LogFAQs > #938617174

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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