The nice thing about Nintendo Switch Online for old people like me is that you get a little involuntary nostalgia hit every couple of months. I wouldn’t download and emulate Mario Party of my own volition, but something about it being readily available on my Switch just makes the access to those old memories so much more enticing - even when said memories now launch with an updated warning about how they can cause permanent damage to the palm of your hand.
Funny story about this game - my younger brother and I had it in our heads that it was possible to be skilled at it. Our misguided belief that the winner of a game of Mario Party was in some way deserving of recognition and admiration eventually came to a head when our neighbour - who didn’t own or play video games of any kind whatsoever at any time - played a round with us one rainy afternoon. He came out comfortably 3 stars ahead at the end of 50 turns, brutally shredding our fragile preteenage egos to tatters. This trauma sent my brother crazy, and he had to be locked in the bathroom for an hour because he was quite simply going completely apeshit-crackers at the notion that someone who didn’t even hold the N64 controller correctly could beat him at a game he’d played for a hundred hours. Very funny to recall his little cheeky face lying on a floor sodden with Chance Time-induced tears. Great game.
You can jape endlessly about the unfairness of the original Mario Partys, but there’s nothing you can really say that’s more amusing than participating in it. Taking huge inspiration from the capitalist chaos of Monopoly, this is definitely one of Nintendo’s most postmodern games, directly stating on many occasions that the rules are made up and the coins don’t matter. It revels in unfairness and mean-spiritedness (literally, with the inclusion of a robber Boo) in a way I imagine Shigeru Miyamoto would frown very hard at, and I presume the meaning of Bowser hollering “That’s often the way things go in life!” while tap-dancing on the spot as Mario wails about being mis-sold a suspicious “super duper star” for the tidy sum of 200 coins just completely passed me by as a kid. Just like the game of Life, the lesson to be learned here is that no matter how carefully plot your course and how hard you twirl your joystick, all the money in your bank can be swept away in an instant because some stupid prick stepped on a big red button with your face on it.
Funny story about this game - my younger brother and I had it in our heads that it was possible to be skilled at it. Our misguided belief that the winner of a game of Mario Party was in some way deserving of recognition and admiration eventually came to a head when our neighbour - who didn’t own or play video games of any kind whatsoever at any time - played a round with us one rainy afternoon. He came out comfortably 3 stars ahead at the end of 50 turns, brutally shredding our fragile preteenage egos to tatters. This trauma sent my brother crazy, and he had to be locked in the bathroom for an hour because he was quite simply going completely apeshit-crackers at the notion that someone who didn’t even hold the N64 controller correctly could beat him at a game he’d played for a hundred hours. Very funny to recall his little cheeky face lying on a floor sodden with Chance Time-induced tears. Great game.
You can jape endlessly about the unfairness of the original Mario Partys, but there’s nothing you can really say that’s more amusing than participating in it. Taking huge inspiration from the capitalist chaos of Monopoly, this is definitely one of Nintendo’s most postmodern games, directly stating on many occasions that the rules are made up and the coins don’t matter. It revels in unfairness and mean-spiritedness (literally, with the inclusion of a robber Boo) in a way I imagine Shigeru Miyamoto would frown very hard at, and I presume the meaning of Bowser hollering “That’s often the way things go in life!” while tap-dancing on the spot as Mario wails about being mis-sold a suspicious “super duper star” for the tidy sum of 200 coins just completely passed me by as a kid. Just like the game of Life, the lesson to be learned here is that no matter how carefully plot your course and how hard you twirl your joystick, all the money in your bank can be swept away in an instant because some stupid prick stepped on a big red button with your face on it.
I once killed a man.
Skill
Strategy
Luck
These are the 3 core pillars every Mario Party game attempts to balance themselves around. Skill is required to win the majority of minigames, which will help give players massive coins leads to help them afford stars (and in later games, items). Strategy is required for the board game element. Players need to make smart decisions in order to traverse these perilous landscapes littered with spaces that can do good or ill when landed upon. Luck is the x-factor element that keeps everyone on their toes. It's when a player lands on Chance Time and has the ability to change the tides of battle in an instant. The final outcome is rarely predictable when everyone is playing their A game.
Everyone has a different idea on how important these cores are to the overall party experience. Some will insist that Mario Party is best as a vehicle for schadenfreude and little else, while others only desire the minigames and dislike any level of luck. Like most multiplayer titles, Mario Party only thrives when you're playing with the right people. People that can all agree on what makes for a fun party game. For me and my friend group, all three core pillars are equally important. A player's talent for sweeping minigames, knowledge for board traversal, and ability to go with the punches should all be rewarded in roughly equal regards. When one element is underplayed, or missing altogether, the whole experience tumbles.
Considering it was one of the first party games of its kind, I won't blame the developers at Hudson Soft for not striking this balance perfectly. What I will blame them for is making a utterly dull and uneventful title. Mario Party 1's largest issue is the lack of player agency. With boards that are mostly linear, and a complete lack of items to use, players rarely get to make an actual decision during the board game element. Most turns amount to each player rolling the dice and accepting whatever outcome the game gives them. It's a very hands-off experience where laughter and boasting in later Mario Party games is replaced by dead air. When you end up screwing over your buddy, you're rarely able to say you intended to do so. This lack of agency is compounded on by two of MP1's unique spaces. One is a 50/50 where you are either given an extra roll or have your next turn taken from you. Removing a player's turn should never be a punishment in a party game. All it accomplishes is removing one of the players from the antics and likely leading to them losing interest. The other space, Solo Minigame, is even worse. Does the idea of watching one of your friends play a minigame you and your other buds have no say in sound enticing? Regardless of the outcome, it's another element that distances the non-participants away from the game. Despite games of MP1 wrapping up quicker than most later installments, they often feel longer thanks to having so much downtime where no one, not even the current turn's player, feels like they're making a meaningful difference.
So the board element is a dud, but that still leaves us with 50 minigames. Sadly, this has got to be the most uneven batch of minigames I've ever played. Far, far too many of these games are unbalanced to a comical degree, making many of these a hopeless battle for one or several players. Perhaps it adds to the toxic chaos so many people believe to be the point of Mario Party, but I'd rather the cheering and screaming be from players actually outplaying eachother and not just from being given an unfair advantage. If you need an example of how dire some of these minigames are, one of them is a 1 vs 3 game where the one player picks a pipe to send a chest of coins down, hopefully onto themselves, while the three other players just... watch. That's the whole minigame.
One interesting element to the minigames is how rewards for winning vary depending on the minigame. Some minigames have a set reward for winning, while others let player earn bonus cash by collecting coins during the actual minigame. Some minigames will even punish losing players by taking away coins. It's unique, but let down by the previously mentioned selection of minigame. It's bad enough to loose at a poorly designed minigame but it stings even more when the game actually takes coins away from you as if you had any say in the matter.
Really, outside of the short length of most board playthroughs and the overly simplistic board elements meaning you don't have to explain much to a newcomer, there's very little to raise this game beyond trash status. If Mario Party 2 didn't immediately improve upon this game's foundation to a legendary degree I'd probably be even less forgiving of this game's faults. At least it lead to some great games down the line.
Strategy
Luck
These are the 3 core pillars every Mario Party game attempts to balance themselves around. Skill is required to win the majority of minigames, which will help give players massive coins leads to help them afford stars (and in later games, items). Strategy is required for the board game element. Players need to make smart decisions in order to traverse these perilous landscapes littered with spaces that can do good or ill when landed upon. Luck is the x-factor element that keeps everyone on their toes. It's when a player lands on Chance Time and has the ability to change the tides of battle in an instant. The final outcome is rarely predictable when everyone is playing their A game.
Everyone has a different idea on how important these cores are to the overall party experience. Some will insist that Mario Party is best as a vehicle for schadenfreude and little else, while others only desire the minigames and dislike any level of luck. Like most multiplayer titles, Mario Party only thrives when you're playing with the right people. People that can all agree on what makes for a fun party game. For me and my friend group, all three core pillars are equally important. A player's talent for sweeping minigames, knowledge for board traversal, and ability to go with the punches should all be rewarded in roughly equal regards. When one element is underplayed, or missing altogether, the whole experience tumbles.
Considering it was one of the first party games of its kind, I won't blame the developers at Hudson Soft for not striking this balance perfectly. What I will blame them for is making a utterly dull and uneventful title. Mario Party 1's largest issue is the lack of player agency. With boards that are mostly linear, and a complete lack of items to use, players rarely get to make an actual decision during the board game element. Most turns amount to each player rolling the dice and accepting whatever outcome the game gives them. It's a very hands-off experience where laughter and boasting in later Mario Party games is replaced by dead air. When you end up screwing over your buddy, you're rarely able to say you intended to do so. This lack of agency is compounded on by two of MP1's unique spaces. One is a 50/50 where you are either given an extra roll or have your next turn taken from you. Removing a player's turn should never be a punishment in a party game. All it accomplishes is removing one of the players from the antics and likely leading to them losing interest. The other space, Solo Minigame, is even worse. Does the idea of watching one of your friends play a minigame you and your other buds have no say in sound enticing? Regardless of the outcome, it's another element that distances the non-participants away from the game. Despite games of MP1 wrapping up quicker than most later installments, they often feel longer thanks to having so much downtime where no one, not even the current turn's player, feels like they're making a meaningful difference.
So the board element is a dud, but that still leaves us with 50 minigames. Sadly, this has got to be the most uneven batch of minigames I've ever played. Far, far too many of these games are unbalanced to a comical degree, making many of these a hopeless battle for one or several players. Perhaps it adds to the toxic chaos so many people believe to be the point of Mario Party, but I'd rather the cheering and screaming be from players actually outplaying eachother and not just from being given an unfair advantage. If you need an example of how dire some of these minigames are, one of them is a 1 vs 3 game where the one player picks a pipe to send a chest of coins down, hopefully onto themselves, while the three other players just... watch. That's the whole minigame.
One interesting element to the minigames is how rewards for winning vary depending on the minigame. Some minigames have a set reward for winning, while others let player earn bonus cash by collecting coins during the actual minigame. Some minigames will even punish losing players by taking away coins. It's unique, but let down by the previously mentioned selection of minigame. It's bad enough to loose at a poorly designed minigame but it stings even more when the game actually takes coins away from you as if you had any say in the matter.
Really, outside of the short length of most board playthroughs and the overly simplistic board elements meaning you don't have to explain much to a newcomer, there's very little to raise this game beyond trash status. If Mario Party 2 didn't immediately improve upon this game's foundation to a legendary degree I'd probably be even less forgiving of this game's faults. At least it lead to some great games down the line.
Que nostalgia jogar esse Mario Party. Aluguei muito na época que foi lançado, joguei muito e não sei pq mas eu tinha pra mim que esse Mario Party era ruim, mas rejoguei todos os tabuleiros e acho que esse jogo acerta em muitas coisas que ficaram ruins nos mp seguintes. Tem vários mini games que não ganha apenas o primeiro colocado e este mp depende muito mais da sorte, isso jogando com pessoas de níveis diferentes acaba sendo muito mais divertido, deixa mais equilibrado, pois não basta ser bom nos mini games pra ganhar no final. Me diverti muito jogando.
Despite the palm-spinning games, this is Mario Party at its most raw and rage-inducing. No mercy. Straight for the throat. Exactly what Mario Party ought to be.
That princess peach cake level is hell.
Instead of torture, governments should make prisoners play this game
Offering some of the N64's best couch co-op gameplay, the original Mario Party has spawned numerous sequels, but still remains as one of the best in the entire series. Some of the most memorable and fun mini-games to play, coupled with iconic boards and plenty of game modes.
the middle of my palm would like a word with this game
This game is evil as f and I love it. This is very janky, but I do not care, I had a lot of fun. My favorite board was Mario’s Rainbow Castle.
this was miserable
One of the most expensive games I played on the N64 due to how many controller sticks broke while playing this. And also many hands. But god was it a fun time to play with the family. Would go back and break more controllers just to relive those days
I really don’t think anything in this game is worth coming back for unfortunately, except maybe like 2 stages and Wario’s original voice lines
When I played this my cousin kept rolling 1s the whole game LMAO
I put a lot of time into the Mario Party series this year and the original is good. It certainly is RNG and has so many times I was flipping out, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
7.0/10
Map rankings:
1. Wario’s Battle Cannons- 8.9
2. Bowser’s Magma Mountain- 8.8
3. Eternal Star- 8.7
4. Peach’s Birthday Cake- 8.2
5. Yoshi’s Tropical Island- 8.0
6. D.K.’s Jungle Adventure- 7.6
7. Mario’s Rainbow Castle- 7.2
8. Luigi’s Engine Room- 6.7
7.0/10
Map rankings:
1. Wario’s Battle Cannons- 8.9
2. Bowser’s Magma Mountain- 8.8
3. Eternal Star- 8.7
4. Peach’s Birthday Cake- 8.2
5. Yoshi’s Tropical Island- 8.0
6. D.K.’s Jungle Adventure- 7.6
7. Mario’s Rainbow Castle- 7.2
8. Luigi’s Engine Room- 6.7
Nothing is more frightening than a 50-turn game of Mario Party on Eternal Star with three so-called "hard" AI opponents. I hope you enjoy them constantly stealing your stars then throwing them away by intentionally visiting Bowser, because whoever built their AI was a god damn psychopath.
Mario Party is one of the few CIB Nintendo 64 games I own, and I got it at a pretty reasonable price. Still, I paid real money for it, more than any reasonable person should for Mario Party, and as always, if I bought it I gotta... I gotta finish it... I picked up a cheap bottle of whiskey (because there's no way I'm playing this game sober) and spent the last week getting hammered and tearing the flesh off my palm.
Right off the bat, Mario Party's greatest sin is its difficulty balancing, or lack thereof. It's similar in some ways to Mario Kart's rubber-banding, and I think borne from a similar design philosophy that if the player is winning for too long they'll get bored and turn the game off. I think most developers would look at that problem and probably think of some way to make winning just as engaging as clambering your way back to the top, but not Nintendo. Why craft a carefully balanced experience when you can just have the AI crack the player in the kneecaps with a pipe and rob them blind? In a way, Mario Party is reflective of Nintendo as a company. Oh, you're having fun? You're enjoying your video game? Not so fast, buddy!
The infuriating part is I can see how you could tweak the game as-is to make it feel less unfair. Just get rid of Chance Time spaces or have only one of them to reduce the frequency they're landed on and make it so you can't interact with Boo unless you land on the space directly in front of him. I don't even mind the bonus stars for minigame performance since those still seem to reward you for playing well, it's the ease of stealing stars and the computer's blatant cheating that make the game agonizing.
Well, that and the minigames. There's 50 total in the first Mario Party, which seems like a lot, 50 is a big number, but good luck not rerolling the same ones over and over again. Even at the bare minimum of 20 turns I have to play Shy Guys Says like, three times. Also, 50 minigames and not a single one of them is good. Incredible odds. Even setting aside how many require you to roll the analog stick around, none of them are particularly interesting or fun to play. Oh, it's the ice slide from Mario 64, but it feels worse. Oh, one player gets coins showered on them and occasionally one might roll off for you to catch, like a dog begging for scraps at the table. I'm ashamed to say the minigames were the main draw for me as a kid, but I think that was true of everyone else I knew. Nobody showed up to a Mario Party for the board game aspect, and if they did then I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that kid like, tortures animals or something.
I'm surprised how many people are rating this game so highly, a lot of them saying things like "man, the first Mario Party is so brutal, it just goes in on you with nothing but contempt!" Hey, fair enough, but I've never been viciously kicked in the balls and said "I value and respect your savagery. More please!" Instead, I just puke and lay down for a while. Just like when I play Mario Party.
Mario Party is one of the few CIB Nintendo 64 games I own, and I got it at a pretty reasonable price. Still, I paid real money for it, more than any reasonable person should for Mario Party, and as always, if I bought it I gotta... I gotta finish it... I picked up a cheap bottle of whiskey (because there's no way I'm playing this game sober) and spent the last week getting hammered and tearing the flesh off my palm.
Right off the bat, Mario Party's greatest sin is its difficulty balancing, or lack thereof. It's similar in some ways to Mario Kart's rubber-banding, and I think borne from a similar design philosophy that if the player is winning for too long they'll get bored and turn the game off. I think most developers would look at that problem and probably think of some way to make winning just as engaging as clambering your way back to the top, but not Nintendo. Why craft a carefully balanced experience when you can just have the AI crack the player in the kneecaps with a pipe and rob them blind? In a way, Mario Party is reflective of Nintendo as a company. Oh, you're having fun? You're enjoying your video game? Not so fast, buddy!
The infuriating part is I can see how you could tweak the game as-is to make it feel less unfair. Just get rid of Chance Time spaces or have only one of them to reduce the frequency they're landed on and make it so you can't interact with Boo unless you land on the space directly in front of him. I don't even mind the bonus stars for minigame performance since those still seem to reward you for playing well, it's the ease of stealing stars and the computer's blatant cheating that make the game agonizing.
Well, that and the minigames. There's 50 total in the first Mario Party, which seems like a lot, 50 is a big number, but good luck not rerolling the same ones over and over again. Even at the bare minimum of 20 turns I have to play Shy Guys Says like, three times. Also, 50 minigames and not a single one of them is good. Incredible odds. Even setting aside how many require you to roll the analog stick around, none of them are particularly interesting or fun to play. Oh, it's the ice slide from Mario 64, but it feels worse. Oh, one player gets coins showered on them and occasionally one might roll off for you to catch, like a dog begging for scraps at the table. I'm ashamed to say the minigames were the main draw for me as a kid, but I think that was true of everyone else I knew. Nobody showed up to a Mario Party for the board game aspect, and if they did then I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that kid like, tortures animals or something.
I'm surprised how many people are rating this game so highly, a lot of them saying things like "man, the first Mario Party is so brutal, it just goes in on you with nothing but contempt!" Hey, fair enough, but I've never been viciously kicked in the balls and said "I value and respect your savagery. More please!" Instead, I just puke and lay down for a while. Just like when I play Mario Party.
Don't do this to yourself.
The original Mario Party remains my favorite despite being behind in several aspects compared to just about all the other games in the series which built upon the formula and improved via quality of life additions throughout the years. This is the game were friendships were made and were friendships could end in a blink of an eye.
Board and mini-game design were very good despite being Nintendo's first foray in the mini-game board game genre which was basically unexplored at the time. I have a ton of fond memories playing this with friends and destroying Nintendo 64 controller sticks to come out on top in certain minigames. Star reward system was not the best and it made for some unfairness at the end of each board but all the while created hilarity between sessions.
Board and mini-game design were very good despite being Nintendo's first foray in the mini-game board game genre which was basically unexplored at the time. I have a ton of fond memories playing this with friends and destroying Nintendo 64 controller sticks to come out on top in certain minigames. Star reward system was not the best and it made for some unfairness at the end of each board but all the while created hilarity between sessions.
These scars will never heal
Minigame Island is really fun (this was all i played) !!
This is the second Mario Party I've played so I expect the score to lower once I get to the rest :p
This is the second Mario Party I've played so I expect the score to lower once I get to the rest :p
Um bom jogo pra jogar com os amigos; mas entretanto, você deve saber o que é perder, e ainda que esteja perto do fim da partida ver tudo o que você conquistou ir pro bot no último turno, mas se tiver um bom amigo a risada será garantida.
I genuinely don't know how people call 9 and 10 the worst Mario Party games when the first one is literally right there. The boards suck, the mini-games suck, the rules make no goddamn sense, some sections of the game are PHYSICALLY PAINFUL TO PLAY. Yet, despite all this, I still weirdly enjoy playing it??? Like, Mario Party 1 has this really unconventional charm to it that I can't quite explain, it's weird. Still tho, aside from the catchy music and it's raw N64 charm, this is definitely one of the worst Mario games I've played yet
Playing Mario Party 1 is like going to war: Sure, it'll scar you for life, both physically and mentally, and you'll probably never sleep through the night again, but it's so damn interesting that everyone should at least try it.
Pretty hard to go back to when I could play any other entry prior to 10, but still incredibly charming and fun with friends. Minigame island is fun too and nice that you don't have to unlock it unlike Minigame Coaster in 2, but the singleplayer in 3 is far better.
doh i missed
Mid.
The Mario Party series is, mostly, really great and a ton of fun.
The first one? Well. I liked it at the time, but there is absolutely no reason to go back to this.
The first one? Well. I liked it at the time, but there is absolutely no reason to go back to this.
Did NOT age well. Still respect for how much fun it was back then.
This has major first game syndrome...
ow my palms. git glove.