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I think that party games are underappreciated.

While the party game genre is saturated with
a lot of soulless cash grab games that were

easy to develop and take advantage of a large
casual market, I do believe that there are

developers out there who are taking the party
game genre and innovating within it, and I

honestly think that goes under appreciated.

Well, welcome to Mark’s Rec Room, where
I will be discussing party games and how they

create a fun and memorable experience for
everybody.

To start this series off, I want to take a
detailed look at each Mario Party game.

Mario Party is a mainstay in the party game
genre, so I think that this series is the

perfect place to start.

Who knows, we may even take a look at games
that attempted to remix or straight up rip

off the Mario Party formula.

But to start things off, I want to talk about
Mario Party 1, the hand-melting inaugural

entry to this expansive series of games.

Mario Party 1 was released on the Nintendo
64 in 1998 to a collective groan from critics.

Critics definitely didn’t hold back on this
game, often calling it tedious and random.

Despite this, it still sold well and spawned
a huge spinoff series.

Mario Party was the first of its kind in a
lot of ways, taking advantage of the video

game medium to create a unique party game
experience, one that could not be replicated

in a typical board game.

The dynamic maps and unique minigames were
something that the world never really saw

until this game came around.

So, what made Mario Party a fun, memorable
multiplayer experience?
>>
In my opinion, there are a few defining characteristics
of what makes Mario Party fun.

At its core, Mario Party is at its best when
all players are consistently making meaningful

choices.

When players need to choose how to spend their
coins, use their items, win the minigames,

and where to go next on the board - each and
every one of these choices have consequences

on not just yourself, but your opponents as
well.

So, to make these choices meaningful, the
boards need to provide players with the agency

to make these decisions, the minigames need
to be varied and provide opportunities for

players to show their skills, and there need
to be tools at the player’s disposal to

help them gain an upper hand - whether that
is a space on the board or an item in their

pocket.

And yes - luck does play a heavy role in these
games, but I honestly think that factoring

probability and luck into your strategy is
what keeps Mario Party fresh - to an extent.

So, does Mario Party 1 deliver a party game
experience that delivers on these core principles?

In Mario Party 1, each of the boards contains
the following spaces: Blue and red spaces

give and take 3 coins respectively, happening
spaces, cause a board event to occur.

There are single-player minigame spaces, where
the player will play a single-player minigame

for coins.
>>
We’ll talk about this one more later.

Mushroom spaces force the player to roll a
mushroom dice and either get to roll again

or lose a turn.

There’s also Chance Time, where stars and
coins can be swapped from player to player

with a dice roll.

After the star is bought and moves, a Chance
Time space is put in its place, which is a

neat touch but can definitely get out of hand
on 50 turn games.

Then there's Bowser spaces.

Bowser spaces can cause a variety of events
to occur for players to lose coins, whether,

through a minigame, a Bowser version of Chance
Time, or through wealth redistribution.

Since this is the first game in the series,
I’ll let the small number of space types

slide, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t
have things to say about them.

Chance Time is cool since you actually have
a bit of input on what happens here since

the dice start off slower and then ramp up
in speed, so in dire situations it can actually

be a viable strategy.

However, the mushroom spaces don’t really
do it for me.

If you hit the mushroom, you get to roll again,
which is fine.

But if you get the poison mushroom, you lose
a turn which is insanely punishing for just

landing on this space.

If the poison mushroom limited your next dice
roll to 1 through 5, that probably would have

been fine.
>>
But as it stands, I just don’t think that
this mechanic adds much strategy and punishes

you way too harshly, especially on boards
like Mario’s Rainbow Castle and Peach’s

Birthday Cake where dice rolls are especially
crucial.

There are a couple of other board mechanics
outside of spaces.

Koopa is at the start of every map, and passing
him is like passing “Go” in Monopoly,

granting the player 10 coins unless if you
are in the last 5 turns or if you are the

10th person to pass him, in which case he’ll
grant 20.

There is also Boo, who will steal coins from
another player or will steal a star if you

give them 50 coins.

Boo is a phenomenal mechanic because this
adds a layer of strategy and decision-making.

Do you chase after a star and pay a lower
price?

Or do you steal a star with Boo for the price
of more than 2 stars, but your net swing is

2 since you gain a star and your opponent
loses one?

Finally, Mario Party 1 also introduces bonus
stars that players can earn at the end of

the game.

These stars are the Game star for whoever
wins the most coins in minigames, the Coin

star for whoever had the most coins in their
possession at any given point in the game,

and the Happening star for the player who
landed on the most Happening spaces.

I like bonus stars because they add a layer
of strategy that players can keep in the back

of their minds to continue to work towards
throughout the game.

So even if a happening space might not provide
the optimal outcome, players can still choose

to land on one if they can have a shot at
a free star at the end of the game.

The minigame star and coin star also reward
skilled players who are better at minigames,

which I like a lot.
>>
All of these board mechanics help to keep
things interesting and provide players with

choices to make, even though this initial
selection is a bit minimal.

So, let’s talk about the boards themselves.

The 8 boards featured in Mario Party 1 are
Mario’s Rainbow Castle, DK’s Jungle Adventure,

Peach’s Birthday Cake, Yoshi’s Tropical
Island, Wario’s Battle Canyon, Luigi’s

Engine Room, Bowser’s Magma Mountain, and
Eternal Star.

Each of these boards is distinct from the
others, both aesthetically and in their layout.

The board designs are absolutely crucial to
creating a fun experience for everyone, so,

I’m going to discuss each of the boards
in detail from worst to best.

Wario’s Battle Canyon is my least favorite
board in Mario Party 1.

So, this board is what I like to call an island
loop board, where there are 5 looping islands

that you can only travel between when you
enter these cannons.

As I’m sure you’ll come to figure out
as this series continues, I’m not the biggest

fan of island loop boards.

More often than not, players make fewer decisions
about their placement on the board and this

instead places a heavier emphasis on high
dice rolls and luck.

Wario’s Battle Canyon is a prime example
of this problem, since you can only travel

between these islands through the cannons.

Once you enter the cannon, this cursor will
rapidly move across the spaces on the next

island, and when you press A you will land
on that space.

The cursors do move in a predetermined pattern,
but it’s not one that’s very easily recognized

so that players can strategize and plan out
where they will land.

You’ll only be able to recognize the pattern
if you’ve played this board a lot, which

really is not ideal for players who are new
to Mario Party.

The star will move after it has been purchased,
and you can change where the cannons aim by

landing 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 sense
to me unless if the star happens to spawn

here.

Bowser will take some money from you and blast
you to a random location.

You can also pay Fly Guy to bring someone
to his location, which is just hilarious.

But honestly, this board is garbage.

You make very few decisions about where you
go, you can’t really strategize much at

all, and you just have to hope for high rolls.

The whole board is really bland visually too,
which makes for one of the weakest boards

in the series.

Bowser’s Magma Mountain is another terrible,
terrible board.

This board is completely linear, but the star
moves after each purchase which doesn’t

really make much sense to me.

If the star spawns behind you, well, that
sucks because there’s only one way around

the board and you have to go all the way around
to even have a fighting chance.

There are shortcuts here though, where you
can pay 10 coins to spin this roulette and

take the shortcut.

The roulette is kind of easy, but I do like
this mechanic that rewards players who can

save up coins to make it to the end of the
board faster.

There’s even one of these towards the end
of the map that lets you skip the final junction,

which is cool.

However, this final junction sucks.

Unless if you take the previously mentioned
shortcut, you have to go through this junction

and roll the roulette for free.

If you win, you go to Boo and can steal something.

However, if you lose, you go to Bowser, where
he will steal either coins or a star from

you.
>>
Having Bowser steal coins from you is fine,
but if Bowser is able to just take a purchased

star out of the economy, I think that is way
too harsh and is bad on any board.

It’s fine for players to lose stars to other
players since they can always go and fight

for that star back, but straight up taking
a purchased star out of the game shouldn’t

be allowed.

You’ll hear me reiterate this more and more as this
video series continues.

The happening spaces on this board turn all
the blue spaces into red spaces for 2 turns,

which is brutal and I like it.

However, landing on another happening space
should flip this back, in my personal opinion.

Overall, this board doesn’t offer much player
choice outside of the shortcuts and changing

the star space on a linear board just doesn’t
make any sense to me.

I’m not a fan.

Peach’s Birthday Cake is another linear
board that I am not a fan of.

Thankfully, the star stays in the same spot
on this board, so the star spawning behind

you on a linear board isn’t an issue on
this one.

However, Peach’s Birthday Cake also places
a really heavy emphasis on your dice rolls

rather than strategy, and honestly, this makes
this board incredibly boring.

The only real “branching path” on this
board is Goomba’s Flower Lottery - which

is a luck-based event.
>>
This Goomba has 4 seeds available for players
to pick from.

3 of these 4 seeds will sprout into a Toad
Flower, which means you get to go down the

normal path and visit Toad to purchase a star.

1 of these seeds contains a Bowser Flower,
which will take you on this little loop to

visit Bowser, where he will take 20 coins
from you.

After a seed is planted, that seed is taken
out of the rotation.

So the first person to get to the lottery
has a 25% chance to visit Bowser, while the

second and third person have a 33% and a 50%
chance, respectively.

If all three of them win, then the fourth
person has to go to Bowser.

However, if the Bowser seed gets planted,
then the next few people are completely safe

until the seeds reset.

That’s fine and all, but the worst part
is that once you exit the Bowser loop, you

have to do the Flower Lottery AGAIN, which
has another chance of sending you back into

the loop, trapping you in an infinite.

In fighting games, an infinite is a combo
that can trap a player’s opponent perfectly

to the point where they cannot escape until
the combo executer either messes up an input

or the opponent dies.

In Mario Party, however, this concept is similar
except the board is trapping you into a situation

that you cannot roll out of.

If a board can trap a player in a loop that
they cannot escape by naturally rolling, that

is an infinite.

Infinites are arguably some of the worst offenders
in Mario Party board design.

They absolutely kill the fun and are way too
punishing for something that can happen randomly.

So, Peach’s Birthday Cake does have an infinite,
and even though this one doesn’t have super

overwhelming odds to keep you trapped, it
still sucks.

The happening spaces here allow you to pay
30 coins to plant a Piranha Plant on that

space, which will steal a star from a player
if they land on it.
>>
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I like this, and even though the price is a bit
high for somewhat low odds that someone lands

on your space, it provides an opportunity
for players to strategize with their money

and make decisions, even if the board itself
is really boring and places way too much emphasis

on your dice rolls.

Mario’s Rainbow Castle is the best linear
board in Mario Party 1, but that doesn’t

mean 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 star

space can either be held by Toad or Bowser.

If you reach the end and Toad is in the star
space, you can buy a star from him.

However, every time someone buys a star from
Toad, it swaps to Bowser.

If you reach the end when Bowser is in control,
he’ll charge you 40 coins for a Ztar, which

is worthless.

Landing on happening spaces will rotate the
tower, which I like.

My biggest problem with this board is that,
again, you are offered next to no agency in

how well you perform in this board since it’s
linear and places heavy emphasis on your dice

rolls.

You can slightly offset this at these
“junctions,” but they’re really just

an illusion of choice since they’re longer
or shorter detours that will still put you

on the same path.

This is one of the more interesting boards
from a style and aesthetic perspective though.

This board is just boring to me but it’s
not the worst board that Mario Party 1 has

to 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.
>>
>>683746590
meds now schizo
>>
Fuck you dude
>>
tendies are mentally ill
also, 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
>>
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DK’s Jungle Adventure is a very standard,
normal board.

This is what I like to call a tied island
board, or a board of two islands connected

by bridges or other narrow pathways.

This board has a couple of gimmicks that I
like - these Thwomps will block off one path

on a junction, and if you want to take the
route that they’re standing in front of,

you have to pay them 10 coins.

After somebody takes the route that they aren’t
in front of, they’ll move to block that

route.

There are also these strange roadblocks that
will prevent you from crossing if you have

less than 20 coins, which offers some great
opportunities to make fun of your friends

for not having money.

Other than those somewhat unique mechanics,
this board is relatively forgettable.

The star space changes after somebody purchases
a star, but this board is honestly just one

giant loop so you will likely find yourself
to be on the path to the star in one way or

another.

The happening spaces chase any players in
the boulder’s path all the way back to the

start of the board, even if you landed on
a happening space that isn’t in the way

of the boulder.

I feel like these happening spaces get hit
way too often, but I don’t dislike the concept

at its core.
>>
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Eternal Star is definitely the most unique
board here.

Instead of just purchasing stars and there
only being one star space, there are 7 Baby

Bowsers with 7 stars on the board at once.

Once you get to one, you’ll pay 20 coins
and then have to face a Baby Bowser in a roll-off

where 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 frequently
because Baby Bowsers will allow you to roll

a Dice Block with only 8, 9 and 10, greatly
improving your odds which almost makes me

question why you would even make us roll-off to
begin with.

Once all stars are collected from all 7 Baby
Bowsers, 7 new ones appear.

This is unique because it allows players to
be able to make their own route and separate

from the others, however, I do feel like it
devalues stars a little too much to have this

many Baby Bowsers on the board at once.

There’s almost no reason to steal stars
with Boo, since you’re almost always going

to be close to a Baby Bowser.

However, this does make Chance Time more impactful
since everyone has more to lose, which is

always tense and fun.

The other unique part about Eternal Star is
these teleporters.

So, these teleporters will take you across
the map to another teleporter, and they will

always take you to the same teleporter in
a predetermined pattern.

However, the pattern is decided at random
for each time you play this board.
>>
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So, this makes this board more fun to return
to since the teleporters will behave differently

each time, without being so random that you
can’t predict or strategize where you’ll

end up.

The biggest problem that I have with this
board is that Baby Bowser and Bowser both

steal stars from players, which I really don’t
think is fair.

It would be better if Baby Bowser would take
a star from you and then the next person to

win against that Baby Bowser would receive
two stars, but unfortunately, there are way

too many opportunities to lose a star on this
board that really prevent it from being a

good time.

Yoshi’s Tropical Island is my favorite Board
in Mario Party 1.

Yoshi’s Tropical Island is a tied island
board without a ton of decision options,

but it actually leans into this mechanic pretty
well.

You see, on each island, there is a fixed
star spot and they are held by Bowser and

Toad.

Toad sells you a star while Bowser takes 30
coins from you, and they don’t move once

a star is purchased.

The only way to get Toad and Bowser to swap
islands is by hitting a happening space, which

I think is great.

There are only two junctions on this board,
and they are at these bridges.

Here, these Thwomps will require you to pay
at least 1 coin more than the previous person

who just passed.

I like this mechanic a lot because it gives
more value to coins and allows players to

strategize about which island they want to
be on and when they want to increase the toll.

My only problems with this board are that
there are only two junctions and these bridges

are one-way, meaning if you pass the Thwomp
toll, you have to go at least 29 spaces on

the left island and 26 spaces on the right
island before you can make that decision again.

So, there’s a fair amount of luck at play
here when it comes to other players landing

on the happening spaces.

However, I still think that this is the best
board in Mario Party 1, and I also
>>
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like its aesthetic as well.

The boards in Mario Party 1 are pretty rough.

A fair amount of them are very linear with
very little agency and a lot of them are very

cramped and feel very punishing and random.

I appreciate that there are 8 boards here,
but unfortunately, I can really only stomach

2 of them before I get really bored.

Mario Party 1 is the first of its kind, so
I do think that it deserves to be cut some

slack for its lacking boards, but unfortunately,
they rely way too heavily on luck and rolling

high.

I do appreciate that all of these boards have
central gimmicks that are unique and make

the board distinct from the others.

Sadly, Mario Party 1’s board gameplay doesn’t
allow for much strategy or choice, and this

leads the board gameplay to feel like a bit
of a drag.

However, board gameplay is only one part of
the game, so let’s talk about the minigames.

So, the way that I’m going to evaluate the
minigames for each Mario Party game is through

what I’m calling “Opinionated Math.”
>>
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I’m going to give every minigame in each
Mario Party game a rating from 1 to 10, and

then I’ll figure out the mean, the median,
and the mode for each game to see how they

stack up against each other in terms of quality.

A couple of quick things: This list is only going
over the minigames that you encounter during

normal board play, so no story minigames,
and no extra minigames, just because I want

to review these games in a multiplayer party
setting specifically.

I also recognize that this system will judge
games like Mario Party 1 harsher, since it

only has 49 minigames, in comparison to a
game like Mario Party 5, which has 74, and

this is for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, bad minigames stick out much more
during a typical playthrough if there are

fewer good minigames to offset them.

Also, offering more minigames is almost always
a good thing, since that means minigames will

repeat less frequently and the game will remain
fresh and interesting for longer.

You’re most likely going to disagree
with some of my ratings for some of these

minigames, and if you do disagree with them,
leave a comment letting me know why you think

that minigame should be rated higher or lower
than it is.

I’m relatively confident in my rankings
since I’ve played these minigames a lot,

but I’m always interested in taking the
discussion further.

Anyways, the only minigame that I’m omitting
from this list is Bumper Ball Maze, which

does not appear during normal board play.

Without further ado, here are my ratings for
all of the minigames:
>>
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Buried Treasure involves pathing and mashing,
which I like, but if the chest spawns closer

to you, you just win.

Treasure Divers is a really slow, boring coin
minigame that takes too long.

Hot Bob-Omb is fun and tense hot potato, but
I don’t like that this game just selects

a loser instead of being elimination style
until one person remains.

Musical Mushroom is pretty decent on paper,
but it feels a little random since the money

doesn’t go to whoever hits the chest first,
but instead whoever hits the chest and is

standing on the mushroom.

Crazy Cutter is a decent minigame, but unfortunately,
it’s really easy for everyone to win since

you win if you score over 80.

It should instead be determined by whoever’s
most accurate.

Face Lift is fun, but unfortunately, it’s
too easy since you pretty much just have to

drag each of the facial features to the extremes.

Great concept for a minigame though.

Balloon Burst is a fun timing and pumping
minigame.

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 mashing
minigame at the end since it’s really easy

to jump over the Thwomps.

Box Mountain Mayhem is a really boring luck
minigame.

Platform Peril is fun, but I do think there’s
a little bit of luck regarding these obstacles.

I still think it’s pretty decent though.
>>
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Mushroom Mix-Up is a great platforming, king
of the hill minigame that rewards quick reaction

and aggressive play.

Probably my favorite minigame in this game.

Grab Bag is a pretty decent minigame that
allows you to directly impact your opponents’

coin count.

However, it’s really easy to avoid everyone
and never lose any coins.

Bumper Balls is a fun concept but it’s really
difficult to actually win or lose this one

and almost always ends in a draw.

I’m sorry.

Tipsy Tourney is a pretty fun puzzle pathing
minigame!

Bombs Away is like Bumper Balls, fun idea
but is way too easy to survive.

Mario Bandstand is a weirdly unbalanced minigame,
since some instruments offer more notes and

opportunities to perform well than others.

Shy Guy Says is a great reaction minigame
with a cool aesthetic.

Cast Aways has really finicky controls and
involves control stick spinning, which is

never fun.

Key-Pa-Way is a really boring, easy minigame
where all players have to work together and

all players will either win or lose.

Co-Op minigames are really weird in Mario
Party and they usually amount to a waste of

time since everybody either wins or loses.
>>
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>>
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I can almost guarantee that you won’t lose
this minigame though.

Running of the Bulb is a slightly better Co-Op
minigame, but it’s still incredibly easy

and just feels wrong in the context of a Mario
Party game.

Hot Rope Jump is a simple, classic reaction
minigame but it’s way too easy for everyone

to just clear the 20 jump threshold.

Hammer Drop is pretty luck-based, depending
on if you get thrown coins or not.

It’s also kinda boring.

Slot Car Derby is a good racing minigame where
you need to be good about maintaining your

speed without spinning out.

I like this one.

Pipe Maze is incredibly lazy.

One person just puts the treasure chest in
the pipe and everybody watches.

Bash ‘n Cash is absolutely brutal, and the
1 just loses coins and has no opportunity

to gain.

I don’t understand why this minigame exists
when Grab Bag executed this idea better in

every way.

Bowl Over is the opposite, since the 1 has
nothing to lose and everything to gain.

At least this one is more fun to play and
is more unique though.

Coin Block Bash is really boring and the 3’s
coins don’t tally up, making this feel like

a 4-player minigame where one player gets
an unfair advantage from the start.

Tightrope Treachery is way too easy for the
1.

You’d have to really try to lose this one.

Crane Game is another minigame where only
the 1 can gain, and the other players can

only lose.

It’s really boring for the 3 too.
Piranha’s Pursuit is weighted towards the
1, provided that they’re at least decent

at 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 rotation
minigame.

Coin Shower Flower is a Reaganomics minigame
that will give the 1 at least 30 free coins

while the 3 get next to nothing.

Bobsled Run is a fun minigame, but it’s
really easy to box your opponent out so the

mashing at the start matters too much.
>>
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I still like this one though and it requires
good 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 requires
at least a little bit of additional input

to prevent you from falling.

Deep Sea Divers involves control stick spinning
and 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 identification
minigame.

Pedal Power is a stick rotation minigame.

It’s terrible.

Whack-A-Plant is way too easy and provides
way 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’ll
encounter while playing a typical board game.

The mean of these scores gives us roughly
a 3.18, while the median score is 3 and the

mode score is 2.

Yeah, so… this doesn’t look too great
for Mario Party 1.
There are some genuinely great minigames here,
like Mushroom Mix-Up and Slot Car Derby, but

there are a lot of bad minigames here that
really bring down the score overall.

The stick spinning games are very obvious
choices for some of the worst minigames in

the series since they physically hurt to play,
and there are a lot of the single-player minigames

that are way too easy and essentially guarantee
that players can win free money.

Keep in mind though, this game was the first
of its kind, so growing pains are kind of

an inevitability.
>>
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With that being said, there’s a fair amount
of variety here, and there certainly are some

standout minigames.

There is a minigame side mode in this game
as well that you can play with friends called

Minigame Stadium, but it’s honestly pretty
lame and takes too long.

I don’t really know why anyone would play
this over the standard board mode.

One reason that I’m so harsh on Mario Party
1 is that it introduces a pretty terrible

mechanic - which are 1-player minigames.

These 1 player minigames are really bad for
a multiplayer game because everybody else

has to sit and watch one player play a minigame,
which takes up too much time and usually only

inflates the economy.

So 1-player games don’t just bring the game’s
pace down, but getting a game like Whack-A-Plant

can also give a player an insane advantage
towards the minigame and coin bonus stars.

Especially since players can actually LOSE
coins in most minigames.

So, sadly Mario Party 1 does lose some points
from me, but to pretend like this game only

has bad ideas is disingenuous.

One of my favorite ideas that Mario Party
1 has is that you can toggle certain aspects

of the boards on and off.
Once you buy these items from the shop, you
can toggle these different types of blocks

on and off at your discretion.

These blocks randomly appear and can cause
players to roll an 8 through 10, a 1 through

3, 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 game

that already emphasizes luck a little too
much.

BUT - I love that you can turn them on and
off in whatever manner you’d like, and you

can also turn off Koopa, Boo, and hidden blocks
too, which is super cool.
>>
Man wtf this is far beyond Reddit spacing
>>
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Hidden blocks can tend to add an additional
element of luck, since they’ll randomly

appear and call either Koopa, Boo, or Bowser
to that player.

While I personally wouldn’t turn Boo and
Koopa off, I really like the option and I

think that the more customizable Mario Party
is, the better.

Allowing players to turn certain items off
or on is great, and I really hope it gets

brought back.

I also love how Chance Time works in this
game since you can actually influence what

happens instead of it being completely random.

Koopa giving out coins is good on linear boards
too.

Before we wrap up, I want to give my thoughts
on one final aspect of this game.

You see, Mario Party is designed to be played
with a group of friends, but you and your

friends might vary in experience with Mario
Party or even with video games in general,

and I honestly think that good party games
are able to engage not just with avid gamers

or fans, but with casual friends and family
that are looking to have some fun.

So, for each of these games, I’ll rate them
on my patented “Beginner Friendliness Meter”

to help you determine if this game is a good
fit for your friends or family, or if everyone

will get bored and want to abandon the game.

Mario Party 1 is, again, a bit of a rough
start.

This game can be incredibly punishing since
players can lose coins in minigames and can

lose a turn to the poison mushroom.

These mechanics can be incredibly frustrating
for new players since they can be punished

really harshly for a bad roll or for not understanding
the minigame.

However, the boards in Mario Party 1 are relatively
simple, so I believe that most players could

get the gist of most of the boards here.

The minigames are also simple to a fault,
but new players likely won’t be too confused

by their controls.

Personally, I’d give this game 2 stars for
new player friendliness.
>>
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Mario Party 1 relies on a lot of luck, and
people who aren’t invested in the game will

likely get bored or tired of all the 1-player
minigames and lost coins.

However, if you’re playing this game with
Mario Party newbies, I’d suggest trying

out either Yoshi’s Tropical Island or Mario’s
Rainbow Castle.

I think that there are enough interesting
decisions and moving parts on these boards

that will keep players interested, but they’re
really simple boards that won’t leave players

too confused.

Mario Party 1 is really rough around its edges.

Its minigames aren’t too great, and the
majority of the boards aren’t really all

that good either and rely way too much on
luck.

However, this game certainly has good ideas
and is a good jumping-off point for the Mario

Party series, and there are some good ideas
here that only Mario Party 1 has.

Customizing items is cool, and a lot of core
mechanics like Boo and bonus stars are great

and will be kept for future entries.

Mario Party 1 is really held back a lot because
it was the first of its kind.

When you look at some of the most popular
board game boards, it’s easy to see where

Mario Party took a lot of its linear board
inspiration from.

Thankfully, we wouldn’t need to wait much
longer before we’d get a sequel.

I’ll see you next time on 4CHAN
to discuss Mario Party 2, arguably the most

popular Mario Party game.
>>
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Thanks so much for reading.

I really appreciate it, and I hope that you
have 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.
>>
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>>683749164
Thanks 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!
>>
>>683749282
I 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 Room
7- Wario's Battle Canyon
6- Bowser's Magma Mountain
5- DK's Jungle Adventure
4- Peach's Birthday Cake
3- Eternal Star
2- Yoshi's Tropical Island
1- Mario's Rainbow Castle
>>
>>683749554
My top 8 boards:

8. Wario's Battle Canyon
7. Luigi's Engine Room
6. Eternal Star
5. Yoshi's Tropical Island
4. Mario's Rainbow Castle
3. Bowser's Magma Mountain
2. DK's Jungle Adventure
1. 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.
>>
>>683749747
Yeah, 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



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