Board 8 > PSA: Mario Party is Great Again.

(+) Yeah! (+)

my brother just came over and bought the game and we just did our first board and wow mario party is back folks

also holy shit everyone ended up picking a total 13 stars in a 15-turn match wtf. +5 awarded bonus stars (had a tie for the first bonus, and a 3-way tie second bonus). it's such an insane pace and yet with all those star going by it's not like things were flying around randomly as I was in the lead the whole time... although jesus a couple times a new star would appear a few spaces away and people could buy 2 stars in 1 turn but I mean it was a beginner / small map I guess

mini-games were p good, especially this one i had was crazy close w/my brother

https://twitter.com/untimidatingbum/status/1048772060661469184

also for multiplayer games getting awarded with YEAHs is hilarious, the prompt is so cheerful that you end up cheering even if you didn't want to (namely when I didn't want Koopa to get coins because he was near a star with <10 coins)

getting Allies is pretty damn significant though, definitely use Custom Blocks to land on 'em asap as you can end up with really large movements with 'em, like this bullshit robbings Koops pulled on Peach

https://twitter.com/untimidatingbum/status/1048779496835313665

it's btw amazing how Practice is just at the start of the minigame tutorial -- you description menu that explains everything just has a small window of demo gameplay that you practice in

anyways it looks like we haven't scratched anywhere near the surface with how many board modes there seems to be

but yeah

Mario Party being good again I'm so damn happy it finally happened
---

Haven't played the boards, but the minigames are pretty fun (except for cooperative ones
I don't really care for those). And as cheesy and lame as it is, I really enjoy the "high five" mechanic.
---

I played it yesterday! Super amazed how much of an improvement this one is. Like legit it might be the best Mario Party this side of 2. Never thought the series would bounce back like this.

The co-op rafting mode is especially great not just because it's fun but because of how hilarious it is that the game basically has a detox mode to make you and your friends like each other again after the salt explosions in the board game. XD
---

high fives are the goat
---

I played one 10-round game. It was 2 people vs 2 normal AI. I collected the most stars with 3, but had 1 stolen, and won with about 4 or 5 after the bonus stars. I had one of those turns where I got an extra star immediately on the same turn by rolling a 4 and the star moved to right in front of me after I bought it.

Huh, I haven't been interested in a Mario Party since the N64, but this has me intrigued.
---

I've been watching a few people I know play it. I don't have a Switch yet, and as such I've followed literally nothing about the game until the day it came out, so I went in with 0 prior knowledge.

The board mode is legit back to basics. The ally system really spices up the core gameplay without completely changing it, as do the character dice blocks. It is cool that they also included the "free roaming" board mode from the 3DS versions along with the classic board mode, even though I know that the classic mode is way more popular. This may be the first Mario Party game that feels like it has multiple different "main modes", as opposed to the board game being the main mode and a bunch of tiny side modes. Some of the minigames look like they're not completely boring for the first time since the Gamecube, which is important since they're back to being played after every round (unlike the past few games).

In short I'm impressed, and this is from the perspective of me forming my own opinions from watching gameplay, not from reading what some random on the internet tells me to think.
---

Is there online multiplayer yet
---

Yes.
---

ExThaNemesis posted...

Is there online multiplayer yet

Minigames only (no boards), but yeah.
---

yooo that rhythm game was crazy

the rumble feels so good
---

I'm of apparently the dissenting opinion that this is a step in the right direction for the series but kind of a middling entry overall.

The small boards combined with the Ally system means that unless you're playing a ten turn game you can pretty easily get to the point where you're moving around literally half the board every turn. It gets to be kind of silly. That, plus how common items are with the Hidden Block and Golden Pipe means you'll be swimming in stars by game's end and it gets to be kind of anticlimactic.

The mini games are fantastic (upper tier set for the series for sure) and I'm really glad they went back to the basic core gameplay but if you were on the fence about getting this and/or don't have many local friends to play with I would wait for a price drop before picking it up.
---

If they had actual board game online I'd get this for sure, but since they don't I'll pass.
---

yeah I'd agree gotta having friends is a major boost and the main mood seems less friendly to long-games although I can't say I've tried it yet

but I've still got stuff to do and I'm lovin' it all so far!

hopefully there's updates for more boards + online board play, Ninty's Switch games have been getting pretty great post-release updates so I'm hopeful
---

yeah I love the mini games but the boards (and coin requirements being cut in half) make it feel a bit lacking

the other modes are fun once or twice but I'm not sure i want to play them too often
---

online board game mode would have made it truly great, but as it is it's pretty good. the insta-practice mode on the rules screen was a smart addition. I wish there was a little more going on with the boards - the turns take a long time, like there's a bunch of different events each turn, but as far as board design and navigating it, there's not too much going on.

Thank god they didn't force everyone to travel together though - that was only good for Bowser mode in 10.
---

CelesMyUserName posted...

it's btw amazing how Practice is just at the start of the minigame tutorial -- you description menu that explains everything just has a small window of demo gameplay that you practice in

Isn't this exactly how the old ones are?
---

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

CelesMyUserName posted...

it's btw amazing how Practice is just at the start of the minigame tutorial -- you description menu that explains everything just has a small window of demo gameplay that you practice in

Isn't this exactly how the old ones are?

In the old games you'd like press Z or something from that description screen to run a Practice Game instead of the real game

so like you go

Board phase ends -> Mini-Game Selected -> Mini-Game Explanation -> (BRANCH: Practice or Play)

where if you go pick Practice you can loop back to the explanation menu after beating the practice or pressing start

but now it's just

Board phase ends -> Mini-Game Selected -> Mini-Game Practice -> Play

as the practice is now merged inside of the Explanation screen so there's no Practice or Play branching
---

Yeah that's a really cool change.
---

Yeah that practice change is HUGE. I also love that everyone readies up for the mini-game individually so you don't have to worry about the "wait, I wasn't ready!" stuff that at least for me was really common when starting games with new players on older games.
---

This series falls as being Deader Than Disco to me.

I guess that's what happens when they only made 8, 9 and 10 were trash and got no publicity at all whatsoever.

I don't want to buy this game because Chuggaconroy will likely do an annoying play through of this game and monetize and make money off of it. and blah blah blah.

Played two games -- one 20-turn of the Partners Mode, and one 15-turn of the Party Mode.

The Good: I'm really very impressed, I had a blast. Partners Mode is amazing. There's a huge layer of strategy with the dice blocks and the allies are awesome, although I wish they had ways to make it so you can steal allies and/or remove them from your opponent. If you can do this, I haven't encountered it yet. Mini-games are absolute fire, I loved every single one of them. My friends kept commenting how ingenuous they are, and it's true. The 3 vs. 1 games felt a lot more balanced than usual, and best of all, very few completely luck-based games across the board in my limited experience.

OH AND I CAN PLAY AS GODDAMN MONTY MOLE, bitches. The playable character selection is so good. I'm a big fan of random Mario enemies and now I can finally play as a Goomba in Mario Party. Bless Nintendo. Bring back Blooper!

They also removed Easy. Don't play against Normal AI. I put them on Hard and they were still pretty easy. I can only imagine it's a feel-good kinda effect here.

Main criticisms
- It's SLOW. The animations are just a bit annoying when it comes to rolling the dice. You select the dice you want, then your character goes OH YEAH, then you go to a different screen to actually roll the dice, and THEN they start moving. It was pretty obnoxious.
- Boards are eh. Party mode boards are so small that you get multiple stars in one turn. They really need to spice it up with bigger, more complex boards.
- It feels a bit lazy to re-use the assets of the four boards for both modes.
- The stupid golden pipe item. You buy it for like 10 coins and it essentially takes you to the star. It's just really dumb and overpowered.
- Stars should still cost 20 coins. You amass coins pretty easily here in general, so there's no reason to lower the amount of coins necessary for a star. People who don't win a mini-game get money as well, sooo... why?
- Daisy sounds like a total doofus but actually this is probably good. Oh yeah!
- Baseball mini-game is pretty lame.
- What's the name of that ugly-ass female Koopaling that isn't Wendy? She sucks. Stop trying to make her happen.
---

I don't see why making stars cheaper/more plentiful is a flaw. It's just a stylistic change over the previous games. Sure your numbers of collected stars will be higher than you're used to seeing in older games, so what?
---

After a certain game I had that I was able to stockpile Golden Pipes.....yea they are a little ridiculous lol
---

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

I don't see why making stars cheaper/more plentiful is a flaw. It's just a stylistic change over the previous games. Sure your numbers of collected stars will be higher than you're used to seeing in older games, so what?

I prefer them to be less ubiquitous. Trolling on one side of the board becomes a legit strategy because stars are so plentiful that you're better off just staying in one place and waiting for the star to spawn rather than go hunt it. This is a problem when combined with the small boards, since it's likely someone else will get the star in a couple turns anyway. Very little incentive to travel around the board when the value of one star is so low.

In other words, people stumble upon stars a lot more now, and since they're so cheap, it's very likely you will be able to afford it. So the game becomes a lot more "hoping the star spawns next to you" than before.
---

Surskit posted...

OH AND I CAN PLAY AS GODDAMN MONTY MOLE, bitches.

I had the exact same reaction and chose MM instantly.

Monty Mole is amazing and the best boi
---

Surskit posted...

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

I don't see why making stars cheaper/more plentiful is a flaw. It's just a stylistic change over the previous games. Sure your numbers of collected stars will be higher than you're used to seeing in older games, so what?

I prefer them to be less ubiquitous. Trolling on one side of the board becomes a legit strategy because stars are so plentiful that you're better off just staying in one place and waiting for the star to spawn rather than go hunt it. This is a problem when combined with the small boards, since it's likely someone else will get the star in a couple turns anyway. Very little incentive to travel around the board when the value of one star is so low.

In other words, people stumble upon stars a lot more now, and since they're so cheap, it's very likely you will be able to afford it. So the game becomes a lot more "hoping the star spawns next to you" than before.

It also makes it feel way less rewarding.
---

On the other hand, if the approach is "star could pop up anywhere, any time", maybe that just makes it more rewarding to be familiar with the boards. You never make a bunch of sub-optimal board choices chasing a star, only to have it snatched away by something random when you've been focused on it for three turns and are 2 spaces away.

I side with Surskit - board navigation is basically eliminated because of the simplicity of the boards, and the abundance of stars and golden pipes.

I like the baseball side game, but i don't get not using motion controls for pitching/batting. Just copy the Wii Sports model.
---

turbopuns2 posted...

On the other hand, if the approach is "star could pop up anywhere, any time", maybe that just makes it more rewarding to be familiar with the boards. You never make a bunch of sub-optimal board choices chasing a star, only to have it snatched away by something random when you've been focused on it for three turns and are 2 spaces away.

But a small board with stars that are essentially handouts, considering how much easier it is to get money in this game, eliminates the very cool strategic aspect of unique dice blocks. If the board was big and every coin counts, using the unique dice is a real gamble. You can get huge numbers very easily in this game, yet the board is tiny. I could want to race towards a star and try to beat my opponent to the punch, maybe by using the Bowser dice which is very high risk. But a star is kinda worthless, so why bother? It just feels like the incentives are off and they hurt the use of the new mechanics. Basically, board design doesn't match the gameplay, imo.
---

Lolo_Guru posted...

ExThaNemesis posted...

Is there online multiplayer yet

Minigames only (no boards), but yeah.

and isn't like 10 fucking mini games? having ALL the minigames online but no boards is still a horrible decision, but 10 minigames online is a joke. who would play that for more than an hour?

so the real answer to this question is no. this would also be a buy for me if there was online multiplayer. I pretty much only have one close friend who still lives in town at this point
---

I think it's 10 mini games at a time, but they rotate which mini games like Splatoon playlists
---

MoogleKupo141 posted...

I think it's 10 mini games at a time, but they rotate which mini games like Splatoon playlists

it's not.

it's 10 minigames total, five minigames at a time rotated. it's so unbelievably, bafflingly stupid it sounds like it can't be real, but then you remember it's Nintendo and it is.
---

oh wow

yikes
---

Omniscientless posted...

turbopuns2 posted...

On the other hand, if the approach is "star could pop up anywhere, any time", maybe that just makes it more rewarding to be familiar with the boards. You never make a bunch of sub-optimal board choices chasing a star, only to have it snatched away by something random when you've been focused on it for three turns and are 2 spaces away.

But a small board with stars that are essentially handouts, considering how much easier it is to get money in this game, eliminates the very cool strategic aspect of unique dice blocks. If the board was big and every coin counts, using the unique dice is a real gamble. You can get huge numbers very easily in this game, yet the board is tiny. I could want to race towards a star and try to beat my opponent to the punch, maybe by using the Bowser dice which is very high risk. But a star is kinda worthless, so why bother? It just feels like the incentives are off and they hurt the use of the new mechanics. Basically, board design doesn't match the gameplay, imo.

I get the feeling I need to play the game more, because I'm completely lost like 5 different times in this post.

turbopuns2 posted...

Omniscientless posted...

turbopuns2 posted...

On the other hand, if the approach is "star could pop up anywhere, any time", maybe that just makes it more rewarding to be familiar with the boards. You never make a bunch of sub-optimal board choices chasing a star, only to have it snatched away by something random when you've been focused on it for three turns and are 2 spaces away.

But a small board with stars that are essentially handouts, considering how much easier it is to get money in this game, eliminates the very cool strategic aspect of unique dice blocks. If the board was big and every coin counts, using the unique dice is a real gamble. You can get huge numbers very easily in this game, yet the board is tiny. I could want to race towards a star and try to beat my opponent to the punch, maybe by using the Bowser dice which is very high risk. But a star is kinda worthless, so why bother? It just feels like the incentives are off and they hurt the use of the new mechanics. Basically, board design doesn't match the gameplay, imo.

I get the feeling I need to play the game more, because I'm completely lost like 5 different times in this post.

lols yeah that was a mess

more stars + smaller boards = less incentive to take risks = game is only artificially more competitive.
---

Why would you make the boards small and designed for 10 turn matches and then decide not to have boards in online play?

Nintendo makes no sense at all.
---

StartTheMachine posted...

MoogleKupo141 posted...

I think it's 10 mini games at a time, but they rotate which mini games like Splatoon playlists

it's not.

it's 10 minigames total, five minigames at a time rotated. it's so unbelievably, bafflingly stupid it sounds like it can't be real, but then you remember it's Nintendo and it is.

...huh. Im significantly less interested now. Hopefully the next game has online boards.
---

I imagine the more likely scenario may actually be Nintendo putting out an update in the future. They've honestly beta release'd everything with significant future updates with their Switch games.
---

I can't help but hope they actually add new or even classic boards through updates. That'd be a craaaaazy shot in the arm for this game.
---

I played one round of online minigames, and a person disconnected after they came in last in the first one.

I can totally understand why they wouldn't have board gameplay online.
---

they could make it friend-only
---

So Nintendo of Europe retweeted a tweet I made about Super Mario Party and it's now getting thousands of likes.

I feel so special. My second most popular tweet has about 6 likes.
---

I think my most popular was my platinum trophy post for MGSV that Hideo Kojima retweeted

nowhere near thousands though
---