LogFAQs > #938537116

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

I disagree with this, Yoshi's is absolutely bottom tier with him (yet I always pick Yoshi when I can because Yoshi is my Ride or Die boy through and through) but Monty Mole's dice block is absolutely horrendous and Mario's is better. You want anything that is more different than the standard dice and Monty Mole's is literally the same except a +1 coin instead of a 1 roll. I can accept his animation and expression during mini games reasons but I will absolutely OBJECT to his die being better than Mario's.

I value stall a lot more than others. Avoiding exactly 1 ahead of you will almost always be better than avoiding 2 or 4 ahead, just because you have the potential to farm a single Event Space. It's not a GREAT option, he's strictly an inferior Shy Guy in every way (and Shy Guy's, like, mid tier), but he has a 1/6 chance of farming and I respect that if, for some reason, you hate using Rosalina, Shy Guy, Waluigi, Wario, Diddy Kong, Bowser, AND Donkey Kong.

Game Guy (MP3)
First off, Shy Guy with a bow tie. You may not like it, but this is what peak character design looks like.

With how much weaker the Bowser Space is in MP3, I'm so glad that we get a space with some TEETH to it. Guaranteed risk all of your coins in order to put it all on the line is REALLY strong. Better yet, every single option that is not a pure x2 multiplier is intensely risky, so whilst you CAN go for an absolutely ridiculous result, it's intensely unlikely to happen, and requires a roll that no one would want to get in order to make it happen (you're not gonna risk 75 coins on Game Guy when you have enough to both get a Magic Lamp and steal a star with that total). Honestly, he's got a shockingly fair casino - Lucky 7's is blackjack where you win in a tie, and the guy actively tells you if he falls off and you're on 1 "there is literally no risk to rolling again to try to max out your coins". Sweet Surprise has a consistently reliable bet in Big Chomp. Magic Boxes is just straight up a coin flip with Press Your Luck mechanics. The ONLY one where you're likely to lose coins from the outset is Game Guy Roulette. It says a lot that the Bowser Phone is a common item, but Game Guy's Lucky Charm is a rare one - nothing has shake-up potential quite like this guy. I might have liked it if the item version let the user choose how many coins were being wagered, but I love the space as an all-or-nothing. It's a great addition that I wish would return, perhaps with a few more mini-games so that the very consistent Sweet Surprise showed up a little less often.

Super Duel Mode (MP5)
The flavor on this mode is off the charts. Every character getting their own, named vehicle that you have to fight them in the finals in order to figure out? An actual incentive to playing specific types of mini-games? Hosted by the nerd star who would totally be into mecha? Nice. There's actually a lot of really cute conveniences to this mode - being able to save vehicles to a specific memory card so you can grind one out on your own save file to fight a friend's, Donkey Kong being unlockable along with all of his random-stat parts and death banana cannon, variations slowly scaling with the difficulty? Sure, there are better weapons and builds than others, but the possibility and flexibility is really fun to see! It's great to see Mario Party give a reason to have coins, and while that would be improved eventually with the Duty-Free Shop in 7 (I think tying it to Stars in 6 wasn't entirely great comparatively), it doesn't quite have the cool factor of this one. It's not the best diversion of 5, not when Card Party exists... but I mean, it's better than actually playing Mario Party 5! That counts for something, right?

The Car (MP9 & MP10)
Yup don't like it. Not because it's non-traditional - please, the last three games were stuffed to the brim with non-traditional gimmick boards - but because it removes some of the better systems from previous games. The scope of items is toned down drastically from the Orb/Candy heydays since you can't really safeguard or trap spaces anymore, only doing things to affect yourself. You can still dick other players over, but usually only the one directly behind you. You do have to consider your position and where your roll with put the others behind you, but with three turns to consider and a wide range of rolls, that doesn't do you as much good as it could. For a few boards, and DEFINITELY for Bowser Party where this format shines, I think it could've been a good gimmick. But the fact that it overtakes the entire system is frustrating and limiting. Shoots itself in its own wheels.

Kamek's Library (MPDS)
The worst classic-style board in the entire series Do you like Mystery Land, going around in loops forever? Well, what if we made it so that there are ONLY two or three happening spaces on each isolated area instead of, like, 8? And THEN what if we added the Neon Heights gimmick of having three Star Spaces that you have to pay slightly less for, but one of them sends you back to start! In a board where it's AGONIZING to target any place OTHER than the start area? Oh, but a Warp Block could fix that, assuredly... except in Mario Party DS, the Warp Block was changed so that instead of swapping with another player, you're just teleported to a random space. In a board with an event where Kamek rotates everyone around is the non-teleportation based Happening Event. You might be able to say there's some merit to hexing the spaces around the teleporters... but that's the easy, dominant strategy. EVERYONE is going to want to do that, so strategy becomes overcentralized or just a rush to pick up the absurdly low-priced Star Pipe in this game. Absolutely the worst "fake star" map in the series due to the mitigated usefulness of Mushrooms, one of the worst "segmented map" boards in the series, combined with the absolute weakest item selection of games that actually have items. And wonderfully plodding, tinny music. An utterly miserable time.

Mario Party 2 OST
I use it commonly in videos, because I think 1 and 2 have absolutely killer OST's for mood. Woody's theme is the most failure-iffic song, all of the board themes have very strong melodies, with Space Land and Western Land being utterly exceptional in that regard. "This Way That" is probably the most 'cartoon hijinx' song that you could ask for (weird that it's strapped to Crane Game of all things instead of, like, Grab Bag), and the credits theme starts out incredibly strong, matching or surpassing MK64 or SM64's in just comfortable emotional impact... and then it goes a little goofy and simply becomes very good and comforting. Sound design in this game is just fantastic all around, matching cartoon hijinx whilst still retaining strong melodies. I don't think it's QUITE as good as Mario Party 1's - it's hard to match Mario's Rainbow Castle and the Credits theme there, Mitsuda does some awesome work - but I'd call it standout music insofar as its ability to fit a theme. If it were in a video or something, I'd smile and be able to pick out the song immediately as from Mario Party 2, and probably remember the mini-game and tone, so it's more than doing its job.

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