I think that party games are underappreciated.While the party game genre is saturated witha lot of soulless cash grab games that wereeasy to develop and take advantage of a largecasual market, I do believe that there aredevelopers out there who are taking the partygame genre and innovating within it, and Ihonestly think that goes under appreciated.Well, welcome to Mark’s Rec Room, whereI will be discussing party games and how theycreate a fun and memorable experience foreverybody.To start this series off, I want to take adetailed look at each Mario Party game.Mario Party is a mainstay in the party gamegenre, so I think that this series is theperfect place to start.Who knows, we may even take a look at gamesthat attempted to remix or straight up ripoff the Mario Party formula.But to start things off, I want to talk aboutMario Party 1, the hand-melting inauguralentry to this expansive series of games.Mario Party 1 was released on the Nintendo64 in 1998 to a collective groan from critics.Critics definitely didn’t hold back on thisgame, often calling it tedious and random.Despite this, it still sold well and spawneda huge spinoff series.Mario Party was the first of its kind in alot of ways, taking advantage of the videogame medium to create a unique party gameexperience, one that could not be replicatedin a typical board game.The dynamic maps and unique minigames weresomething that the world never really sawuntil this game came around.So, what made Mario Party a fun, memorablemultiplayer experience?
In my opinion, there are a few defining characteristicsof what makes Mario Party fun.At its core, Mario Party is at its best whenall players are consistently making meaningfulchoices.When players need to choose how to spend theircoins, use their items, win the minigames,and where to go next on the board - each andevery one of these choices have consequenceson not just yourself, but your opponents aswell.So, to make these choices meaningful, theboards need to provide players with the agencyto make these decisions, the minigames needto be varied and provide opportunities forplayers to show their skills, and there needto be tools at the player’s disposal tohelp them gain an upper hand - whether thatis a space on the board or an item in theirpocket.And yes - luck does play a heavy role in thesegames, but I honestly think that factoringprobability and luck into your strategy iswhat keeps Mario Party fresh - to an extent.So, does Mario Party 1 deliver a party gameexperience that delivers on these core principles?In Mario Party 1, each of the boards containsthe following spaces: Blue and red spacesgive and take 3 coins respectively, happeningspaces, cause a board event to occur.There are single-player minigame spaces, wherethe player will play a single-player minigamefor coins.
We’ll talk about this one more later.Mushroom spaces force the player to roll amushroom dice and either get to roll againor lose a turn.There’s also Chance Time, where stars andcoins can be swapped from player to playerwith a dice roll.After the star is bought and moves, a ChanceTime space is put in its place, which is aneat touch but can definitely get out of handon 50 turn games.Then there's Bowser spaces.Bowser spaces can cause a variety of eventsto occur for players to lose coins, whether,through a minigame, a Bowser version of ChanceTime, or through wealth redistribution.Since this is the first game in the series,I’ll let the small number of space typesslide, but that doesn’t mean that I don’thave things to say about them.Chance Time is cool since you actually havea bit of input on what happens here sincethe dice start off slower and then ramp upin speed, so in dire situations it can actuallybe a viable strategy.However, the mushroom spaces don’t reallydo it for me.If you hit the mushroom, you get to roll again,which is fine.But if you get the poison mushroom, you losea turn which is insanely punishing for justlanding on this space.If the poison mushroom limited your next diceroll to 1 through 5, that probably would havebeen fine.
But as it stands, I just don’t think thatthis mechanic adds much strategy and punishesyou way too harshly, especially on boardslike Mario’s Rainbow Castle and Peach’sBirthday Cake where dice rolls are especiallycrucial.There are a couple of other board mechanicsoutside of spaces.Koopa is at the start of every map, and passinghim is like passing “Go” in Monopoly,granting the player 10 coins unless if youare in the last 5 turns or if you are the10th person to pass him, in which case he’llgrant 20.There is also Boo, who will steal coins fromanother player or will steal a star if yougive them 50 coins.Boo is a phenomenal mechanic because thisadds a layer of strategy and decision-making.Do you chase after a star and pay a lowerprice?Or do you steal a star with Boo for the priceof more than 2 stars, but your net swing is2 since you gain a star and your opponentloses one?Finally, Mario Party 1 also introduces bonusstars that players can earn at the end ofthe game.These stars are the Game star for whoeverwins the most coins in minigames, the Coinstar for whoever had the most coins in theirpossession at any given point in the game,and the Happening star for the player wholanded on the most Happening spaces.I like bonus stars because they add a layerof strategy that players can keep in the backof their minds to continue to work towardsthroughout the game.So even if a happening space might not providethe optimal outcome, players can still chooseto land on one if they can have a shot ata free star at the end of the game.The minigame star and coin star also rewardskilled players who are better at minigames,which I like a lot.
All of these board mechanics help to keepthings interesting and provide players withchoices to make, even though this initialselection is a bit minimal.So, let’s talk about the boards themselves.The 8 boards featured in Mario Party 1 areMario’s Rainbow Castle, DK’s Jungle Adventure,Peach’s Birthday Cake, Yoshi’s TropicalIsland, Wario’s Battle Canyon, Luigi’sEngine Room, Bowser’s Magma Mountain, andEternal Star.Each of these boards is distinct from theothers, both aesthetically and in their layout.The board designs are absolutely crucial tocreating a fun experience for everyone, so,I’m going to discuss each of the boardsin detail from worst to best.Wario’s Battle Canyon is my least favoriteboard in Mario Party 1.So, this board is what I like to call an islandloop board, where there are 5 looping islandsthat you can only travel between when youenter these cannons.As I’m sure you’ll come to figure outas this series continues, I’m not the biggestfan of island loop boards.More often than not, players make fewer decisionsabout their placement on the board and thisinstead places a heavier emphasis on highdice rolls and luck.Wario’s Battle Canyon is a prime exampleof this problem, since you can only travelbetween these islands through the cannons.Once you enter the cannon, this cursor willrapidly move across the spaces on the nextisland, and when you press A you will landon that space.The cursors do move in a predetermined pattern,but it’s not one that’s very easily recognizedso that players can strategize and plan outwhere they will land.You’ll only be able to recognize the patternif you’ve played this board a lot, whichreally is not ideal for players who are newto Mario Party.The star will move after it has been purchased,and you can change where the cannons aim bylanding on a happening space.
Bowser also has his own island in the center,which you can visit by paying this Fly Guy,which doesn’t make a whole lot of senseto me unless if the star happens to spawnhere.Bowser will take some money from you and blastyou to a random location.You can also pay Fly Guy to bring someoneto his location, which is just hilarious.But honestly, this board is garbage.You make very few decisions about where yougo, you can’t really strategize much atall, and you just have to hope for high rolls.The whole board is really bland visually too,which makes for one of the weakest boardsin the series.Bowser’s Magma Mountain is another terrible,terrible board.This board is completely linear, but the starmoves after each purchase which doesn’treally make much sense to me.If the star spawns behind you, well, thatsucks because there’s only one way aroundthe board and you have to go all the way aroundto even have a fighting chance.There are shortcuts here though, where youcan pay 10 coins to spin this roulette andtake the shortcut.The roulette is kind of easy, but I do likethis mechanic that rewards players who cansave up coins to make it to the end of theboard faster.There’s even one of these towards the endof the map that lets you skip the final junction,which is cool.However, this final junction sucks.Unless if you take the previously mentionedshortcut, you have to go through this junctionand roll the roulette for free.If you win, you go to Boo and can steal something.However, if you lose, you go to Bowser, wherehe will steal either coins or a star fromyou.
Having Bowser steal coins from you is fine,but if Bowser is able to just take a purchasedstar out of the economy, I think that is waytoo harsh and is bad on any board.It’s fine for players to lose stars to otherplayers since they can always go and fightfor that star back, but straight up takinga purchased star out of the game shouldn’tbe allowed.You’ll hear me reiterate this more and more as thisvideo series continues.The happening spaces on this board turn allthe blue spaces into red spaces for 2 turns,which is brutal and I like it.However, landing on another happening spaceshould flip this back, in my personal opinion.Overall, this board doesn’t offer much playerchoice outside of the shortcuts and changingthe star space on a linear board just doesn’tmake any sense to me.I’m not a fan.Peach’s Birthday Cake is another linearboard that I am not a fan of.Thankfully, the star stays in the same spoton this board, so the star spawning behindyou on a linear board isn’t an issue onthis one.However, Peach’s Birthday Cake also placesa really heavy emphasis on your dice rollsrather than strategy, and honestly, this makesthis board incredibly boring.The only real “branching path” on thisboard is Goomba’s Flower Lottery - whichis a luck-based event.
This Goomba has 4 seeds available for playersto pick from.3 of these 4 seeds will sprout into a ToadFlower, which means you get to go down thenormal path and visit Toad to purchase a star.1 of these seeds contains a Bowser Flower,which will take you on this little loop tovisit Bowser, where he will take 20 coinsfrom you.After a seed is planted, that seed is takenout of the rotation.So the first person to get to the lotteryhas a 25% chance to visit Bowser, while thesecond and third person have a 33% and a 50%chance, respectively.If all three of them win, then the fourthperson has to go to Bowser.However, if the Bowser seed gets planted,then the next few people are completely safeuntil the seeds reset.That’s fine and all, but the worst partis that once you exit the Bowser loop, youhave to do the Flower Lottery AGAIN, whichhas another chance of sending you back intothe loop, trapping you in an infinite.In fighting games, an infinite is a combothat can trap a player’s opponent perfectlyto the point where they cannot escape untilthe combo executer either messes up an inputor the opponent dies.In Mario Party, however, this concept is similarexcept the board is trapping you into a situationthat you cannot roll out of.If a board can trap a player in a loop thatthey cannot escape by naturally rolling, thatis an infinite.Infinites are arguably some of the worst offendersin Mario Party board design.They absolutely kill the fun and are way toopunishing for something that can happen randomly.So, Peach’s Birthday Cake does have an infinite,and even though this one doesn’t have superoverwhelming odds to keep you trapped, itstill sucks.The happening spaces here allow you to pay30 coins to plant a Piranha Plant on thatspace, which will steal a star from a playerif they land on it.
I like this, and even though the price is a bithigh for somewhat low odds that someone landson your space, it provides an opportunityfor players to strategize with their moneyand make decisions, even if the board itselfis really boring and places way too much emphasison your dice rolls.Mario’s Rainbow Castle is the best linearboard in Mario Party 1, but that doesn’tmean that it’s a good board.The star is also in a fixed spot on this board,but the neat mechanic here is that the starspace can either be held by Toad or Bowser.If you reach the end and Toad is in the starspace, you can buy a star from him.However, every time someone buys a star fromToad, it swaps to Bowser.If you reach the end when Bowser is in control,he’ll charge you 40 coins for a Ztar, whichis worthless.Landing on happening spaces will rotate thetower, which I like.My biggest problem with this board is that,again, you are offered next to no agency inhow well you perform in this board since it’slinear and places heavy emphasis on your dicerolls.You can slightly offset this at these“junctions,” but they’re really justan illusion of choice since they’re longeror shorter detours that will still put youon the same path.This is one of the more interesting boardsfrom a style and aesthetic perspective though.This board is just boring to me but it’snot the worst board that Mario Party 1 hasto offer.
I read everything and I do not agree. The first game is unplayable garbage, the second one has that shit palm destroying mini-game, the series starts at 3, peaks at 4, and there's no reason to play any of the others. The upcoming one on Switch looks good though.
>>683746590meds now schizo
Fuck you dude
tendies are mentally illalso, the only good mario party games are 2 3 4 5>inb4 faggot switchlets implying that superstars was any good with that retarded ass coin economy
DK’s Jungle Adventure is a very standard,normal board.This is what I like to call a tied islandboard, or a board of two islands connectedby bridges or other narrow pathways.This board has a couple of gimmicks that Ilike - these Thwomps will block off one pathon a junction, and if you want to take theroute that they’re standing in front of,you have to pay them 10 coins.After somebody takes the route that they aren’tin front of, they’ll move to block thatroute.There are also these strange roadblocks thatwill prevent you from crossing if you haveless than 20 coins, which offers some greatopportunities to make fun of your friendsfor not having money.Other than those somewhat unique mechanics,this board is relatively forgettable.The star space changes after somebody purchasesa star, but this board is honestly just onegiant loop so you will likely find yourselfto be on the path to the star in one way oranother.The happening spaces chase any players inthe boulder’s path all the way back to thestart of the board, even if you landed ona happening space that isn’t in the wayof the boulder.I feel like these happening spaces get hitway too often, but I don’t dislike the conceptat its core.
Eternal Star is definitely the most uniqueboard here.Instead of just purchasing stars and thereonly being one star space, there are 7 BabyBowsers with 7 stars on the board at once.Once you get to one, you’ll pay 20 coinsand then have to face a Baby Bowser in a roll-offwhere you try to roll higher than them.If you win, you get the star.If you lose, you lose a star.However, you likely won’t lose too frequentlybecause Baby Bowsers will allow you to rolla Dice Block with only 8, 9 and 10, greatlyimproving your odds which almost makes mequestion why you would even make us roll-off tobegin with.Once all stars are collected from all 7 BabyBowsers, 7 new ones appear.This is unique because it allows players tobe able to make their own route and separatefrom the others, however, I do feel like itdevalues stars a little too much to have thismany Baby Bowsers on the board at once.There’s almost no reason to steal starswith Boo, since you’re almost always goingto be close to a Baby Bowser.However, this does make Chance Time more impactfulsince everyone has more to lose, which isalways tense and fun.The other unique part about Eternal Star isthese teleporters.So, these teleporters will take you acrossthe map to another teleporter, and they willalways take you to the same teleporter ina predetermined pattern.However, the pattern is decided at randomfor each time you play this board.
So, this makes this board more fun to returnto since the teleporters will behave differentlyeach time, without being so random that youcan’t predict or strategize where you’llend up.The biggest problem that I have with thisboard is that Baby Bowser and Bowser bothsteal stars from players, which I really don’tthink is fair.It would be better if Baby Bowser would takea star from you and then the next person towin against that Baby Bowser would receivetwo stars, but unfortunately, there are waytoo many opportunities to lose a star on thisboard that really prevent it from being agood time.Yoshi’s Tropical Island is my favorite Boardin Mario Party 1.Yoshi’s Tropical Island is a tied islandboard without a ton of decision options,but it actually leans into this mechanic prettywell.You see, on each island, there is a fixedstar spot and they are held by Bowser andToad.Toad sells you a star while Bowser takes 30coins from you, and they don’t move oncea star is purchased.The only way to get Toad and Bowser to swapislands is by hitting a happening space, whichI think is great.There are only two junctions on this board,and they are at these bridges.Here, these Thwomps will require you to payat least 1 coin more than the previous personwho just passed.I like this mechanic a lot because it givesmore value to coins and allows players tostrategize about which island they want tobe on and when they want to increase the toll.My only problems with this board are thatthere are only two junctions and these bridgesare one-way, meaning if you pass the Thwomptoll, you have to go at least 29 spaces onthe left island and 26 spaces on the rightisland before you can make that decision again.So, there’s a fair amount of luck at playhere when it comes to other players landingon the happening spaces.However, I still think that this is the bestboard in Mario Party 1, and I also
like its aesthetic as well.The boards in Mario Party 1 are pretty rough.A fair amount of them are very linear withvery little agency and a lot of them are verycramped and feel very punishing and random.I appreciate that there are 8 boards here,but unfortunately, I can really only stomach2 of them before I get really bored.Mario Party 1 is the first of its kind, soI do think that it deserves to be cut someslack for its lacking boards, but unfortunately,they rely way too heavily on luck and rollinghigh.I do appreciate that all of these boards havecentral gimmicks that are unique and makethe board distinct from the others.Sadly, Mario Party 1’s board gameplay doesn’tallow for much strategy or choice, and thisleads the board gameplay to feel like a bitof a drag.However, board gameplay is only one part ofthe game, so let’s talk about the minigames.So, the way that I’m going to evaluate theminigames for each Mario Party game is throughwhat I’m calling “Opinionated Math.”
I’m going to give every minigame in eachMario Party game a rating from 1 to 10, andthen I’ll figure out the mean, the median,and the mode for each game to see how theystack up against each other in terms of quality.A couple of quick things: This list is only goingover the minigames that you encounter duringnormal board play, so no story minigames,and no extra minigames, just because I wantto review these games in a multiplayer partysetting specifically.I also recognize that this system will judgegames like Mario Party 1 harsher, since itonly has 49 minigames, in comparison to agame like Mario Party 5, which has 74, andthis is for a couple of reasons.Firstly, bad minigames stick out much moreduring a typical playthrough if there arefewer good minigames to offset them.Also, offering more minigames is almost alwaysa good thing, since that means minigames willrepeat less frequently and the game will remainfresh and interesting for longer.You’re most likely going to disagreewith some of my ratings for some of theseminigames, and if you do disagree with them,leave a comment letting me know why you thinkthat minigame should be rated higher or lowerthan it is.I’m relatively confident in my rankingssince I’ve played these minigames a lot,but I’m always interested in taking thediscussion further.Anyways, the only minigame that I’m omittingfrom this list is Bumper Ball Maze, whichdoes not appear during normal board play.Without further ado, here are my ratings forall of the minigames:
Buried Treasure involves pathing and mashing,which I like, but if the chest spawns closerto you, you just win.Treasure Divers is a really slow, boring coinminigame that takes too long.Hot Bob-Omb is fun and tense hot potato, butI don’t like that this game just selectsa loser instead of being elimination styleuntil one person remains.Musical Mushroom is pretty decent on paper,but it feels a little random since the moneydoesn’t go to whoever hits the chest first,but instead whoever hits the chest and isstanding on the mushroom.Crazy Cutter is a decent minigame, but unfortunately,it’s really easy for everyone to win sinceyou win if you score over 80.It should instead be determined by whoever’smost accurate.Face Lift is fun, but unfortunately, it’stoo easy since you pretty much just have todrag each of the facial features to the extremes.Great concept for a minigame though.Balloon Burst is a fun timing and pumpingminigame.Coin Block Blitz is pretty much just luck,where you hit blocks to get coins.It’s a little boring but fine.Skateboard Scamper is pretty much just a mashingminigame at the end since it’s really easyto jump over the Thwomps.Box Mountain Mayhem is a really boring luckminigame.Platform Peril is fun, but I do think there’sa little bit of luck regarding these obstacles.I still think it’s pretty decent though.
Mushroom Mix-Up is a great platforming, kingof the hill minigame that rewards quick reactionand aggressive play.Probably my favorite minigame in this game.Grab Bag is a pretty decent minigame thatallows you to directly impact your opponents’coin count.However, it’s really easy to avoid everyoneand never lose any coins.Bumper Balls is a fun concept but it’s reallydifficult to actually win or lose this oneand almost always ends in a draw.I’m sorry.Tipsy Tourney is a pretty fun puzzle pathingminigame!Bombs Away is like Bumper Balls, fun ideabut is way too easy to survive.Mario Bandstand is a weirdly unbalanced minigame,since some instruments offer more notes andopportunities to perform well than others.Shy Guy Says is a great reaction minigamewith a cool aesthetic.Cast Aways has really finicky controls andinvolves control stick spinning, which isnever fun.Key-Pa-Way is a really boring, easy minigamewhere all players have to work together andall players will either win or lose.Co-Op minigames are really weird in MarioParty and they usually amount to a waste oftime since everybody either wins or loses.
I can almost guarantee that you won’t losethis minigame though.Running of the Bulb is a slightly better Co-Opminigame, but it’s still incredibly easyand just feels wrong in the context of a MarioParty game.Hot Rope Jump is a simple, classic reactionminigame but it’s way too easy for everyoneto just clear the 20 jump threshold.Hammer Drop is pretty luck-based, dependingon if you get thrown coins or not.It’s also kinda boring.Slot Car Derby is a good racing minigame whereyou need to be good about maintaining yourspeed without spinning out.I like this one.Pipe Maze is incredibly lazy.One person just puts the treasure chest inthe pipe and everybody watches.Bash ‘n Cash is absolutely brutal, and the1 just loses coins and has no opportunityto gain.I don’t understand why this minigame existswhen Grab Bag executed this idea better inevery way.Bowl Over is the opposite, since the 1 hasnothing to lose and everything to gain.At least this one is more fun to play andis more unique though.Coin Block Bash is really boring and the 3’scoins don’t tally up, making this feel likea 4-player minigame where one player getsan unfair advantage from the start.Tightrope Treachery is way too easy for the1.You’d have to really try to lose this one.Crane Game is another minigame where onlythe 1 can gain, and the other players canonly lose.It’s really boring for the 3 too.Piranha’s Pursuit is weighted towards the1, provided that they’re at least decentat mashing.Requires some well-timed jumps though.Tug ‘O War is a stick rotation minigame.It’s terrible.Paddle Battle is an even longer stick rotationminigame.Coin Shower Flower is a Reaganomics minigamethat will give the 1 at least 30 free coinswhile the 3 get next to nothing.Bobsled Run is a fun minigame, but it’sreally easy to box your opponent out so themashing at the start matters too much.
I still like this one though and it requiresgood teamwork.Desert Dash also requires good teamwork coordination,this one is great.Bombsketball is really lame.If you start out with the bomb, you win.Handcar Havoc is a mashing minigame that requiresat least a little bit of additional inputto prevent you from falling.Deep Sea Divers involves control stick spinningand is really slow and boring.Memory Match is a really easy matching minigame.Slot Machine sure is slots, alright.Shell Game is a really easy tracking minigame.Ghost Guess is a really easy identificationminigame.Pedal Power is a stick rotation minigame.It’s terrible.Whack-A-Plant is way too easy and providesway too many coins.Ground Pound is insultingly easy.You have to TRY to lose this minigame.Teetering Towers is also insultingly easy.Knock Block Tower is also too easy.And finally, Limbo dance is a kind of slow,easy timing minigame.So, that’s all of the minigames that you’llencounter while playing a typical board game.The mean of these scores gives us roughlya 3.18, while the median score is 3 and themode score is 2.Yeah, so… this doesn’t look too greatfor Mario Party 1.There are some genuinely great minigames here,like Mushroom Mix-Up and Slot Car Derby, butthere are a lot of bad minigames here thatreally bring down the score overall.The stick spinning games are very obviouschoices for some of the worst minigames inthe series since they physically hurt to play,and there are a lot of the single-player minigamesthat are way too easy and essentially guaranteethat players can win free money.Keep in mind though, this game was the firstof its kind, so growing pains are kind ofan inevitability.
With that being said, there’s a fair amountof variety here, and there certainly are somestandout minigames.There is a minigame side mode in this gameas well that you can play with friends calledMinigame Stadium, but it’s honestly prettylame and takes too long.I don’t really know why anyone would playthis over the standard board mode.One reason that I’m so harsh on Mario Party1 is that it introduces a pretty terriblemechanic - which are 1-player minigames.These 1 player minigames are really bad fora multiplayer game because everybody elsehas to sit and watch one player play a minigame,which takes up too much time and usually onlyinflates the economy.So 1-player games don’t just bring the game’space down, but getting a game like Whack-A-Plantcan also give a player an insane advantagetowards the minigame and coin bonus stars.Especially since players can actually LOSEcoins in most minigames.So, sadly Mario Party 1 does lose some pointsfrom me, but to pretend like this game onlyhas bad ideas is disingenuous.One of my favorite ideas that Mario Party1 has is that you can toggle certain aspectsof the boards on and off.Once you buy these items from the shop, youcan toggle these different types of blockson and off at your discretion.These blocks randomly appear and can causeplayers to roll an 8 through 10, a 1 through3, gain a certain number of coins while rolling,lose a certain number of coins while rolling,or swap places with an opponent.I’m not too huge on these blocks themselves,since I think they add too much RNG to a gamethat already emphasizes luck a little toomuch.BUT - I love that you can turn them on andoff in whatever manner you’d like, and youcan also turn off Koopa, Boo, and hidden blockstoo, which is super cool.
Man wtf this is far beyond Reddit spacing
Hidden blocks can tend to add an additionalelement of luck, since they’ll randomlyappear and call either Koopa, Boo, or Bowserto that player.While I personally wouldn’t turn Boo andKoopa off, I really like the option and Ithink that the more customizable Mario Partyis, the better.Allowing players to turn certain items offor on is great, and I really hope it getsbrought back.I also love how Chance Time works in thisgame since you can actually influence whathappens instead of it being completely random.Koopa giving out coins is good on linear boardstoo.Before we wrap up, I want to give my thoughtson one final aspect of this game.You see, Mario Party is designed to be playedwith a group of friends, but you and yourfriends might vary in experience with MarioParty or even with video games in general,and I honestly think that good party gamesare able to engage not just with avid gamersor fans, but with casual friends and familythat are looking to have some fun.So, for each of these games, I’ll rate themon my patented “Beginner Friendliness Meter”to help you determine if this game is a goodfit for your friends or family, or if everyonewill get bored and want to abandon the game.Mario Party 1 is, again, a bit of a roughstart.This game can be incredibly punishing sinceplayers can lose coins in minigames and canlose a turn to the poison mushroom.These mechanics can be incredibly frustratingfor new players since they can be punishedreally harshly for a bad roll or for not understandingthe minigame.However, the boards in Mario Party 1 are relativelysimple, so I believe that most players couldget the gist of most of the boards here.The minigames are also simple to a fault,but new players likely won’t be too confusedby their controls.Personally, I’d give this game 2 stars fornew player friendliness.
Mario Party 1 relies on a lot of luck, andpeople who aren’t invested in the game willlikely get bored or tired of all the 1-playerminigames and lost coins.However, if you’re playing this game withMario Party newbies, I’d suggest tryingout either Yoshi’s Tropical Island or Mario’sRainbow Castle.I think that there are enough interestingdecisions and moving parts on these boardsthat will keep players interested, but they’rereally simple boards that won’t leave playerstoo confused.Mario Party 1 is really rough around its edges.Its minigames aren’t too great, and themajority of the boards aren’t really allthat good either and rely way too much onluck.However, this game certainly has good ideasand is a good jumping-off point for the MarioParty series, and there are some good ideashere that only Mario Party 1 has.Customizing items is cool, and a lot of coremechanics like Boo and bonus stars are greatand will be kept for future entries.Mario Party 1 is really held back a lot becauseit was the first of its kind.When you look at some of the most popularboard game boards, it’s easy to see whereMario Party took a lot of its linear boardinspiration from.Thankfully, we wouldn’t need to wait muchlonger before we’d get a sequel.I’ll see you next time on 4CHANto discuss Mario Party 2, arguably the mostpopular Mario Party game.
Thanks so much for reading.I really appreciate it, and I hope that youhave a great rest of your day.
Great thread. Mario Party means a lot to me, so a whole 4CHAN thread dedicated to it is right up my alley. I remember watching Scott The Woz's video about the game only to be disappointed that most of it was a sketch of him and his (admittedly funny) friends playing a mock board game. So it's nice to read someone who's actually interested in analyzing everything about the game. As someone who grew up in the Gamecube and Wii era, going back to playing this one is a tough pill to swallow. I can see why some would enjoy just how overly chaotic and random this one is compared to later entries, but to me, this one goes way too far with your overall lack of control and in my eyes is the weakest entry from the Hudson Soft era. I do like its unique ideas though like the selectable items and the bizarre characters and world, and I definitely agree with Yoshi's Tropical Island being the best board. As for my favorite minigame, I've always been fond of Shy Guy Says. It's such a simple concept presented in such a charming way, although I prefer the Mario Party 2 version where losing gets you shot out of the sky instead of being stranded at sea. I also respect seeing a fellow Yoshi main, and let me tell you, as the only person I know who genuinely liked math, the opinionated math system has me thrilled to say the least. You've got something strong going for you, man.
>>683749164Thanks so much for reading! I really love Mario Party and I’ve always wanted to talk more in depth about each game, so i’m really looking forward to continuing this series. Yeah, Mario Party 1 is just so chaotic and punishing, it’s definitely one of the games that i play the least with friends. Thanks for the reply!! I’m looking forward to continuing this 4 CHAN series soon and I hope that you enjoy it!
>>683749282I agree with almost all of this haha, but I've always been a Luigi's Engine Room kind of guy.
Acabo de descubrir una forma en la que los minijuegos de rotar como loco el joystick no te hagan daño e incluso sean un poco mas pasables.Estaba jugando en emulador al Mario Party 1 y cuando me toco un juego de mover joystick como loco, quise probar poniendo en el emulador las direcciones del joystick para que funcionasen con el raton incorporado en mi ordenador portatil, haciendo que los juegos se pasen dando vueltas al raton en vez de girando un joystick como loco......es la mejor decisión que he hecho.Se facilita muchísimo esos minijuegos y no te daña.Utilice el 1000 IQ de mi cerebro.Eso si, utiliza esa configuracion SOLO en esos minijuegos de girar el joystick.En los demas utiliza el joystick o teclas WASD o direccionales del ordenador.
Top 8 Boards:8- Luigi's Engine Room7- Wario's Battle Canyon6- Bowser's Magma Mountain5- DK's Jungle Adventure4- Peach's Birthday Cake3- Eternal Star2- Yoshi's Tropical Island1- Mario's Rainbow Castle
>>683749554My top 8 boards:8. Wario's Battle Canyon7. Luigi's Engine Room6. Eternal Star5. Yoshi's Tropical Island4. Mario's Rainbow Castle3. Bowser's Magma Mountain2. DK's Jungle Adventure1. Peach's Birthday Cake
Aren't you being too harsh on these old boards? I'm sure there are people like Peach's Birthday Cake and Wario's Battle Canyon.
>>683749747Yeah, Peach's Birthday Cake is one of my favourite boards and I was so happy it got remade in Superstars. I think he just do not like linear boards.Wario's Battle Canyon is in my opinion okay. At least it has a unique and interesting theme with the bob omb war.All in all I really like that each board in MP1 has a story to tell.
No, i think his critique was very on point and he provided evidence. Just because someone likes something doesn't mean it's good