natural climax to the song that this one just lacks, meandering along to its loop. It very much exists, but it's overwhelmed by its contemporaries in all directions.

Fowl Play (MP3)
You catch the chicken. This shows the frighteningly possible reality of what if Mario 64 had a terrible camera that you couldn't control, blindsiding you at all angles. This makes it a terrible game... unless you screen peek, which you absolutely should do as it enhances the game for both players. Focusing on the chicken single-mindedly is a recipe for disaster; the chicken is far smarter than any other Mario character (aside from maybe Luigi, master of wit). However, by reading your opponent's movements, you can bait them into leading the chicken toward a wall and sniping it from them as they scream obscenities at you for kill stealing. Whilst this game can end very fast, it is hilarious as it goes on longer; there's no better joy than laughing at two idiots failing to catch a chicken (aside from Bowser, of course). It's clunky, but in a good, always funny way.

MC Ballyhoo
HAAR HAAAR HARR! I'm still upset this guy isn't just Chuck Quizmo, but after the completely personality-devoid Brighton and Twila and the toothless Toadsworth, it's nice to have a Mario Party host with some actual showmanship again. Ballyhoo is glad to call his Last 5 Turns event "Chump Charity", and Hell, the guy has a hat that SHOOTS MONEY. It's just fun to watch this little gremlin move about, and his voice lines are fun enough to imitate mockingly. The only disappointing thing about him is that he doesn't end up being the secret final boss of story mode, it's just a disappointing fight with Bowser (which, to be fair, most of MP8's mini-games are disappointments). But he does his job really well, taking Toadsworth's propensity to say weird things and turning it into an actual personality.

Crate and Peril (MP6)
Add a jump button and it's a good game. As-is... you have to be asleep at the wheel to lose as the 1. Woulda been better in Mario Party DS. Bad game, easy fix, frustrating wasted potential.

Getting sleepy will do the rest tomorrow.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Naye745 posted...

i dont think seaside soiree is that bad honestly, but the banana junctions are definitely the worst part - they feel out of place on a board that's pretty well-crafted otherwise (and as you said before, mp4 boards in general are full of similar gimmicks, from the dual pathways in bowser's to the roulette paths in goomba's greedy gala)

It's mostly that they're REQUIRED bad gimmicks, and that the entire interesting half of the board is gated off by them. I don't even mind the gimmick itself done on better maps (Bowser's Magma Mountain, for instance), but combined with 4's lackluster item system and ALL of the cool board features other than the Item Shop (which you STILL can't get to if you end up in the bottom left) being locked out, I just find it really unpleasant for about half of the people playing. It's better than Toad's Midway Madness, which is just guaranteed "two people don't have fun", but most of the time, whoever has the advantage is gonna be decided by how well they flipped a coin.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Bowser Tier
Bowser
Bowser Land (MP2)
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Donkey Kong
Castaway Bay (MP6)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Peak Precision (MP9)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Pushy Penguins (MP5)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)
Stake Your Claim (SMP)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Daisy
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Costumes (MP2)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Saving Courage (MP1)
Mecha Fly Guy (Mini-Game House)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Crazy Cutter (MP1 & MP2)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
Insectiride (MP6)
Shell Shocked (MP2)
give me the ball papa
Western Land (MP2)

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Face Lift (MP1 & MP2)
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Aces High (MP3)
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Choosing Not To Buy A Star
Look Away (MP2)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
DK Space
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Windmillville (MP7)
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mic Easter Eggs (MP6)
Mario
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
Tumble (MP3)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Koopas Seaside Soiree (MP4)
Pirate Dream (MP5)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
Dueling Glove (MP2)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Memory Match (MP1)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
End Of The Line (MP3)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Cast Aways (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)
Mario Party: The Top 100

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

DK Space
I like it as the antithesis to the Bowser Space, but its implementation is a bit hit-or-miss. DK Mini-games are a great idea in practice, but in implementation they tend to be not good. Most of them are basically luck-based, with only a few (usually those based on Donkey Kong Jr climbing vines or jumping over barrels) being any fun to actually play. The fact that DK can just randomly give you a star somewhat balances out Bowser being able to randomly take one away, and one of the best things 6 did was making the DK and Bowser spaces reflections of each other, changing between Day and Night. This absolutely peaks with Mario Party 8, where DK can often cause a REALLY GOOD THING to happen, but another player can ruin it by stepping on the space when it turns into a Bowser space, turning it into a REALLY BAD THING. Shy Guys Perplex Express and King Boos Haunted Hideaway especially benefit from this, but the change face on every landing system benefits all boards. DKs Space is more mixed than anything, but it goes out with a bang and sticks the landing.

Mic Easter Eggs (MP6)
I love that these were programmed in. I especially love that there are some secret commands just tucked into mini-games, too, leaving players to be exceptionally confused when you shout Goomba and your giant attack robot spits out an oil slick of angry mushroom traitors. Its merely cute, but I love it when games sneak these things in.

Donkey Kong
DK is my Ride Or Die character. It doesnt matter what game it is, I will always support Donkey Kong. Smash, Mario Party, Mario Kart - doesnt matter, if DKs playable, I am obligated to rep him. As such, I cannot give anything but a biased account of his character, but I may try to explain his obvious superiority. First of all, they attempted to nerf DK three times and failed every time. When Signature Items were introduced, DKs was the Bowser Bomb. This was DEVASTATING and could cause absolute mayhem. So they removed that in 3 and gave him the Reverse Mushroom. THAT ended up being the most broken item in Mario Party, so in MP4 they gave him the Super Mega Mushroom, the unholy love child of the Bowser Suit and the Golden Mushroom that basically guaranteed the Coin Star. Id like to think that, since DK decided to be the strongest CPU in every game for three games in a row, they banned him out of spite. No one screws with Hard DK.

I love the little animations DK ends up doing. He has a combination of cute references, like how he does the DKC Bonus Room Win animation when he wins a board, to the generic gorilla chest beating, to a really weird gentlemanly bow that he does, to the part where his spine seems to give out and he just collapses ass-upward into the ground when he loses big. So much of it looks janky, and he ends up having the weirdest looking hitboxes due to his awkward form despite having the exact same model as everyone else, and that is always fun to have the uneducated complain about.

The DK Space Era is a weird time that wasnt really necessary. I love that he just has a chance of showing up in 5 if you land on a Bowser space. Lore in 2 says that he really wanted to beat Bowser up, and now in 5 hes finally gotten strong enough that he CAN beat Bowser up, and Bowser fears getting beat up by DK! But the DK Space was a little too random to be particularly effective, and it was only when he was acting as a foil to Bowser that hes great.

Competitively, DKs bottom tier in Duel Mode. Whomp has a weird match-up spread where hes GREAT against Daisy, terrible against Wario, OK against Yoshi, and utterly awful against Luigi. Due to Whomps 3-coin salary, DKs often in no position to beat those with a lesser salary than him, and Waluigi just beats DK outright. Since DK cant fight back until he completes a lap, and is a liability in the best map (Blowhard) yeah its only that weird counter against Daisy, who he can successfully stall, that keeps him from being gutter trash. On the other hand, DK is BUSTED in Super Mario Party. Some laugh as DK is unable to get out of the starting area if he exclusively uses his character dice; these people are fools. +5 Coins, 0, 0, 0, 10, 10. This either guarantees that DK will have a fantastic roll or a stall. All DK has to do is land on a Good Luck Space or a Board Event space, and he can just stay there, eternally reaping its benefits. I have cleaned out Whomps Domino Ruins of treasure, I have gotten a full suite of amazing items for FREE, I have farmed Flutters shop on the islands far better than any other character possibly could, and no one could stop me. Donkey Kong is a character capable of pulling out 2-star turns if he gets unlucky, and 4-star turns if he gets very lucky and uses all of his resources. Some characters cant get 4 stars period. DK is minmaxed perfection, a high-risk high-reward character where the risk can be turned into unlimited advantage. Busted.

Simply put, you put DK in as a computer when you want to have a wild time. I rarely experience this, however, because this is my mans. If I were rating him with pure bias, DK would top the list easy, because all my favorite moments in my Mario Party career has my mans in it. As-is hes still pretty damn close to the top, but Ill knock him down just a few pegs in the interest of fairness. Hes had his downs, but honestly, mostly has ups, and can be the most lethal CPU in the entire series. Long may he reign and long may I mourn his passing in Mario Parties 5 through 9. Age hasnt slowed him down one bit.

Koopas Seaside Soiree (MP4)
Probably the only map that can get away with the awful hovering board design of MP4; the pathway works well enough as a boardwalk over the water and pathways around the resort grounds. The central gimmick of the board is actually pretty fun; the Koopa Bank is brought back as a central fixture, and instead of having one bank space to win big on, there are several trap ? Spaces around it where you pay off the debt like its Bowser Land. Unlike Bowser Land, this gets you closer to a Happening Star win, so biting the bullet can be considered an investment, or swooping in to try to get prime Happening Star real estate. Everythings great except the banana peel junctions. Unavoidable, unadjustable 50/50 junctions are just not fun, ESPECIALLY when they gatekeep star spaces, chance times, AND Boo. It is possible to just go absolutely nowhere you want on this map, and the almighty Mega Mushroom cant even skip these junctions despite SUPPOSEDLY skipping all board events. It doesnt help that the lower paths are just swaths of spaces that take forever to loop back ground to the interesting top of the board, where Boo, the Koopa Hotel, and the Lottery reside. This map can just randomly be super unfun for no reason, and that sucks. Soooo close to being good, but it ruins itself into being a pretty miserable time.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Shell Shocked (MP2)
Entirely dependent on format at how effective this game can be. In the single-pipe format, either you have alliances before you get into the game and you act on those, or it's just a free for all and whoever doesn't get a gun pointed at them at the start probably gets to win. In the other two formats, strafing around becomes way stronger as you don't just have a chance to die in the first few seconds. I do really wish that you had one more hit point for this game - two tends to be too few to react to being blindsided by someone, But, it's tanks. Not as good as Blast Corps but better than Conker's Bad Fur Day/

End of the Line (MP3)
Add one or two more checks and this becomes actually hectic. As-is, it doesn't matter what happens with the first two checks - whoever gets to check #3 first does a coin flip, and victory is entirely determined on if they call it right. Worse yet, this game just does not work out as a Duel Mini-Game. If you really don't want to lose money, you can easily just pick the same path as your opponent every single time and guarantee a draw. You CAN try to juke an opponent trying this out, but this is the easiest mini-game to draw on by just picking different directions on the third junction, then changing at the last second. There's a better version of this known as "A Bridge Too Short" in Mario Party 7, which had the advantage of being a Donkey Kong mini-game and having irregular timing. That one is also bad, but not literally "win a coin flip but sometimes don't". Luck-based mini-games have their place in Mario Party, but not ones that you can game so easily and have no sense of showmanship.

Pirate Dream (MP5)
AKA "The only board that people actually play in MP5". It's just something that stands out between "cutesy, cutesy, PIRATE, another underwater one, space, cutesey, BOWSER". In any case, this is some WEIRD-ASS design. Thwomp and Whomp are both gatekeepers, but neither function as they do in previous games and are instead just 10 coin tolls, AND they're directly next to each other. Whilst Thwomp provides a shortcut, Whomp essentially does nothing besides block a path that the star sometimes spawns in. It's just such an odd decision, placing them right next to each other when such an emphasis is placed on spaces. Speaking of them, Pirate Dream does the bad thing of sticking a lot of generics in a row and calling it a day, leading to a series of unevenful turns in strings of blues broken up by the occasional Bowser or Happening Space. Aaand unfortunately, that's where most players are going to stay, as the main Happening gimmick is having players stick near the start like it's DK's Jungle Adventure, but without even the chance to escape the starting stretch. It IS short... but the issue is that players cannot choose what they'd like out of Capsules and there are no junctions, meaning that the standbys of "just buy a Mushroom" or "try to do something else" are taken away and players are Midway Madness'd into sticking around the starting area. It's not nearly as bad as it is on that board, but it's a frustrating enough problem that centralizes gameplay to a loop around the top half of the map. It's not awful in any way, it's just... not really exceptional in anything but theming? And suffers from MP5 being bad in general and the Capsule system being pretty awful. Could be a LOT worse if there wasn't a Capsule Machine by the start, I can say that much!

Western Land (MP2)
Honestly? Just too many spaces. The theming is fantastic, the layout of the map is great, the fact that it has two Boos on opposite stretches keeps things really interesting, the Happening Space event is appropriately punishing... but this is one or two tweaks from taking a "good" board into an "amazing" board. There are tons of Blue Spaces in a row ALL over the map, meaning that uneventful stretches of turns are bound to happen AND the thrill of finding Hidden Blocks is reduced out of principle. Steamer, the way of getting around the map easily, is shackled to a luck system on whether he goes forward or backwards, making him unreliable for something without a cost, and considering that two of his stations can cause you to miss Boo with an unlucky roll, just generally undesirable. The size makes Mushrooms, Golden Mushrooms, and Magic Lamps extremely desirable, but difficult to get since the Item Shop skips the first go-'round to Boo AND doesn't start spawning Goldies until after the first five turns. As discussed in the Wiggler write-up, the Milk Bar could be better served toward the middle of the map. And the Skeleton Key gate in the top right is actively worthless other than to guard a Star spawn, utterly wasting a junction. Even the Bowser Bomb is less effective here, and that makes me sad. Just a couple tweaks - being able to pay Steamer more money in order to choose your direction, for instance - would make this exceptional. But as-is... it's definitely good. It's designed for players to be spread out unless milk drinking happens, and that makes star location changes exciting as SOMEONE'S very likely to be near it and draw groans from everyone else. Definitely a "childhood favorite" type of level that makes everyone feel like they're in the game at any time.

Saving Courage (MP1)
I love Mushroom Mix-Up's sound design. The way that you get the sound of draining water as the mushrooms sink underneath right after Toad's flag. It's not my favorite of the "sea" themes - I prefer The Wide, Wide Ocean because I can just HEAR the Shy Guy Says sound effects in time with the music - but it's got a great deal of variance and is perfectly evocative of its mood.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Memory Match (MP1)
10 Free Coins. You would either have to forget how Ground Pounding works, be colorblind, or intentionally screw around in order to mess this one up. Worse than Ground Pound because it takes longer, but its equally as free.

Stake Your Claim (SMP)
Honestly most of the Toadette brings out the giant Powerpoint screen games are pretty good, this one not being an exception. The concept is simple, but the complexity of the squares on screen make the execution absolutely brilliant. Its one of those games where you go ahhhh shit immediately after picking and seeing the better option in your opponents hands. Not much else to say, just a good idea done well.

Crazy Cutter (MP1 & MP2)
I have always been the best in any friend group Ive had at this game, so it gets bonus bias points from me for being good at reviving fossils. If you need any advice, just try tracing closer to the inside of the shape than you think you need at times - the game judges you more harshly for being further out of the main shape than it does for you being a little bit inside. I like how your character obscures the vision of the line whenever youre tracing upward, leaving you to work with your memory of the line - thats very crafty and a lot more difficult than it would be if you just had the character hands tracing ala Face Lift. However, the MP1 game does have the flaw where you only need to pass the threshold in order to get coins, meaning that this is a very easy everybody wins game without the ability to mess with others, like Bombs Away (unless you shove your friends. Which is fine but makes you a villain). And both games do have the unfortunate tendency where, if you nudge your control stick the wrong way at the start, theyll take it as auto-completing the line and you just dont get to play the mini-game and get a 0. Theres really no way that couldve been properly fixed other than putting immunity to that sensor at the start of the game, but its a frustrating nitpick nonetheless. I really love it, but it has understandably large problems.

Aces High (MP3)
being totally honest with you, Star Fox 64 multiplayer was never really that good. Dogfighting is a really cool concept, but the Arwing is just too damn maneuverable and lithe compared to other dogfighting games that getting a good lock and hit on someone is really rough, and leads to a lot of just floating around. Assault really tuned that up, great multiplayer game. Aces High suffers from a lot of the same issues, and even though the planes are a lot less maneuverable than the Arwing, the slipperier controls of Mario Party still makes hitting anything an issue. Bullet Bills are sent in to alleviate this problem, but it becomes VERY easy to avoid an opponent the more planes hit the floor, to an almost Bumper Balls-like level. I do find it a bit better than BB, but this is a VERY easy game to Draw on. Maybe if it spawned mines or something instead of being on a timer, itd be a more enjoyable game. Because the core concept IS really cool, its an awesome idea for a game. Its just not done very well.

Bowser Tier
Bowser
Bowser Land (MP2)
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Castaway Bay (MP6)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Peak Precision (MP9)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Pushy Penguins (MP5)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)
Stake Your Claim (SMP)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Daisy
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Costumes (MP2)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Mecha Fly Guy (Mini-Game House)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Crazy Cutter (MP1 & MP2)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
Insectiride (MP6)
give me the ball papa

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Face Lift (MP1 & MP2)
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Aces High (MP3)
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Choosing Not To Buy A Star
Look Away (MP2)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Windmillville (MP7)
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mario
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
Tumble (MP3)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
Dueling Glove (MP2)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Memory Match (MP1)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Cast Aways (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)
Mario Party: The Top 100

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Kirby6417 posted...

Did you just put a Scott Steiner reference in this post for fun?

See the 3-way at Creepy Cavern, you got a 33 1/3 chance of winning. But I, I got a 66 2/3 chance of winning because Luigi KNOWS he can't beat me.

Insectiride (MP6)
There are several small things that Mario Party does that I absolutely love. One is, in battle games, allowing the player in last to have an advantage and choose first in games where they have to select from a few options. Another is having multiple different forms of inputs competing against each other, like in Ridiculous Relay. And another is having all the characters do a really stupid thing, and this is HIGH up there in a list of stupid things to do! Is it possible that, if you have a really good masher, they'll just outright outpace the best efforts that the stag beetle and snail vehicles can do? Yes, but in a lot of situations, the player who mashes the best is probably also good at a lot of other video games and likely isn't in last, so you can steal that vehicle from them and force them to use something worse. It's not a PERFECT solution, but it's a decently fun one.

Mecha Fly Guy (Mini-Game House)
Y'know all those games you play as a kid where you just punch each other until you bleed and whoever cowards out first loses? This is the equivalent of that, except if a video game told you how effectively you were bloodying the other kid. You pay actual coins to get this to happen. You know what's going on here, you know what you're doing. This is advanced dick measuring, not only being willing to feel pain, but be good at inflicting it in an observable metric. But also the boring mini-game house music is playing during the background so that sucks.

Mario Party-e
This was VERY poorly advertised. As a kid, I just thought it was a bunch of Mario Party mini-games to be added to Mario Party Advance and took a hard pass on it. I had no idea this was a physical Mario Party board game, which I would've purchased IMMEDIATELY just for the sake of having it. As such, I can't really rate it, and it's been demoted to a "someday... this will be mine" kind of status.

SuperNiceDog posted...

What determines who gets the 10 coin Koopa bonus with 5 turns to go in Mario Party 1?

If you're asking "what lets Koopa give you 20 coins instead of 10 pre-Last 5 turns", every 10th person who passes him gets an additional 10, making farming him in DK's Jungle Adventure viable. If you're asking "what determines who Koopa predicts", That's just totally random, and he doesn't even give you 10 coins, he just says he thinks you'll win.

Castaway Bay (MP6)
The vastly superior version of Mario's Rainbow Castle, and probably the best of the "linear board" designs. Everything about this board is risk versus reward at every junction. Do you take the shorter path at the start and get a random orb, or do you go to the Item Shop and both get a selection of three orbs AND get a chance at a happening space to rotate the boats. Do I take the shorter path up the cliffside, or do I take the longer one? If I take the longer one, do I go on the Shy Guy Raft to try to get to the star quicker, knowing that Bowser could low-ball my roll in the process, or do I try to stall out for night in order to get Boo? The threat of Bowser stealing a star rather than just 40 coins makes every pass around the final island absolutely dire, and this map gets the absolute most out of the Sluggish Shroom, where being able to pick out your space and decide whether you want to risk a happening, target a DK or Bowser space, target Chance Time, or risk NOT using the Sluggish Shroom in hopes that your opponent will roll into the Bowser Boat. This is a board filled with mind games and calculated risks that players slowly make more dangerous by inevitably littering the jungle area with Klepto orbs. You could say that a low-scoring board like this (out of necessity since Bowser takes stars AND it has Boo active AND that MP6 lets you duel for stars) isn't super fun by the end, but I think this is an absolute riot of a board that gets the most out of all of Mario Party 6's items. I know Faire Square is usually the favorite, but this one's my true love out of MP6's selection. It is as nasty as a Mario Party 1 board could be, with all of the quality of life changes of MP6.

Bowser Land (MP2)
The best board in the series. I know that's a bold claim, but it is very, very true. In no other board are you trying to duck out of the way for just one more turn of safety, then resolving yourself to try out one of a myriad of different strategies. The banks' functions are reversed in this map (giving you money with each pass but taking away the entire debt on landing on it) constantly funneling you money is a brilliant way to bolster the economy, meaning that even players in last place can remain competitive. However, with each pass, the bank debt increases, meaning players may try to start avoiding it with side paths, mushrooms, or targeting Happening Spaces that are placed a few spaces in front of every bank. Every Happening Space on this board is a calculated risk - a great way to try to avoid nightmarish board events that will suck coins dry, but never a guarantee. The Blooper Wheel is essentially a controlled investment: spend a random amount of turns stuck in place, unable to get items, for guaranteed safety from the Bowser Parade and two Happening Spaces. The Bowser Parade, meanwhile, is the most powerful board event in the game - generating about as far from Start as possible, taking any player it comes across back to start, and taking two coins per space they travel. You can manipulate the parade route at one of three stations, making your intentions as to who you want to screw over VERY well known, always playing a political game in the name of chaos, AND with the five coin fee, it gives you yet another option with the bank's funds. The top right item shop forces you to purchase a random item for 12 coins (or a Warp Block for 17), essentially acting as a toll gate unless you're holding onto an item, BUT it has a chance of dropping Bowser Bombs and Bowser Suits, which are intensely useful on this map, making for yet another controlled risk. And there are just SO many unique and cute interactions in this map - changing the parade route for free if you're in a Bowser Suit, getting 20 coins from the bank if you're in a Bowser Suit, the bank TAKING A STAR if you land on the bank space with 0 coins. Hell, there's even a Star Spawn behind a skeleton key gate and a Boo behind another, so THAT sometimes useless item gets its chance to shine, AND there's an accessible Boo right next to the item shop that can be gatekeeped by the parade! AND Last Place is guaranteed 10 coins in the Last 5 turns, making this the most comeback-friendly board in the entire game with all the features it has to boost you up and then screw you over! All wrapped in a package celebrating how great Bowser is in a theme park skin. Every item, movement option, part of the board, and event works in tandem AND is useful, the rules of the regular game are twisted to be more fun, but not so much as to be unrecognizable, the Item Game is perhaps the only one that's skill-intensive (or at least always requires effort past initially learning it), there's no long stretch of board that's just a boring collection of Blue Spaces without something to do, and they even kidnap Toad in order to get you here and (rightfully) diss the other boards until you pick Bowser Land. Utterly masterful board design that hasn't been matched in 20 years.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Daisy
If you want to play to win, play as Daisy. Ever since her introduction, every single item and bone she's been thrown has been a winner. Personal item in MP3? Cellular Shopper, basically guaranteeing a Boo Repellant, Magic Lamp, Boo Bell, or whatever else with a one-turn delay, giving it just one extra degree of protection against the Plunder Chest. Duel Mode partner? Snifit, a partner choice that puts her into immediate top tier contention. Is he pricey? Yeah, but his ability to randomly find coins turns his -5 salary into a "randomly in between -5 and -1" salary, AND he can take a hit, unlike the other top tiers of Boo and Goomba, making him far more useful on a variety of maps. Personal orb? The best in the game, Flower gives you +3 PER SPACE and ignores traps, giving an up to 30 coin swing for FREE along with Metal Shroom's effects. Dice block in Super? The spitting image of consistency, all 3's and 4's, eliminating all doubt you're hitting anything but a VERY specific range. Combined with a go-getter attitude, the crown of devils in 3, and general "not Peach" appeal. She lacks the personality of other top tiers since HI I'M DAISY isn't.a Party saying, but you can't knock results.

Choosing Not To Buy A Star
I love little options in Super, with Toadette going Huh. But why wouldnt you?! Let me ask again, almost like a little but thou must. Despite appearances, there ARE a few good reasons for doing this. They are VERY situational, but they do happen. For example, if the star spawns in the Blooper carousel in Bowser Land and youre not exiting the carousel, you can say no in order to stall the star spawn from appearing somewhere else until youre guaranteed to get out, or say no during one pass only to say yes during the next so that youre not fined by Baby Bowser during the second go-round. This is absolutely a psychological power play, though. It feels good every time, and if you can convince others that this is some kinda grand master plan, its utter bliss.

but its usually pretty dumb and you should just take the damn star.

Kamek Ranks & Rates Anything Mario Party Related
Honestly Im really happy with how the topics going! Im just happy people are reading my stupid, rambling, run on sentence-fueled stream of consciousness paragraphs and finding some joy in trying to break down Mario Party way, way too hard. Thank you for reading = )

Bowser Tier
Bowser
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Peak Precision (MP9)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Pushy Penguins (MP5)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Daisy
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Costumes (MP2)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
give me the ball papa

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Face Lift (MP1 & MP2)
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Choosing Not To Buy A Star
Look Away (MP2)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Windmillville (MP7)
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mario
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
Tumble (MP3)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
Dueling Glove (MP2)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Cast Aways (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)
Mario Party: The Top 100

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Costumes (MP2)
What I love most about this idea is that it was actually kind of difficult to implement. Sure, you have Mario, Luigi, and Wario of all roughly the same body structure, but then you have Peach, who has to have her outfits designed fairly differently from the others. And then you have Yoshi, who's a damn dinosaur with a weird tumor saddle shell on his back, and whatever the Hell Donkey Kong's spine is half the time. You get really cute and unique outfits like the adorable stripey shirt on Yoshi in Pirate Land, most of Peach's unique dresses, and the weird monstrosity that is Wizard DK. Bowser gets the absolute best out of these, with Eggman Mech Bowser being a pretty great highlight. I also really love how much they add to the flavor of duel mini-games - have them work without the costumes and they're pretty boring, but just having the cowboy outfits adds so much to Popgun Pick-Off. A lot of people tend to gravitate toward Mario Party 2 as the "best", with critics dismissing those ideas because "it's the most memorable because people like the costumes". And it's quite true! I do admittedly wish that Bowser Land had some costumes, though, even as just an intro gag. It doesn't have to be much, just like Bowser horns and hair that look like Mickey Mouse ears.

Dueling Glove (MP2)
The tricky thing about the Dueling Glove is that it is never worth its price. Buying it, you're down 15 coins, which already limits the amount of coins you can possibly gain from dueling someone. The Dueling Glove's function - to start a duel against the target of your choice - will essentially be limited to either whoever has the coin lead or whoever is right in front of Boo and has enough coins for a Star Steal. You're never gonna be wanting to use this item while in the lead, as that brings a rival closer to the coin star should you fail, but it's made to benefit you if you have more coins. The only reason that you'd want to use it is if you were absolutely confident that you could beat your opponent in a duel mini-game. This is actually an advantage MP2 has over MP3, as duels are tied to boards rather than a roulette. However... very few duel mini-games can be won with absolute confidence. Two of them are timing-based (Time Bomb and Popgun), two of them are reaction based and honestly likely to result in a Draw if the players have much skill (Sabers and Brew), and one of them is literally just Rock Paper Scissors what are you even doing. These are not skills that you can often be CONFIDENTLY ahead of your competition in, at least not nearly as much as something like button mashing. That leaves Mystery Land's telekinetic showdown as the only one where you can reliably win IF you are a better alternating masher. As cool of an item as the Dueling Glove is... it's just hyper situational and not even very GOOD in the situations where it CAN be useful.

Pushy Penguins (MP5)
The single best thing about Mario Party 5. The mini-game is just fun, kinetic pathfinding, along with hilarious storytelling about the penguins from Mario 64 getting revenge for all the times they've been pushed and thrown off of places and an allusion to the Bumpty Penguin species. It's so simple a concept, but always an intensely fun scramble. Definitely one of the best 'survival' based games where you have direct control.

Look Away (MP2)
BAH bah BAH-DAH BA ba-ba bah-dah BA bah BAH-DAH BUH ba-ba-ba buh BAH
...
Yehoo!

A game that really can only be played with three or four humans, as it just kind of becomes miserable chance with computers. It's a fun game of jukes and mindgames, especially given the half-second after the timer finishes that you're still allowed to move around in. But it absolutely needs the right people to play with - if you have a bunch of stone-faced analytic types, this is going to be the most dull affair. If you've got at least two wise-asses in the group, now it's a party. I also love how the heads that have been eliminated can keep playing, and love the animation where the losing heads just fade into nothingness before vanishing.

Face Lift (MP1 & MP2)
Face Lift is an unfortunate case where the flavor is so much stronger in the original game, but the execution is much stronger in the second. MP1's face lift is always on Bowser, and the parallels to Mario 64 are so strong and so much fun here. Hell, the background literally says "Super Bowser 64" repeating just like the Mario 64 title screen, it's utterly perfect! And frankly, Bowser's face is just a lot more interesting to stretch than the other characters - the giant eyebrows just make him naturally way more expressive. Unfortunately, most of Bowser's stretching patterns are way too easy to match. For a vast majority of them, all you need to do is stretch his bits to 100% elasticity and you'll get a solid 100 every single time. This absolutely trivializes Bowser's Face Lift, as the minimum required score of 80 is just WAY too easy to get. Mario Party 2 fixes this by giving each character three variations of their face AND turns it into a battle game in order to really up the ante... but I'm sorry, most of the faces are just boring. The Brothers Mario are quite dull since they lack the springiness of Mario's 64 head, Peach's stretchy features are just her hair, and Yoshi doesn't really have anything to grab onto other than his eyeballs that would make him fun. That leaves the already goofy-faced Wario and the weird hair tumor of Donkey Kong to carry novelty duties, and neither of them are up to the task. The background is also a whole lot duller, and most of the faces just have less places to grab onto than cuddly ol' Bowser. This is a damn fun mini-game, but a perfect version doesn't exist between the two games, kinda sad.

Triple 7 Golden Shroom
I'll tell you how cool it is when it happens, because this is something I have never witnessed personally (that wasn't save stated into existence, at least). I like that it exists, and it gives the usual great slot machine feeling of "OH TWO OF THE REELS ARE ON THE JACKPOT", but I can't really speak for it until it happens.

Peak Precision (MP9)
You don't need me to tell you that this is a great one. What I love about it compared to other reaction games is that it's essentially a test of immediate reaction time with the initial sprint, and then rhythmic reaction time as each new button prompt gets revealed. This puts it ahead of games that reveal all of their buttons at once (Saber Swipes) or in individualized sets (Fish & Drips), always keeping pressure on the player to react as swift and accurately as possible, while not looking too far ahead so they doing accidentally press something a few steps ahead in the pattern. Just a really strong, well thought-out mini-game.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Kid Icarus Uprising

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

I'm getting conflicting reports, some say you need at least 50 Energy Spheres in order to unlock New Game+, others say you just have to beat the game. Either way, all the spheres unlock past that seem to be ability challenges and "wow congrats you're really good" awards, so "all" is probably not.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Great name. The mini-game ends in three seconds. It is the most 'nothing' of games, somehow being less engaging than Musical Mushroom, as once one player figures out which way is diagonal, the game is over. Did you know there are actual combat options in this game? It's alright, no one does or remembers because they're useless!

Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
... okay but they're in the sky. I get that Cheep Cheeps rain down from the sky and break apart the platform, but why waste this pun here? Anyway, far better brawler than Lava Tile Isle, to be sure. The knockback is more normalized, essentially making it a game of out-Castlevania knockbacking your opponents. Jukes are actually possible due to tighter controls, Jumping is still a risk but a more controlled one based off of the diagonals of the star, all around fun and frantic little mini-game that's entirely fair and skill-based. Nice work!

Bowser Tier
Bowser
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
give me the ball papa

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Windmillville (MP7)
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mario
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
Tumble (MP3)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Cast Aways (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)
Mario Party: The Top 100

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Ridiculous Relay (MP3)
Honestly the only place that this mini-game drops the ball in is the single-player aspect - they might as well just have a consistent speed with two or three 'strong winds' or something with how easy the obstacles are to avoid, except when they're impossible to avoid. Or Hell, just give them a somewhat slower but more consistent way of moving forward - Insectiride would later use that idea to great effect, and it'd be more appealing here. But I love the relay itself, just a random test of various skills. Alternating mashing and straight-up mashing explain themselves, and keeping them on the 3 side ensures that the best masher doesn't simply carry for their team, but the pond skating robot with the weirdest control input is absolutely the star. I love this stupid thing, and wish more mini-games would utilize weird control inputs like it. It's such a weird but learnable skill that's sure to throw people off the first time they see it, but it's charming. It's the weird mini-game where it's more fun to play than it is to be competitive at, as you can basically know the winner by how well the second leg of the relay is going. But it's memorable and charming, at least!

Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
Of the 'brawl' style mini-games, this one's one of the weakest. Mario Party 1 and 2 hitboxes aren't exactly precise for the actual combat moves, and ground pounding and jumping is often too risky. Thus, the only real way to ensure eliminations is relying on the Grindel's weird physics, where you don't move with them, they just leave the ground underneath you and let you plunge like.a Looney Tunes sketch. It's not like a Bumper Balls where destruction is assured - there will very often be a winner to this game just due to how weird the platforms are when they move around. It's just less taking advantage of or pressing advantage on your opponent, and more just seeing a lucky opportunity and taking it. It's not bad, but I'm never really happy to see it, it very much simply 'exists'.

for the sake of.... well, my sanity, I'm only gonna do one per post, SuperNiceDog. I know I didn't list that anywhere, but these things are too long and I'll get clogged up FAST if I do them all at once!

Cast Aways (MP1)
Bad game. Whoever is in the furthest position to the right has a TREMENDOUS advantage. There is a very consistent timing for getting the back row's coins, the back row often spawns treasure chests, far more frequently than the other rows, and the game lasts so long that they can efficiently gatekeep the back row as much as they'd like. The only balancing factor is that the controls are terrible - I've been playing this game for over 20 years, and Hell if I can tell you with absolute confidence where each of my casts will go based on how hard I flick the stick. AND it's a control stick rotator. There are honestly a lot worse games that are a lot more boring, but none of them can potentially decide the mini-game star, Boo, and so much else in one go. It is not just possible to get 50+ coins from this mini-game - with practice, it's easy. AND it blocks off a fun section of Mini-Game Island with Mushroom Mix-Up and Shy Guy Says. Miserable game.

Mario's Rainbow Castle (Song)
It's either this or Yoshi's Tropical Island that's the best board theme in Mario Party 1. This is some of the goodness we got in Chrono Trigger put onto a really relaxing track. I love the way that Mitsuda plays with similar instruments, like how he's able to use one string instrument with a very staccato sound in Wind Scene to transition into a more flowing, melodic one. The same holds true here - I really love the starting percussion transitioning into the flute section, which allows the backing wood block sounds to stand out more, before the piano comes in to finish the melody. It's very cozy, has a clear start and end point, and fits the mood perfectly. The loop's a bit criminally short, but it's a song that's so easy to put on in the background and zone out to.

Windmillville (MP7)
An astonishingly good proof of concept with great theming, but unfortunately let down due to varying factors. As mentioned in the Bowser write up, Bowser Time is absolutely brutal on this board, Bowser potentially flopping his ass down onto a windmill and crushing it. Each windmill being a set value also damages things, as since the center, three-star windmill is so hard to get to, it is very easy to make large investments in it without worry. This makes short games on this board undesirable, as whoever reaches that center point first due to the alternating pathways gimmick (which is VERY rarely a good idea, as Toad's Midway Madness and Bowser's Gnarly Party can attest) will very likely win, but longer games give Bowser more chances to muck things up and utterly crash the economy. It's not like Tycoon Town, which is about stealing from investments by targeting select spaces - those coins are essentially locked in unless Bowser decides he hates capitalism more than usual today. I also find the bottom half of the board to have really long stretches of nothing, which MAY be useful for amassing coins, but I'm never a fan of just having an average of two or three turns of "just move forward". It's a really strong concept that would later be improved upon, a very necessary first draft.

Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Now this is the fun stuff. The Bowser Bomb basically guarantees (unless in a very specific situation in Bowser Land) that someone is gonna lose all of their money, transforming the dormant Baby Bowser into Community Theater Bowser, desperately trying to hustle people out of coins with overacting and cheap costumes. How devastating the Bowser Bomb is depends on the board - in Western Land, it's very difficult for Bowser to wrangle his prey due to the sheer size of the map, whilst Mystery Land basically guarantees anyone on an island with Bowser has no chance to survive, make your time. It is situational, as it depends on a player landing on an Item Space, wanting to get the Bowser Bomb based on everyone's position, and then actually winning the mini-game to use it (not hard in most maps, but still possible to screw up). I do love that the shopkeep in Bowser Land can just randomly sell you one for 12 coins, it's such a nice touch to add that needless risk to the board. Bowser's AI is... kinda stupid, sometimes just going in a loop in Space Land instead of actually hunting players down, but that's what makes him so fun - he's not a guaranteed unless you're right next to him, he's an encroaching threat that maybe, just maybe, will let you live to see another day. And it's also a reason why DK is probably the least-chosen hard CPU in the game - that man targets this item with a laser focus, and will make SURE that everyone suffers.

As a harmless aside, I only had text previews for Melee when it was coming out, and the Down Special was listed as "Bowser Bomb". So before I got my hands on the game, I just thought Bowser threw this out at people and could grow more powerful and wear Mario Party costumes mid-fight. I was disappointed.

Mario Party: The Top 100
There was a lot of potential here. Have a poll so that people could nominate games to be in The Top 100. Have a few be revealed at a time to drum up hype. Include five or so fan-favorite boards from across the series, normalizing their mechanics to... probably the 3/4 system would be the most balance, just seeing how new items and ideas interact. Instead... we get essentially the Mini Game and Mini-Game Island modes of a given Mario Party cut out and slapped together. Some of the games included aren't even good! It's a heartless cash grab of a game preying on nostalgia that SHOULD have been a celebration of the series, and like most of Nintendo's 3DS lineup, relies on nostalgia to make up for a lack of effort and innovation.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Cranky
Blue
Giovanni
Joshua

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Bowser Tier
Bowser
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)

Super Star Tier
Space Land (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
give me the ball papa

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mario
Tumble (MP3)
Warp Pipe
Ztar
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Mario Party 5 - Nerfed a bit from his heyday, but some chaos is absolutely possible due to the Bowser Capsule. At any point, Bowser might just wreck a player getting an item and toss a Bowser Space on the board. These are especially fearsome, as Bowser will just sometimes take a star from players who land on his space. With more mobility options than ever, a player shouldnt have MUCH of a problem avoiding Bowser spaces but they instill such a fear by existing, ESPECIALLY if Bowser (who has taken over hosting Last Five Turns permanently by this point) decides to just turn EVERY Red Space into a Bowser space. His boss fight is weaker in this game due to a lack of the threat of instant death, but still enjoyable. Plus hes a sweet guy, he drives around with Peachs heart body in Super Duel Mode - what a nice guy.

Mario Party Advance - https://twitter.com/SuperMarioFact/status/1252357877114650624

Mario Party 6 - Bowser stealing your star is now reworked into Bowser rolling a dice block with the chance of stealing a star, a callback to the Mario Party 1 days thats VERY welcome. Bowser Revolution is changed to be a Last 5 Turns only event as well, which is disappointing. However, Bowser gets significantly more board presence in this game, able to reprise his Mario Party 1 gimmick of rotating with Toad in Castaway Bay, and his Mario Party 2 gimmick of walking around and mugging people in Clockwork Castle. Its more a Bowser nostalgia tour, as hes regulated just to the Night cycle to prop up his rivalry with Donkey Kong, and he doesnt even get a boss fight. Probably Bowsers weakest appearance overall.

Mario Party DS - Okay I lied this is his weakest appearance. Bowser Revolution is renamed to Gimme Equality!, Gimme Stars! is back without a roulette, and he turns himself into a weird cube for his boss fight. This is the worst Bowsers been but I mean, its still better than most of his contemporaries in other games.

Mario Party 7 - Bowser gets an ENTIRE MECHANIC every 5 turns in order to screw with everyone. How effective this is depends on the board - Windmillville Bowser is total bullshit, while Enchanted Inferno Bowser is a constant who makes the board significantly more interesting. On most boards, hes simply just the life of the party, pettily photobombing pictures that he set up and charging a fee for it, then stealing the photo for himself. Bowsers Lovely Lift is a BIT too easy, but an excellent concept for a duel mode boss fight and really fun to play casually. This is a FUN Bowser who makes his presence known. Single-Player Bowser mini-games suck in this game, though, most of the fun options get relegated to Koopa Kid spaces.

Mario Party 8 - Bowser continues to directly counter Donkey Kongs actions. Bowsers Bad-Breath Express is perhaps the most dastardly version of the Rainbow Castle concept, baiting players with a free star from DK before someone lands on a Bowser space and replaces it with the Koopa King ready to steal a star. His boss fight is disappointing, but so are a lot of Mario Party 8s mechanics.

Mario Party 9 - Bowser introduces Reverse Minigames to the series, where you have to be the first player to be eliminated from a mini-game in order to win. Bowser is paying you to mutilate yourself at this point. Beautiful. His boss fight is a remix of all the other bosses where he rolls dice to attack you with dungeon dice monsters. Flavor for days.

Mario Party 10 - Bowser is FINALLY playable in more than just Beach Volleyball. Controlling Bowser is an absolute joy, destroying everything in your path in order to pursue your targets. Only Bowsers Bad Breath feels particularly bad to control, as blowing is never a great input, but every other Bowser game makes you feel like the oppressive force Bowser has been for almost two decades at this point. The build-up to playable Mario Party Bowser is palpable due to everything thats come before him, and he pays off in spades. His Amiibo Board is, likewise, incredibly dickish, all of his good points from Mario Party 9 are still present, and he even has the most fun, competitive, and fair boss fight in the game with his Dry Bowser transformation.

Super Mario Party - Depending on who you ask, Bowser is the best or second best character in the entire game, and thats not up for debate. Bowser and DK are so far ahead of the rest of the pack with their custom blocks that its scary. Bowser guarantees either a HUGE roll, a stall, or a 1. No one has a 50% chance to dominate movement every single turn like Bowser does, and as his natural rolls STACK with movement options. Due to his high rolls being so common, as well, hes not entirely snakebit by the ally system like DK or Wario might be if theyre trying to target a specific space. If youre playing to win, youre playing as Bowser. And after years of him being the strongest force in Mario Party, that just feels RIGHT.

Bowser is, quite simply, the best thing about Mario Party. It wouldnt be much of a stretch to say that Bowser IS Mario Party, trying to utterly dominate everyone with a combination of luck, skill, and utter dickery. The series elevates him as much as he elevates it. The reason why its called Bowser Tier at the top is because he deserves it. He is the peak of the series, and NOTHING comes close to what hes brought to the table.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Warp Pipe
For the first three titles, Warp Pipes are a means to an end, and honestly kinda neglected. They essentially exist to either funnel you to another part of the board, or are features in Bowser Land to attempt to escape the parade route. I like this Bowser Land implementation the best compared to Luigi's Engine Room and Waluigi's Island; using them as a sudden escape, or a controlled risk in order to get another tick toward the Happening Star, is really solid, and adapt them really nicely from the Mario series as a whole. Warp Pipes SHOULD be unpredictable and interesting, and making them a controlled risk is greatly reflective of that. They get the promotion from 'board accessory' to 'item' in Mario Party 4, replacing the Warp block... and are summarily useless because the Warp Space also exists, and due to the prevailance of Mini Mushrooms and their usual proximity to Mini Mushroom pipes and events. It DOES have an advantage over the Warp Block where it's spinner-based, so it's more possible to learn and time how to use it than its purely random predecessor, but boards are already so obnoxious to traverse in 4 that a Chomp Call is usually the better defensive play-based option, and the Mega Mushroom is always a cheaper offensive-based option. From there, it gets wrapped into the Capsule system, and probably suffers the most from it since the cost of using it isn't usually worth the potentially negligible benefit compared to just throwing it on the board and hoping you land on it. With how segmented almost all of the MP5 maps are, it's far more effective as an annoying trap to escape from a certain area, but with how much those segments love to loop around on each other, it's less of the interesting choice it was in MP2 and more just a "oh, that happened. Neat." kinda feeling. It was fixed in MP6 and MP7, but by then there were so many specialized orbs that the Warp Pipe just seemed inferior to options like Klepto on Castaway Bay, Tweester, or the overwhelming control that the Sluggish Shroom offers. It's quite unfortunate, but the thing has just been overshadowed and never the best option in every single appearance it's had as an item. Unless you could Gold and Star Pipes, which I don't because those would tank its rating even more due to how damn inexpensive they are for being Magic Lamps!

Bowser
There is no greater force of joy in the Mario Party series than Bowser. In every single game, this guy has an absolutely PRISTINE track record of unbelievable quality. For virtual board games, there are no "bad luck" or "negative" mechanics; if there's a character who's your direct antagonist or screws with you based on a roulette, they are "Bowser". Bowser ascends above Mario Party and becomes emblematic of virtual board games as a whole. Just, look at this guy's track record:

Mario Party - The most absolutely dickish that Bowser ever will be. Bowser's cruelty knows no bounds in this game, and yet his hatred is distributed evenly. Bowser is an active board element, essentially selling counterfeit items whilst insulting the player all the while. This man shoves an inner tube on you, watches it pop, makes you pay 30 bucks for it, and asks "oh wow, have you gotten fatter?". This is especially brutal in Bowser's Magma Mountain, where you have to play a dice game with him, and if you fail, he will steal a star from you. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL. If you land on a Bowser Space with no coins and one star, Bowser will generously buy the star off of you for 10 coins - no need to consent or thank him, the big guy knows what you want! BUT Bowser Spaces have such a strong chance to screw EVERYONE over, with Bowser having multiple mini-games that drain coins from 3 players. Bowser's Chance Time, Bowser's Balloon Burst, Bowser's Tug-O-War - all of these have the potential to DEVASTATE coin counts, and one is even a stick rotation game so that MAXIMUM suffering can be inflicted. But perhaps best of all is Bowser's Bash 'n' Cash. This mini-game just has players beat the crap out of a player in a Bowser suit, taking 5 coins from them and giving them straight to Bowser with each swing, while the single player is absolutely helpless. Bowser then says, "What horrible people! They stole x Coins! What a great opportunity for you, now you know what it's like to be me!". But, if they steal NO coins (or if no one falls beneath Bowser's threshold in Bowser's Face Lift), Bowser will go "what?! Nothing happened?! Well I don't like you, so I'm going to take 20 coins". The absolute legend.

Mario Party 2 - Becomes the villain of each board and introduces the Bowser Bomb. Not only are Bowser's costumes absolutely ace in this game, but he's got some of the best lines and animations in general (AUGH YA CORKED ME being a stupid, fun highlight). Nothing is more devastating than Bowser's turn starting, as he rolls 3 dice and takes ALL of the coins from a player he comes across, telling the player "if you value your life, you'll give me all your money" in Bowser Land. This is also a game where he starts feeling true pity for you - if you land on his space with 0 coins and hit "Coins for Bowser", he will GIVE you money, making landing on Bowser not just a strategic option for harming everyone or hoping for revolution, but the ability to rebound if you've been hit hard by fees or just threw the rest of your money into the bank or Item Shop. He gets the final bow in the credits curtain call, and he DESERVES it - this man's the star of the show.

Mario Party 3 - The nicest Bowser will ever be. Reduced to a pure comedy role in the story, after being a dominant topcard threat for all of the past two games, he lets both Daisy AND Waluigi go over him clean and asks the player to avenge him before he dies of wounds inflicted by Waluigi. Additionally, this is the only Bowser Roulette based on timing - whenever you hit the A button on that thing, whatever option is highlighted, that's gonna be the one it picks. The roulette IS tricky to time, but Bowser has so many more options to help you out. Giving you phones so you can call him whenever, giving you cosplays of him to mug people with, he even truncates his communist propaganda speech during the Bowser Revolution. He'll also give you tons of coins based on your placement and turn order if you visit him with 0 coins - no rolling Coins for Bowser required. You can get up to 50 for the big man if you're in last with 0 coins in the last 5 turns. This is also where Sexy Bowser appears. Due to the Bowser Phone and the roulette, Bowser is less an inherent negative in this game so much as he is a flexible tool with an intense chance to screw you over.

Mario Party 4 - Even though the Bowser Space is worse, Bowser himself stands out. He lands with MASSIVE, almost jumpscare-esque impact whenever he shows up, and provides THE best Bowser mini-games in the entire series. He's not even trying to hide his obvious inflation fetish anymore, and can somehow say the phrase "he shoots, he scorches!" while breathing fire, which is just pure skill. He's willing to challenge the player directly in mini-games if they grow as large as he is in Gnarly Party, with sumo wrestling especially being fun to see. He also has, by far, the best boss fight the series has seen (discounting Toad just being better than you in MP1), with multiple phases, a weird fire boomerang he never uses in any other game, and even putting the Gamecube over with the lava cube. After a game of being nice, Bowser is back as a LETHAL threat, and still a joy to see.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Bowser Tier
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Wario
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)

Super Star Tier
Space Land (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Cry Bones (MP8)
Toad (Playable)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
give me the ball papa

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Opening Cinematic (MP1)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Item Bag (MP3)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Bowsers Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mario
Tumble (MP3)
Ztar
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
Curvy Curbs (MP5)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Opening Cinematic (MP1)
https://i.imgur.com/FrIRxg6.gif

What is this? What does this accomplish? What are they doing? What has Luigi, specifically, ever done to either of these men? Is this character development? Luigi gets absolutely SHIT on through this entire opening sequence, having zero of the qualities that Toad, who is apparently the divine God of the Mario world who determines who its true champion is, is looking for. And in the end, Luigi gets absolutely nothing. This is, of course, until Mario Party 3, where Luigi is the canon hero, overcoming all of the other, actual traits of Super Stardom and even Shadow Luigi and his girlfriend who lifts. This started a multi-part arc for Luigi, who wasn't even the focus, but took Toad's words to heart harder than anyone else. However, this cutscene does not have Bowser in it. Whenever Bowser is not on-screen, I find myself asking, "hey, where's Bowser?" This is no exception.

Wario
If there was one true hero of Mario Party, it'd be Wario. Implied by lazy translation that he was the winner of Mario Party 1 ("Wario said since he's the Super Star, it should be named Wario Land"), Wario is an absolute gem whenever he appears. Wario basically carries the game's personality on his pudgy, melded-into-his-neck-and-fat shoulders, being just the right combination of triumphantly mocking in success and frustratedly dumbfounded in defeat. Even swapping over to Martinet as a permanent voice, Wario remained great, having just the right mix of obnoxiousness and smarminess to carry him. Wario's Battle Canyon is perhaps the most brilliant bit of characterization - Wario is essentially inviting a race war into his home and profiting off of it, then taking credit for ending a prejudice that even Mario himself couldn't solve in Mario 64, as evidenced by Bob-omb being his partner in Mario Party 3. Wario is history's greatest criminal, and is intensely lovable for it.

His track record in unique items is.a bit spotty. Duel Mode Wario is the worst character in the game - a 3 salary for a guaranteed 1 damage if he rolls big isn't good in ANY circumstance unless specifically against DK, who can't hit him back. But as DK has a winning match-up against Daisy and.a good one against Luigi, who are FAR higher on the tier list than Wario could ever pretend to be, Wario doesn't exactly gain much ground beating the second-worst in the mode. Dueling Glove is an awful signature item just due to the sheer cost of the thing meaning you're operating at a net loss no matter what, and the Vacuum orb, as mentioned with Waluigi, is a mid-tier, luck-based disruption tool. However, when Wario shines, he SHINES. His Super Duel Mode vehicle is as durable as it is powerful, making him an actual challenge to compete against on most terrains. And in Super Mario Party, the guy is absolutely Top 3 in the game. While he isn't UTTERLY busted like DK or Bowser, a spread of -2, -2, 6, 6, 6, 6 is something that most characters could only dream of. This guarantees the maximum amount of progress you could get from a normal roll OR a stall at the space you're on. And sure, you lose two coins, but that's a small price to pay for rolling 0. Being able to farm events can be utterly busted, and with the only other option being "roll big", it makes Wario utterly devastating in 90% of circumstances. Of all the original partiers, Wario has the best track record across the series for a combination of annoying, enjoyable, powerful, and actually being playable. Games feel complete and like Mario Party with him in them.

Bowser's Unique Enemy Dialogue (MP10)
https://i.gyazo.com/c1ffa6f0fed5d3b564cc0b8f8d2c3e39.jpg

I love little details like this. The Mario Party series generally does really well with this, with the Bowser Suit and the like, and this adds to this mystique of Bowser as a larger-than-life figure who deserves to be feared and hated for ruining your day for laughs. I love how it carries over to Super, where if he lands on Kamek's bad luck space, Kamek will be cowering, terrified that he has to pull out the roulette on Bowser. It's a cute little detail - doesn't amount to much, but it's cute.

Cry Bones (MP8)
Thank god that team names came back for MP8 instead of "Team Seagull" and "Team Dolphin". This, as I had hoped before looking it up to confirm, is the team of Luigi and Dry Bones. It is perfect. Just utterly ace pun game here. I can't help but admire and adore it.

Item Bag (MP3)
The only game (out of two, admittedly, but we've been over that 4 sucks at items and boards) where the Item Bag is truly interesting and useful! Due to the split in shop systems - Toad and Baby Bowser having different inventories - choosing an Item Bag based on what shop spawns is not only viable, but can be the difference between life or death. In general, ignore the Toad bag and dump your hard earned cash into the Baby Bowser Bag - get a chance at Reverse Shrooms on the common, plus Bowser Phones, Boo Bells, and the Lucky Lamp, all great disruption tools. The sheer amount of stuff you get at once greatly outweighs the potential benefits of Toad's selection, where specifically buying a Magic Lamp, Golden Mushroom (which are only 10 in this game and that's mental), or Boo Repellent rather than pulling for it will likely serve you better than BB's catch-all chaos. However, the BIG allure of the Item Bag is that it's got a chance of pulling out a Rare item. For Toad, the Rare items will always be the Koopa Card or Barter Box, while Baby Bowser will always have the Lucky Emblem or Wacky Watch. As to be expected, Baby Bowser's got the MUCH better deal here, as the Koopa Card is very passive and the Barter Box is best used when you only have it available - something the Item Bag doesn't allow for as it fills up your inventory very quickly. Is it necessarily reliable? No, not at all. But I think it's more worth it than a Boo Bell if you're down and can't immediately afford a Star Steal, or are in first and roll Baby Bowser's shop since you can't get Boo Repellant from him. Not the most practical item, but a fun chance at pulling ahead that's worth taking in certain situations.

Curvy Curbs (MP5)
A mini-game that would be significantly better with one very simple change: instead of putting you at a dead stop, simply slow the momentum of the vehicle upon impact with curves, more harshly the worse of an angle the wheel would come in at. Considering that Bobsled Run and Filet Relay could accomplish this no problem, I see no reason why Curvy Curby couldn't do the same. As-is, it's an auto-scroller that favors the single player as they only have ONE person to worry about being bad at the game. And honestly, it's not that hard to be bad at it - that curve right before the gingerbread house is VERY tight and hard to avoid smacking into. But the fact that it's basically counting mistakes and you just hope that you don't get a draw really takes all of the tension out of it. I think it'd probably work better as a 2v2 as well, as there's just... no reason for it to be a 1v3. Music fits REALLY well for the mini-game, though.


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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Bowser Tier
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)

Super Star Tier
Space Land (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Partner Party (SMP)
Monty Mole (SMP)
Toad (Playable)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
give me the ball papa

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
Mario Party 4
The Big Boo (MP2)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mario
Tumble (MP3)
Ztar
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
True Millennium Star (MP3)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

True Millennium Star (MP3)
Would've been better if it came from inside of you all along. I refuse this reality, the truth will remain inside the cat box forever. Decently cute, though, would've liked to see it in something else.

Mario's Puzzle Party (MP3)
It's a pretty cute puzzle game, but the fact that it's a "match 2" instead of a "match 3" makes setting up combos very awkward. "Hold Down" is a bit TOO effective of a strategy for my liking, and the Puyo strat of "line the walls, slide them in" isn't as good as it should be. I'm a Tetris Attack man living in a Puyo Puyo world. The Thwomps are FANTASTIC, though, great addition to the game that makes it super flexible and makes the big combo happen and feel good. It's a good mini-game that's bordering on great, but doesn't hit the highs that Bob-omb Breakers would later reach.

Rules Land (MP2)
Just a worse version of Mario Party 1's Rules Land in every way. Boring regular layout compared to sleek Toad face surrounded by party paraphernalia to look like a big top tabletop. The amazing Mario Party 1 rules theme, the coziest remix of the Mario 1 theme out there, is replaced by some boring forgettable nonsense. And the game defaults to Rules land, unlike Mario Party 1, where once you go to Rules Land once, it defaults to Depart For Adventure instead. There is only one redeeming factor: in Creepy Cavern in Mario Party 3, there are a bunch of whomps in the background playing a tabletop game. Carefully looking at it reveals that it is an exact replica of Rules Land from Mario Party 2. So either their pebble brains think that they're playing an automated tutorial or they figured out a way to play what would honestly be a pretty chaotic 20 turn map.

The Car (MP9 & MP10)
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78650813/938537116

Partner Party (SMP)
A much better implementation of the partner system than the version used in the regular Mario Party! Due to the sheer number of dead spaces, having added rolls really helps with movement, as greater movement is far more valuable than precision (whereas the opposite is usually the case with the regular game). Finding the right path with the combination of steps you have available to you feels fulfilling, and figuring out the proper partner combinations and whether picking up a specific partner would be worth it is really enjoyable. I have found that whoever gets ahead first snowballs a LOT, as getting more partners lets you roll higher which lets you reach more partners faster. But insofar as side modes go, it's one of the better ones, and I'm ALWAYS glad to see a co-op mode where partners don't share a space on the board.

Dungeon Duos (MP4)
Immaculate. An excellent combination of platforming, coordination, and button mashing. Any individual section on its own would constitute an "average" to "bad" mini game, but sticking them all together in a gauntlet is just brilliant, showing a full breadth of Mario Party skill. The 2v2 format ensures that no one is out of it, as even if you're bad in a single area, you could be better at the pumping, or pathfinding in the warp pipe area. Can you sometimes get luck screwed with the warp pipes? Yeah, but memory always helps, and the fact that you have two bodies keeps it feeling incredibly kinetic and helps balance out the race aspect of it. From concept to execution, just an absolute slam dunk of a game.

Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
You can play as Bowser in this one. Honestly, in spite of it being the outright worse game, I think I prefer its implementation. It's a secret bonus that you only get if you play all of Whomp and Thwomp's stupid bootleg games (most of which are actually really good), and then you get to play as all the boss characters. I always had a fascination as a kid for playing as characters I shouldn't be able to, and this fulfilled that really nicely. It's more simple than the Mario Party 5 version, and those extra gameplay options do make it better, but man... what a good little secret.

Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Man what a good mode. Having the point multiplying ball based on volleys puts SO much pressure on players, as does the bomb ball to shake things up. It sucks that we lose some of the flavor of the original having Bowser's only playable appearance in the series for decades, but the new balls make up for it. Really, it's just classic volleyball, essentially a full NES game disguised as a mini-game. Top drawer stuff, the Gamecube Mario Party games tended to absolutely kill it with the window dressing.

Mario Party 4
Likely THE best collection of mini-games in the series outright. This title came out SWINGING and never relented. So many interesting ideas and twists on ideas - that's what Mario Party does, never letting up, Tracing is boring? Turn it into an auto-scroller. Basketball was way too simple in MP1? Make it three rotating hoops. That splashing game from 3 kinda boring? Flip it on its head, reverse the roles, and really push that Mario is all about WATER this generation with some cool waves. We haven't done Bowser games in a while? Let's add some of the most killer, tense, and risky games (and Darts of Doom) and attach them to Bowser, making the guy feel like a threat again after 3's FAR kinder (and sexier) Bowser. There are SOME duds, but all of them at least have an idea that makes them stand out. The single player gets expanded, having boss mini-games that are all really fun and unique duels. ending with the most interesting and climactic final boss in the series. The Extra Room is no slouch, either, complete with really fun pure gimmick games and some absolute bullshit ones that are still good for a chuckle, with Beach Volley Folley hidden in the back, all under the guise of a shitty stand-up club. Mario Party 4 has style for DAYS, and its mini-game collection is one of the most replayable, enjoyable sets imaginable.

... but the boards SUCK. This is up there for one of the most miserable board game experiences the series has to offer, and not just because it's purely cruel like MP1. Goomba's Greedy Gala basically gets "best board" by default for being absolute bull at every turn, because none of the other boards decided to show up. Tons of junctions decided by luck causing players to have to loop around, no Game Guy, a far weaker Bowser space due to the Koopa Kid chance (and that Bowser games sometimes only remove ITEMS, which not every player HAS in the first place so sometimes Bowser games are just a waste of time), no duels PERIOD. Flavor is a LOT weaker due to the actual spaces hovering above the boards, making them feel like set dressing the devs were too lazy to mix the characters in with. The Banana Peel Junction, the Shy Guy River, Toad's Teacups, the crumbling bridges in Gnarly Party, the Pink Boo bridges - so much of the boards are designed around limiting options. And everything, EVERYTHING, revolves around the damn Mini Mega system. Due to a lack of Item Game spaces, you're going to be loaded with these sorry excuses for movement items, one of which prevents you from using more items, and the other is simultaneously a worse Skeleton Key AND a worse Poison Mushroom, because occasionally it just won't function right as either! The best parts of a board are gated behind Mini-Mushroom pipes, which require such precise rolls that you can't get without using the damn things to set it up that they're almost never visited. There is a FUN game in here, there are fun ideas here - Bowser's interactions with the player in Gnarly Party depending on if they're mini or mega is really cool. But it sacrifices the entire game for a gimmick. This Mario Party is the best Mario Party, except for the actual Mario Party mode, it's bad at that.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Bowser Party (MP10)
Bowser Party is only as good as its boards. Mushroom Park is boring and bad. Very easy for either team to pull ahead of the other, very luck dependent. Whimsical Waters is great because Bowser can draw dicks on the screen for as long as hed like and theres nothing that the other team can do to stop him (there are two paths, Bowser can see which is good, and he can draw whatever he wants to try to lure them to take a specific path. This happens frequently). There are no outstanding features other than that, but it felt important to mention that Bowser Jr encourages his father to draw dicks, and that likely lead to the Nintendo parental control video (it probably didnt). Its fairly standard past that, but its incredibly fun. Chaos Castle, however, is utter perfection. Tons of places for the players to mess up and lose hearts for absolutely no reason other than nerves, constant Bowser duels, the opportunity to repeatedly revive lost teammates, and the final stretch of the board being a one-on-four final sprint where you can easily yell at your friends for simply being bad at rolling the dice. Mini-games range from grossly favoring Bowser to grossly favoring the players to being even, which is perfect - both teams deserve to have a chance to sweat if theyll make progress or not, and the ratio of who each game favors basically evens out when all of them are slapped together. Its a damn good mode, 95% of the reason to even care about Mario Party 10 in the first place, and one of the incredibly few games to use the Wii U gamepad exceptionally well. Its a shame that, for as heavily marketed as it was, it only had three boards compared to the main games five, because this is the absolute freshest and strongest the car games have ever gotten or will ever get.

Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
Mario Party 1 is super interesting. Its clear that, when developing, Hudson very much meant for players to play for 35 turns. You get maps like Peachs Birthday Cake that outright suck if theyre 20 turn games, or DKs Jungle Adventure where players can go absolutely nowhere in 20, or how the Thwomps dont really serve much of a purpose in Yoshis Tropical Island in a 20 turn game. Eternal Star is really unique in that its a bad board unless youre playing with EXACTLY 35 turns. Take away 15 and the Baby Bowser gimmick doesnt get the chance to reset. Take it up to 50 and the Baby Bowser gimmick becomes frustrating as someones gonna lose their nerve when they lose the dice game and Baby Bowser takes away a star. Eternal Stars major flaw is just being too much - if there were two Warp Pattern that it alternated between, itd take about the length of a 35 turn game to figure them out. The issue is, Eternal Star rotates between three warp patterns. Now, there is an easy way of checking which path youre on - the bottom teleporter on the top-right star fragment goes to a unique location no matter what warp pattern youre on - but that requires memorizing three permutations of over 10 locations and applying it in real-time. So that you can show off a little bit in Mario Party 1. You could go to a board maker online and create a better board than Eternal Star in the time itd take you to drill that into your head. 50 turns simply gives Eternal Star too much of a chance to dick over players - Magma Mountain was balanced that you had to have, at minimum, two failed coin flips in a row (and potentially 3) in order for Bowser to take your stuff. Here, its a constant 15% chance of loss every Star Space you come across, and a guaranteed failure chance if a player runs into Bowser. I am all for slow torture via party, but this is cruel and unusual punishment in the best of circumstances, whittling away at sanity until there is nothing but a husk left. I can only recommend this if you want to guarantee that you will have less friends by the end of the night.

Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
The music doesnt stop when you pick a plunger. Its a worst mini-game just because of that. Ooh, wow, it explodes into a billion polygons, what is it, made of glass? It also suffers from MP4s battle game system, where the person who lands on the space gets the choice of two games. Choosing Bigger Blast is very rarely the more appealing option, as its basically admitting yeah I have no chance at catching butterflies better than my friends, better settle for pure luck. It is the choice for cowards, whereas in Mario Party 2 it was a selection to instill fear. Its amazing how much weaker it is solely because of presentation and the mechanics of the game that its in. Its like seeing an artist you truly love sell out, or Sonic Advance 2.

Coney Island (MP5)
I love how you can tell which mini-games were the ones that got to appear in trailers. This game and the blooper one from 6 have SUCH high production values and silky smooth framerates compared to the rest of the mini-games. Anyway, its fun and fine. Its the booksquirm concept, but in score attack format rather than survival format. The set dressing is absolutely incredible, Mario Statue of Liberty is hilariously over the top, and the winner gets a cute little ice cream with as many scoops as they could manage to obtain. Its a good one, easy to understand, one that anyone can get good at. I like the style less since it has a ceiling unlike Booksquirm or Mushroom Mix-Up or Snow Whirled, but its one of the good ones.

Bowser Tier
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Horror Land (MP2)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Bowser Party (MP10)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)

Super Star Tier
Space Land (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Coney Island (MP5)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Monty Mole (SMP)
Toad (Playable)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
give me the ball papa

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Bowsers Bigger Blast (MP4)
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
The Big Boo (MP2)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mario
Tumble (MP3)
Ztar
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Kamek (MP2)
Playing Mario Party Alone
Eternal Star - 50 Turns (MP1)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
Mario Party DS
No Boo (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Naye745 posted...

i enjoy me some bowsers big blast (for what it is) but seeing it a tier ahead of booksquirm, snow whirled, and hexagon/mushroom (basically the mario party GOATs) seems a bit much

I don't see anything as more emblematic of Mario Party. High risk, perfect tension, stressing about absolutely nothing. Arguments outside of Mario Party can be settled fairly with Bowser's Big Blast. It is a perfect system with utterly perfect set dressing. Battle games are also just inherently stronger due to the higher risk involved with them (and judged more harshly when they're bad). I can basically see Big Blast being rated anywhere from "incredible" to "awful" and find no issue with it.

Ztar
Should be called "rats" and given out by Nodamice. That's better than the laziest attempt to flip the letter "s" over to make it try to appear menacing. The Ztar has two forms: interesting and intensely lazy. Its interesting appearances are when Bowser uses it as a trap. Running away from Bowser in Clockwork Castle, Bowser's rotation with the actual Star space in Castaway Bay and Mario's Rainbow Castle, stuffing it inside one of the boxes in Neon Heights - these solidly illustrate the potential of the item. It's a threat when it's on the board and one that you desperately want to avoid. Other times, it's just a shorthand for "oh Bowser took your star", which could be so much more easily accomplished by Bowser just mugging you like he did in the old days. My favorite thing was landing on a Bowser space in MP1 with no coins, and then Bowser would buy a star off of you for 10 coins - intensely dickish and a far better inversion of the star-buying process than what the Ztar offers. And then sometimes Ztars just show up in Hidden Blocks in Mario Party DS. Awful. Reducing the game state and making it less interesting and interactive should be the LAST thing Mario Party does, but Ztars absolutely manage to do so. There's POTENTIAL here, but very rarely is it tapped or superior to just "Bowser doing Bowser things". Ztar IS the host of Beach Volley Folly in MP4, though. So that's cool.

Mario, Party Of One
There are worse things that you could do than play Mario Party alone. Speedrunning or watching speedruns of Mario Party is actually rather fun, trying to figure out the best ways to encourage consistency or improve in mini-games, intentionally throwing some because they take too long and you have the mini-game star anyway so why bother. Sometimes there are unlocks that your friends will want (Dry Bones in 7, most Bowser boards, Waluigi's Island), and doing the noble thing and playing by yourself is fine. However... Mario Party is a game of broken dreams and ruined friendships. You can't negotiate with a CPU on who they should steal coins from; you just know they're gonna target either the person with the bonus star lead or the person in first place. You can't have a computer agonize over a decision when you hit them with a Reverse Mushroom. The best elements of Mario Party are when you force someone else to make a decision where they have to convince themselves of the lesser of two evils. Playing solo, it's just "did you get the mini-game and coin stars? Cool, get Magic Lamps and Boo Repellent". If you're not doing a specific challenge... honestly it's better to set the game to CPU only and root for your favorite, or take shots when your CPU of choice does something stupid.

Mario Party DS
A bad video game. The mini-games are fine for the most part - a bit dull, but they experiment with the DS hardware just fine. Board play, however, is utterly atrocious. Boo has been removed entirely, replaced with the Hex system, which is... honestly bad. Peach's Birthday Cake experimented with this system back in MP1, and proved that it doesn't work in anything less than a 50 turn game. No one will want to play a 50 turn game of Mario Party DS. Landing on a specific space being required in order to steal a star is AWFUL, AND it doesn't even stack with Happening Spaces, AND if a player with no stars lands on a star hex, the hex breaks while accomplishing absolutely nothing. Additionally, Duel Spaces only appears on the Last 5 Turns, being replaced with Friend Spaces where you choose a 'friend' to gain 5 coins along with you. And while that's interesting... dueling's just better, and the lack of Battle spaces (since Battle games are shuffled into the mini-game roulette) puts player-to-player interactivity at an all-time low. Bowser is utterly neutered here too, all of his interesting options removed to make way for "gimme your shit", only Bowser Revolution remaining as a beacon in a sea of garbage options. Other than Toadette's Music Room, boards are often painfully small and uninteresting. The item shop is as unbalanced as it'd ever be until SMP, Star Pipes at a ridiculously low price, a HIDDEN BLOCK DETECTOR existing, and the Item Bag being busted to absolutely ludicrous proportions (Star Pipe, Block Sensor, Golden Shroom guarantee). There are a handful of decent things - Donkey Kong saving the day through the sheer force of wanting bananas is always good, the Kamek boss fight is actually really fun, the theming of the game being 'everything is shrunken down' makes for some unique ideas for boards, which actually look fairly appealing - but it turns Mario Party from.a game about messing with your friends to a game about constantly pressing your own advantage and hoping it ends up better than your friends' same efforts. When strategy and dickery are taken out, Mario Party is just going through the motions, and it's sad and ultimately unpleasant.

Horror Land (MP2)
An utterly exceptional board, Top 3 for the N64 trilogy and the 2nd best board in Mario Party 2 itself! There is so much flexibility with just how many ways you can try to screw your opponents, and due to the sheer number of Boo spaces, not to mention The Big Boo in the top right, this is a board where going towards the star (and it's very easy to do so, star spawns are VERY kind in this board and on the beaten path). Everything in this board works in perfect tandem. Mr. I's warps cut straight through the Boo Graveyard, ruining the day of anyone trying to go for two Boos during one night cycle, but also open up mobility options for getting from one corner of the board to the other. The item shop is slotted very close to a bunch of Daytime Boo spawns, but also very close to the double boo graveyard, meaning that the choice between a Skeleton Key, a Mushroom, and a Golden Mushroom is very valuable. This board has the easiest item mini-game, which weakens the value of the Magic Lamp as it's so easy to get a Plunder Chest, Boo Bell, or just visit the kleptomaniac ghost. Whomp positioning to ensure that your opponent can't get to a specific Boo means SO much more than their arbitrary gatekeeping during DK's Jungle Adventure, especially with them being non-interactable at night, and DOUBLES as both shields and guard rails for the Bowser Bomb. Wizard Bowser is perhaps the second most deadly of Bowser's forms, behind the Bowser Sphinx, because many of Horror Land's key junctions can be walled off with Whomp, almost guaranteeing that a player on certain paths will get a visit (unless he decides to get caught in the bottom-right), especially since he'll almost always spawn ON the main path through the board. This is a board where long-term planning can go a long way or be sabotaged super easily, where playing your hand too quickly WILL absolutely get you stolen from, and where hundreds of coins will be spent for only two coins. There are weak elements - the mansion and dance floor should really have their locations swapped - but they are minor compared to the excellent work put in by the board.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Rool
Ness
Magolor
Mirror

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Snow Whirled (MP6)
One of the greats. Absolutely perfect presentation - snowboarding is cool, and letting everyone go one at a time lets each individual player know how they measure up and have ample opportunity to gloat. The skill is unorthodox, based on how quickly you can hit the Gamecubes face buttons in a constant rotation, and it adapts well to other control schemes as the four-button layout is so ubiquitous. Its a pure skill demonstration that is uncommon, isnt limiting like pure button mashing, and can be improved on with practice or various improvised techniques. Just an all-around pleasure of a mini-game. Night variant is better because Aurora Borealis is pretty.

BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)
The GOAT. The Great One. The Unstoppable Force. The Equalizer. The Humbler. There is nothing more emblematic, more powerful, more Mario Party than this single game. Everyones coins at risk so that they want to play. No strategy, only the belief that you HAVE one. Psyching yourself out with well it COULDNT be the same one twice or the silver one is always safe on the second pump or pick the pump that your character has the least amount of on their body or ooh, banana pump. What I love about this game, though, is its sound design. After every pump, the music just dies, you hear the plunger activate, and everyone slowly turns to see if Bowser will allow you to live another day. That is true tension, that is true FEAR. You get just enough agency, you can yell at your opponent for being ahead of you (the math actually works out that everyone always has an equal chance of dying to a given bomb, but Hell if it feels like that if youre up and there are only two switches left). I have had a game of BBB last for seven minutes due to incredible luck, and there is not a greater tension than that battle of wills. Utter, untouchable perfection.

Mini-Game Island (MP1)
The better of the two Mini-Game Single-Player adventures. Honestly, I think its just a cool, fun mode. Due to how high Mario Party 1s coin counts can snowball, it constantly encourages you to do the best you can and not simply obtain the minimum amount on coin collection mini-games, so that you can always get another life. Are some mini-games pure luck-based time-stopping bull? Absolutely. Is it cruel that Paddle Battle is the fourth mini-game you have to do? No doubt. But its fun, the theming based on location and aesthetic is much stronger than 2 grouping games by their mini-game type, and Toad flexing on you by just being better makes him probably the best final boss in the series, with only MP4 Bowser really coming close (Stardust Battle has some sweet music, though). Probably the best and most replayable of the Mario Party series single-player offerings, which is kind of terribly sad now that I think about it.

Bowser Tier
BOWSERs Big Blast (MP2)

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Warios Oh my God! and Doh I missed!
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Waluigi
Mini-Game Island (MP1)

Super Star Tier
Space Land (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Hidden Star Blocks
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Candies (MP8)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Monty Mole (SMP)
Toad (Playable)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
give me the ball papa

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
The Big Boo (MP2)
Tiny Characters (MPDS)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Twila (MP6)
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mario
Tumble (MP3)
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)
Birdo

Mario Party DS Tier
Pause Buffering On Warios Battle Canyon (MP1)
Duel Mode (MP3)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Kamek (MP2)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
No Boo (MP1)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Whoops I had most of these completed when my computer decided to crash. Apologies for truncated write-ups at points.

Hidden Star Blocks
Honestly, they bolster the economy, and that's always nice. There's some nice mechanics with them - in 2, for instance, Hidden Blocks will only appear under Blue Spaces that Stars cannot spawn in. There will always be one hidden coin block and one star block, and they will shuffle spaces to another available space upon getting one. In boards like Mystery Land, where blue spaces are at a premium and you can suss them out with the Shy Guy Curse, this makes searching for the big bonus actually a viable (if desperate) strategy. It gets a bit more diluted in 3 with the introduction of a Hidden Block containing items, making it less viable and more of a happenstance. But honestly, more stars on the board is always a good thing. It makes Boo an even more powerful play, lets players use up the massive amount of coins they've built, and a little chaos to shake things up is always fun. Does it suck if you lose by 1 star? Yeah, but this is Mario Party, you need to be planning for a 2-star deficit at all times. Plus shutting them off with "No Bonus" means turning off Bonus Stars, which is a way that only villains play.

Twila (MP6)
The superior of the day/night twins... basically by default, but in a few nice ways as well. Obviously hosting the infinitely superior Mini-Game Mode compared to the awful Solo Mode will give her points, as well as having the 3-Up Moon to base her design on instead of just "sun ornaments seen in cheap garden supply stores". Aligning yourself with Boo and Bowser is ALWAYS a good idea, with Brighton only really having Donkey Kong to back him up. Everything exciting happens at night, and Twila's an enjoyable enough host for it, being very gentle compared to the chaos around her. She doesn't have any personality at all, which holds her back from the good hosts like Toad's endless optimism, the Millennium Star's gruff cockiness, Baby Bowser's mockery and love of all things Bowser, MC Ballyhoo's endless annoyance and boisterousness, Toadsworth's old man-erisms, and Eldstar's... well, Paper Mario nostalgia, I guess. But good design and being good by association to fun things carries her out of the gutter!

Wario's "Oh my God!" and "D'oh I Missed!"
I'm so happy Nintendo just walked around, looked for the German translator on-staff, and went "yup. That's the guy. That's Wario". It's so weird hearing a deep-voiced Wario after Martinet's amusing gravely gremlin grunts and guffaws for years, but it fits the character, makes him feel like some German beer and cheese baron or something. Anyway, these are the most expressive quotes in the first two Mario Parties, bar none. Sucks that one of them is only in the Japanese version, but it fits Wario so well, you could easily dub it over Joseph Joestar and it'd perfectly fit. "D'oh I Missed" is actually a mutation of the German "So Ein Mist!", but the fact that EVERYONE heard it wrong in EXACTLY the same way makes it endure far more than anything else. Combined with Wario tugging angrily on his mustache, it's a perfect, iconic combination. Wario is carried almost entirely by his voice in the first two Mario Parties; it doesn't feel right not having him in the game somehow, he just FEELS right. And his voice is 80% of the reason for that.

Pause Buffering In Wario's Battle Canyon
There are a ton of scummy strats in Mario Party that I am all for. Screen looking? Do it, your opponents are cowards for not. Making a promise and then shattering it? It's Mario Party, as long as you drag everyone else down to your level, you're good. Stealing coins from the guy in last place so he doesn't get Coin Star instead of stealing a star from the guy obviously in first? That's funny, and instead of making one enemy, you get two friends for the next game because that shit's hilarious. But there's one thing that's more annoying than fun, and that's stalling out your turn when you're not actively negotiating with someone at Boo. This strategy... essentially guarantees that. It's just anti fun, as when one of you starts doing it, so will everyone else, and then the game just gets bogged down. If you have a house "once per game" rule, that's alright, but you don't see a house "oh yeah the Ice Climbers can wobble once per match" or something. It's a boring strategy that doesn't even have the advantage of timer scamming. The only edge you have is that it helps you grind for Eternal Star, and I appreciate it for that. But otherwise, it makes a game longer for no reason. Take your lumps like a man.

Birdo
Inferior Waluigi. Her Egg Capsule in 7 is strictly an inferior option to the mobility-granting Magic Wand or the econ-destroying flower icon. I understand that you want to pick the annoying option and that Waluigi is too normalized in your friend group, but making the sounds of motorboating your opponents... can that even be considered a taunt anymore? It's incredibly telling when she is passed up for POM POM in Super Mario Party, who fills the role of "you can tell it's a girl, see? Bow!" that Birdo occupies. Just hope for Rouge the Bat appearing in the next Sonic spin-off rather than hoping for Birdo, you'll be better rewarded.

No Boo (MP1)
You ban throws in Street Fighter II at your local arcade, don't you?

Tiny Characters (MPDS)
I like it for the boards, don't like it for the mini-games. The boards all greatly benefit, allowing for really unique placements of geometry, and probably the most visually appealing board in Bowser's Pinball Table; that one's an absolute master stroke. But for mini-games, a lot of them end up having a "backyard barbecue" kind of feel and aesthetic to them. Mario Party mini-games are almost dream-like, throwing the Mario cast into weird, assuredly lethal situations and having them duke it out. When locations are reused, they're often presented in different ways or interacted with uniquely (Mario Party 5 being the obvious outlier with its stupid reused duel mode assets), and MPDS seems VERY fixated on going "look they're SMALL" and placing them around mundane objects, BUT BIG. It's a strong thematic through-line that I can appreciate, but I enjoy the traditional way a bit better.

Candies (MP8)
I do miss the Orb system. The fact that there are no longer ANY traps with the Candy system eliminates the fun of Orbs, making the board a death field of various tricks and traps, immune to your own and desperately trying to fight through your opponent's. It's the strongest element that the Gamecube era introduced and I'm sad to see it go. With that said, the Candy system basically takes the old item system and adds risk-reward elements to ALL OF IT. Variations of Bowser Suit for stealing items, stealing coins, gaining coins per space rolled. Targeting characters to just eliminate their coins, stealing coins from EVERYONE ELSE on the board. Never have you had as much power to target specific players as the Candies allow, and it's nicely balanced with the dart throw spinner (but first, make sure your wrist strap is on tight!). It's a skill that you can improve at, but can never completely master due to the inaccuracy of motion controls. But best of all, Candies have SUCH a strong thematic identity, constantly transforming the characters. They didn't have to do this, but it's so cool seeing the nightmarish Vampire Dry Bones, the "this is assuredly someone's fetish now" Bowlo Daisy, and the sprite forms of a bunch of characters with the Bitsize candy. So powerful thematically, not my favorite set of items, but VERY strong in concept.

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor

Millennium Star Tier
Reverse Mushroom (MP3)
Booksquirm (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Hexagon Heat (MP2)
Mushroom Mix-Up (MP1)
Game Guy (MP3)
Day At The Races (MP2)
Waluigi

Super Star Tier
Space Land (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Unique Character Dice Blocks (SMP)
Lights Out (MP2)
Waluigi's Island (MP3)
Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing
Toad Boat
Monty Mole (SMP)
Toad (Playable)
Slapparazzi (SMP)
Plunder Chest (MP2 & MP3)
Chance Time
Super Duel Mode (MP5)
give me the ball papa

Happening Star Tier
Koopa Kid
Cake Factory (MP2)
Bumper Balls
The Big Boo (MP2)
Pedal Power (MP1)
Kamekguy
Control Stick Spinning (MP1)
Skeleton Key (MP3)
Shake It Up (MP8)
Mario Party 8
Mix-And-Match Amiibo Party Boards (MP10)

Red Star Tier
Wiggler (MP2)
Toadette
Mario Party 1 Cartridge
The Inflatable Thwomps From The Great Deflate (MP4)
Mario
Tumble (MP3)
Big Top Drop (MP5)
Brighton (MP6)
The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Toad's Midway Madness (MP4)

Mario Party DS Tier
Duel Mode (MP3)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Kamek (MP2)
Banning Waluigi because he gives you an unfair advantage
Shrek Super Party
Koopa Banker
The Beat Goes On (MP3)
Rudder Madness (MP8)
Miracle Capsule (MP5)
Kamek's Library (MPDS)

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Mario Vs Cloud 2002: A Video Retrospective - https://youtu.be/1dx4t6H_K9Y
Full Channel Available Here!: https://www.youtube.com/c/designingfor