What do you think about the more recent Mario Party games?

[Raidein]

It's no lie that the Mario Party series is going downhill. With Hudson Soft closed, Nintendo have been struggling to keep the original quality of the earlier games while bringing new things to the table. An addition that many disagree with is the car mechanic, where all the players move around together, events affecting the one in front. The unofficial reason for this is due to all the fights, injuries and losses of friends that evolved from the games. How many times have you angered someone by winning a duel or retrieving a star before them, or maybe something a little more sinister like using the Boo to steal from them or getting them with good item/capsule/orb/other placement? I sure have, and I've also been on the receiving end of this.

The reason this is making the game go downhill is due to the very different gameplay style. Players weren't accustom to seeing the game play so differently, where you all had to rely on another players movements. Instead of you all being spread across the map, sometimes barely even seeing each other on the same screen, now you're squished together in a big car, making the gameplay much different. This means that if you wanted to go in a certain direction, you had to pray that the person moving before you wanted to go that way too. And you had to hope that they wouldn't pass the area you wanted to go. This makes for some irritating moments.

The stars are a little different, too. I don't own the game, but from what I've seen you don't have to pay for them in the most recent game, and they're in clumps of more than 1 in random locations, instead of there being one star you all had to aim for, and when someone grabbed the star you all had to aim for a different location. This makes it so you all have to 'work together', meaning that you had to pray to god that the driver doesn't go far enough to collect the closest stars, and you can grab them when it's your turn.

I haven't seen much of the mini-games, but from what I can assume there will be the good ones and the bad ones, like most Mario Party games. So, what do you think of the more recent Mario Party games? Do you despise them, think they're okay or maybe like them more than the rest? I for one don't like them, and I think they'd really just be better off remaking the earlier games with HD graphics, and maybe adding some of the unused mini-games. I for one want to see Mario Party's 1 'Same Game' mini-game added back in officially, but it may have been removed because it was such a long game without a time limit.

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If that was too long for you to read, I'll sum it up:

I dislike the car mechanics, and the clumps of stars and how you all move around at once. I would prefer if they'd just remake some of the original Mario Party games, perhaps adding some unused content.

[Elija2]

I haven't actually played any of the Mario Party games that use the car, but they do look less fun than the traditional Mario Party games. I commend Nintendo for trying to do something new with the series but I just don't think it works as well as the older games. Stuff like the capsules/orbs and the microphone were much more interesting innovations while still keeping the traditional Mario Party gameplay, and I think those are the kinds of iterative innovations they should have stuck with instead of completely changing the formula. At the very least I'd prefer if they left both modes in as options so you could choose between the two because the car mode does have its merits (I kinda like the linear adventure idea with set pieces along the way).

And it's not like the series wasn't going downhill before Nintendo took the reins. Mario Party 8 was such a step down from previous games and Mario Party 9 did bring many improvements despite the inclusion of the car.

Interestingly enough, Mario Party on the 3DS didn't use the car despite it coming out after MP9. Who knows where the series will go next.

[Raidein]

I haven't actually played any of the Mario Party games that use the car, but they do look less fun than the traditional Mario Party games. I commend Nintendo for trying to do something new with the series but I just don't think it works as well as the older games. Stuff like the capsules/orbs and the microphone were much more interesting innovations while still keeping the traditional Mario Party gameplay, and I think those are the kinds of iterative innovations they should have stuck with instead of completely changing the formula. At the very least I'd prefer if they left both modes in as options so you could choose between the two because the car mode does have its merits (I kinda like the linear adventure idea with set pieces along the way).

And it's not like the series wasn't going downhill before Nintendo took the reins. Mario Party 8 was such a step down from previous games and Mario Party 9 did bring many improvements despite the inclusion of the car.

Interestingly enough, Mario Party on the 3DS didn't use the car despite it coming out after MP9. Who knows where the series will go next.

I agree with you completely. I mean, they brung new things and removed old things. But really, if they're going to do things like this it should be completely optional. And while the car basically changed the whole game, Capsules/orbs were just an extension to the original items and the microphone was only for a few optional mini-games and wasn't required to play. I did love me some microphone gameplay though. You could also do a few secret things like trigger things on the world map of sorts and say 'Bob-omb' in the tank thing and something else for secret weapons and 'Scramble' or whatever it was for the Ukiki one to make them scramble around and seperate. The fruit one and the command thing also had them too if I remember correctly but how am I supposed to remember? But yeah.

The only way they can really obtain the quality of the originals at THIS point is just by remaking the original games. I really want to play some Mario Party 3 right now and it's pet mode or whatever it is but I don't have time to find the game and the 64 and set it all up, and my PC can't emulate it due to the sad fact my PC is terrible when it comes to games. Someone buy me a new PC please xD

[Elija2]

The only way they can really obtain the quality of the originals at THIS point is just by remaking the original games.

I dunno about that. Mario Party on 3DS got decent reviews with the only major complaints being bad motion controls and no online play. I think they could make a good new Mario Party game that plays like the old ones if they tried, but right now they'd rather do something a bit different.

[jkid101094]

Mario Party Island Tour was basically Wii Party with a Mario skin. I really liked Wii Party though and similarly enjoyed Island Tour. My only real complaint is that the boards are too short and some of them take luck to the extreme.

Speaking of Wii Party, though, they did something with that game that absolutely baffled me. If you haven't heard of it it's called, "Globe Trot". Basically it's a game where you move around a board using cards. The number on each card denotes how many spaces you move on your turn. You can also buy cards with specific numbers on them to save for when you really need them. I do a terrible job at explaining this so if you need a visual aid just look here:



Ever since I first played this I've thought that this is how Mario Party SHOULD be. If you allow the players to chose which card they want to use without turning them face down and give each player the same cards at the beginning of the game then the luck of the dice roll is removed entirely. The mechanics of Globe Trot could easily be translated into a Mario game from there, replacing Earth with various Mario locals, replacing Hot Spots with Stars, ect.

I really wish these ex-Hudson staff members would remember how good games are made.

[Raidein]

Mario Party Island Tour was basically Wii Party with a Mario skin. I really liked Wii Party though and similarly enjoyed Island Tour. My only real complaint is that the boards are too short and some of them take luck to the extreme.

Mario Party is known to some as a button mashing game, while others think of it as a luck game, and then the rest think of it as just something to enjoy as a party game with friends. I'm the latter, but I loved Goomba's board in Mario Party 4 despite it being highly luck based.

Speaking of Wii Party, though, they did something with that game that absolutely baffled me. If you haven't heard of it it's called, "Globe Trot". Basically it's a game where you move around a board using cards. The number on each card denotes how many spaces you move on your turn. You can also buy cards with specific numbers on them to save for when you really need them.

Sonic Shuffle, is that you?
(but seriously, it's much different xD)

Ever since I first played this I've thought that this is how Mario Party SHOULD be. If you allow the players to chose which card they want to use without turning them face down and give each player the same cards at the beginning of the game then the luck of the dice roll is removed entirely. The mechanics of Globe Trot could easily be translated into a Mario game from there, replacing Earth with various Mario locals, replacing Hot Spots with Stars, ect.

I really wish these ex-Hudson staff members would remember how good games are made.

I can't say I'll be fond of that design but as stated before I'm certainly willing to buy a Mario Party with that as long as that mode is optional and it has the original game mode.