Board 8 > Kamek Ranks & Rates Anything Mario Party Related

(+) Yeah! (+)

not sure what to make of happening star residing just above happening star tier

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Domination (MP4)

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Naye745 posted...

not sure what to make of happening star residing just above happening star tier

lol

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Shy Guy's Jungle Jam

We did the great Shy Guy board, might as well do the other!

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Spiny Desert (MP3)

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Practicing Minigames

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Lolo_Guru posted...

Practicing Minigames

EXCELLENT suggestion. This has been a controversial topic in my Mario Party group permutations over the years.

Also a general discussion topic that Kamekguy might weigh in on: What is the best way to enjoy Mario Party? That may not be the best way to pose that question, but maybe its not a question then. Ive just really treasured Mario Party throughout my life because it evens the playing ground among gamers namely, Ive been playing it with my sisters my whole life and they arent good at video games. But its an excellent nostalgic touchstone for our relationship since childhood, and part of that is because of the elements that rely solely on luck and merely the ILLUSION of influence over the game. In situations where real strategy may reap rewards, I have typically sandbagged. I will never play cutthroat with them, lest I make it into a game where they feel like they have to play cutthroat as well (and they wouldnt like that). So its just a chill game for us. Id never use the Bowser Bomb in MP2, for example, and I really avoid aggressive dueling or Boo usage I tend to only use those tools when itd be clear Im sandbagging if I dont use them. So a lot of balance features of the series dont matter to me; only things that enhance the illusion of choice, the fun of the minigames, and the general enjoyable follow of the game.

To that point, Id say Mario Party 4 is BY FAR the weakest entry in the series. I rank 7 and 5 at the top, and this is all due to board play. ALL boards in MP4 are designed around 50/50 route mechanics so you really dont get to go where you want or choose anything interesting. And the mushrooms are stupid; the mini mushroom defeats its own goal by limiting your roll to 5, so you cant even go in the damn mini-pipes!

For my purposes at least, 5 has the best board design. Specifically the underwater map. Its got such a nice flow to it, and it lets you litter the board with orbs to great effect. My sisters and brother-in-law work hard to make sure every space has an orb! And 7 is top-tier to me for its 8-player mode. Getting together with the cousins over the years, there ends up being almost no decent video game that can handle a group size of 5-8; but Mario Party 7 has made that very enjoyable over the years. Though the game has its own cons, it has a special place among video games for me that no other game (in the MP series or not) can hold.

Anyway, theres my small rant on the series, thought itd be fitting here! Its great to see a thread like this where the series gets some real love. Its a pleasure and a privilege to post in a topic like yours, Kamekguy.

"Faster Than All" song from Mario Party 1. Plays during Slot Car Derby, Balloon Burst, Handcar Havoc

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Platform Peril

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Regular mushroom

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Hammer Bro

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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.

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Locked Out

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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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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Steamer

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Piranha's Pursuit

Last Five Turns event

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Skateboard Scamper

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Bash 'n' Cash (MP1)

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Wacky Watch

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Team Names (and if I may ask, your favorite and least favorite) (MP5-6)

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Yoshi's Tropical Island

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Bowser Toss (MP3)

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Shroom City (Mario Party Advance)

Love this thread! My hands-on experience with Mario Party lives and dies with the GameCube era, so it's dang neat to read up on what I've missed out on.

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Steamer
Honestly until this year, I thought this year his name was "Chuffy", like the train from Banjo-Tooie. I liked that reality better. Steamer is a great design that is, unfortunately, horribly underpowered. As gone over in previous write-ups, his function in Western Land only really works on the happening spaces - paying him is just too unreliable based on the Toad/Goomba dice. He's also featured in End of the Line, one of the worst mini-games, so that's cool. And in Super Duel Mode he's a body for mechs, which is cool, except his handling is horrible because of course it is, he's a train. A shame, because his Mario Party DS mini-game is actually really fun as a more intense version of Hide and Sneak, but he's a great design saddled with awful implementation.

Piranha's Pursuit (MP1)
It's very difficult to balance this mini-game, but it all depends on the 1 player screwing up once. There are neat little tricks to this game - swinging on the vines that look like background elements, for instance - but it's another 1v3 game that really is style over substance. It's not a near-guaranteed win like some of the others, and there is limited 3-player influence, but this is a glorified 1-player mini-game with greater risks to all players. It looks cool, though!

Last Five Turns Event
Something that absolutely has a huge range of effectiveness depending on the game. First of all - any Last Five Turns Event that has a roulette with doubled Red/Blue spaces is awful. That should be the STANDARD for Last Five Turns, not the extra spicy thing to shake things up. Every time that option gets landed on, it is an absolute disappointment. Other than that... generally I love the Last Five Turns event. Some of the events that have been come up with are brutally fun - stars being free, every red space is a Bowser space, every red space is a Chance Time space - but then there are some like "40 coins go to last place, buy something nice" that are just... boring. The event itself is strong with a huge potential shake up, but it needs both an advantage to be pressed and a generic 'fun' state for the board. I really like how Mario Party 8 handles it, where the player in last gets an advantage BUT every space ends up getting covered in coins, making board traversal a mad scramble in between carefully-laid plans and GRAB THE COINS. It's a good event with a rocky history of ups and downs, but it's always something to look forward to.

Skateboard Scamper
Despite really loving the Mario Party 1 aesthetic for this game, the Mario Party 2 version's got it beat pretty handily. Slopes add so much to this game, and feeling out when the best time to jump to increase momentum and avoid skating uphill is a great little twist. Most feel that the game is random by the time it gets to the end, but it's actually determined by who mashes the quickest after all obstacles have been cleared, the previous bit essentially being "survival" to see who gets a slight advantage at the ending button thumping. Thus, the game creates a really careful balance between mashing too hard to tire yourself out and keeping momentum to maintain a lead. Plus there are coin bags along the way that are easy gets, and everyone benefitting for a healthier economy is always a good thing. It's definitely one of the classics for a reason.

Bash 'n' Cash (MP1)
This is a horrible, unbalanced, no-good game where you bully a single player into submission for no good reason besides that the game told you to... and it's so much fun because of that. In no other mini-game is a single player so thoroughly, expertly screwed, even in utterly hopeless 1v3's, and yet here we are. This is actually a pretty comfortable balancing act - most Mario Party 1 1v3's are VERY much in favor of the single player, with games like Pipe Maze, Crane Game, Bowl Over, and especially Coin Shower Flower basically being 1-player games where the single player gets to absolutely rake it in... and then this game shows up as the great equalizer. You can desperately try to negotiate that one of the three NOT try to beat you up, normally to no avail as smacking a character in a dumb mascot costume is just too much fun. And, of course, there's the delight of Bowser's Bash 'n' Cash, where if the solo player goes without taking a single hit, Bowser will just steal money from them anyway. Thus, they're put into the position where they want to get hit exactly once, then flee. Movement options are varied enough yet restrictive enough to make everyone feel slightly uncomfortable with the controls... just a miserable time where everyone gets upset at everyone else for taking the money they worked so hard to whack out of their friend and one person cries. Delightfully mean, and whilst I understand why it NEVER came back, it's one of those games that makes Mario Party 1 its own, unique, oddly cruel beast.

Wacky Watch (MP3)
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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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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<cite>Anagram posted [p:938912931] in Kamek Rank... [t:78650813]...</cite> <quote>Bonus stars at the end of the game </quote>

... Copied to Clipboard!

10-turns being the default length (Super Mario Party)

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Deep Bloober Sea

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Awkward Date was my favorite... until now cause I've never noticed (or forgot about) Forgotten Force before. That is an amazing team name for those 2.

Ice Hockey (MP5)

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Sluggish/Slow Shroom Orb

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Crane Game

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bump

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Sorry it has been a crazy day. Will work on more write-ups tomorrow. Says the person who will wait three days before updating, I'm sure, but the intent is there!

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Oh wow, I'm surprised that no one has suggested this one:

Taunts

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Bonus Stars
If Mario Party did not have these, it would be a significantly worse game. If you play with 'No Bonus' on, you have a highly single-minded goal: collect star and neglect health. Everything else is secondary to getting a Golden Mushroom or Magic Lamp and nabbing the star. Saving for Boo? That's a 50 coin investment that could be better spent with the 40 or 30 coin investment that is Golden Mushroom into Star, plus the mushroom giving you a likely positional advantage post-star. Bonus Stars serve the incredibly important purpose of making players want to improve at mini-games so that they can be rewarded for good play, amassing coins rather than taking the quickest and most direct path, thus allowing for far deeper item strategy than "use the big ones as quick as possible" AND encouraging more coins so that Boo is deadly, and landing on Happening Spaces, perhaps off the beaten path, in order to secure an alternate victory condition. I will say that I do greatly prefer the Coin Star to the Orb Star introduced in 6 - using movement orbs is a very easy way to get and use more orbs, and that snowballs a bit too much for my liking. Some would argue that the Coin Star and Mini-Game Star are an obvious pair, but I disagree - the one with the lead for Mini-Game Star is very likely to be the one buying early stars, which means it's incredibly viable for the other players to save their coins for steals. And I'm just... not a fan of the randomized bonus stars starting with 7. Playing for a POSSIBLE condition rather than a definite one really does put a damper on things. However, these are some of the most fun, flexible, and "safe" stars to collect, and open up so much strategy. Love 'em.

Default 10-Turns (SMP)
Well, considering the glut of text boxes, animations, and unnecessary tutorials, it still takes about the same amount of time as a classic 20 turn game! With that said... these are much smaller boards designed more carefully around the turn limit. Going higher than 10 reveals just how easily you can break these boards over your knee (Whomp and Bob-omb are SUPER abusable especially by farming their good shops), so it's... balanced, I guess? Is it less interesting? Yeah, but it more disguises the faults of a bad game than it is a strict downgrade.

Deep Bloober Sea (MP3)
Probably the worst of Mario Party 3's boards. The first major junction of the board is 19 spaces away, and whilst it does have a far greater variety of interactables than Shy Guy's Jungle Jam (a bank, battle space, Bowser space, and an Item Shop), it does ensure a rather slow start. However, the issue with its board comes from traversal - simultaneously being too easy and too difficult. The first junction is a retread of the Peach's Birthday Cake gimmick, letting you pick between one of two paths and having a 1/4th chance of actually going where you want. However, this is then compounded by the Happening Spaces around the center, which swap you from one half of the board to the other. This makes it INCREDIBLY frustrating to have consistent movement in this board, especially because the top half of the board is SIGNIFICANTLY more interesting than the bottom, AND the bottom already has a loop around its starting area. Unless specifically targeting a star spawn, being in the bottom half of the board sucks, and the combination of the Sushi checkpoint and the Happening Spaces make otherwise reliable strategies like Mushrooms a no-go, as well as make Warp Blocks less valuable as everyone has pretty much an equal chance of being screwed and locked into the bottom half. However, you then run into the problem of the Happening Spaces on the top left. I am all for lining up a row of Happening Spaces so that you can abuse a Poison Mushroom to get a few and grind out the Happening Star. But this is a row of SIX Happening Spaces. That is a guaranteed 2 Happenings with a Poison giving you its highest roll, and very potentially more. This WOULD be balanced by the gimmick of the angler fish - sending you randomly to one of the three corners of the board - except the top right is SIGNIFICANTLY better than the other options because not only does it land you directly in front of Boo, but also right in front of the angler fish to do it AGAIN. AND you can mash out of the angler fish's suction to avoid being sent ANYWHERE if you get an unfavorable result. There is strategy to it, but it's intensely overcentralizing - not farming that section is forfeiting the Happening Star AND being vulnerable to Boo, whilst having no strong advantages other than the ability to visit shops. I am all for seeing Boo and comboing a coin steal into a Star Steal, but this isn't so much a combo as it is grinding, whilst also being luck if you can get to the top to start with! There is strategy involved, but it's a map that starts boring, has a center filled with luck, and ends with a repetitive, abusable strategy. The best boards allow for on-the-fly adaptation, constantly shifting positions, and being able to screw opponents - Waluigi's Island and Bowser Land have severe risks attached to their swaths of ? Spaces, for instance. Bloober Sea does not, and I've never had a particularly fun game on it that didn't involve a Wacky Watch.

Ice Hockey (MP5)
It's fine. I mean, it's Ice Hockey. But unlike Volleyball, I wouldn't really call it an improvement over the NES original it's based off of. Of the bonus games offered in MP5, this one's probably the simplest and least interesting. No particular frills to it or differences in character, it's... just Ice Hockey in its basic form. Functional, but unimpressive. And with that obnoxious Panic Pinball theme going on for three minutes.

Sluggish/Slow Shroom Orb (MP6 & 7)
Whilst not quite as powerful as the Reverse Mushroom, the Slow 'Shroom Orb is probably among the most brutal in Mario Party. Causing the dice to move so slowly that you basically get to pick your number allows for an utterly insane amount of control. It does, however, compliment the board design of Mario Party 6 and Mario Party 7 more nicely. As a contrast to most previous games, Happening Spaces are usually only single spaces tied to very powerful, game-changing events. The Sluggish Shroom is meant to target these (or Chance Time spaces) specifically, instead of the sheer power of using a Mushroom for mobility. These include E. Gadd tossing a TON of orbs on the board for you, changing the boats in Castaway Bay, a star-wagering game, chances to win a Star from a juggling Blooper, tons of unique coin-gaining opportunities in 7 - the Sluggish 'Shroom is a guaranteed playmaker. It would've been busted in games not designed around its inclusion, but I think the less timing-based Chance Times and the distribution of Happening Spaces in 6 and 7 make it insanely powerful, but not to the point of invalidating every other movement option. Plus the moment someone screws up the timing, they will get shit for it forever, and that's just a great feeling.

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Crane Game
Honestly, I'm a far bigger fan of the aesthetics than the game itself. Seeing the Mario cast turned into terrifying doll versions of themselves, able to do little but struggle against the claw and accept their inevitable demise is kind of great. DK has a chunky ass that's basically a giant cube, brilliant. My issue more comes from it being... not all that fun? I understand the intent - emulate a crane game and have a timer active to put on pressure. However, in MP1, it is almost always in the 1 player's interest to just get the chest unless you absolutely NEED to deny someone the mini-game star. Already, it is impossible for the 3 players to gain any coin amount greater than zero, and they can just watch as the 1 player gets a mini-game win for absolutely free (unless they forget to mash when picking up the chest). Trying to grab onto the far more awkward and oblong characters to steal one third of their coins is FAR more risky, since mashing favors the doll unless you get RIGHT in their center, which is only doable for certain configurations. 2 fixes this somewhat by making you NEED to snatch all three dolls and if they out-mash the crane, they get money. However I really dont like the addition of the clocks for more time. Everyone gets them anyway, and it just serves to prolong the game as they have VERY generous grab boxes, and can even be grabbed poorly as long as the 1 players mash game is decent which they need to grab the 3 players anyway. The game just tends to go on forever. But it does have the funny meme music, and I like that.

Taunts
I am sure that someone has died because of these before. Honestly, Im all for them. Yeah there are some that are just nothing like Yoshi noises or DK grunts, but you have some amazing ones mixed in there like Waluigis Youre Lousy! in the 6 and Marios incredible Hey Stinky! in 7. So much personality can be added to solely the human characters through this. And if you overdo it, you actively cause everyone in the room to hate you and target you! But theres nothing better than a perfectly-timed youre lousy! after someone fails a board event.

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)
Bonus Stars
Control Schtick (MP6)
Donkey Kong
Castaway Bay (MP6)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Sluggish/Slow Shroom Orb (MP6 & MP7)
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
Taunts
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)
Ice Hockey (MP5)
Snifit Patrol (MP2)
Mic Easter Eggs (MP6)
Woody's 777 Coins Message (MP2)
Marios hat
Mario
Deep Bloober Sea (MP3)
Shy Guys Jungle Jam (MP4)
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
King Boo's Haunted Hideaway (MP8)
Default 10-Turn Games (SMP)
Tumble (MP3)
Instruction Manual (MP7)
Crane Game
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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Battle T.

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Mt. Mariomore (Mario Party 3)
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Granite Gataway (MP6)

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I loved ice hockey cause we were absolutely cruel to the shy guy goalies and just checking them with the puck into the net, and all the stupid luck (totally skill) random bank shot goals, so much fun lol

Bobomb Xing

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50-turn games

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Stacked Deck (MP3)

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Neon Heights

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Battle T
He's supposed to be, like, the sporty, buff Toad, but he covers up his chest in shame, unlike OG brave Toad who bares his chest with pride and strength. Also this loser doesn't even try to have a pun name like Fies T or Sprin T or Tess T, nope, just Battle T, when he doesn't even host Battle games. Low-tier Toad, and the bar isn't even that high.

Mt Mariomore (MP3)
It's a really cool visual shorthand to prove that you have absolutely no life and beat Mario Party 3's story mode multiple times. The fact that your friends can check just how badly you did with each character also really rubs salt into that wound. For my money, this is a rock with only DK and Luigi's faces on it, and it is better for it. However, it's a really nice display of status in the same way that alternate title screens for games like Mario Kart 64 and Pokemon Stadium are, just leaving a bit less of an impression than that. I prefer the Mario Party 1 system, where whichever character won the last board gets their personal artwork on the title screen - now that sent a MESSAGE.

Granite Getaway (MP6)
It's a really neat concept, but one that really coulda done with four player splitscreen and just making it an easy Crash Bandicoot 'run from the boulder' level instead of the huge nothing it is. Max distance from the boulder is reached so easily that recovering from a mistake isn't a big deal, and it's a "group survival" game instead of a "first to the finish wins" game due to that. It also syncs really poorly with the music and cuts the song off at the end for some reason. There's no instant elimination points, no ways to make up ground other than being a cool guy and jumping down stairs, not even a remotely threatening bottomless pit unless you feel like jumping into the abyss at the OSHA-compliant bridge section. It's just an absolute nothing of a game that goes on for two minutes every time and you'd have to be blindfolded to fail.

Bob-Omb X-Ing (MP4)
Just a fun game that wouldn't work anywhere but da Extra Room. As a regular mini-game, funneling the bob-ombs to chase after four separate characters while leaving them all room to move around would be a logistical nightmare. But as a single-player survival game, it's a Hell of a lot of fun. The slow change from "the bob-ombs are just casually crossing" to "you are being hunted by living bombs that are SPRINTING after you" keeps it from being a pattern-based formality, but the little stall they do before exploding keeps things fair, making sure that if you back yourself into a corner and run into an explosion, it's YOUR fault. I love the little titles you get from Whomp and Thwomp, too - they're not much, but seeing just how far you pushed yourself is really fun. Just a fun little diversion that's worth going back to.

50-Turn Games
A 50-turn game of Mario Party is often painted as this horrible, nightmarish thing. Dear god, 3 hours or more playing a SINGLE video game where only one player can possibly win and chance can ruin everything? Who could POSSIBLY subject themselves to such torment? Uh... any person who plays even a medium-form board game, really? Are 50-turn Mario Party games a test of endurance? Absolutely, except in Mario Party 1 where it feels like a 35-turn game. But the amount of bullshit that can spiral out of control is incredible. Everyone will get enough coins to get Boo, so leads can be kept in check. Alliances are easy to form mid-game, with favors being done and expected to be returned. All the weird stuff you can do on boards, like messing with 6 through 8's Happening Spaces or getting the weird interactions on Bowser Land or someone farming that chaos space island on Waluigi's Island can all happen. Do I think that this is the optimal way to play Mario Party? No, 35 turns is called "Standard Play" for a reason and I think, at least for the first three games, it's the best way to get the most out of board play. But if you have the right people, the right board, and the right frame of mind? These are an absolute blast. Plus they're incredibly fun to both stream and watch on-stream - getting as many people invested as possible just makes for some damn good content.

Stacked Deck (MP3)
Merry-Go-Chomp is Bowser's Big Blast without soul. Stacked Deck is Bowser's Big Blast without soul, heart, or style. There's no real way to react to the cards that get shuffled around the deck, so it's just a very lengthy process of ground pounding cards and watching your odds get worse and worse with every passing hip drop that doesn't kill someone. Does this have the trappings of a good game? Yeah, of course, it's a luck-based battle game, potential to be super high risk, gives you the illusion of choice, of course there's some positives. But in a game FILLED with luck-based mini-games, this one's the absolute weakest, including the one that's literally just a series of coin flips. You just pick from identical targets with no real justification or meta mind game, and don't even get any sense of relief because Boo exists to shake things up. The intent is here, but the tension's gone.

Neon Heights (MP7)
I can see opinions of this board going either way. There are coin-gathering mini-games on it that take a while and have the potential for a 0 coin gain (especially if someone's too trigger-happy on the western one), the Happening Space with the rocket is basically reliant on and designed for team games only, and it's got one of the easiest to hit Bowser Spaces, slapped on the required path right after the item shop. This is to say nothing of the star gimmick, where you pay 10 coins for a chance at either 20 coins, a star, or a one-way ticket to start. Kamek's Library would take this gimmick and become one of the worst boards in the entire series. You could absolutely hate this board and I'd totally understand.

... but damn I find it so much fun. The board's junctions all really nicely facilitate the "mystery box" gimmick, mostly being splits that give you a longer loop back to the main path for the potential chance to hit more chests. The board games also help supplement the almost constant cash flow that this board facilitates, as hitting Bowser's fairly frequent and trips to the Orb shop are as well. The Bowser Events for this board are probably some of the strongest and most hilarious in the series as well, with the most devastating being replacing the "return to start" Bob-omb with a star-stealing Ztar or just outright taking a Star from the guy in first place and stuffing it in a chest, making that one a DOUBLE star chest. This REALLY helps balance the lack of Boo on 7's boards, as being in first until the Last Five Turns means you're rolling the dice against Bowser and might need more movement options than you think in order to recover. It's chaotic, lengthy, and not always fair, but it's fun and plays with an important facet of Mario Party: mitigating risk. Oh, and the theming is aces. Probably the only Gamecube board I could confidently hum the music of back to you except POTENTIALLY Toad's Midway Madness, and with much better set dressing than Midway to boot.

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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)
Bonus Stars
Control Schtick (MP6)
Donkey Kong
Castaway Bay (MP6)
Beach Volleyball (MP5)
Beach Volley Folly (MP4)
Mario Party 2 OST
Snow Whirled (MP6)
Sluggish/Slow Shroom Orb (MP6 & MP7)
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
Taunts
Mini-Game Island (MP1)
Luigi
Stake Your Claim (SMP)

Super Star Tier
Fish Upon A Star (MP5)
Daisy
50-Turn Games
Space Land (MP2)
Bowser Bomb (MP2)
Toad's "OKAY"
Faire Square (MP6)
Faster Than All (MP1)
Neon Heights (MP7)
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)
Bob-omb X-Ing (MP4)
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)
Mt. Mariomore (MP3)
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)
Ice Hockey (MP5)
Snifit Patrol (MP2)
Mic Easter Eggs (MP6)
Woody's 777 Coins Message (MP2)
Marios hat
Mario
Deep Bloober Sea (MP3)
Shy Guys Jungle Jam (MP4)
Lava Tile Isle (MP2)
King Boo's Haunted Hideaway (MP8)
Default 10-Turn Games (SMP)
Tumble (MP3)
Instruction Manual (MP7)
Crane Game
Warp Pipe
Stacked Deck (MP3)
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)
Granite Getaway (MP6)
GameCube Microphone (MP6 & MP7)
Rules Land (MP2)
Kamek (MP2)
Dizzy Dancing (MP2)
Battle T
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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Kamekguy posted...

Battle T
He's supposed to be, like, the sporty, buff Toad, but he covers up his chest in shame, unlike OG brave Toad who bares his chest with pride and strength. Also this loser doesn't even try to have a pun name like Fies T or Sprin T or Tess T, nope, just Battle T, when he doesn't even host Battle games. Low-tier Toad, and the bar isn't even that high.

I give him points for being (presumably) named Battle Toad!

Red Star


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Mario Party 4

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Motion Controls (Mario Parties 8 and onward)

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