I recommend you check out my review of Mario Party 1 before reading this review

Mario Party 1 laid a strong foundation but had some crippling shortcomings. Thankfully, its immediate follow up would solve many of these with one key addition; Items. The biggest overall problem with MP1 was the lack of player agency on the board game front. Most turns consisted of you rolling the RNG dice and watching your character move X amount of spaces. Maybe a funny event would play out but you'd rarely have a say in any of it. The introduction of items in MP2 means there's an entirely new step to take at the start of most turns. Even if a player decides not to use their item on a given turn, that's still a decision they had to make. While small, the list of items covers some varied ground and most will have their uses at some point or another in any given match. You have movement-based items like the Mushrooms that double or triple your rolls, a Warp Block that makes you switch places with a random player, and a Magic Lamp that teleports you to the Star Space. Just in this selection alone you have a fair bit to consider, since your aqquirement of items is largely your call. You get to choose what item you want to purchase at the Shop and what item to nab in an Item Minigame.

This system is held back by only allowing players to hold one item at a time but this arguably aids the pacing. Giving players too many options can lead to long periods of waiting for a decision to be made but MP2 keeps it straightforward enough that you're unlikely to be waiting on anybody for too long. There is some unfortunate imbalance, such as the Magic Lamp being so universally useful, and the Plunder Chest (which lets a player take a random player's item) discouraging other players from nabbing items, but these blemishes aren't likely encourage negative player strategies. Thanks to the one item limit and item shops being fairly far apart from one another, players can't reliably hoard useful items.

Perhaps in response to how much more varied each match plays out thanks to these items, the boards themselves have largely become more homogenized. There's strong exceptions, with Horror Land and Bowser Land making key adjustments that shake things up just enough without harming the base board mechanics, but most boards are contempt with playing it safe. This thankfully means there's no bad outliers but with only 6 boards compared to the 8 in MP1, there's less to see on this front. Minigames have also become homogenized, as players cannot lose coins in standard minigames though some minigames still let players earn extra coins with skillful play. To make up for the standard minigames lacking in that 'fuck you' spirit of the original MP, the sequel introduces Battle and Duel minigames so players can still (usually involuntarely) lose coins in some select skirmishes. Some of the rougher, less friendly edges of MP1 have been smoothed over but the game isn't afraid to remind you that this is still Mario Party, where luck is just as important to a player's chances as skill and strategy are. If anything, Duel minigames and some items in particular encourage smart players to single out dangerous opponents in a way the original MP rarely allowed, outside of Boo.

Most good Mario Party entries are a mixture of playing it safe with established elements while including new mechanics that compliment the existing ones, instead of overriding them. Mario Party 2 does exactly that, which is a large part of why it's so beloved. When you think of classic Mario Party, this is likely one of the first titles that'll pop into your mind. That doesn't mean this is the definitive Mario Party title, though. That'll come later...

Esse foi meu Mario party favorito na minha infância, porém jogando ele atualmente deu pra perceber os defeitos dele e que acabam com toda a diversão.
O pior defeito dele é que removeram os prêmios para todos os jogadores que completassem os desafios dos mini games, apenas o primeiro colocado ganha moeda. Isso aliado a adição de itens que são adquiridos com moedas e ao fato o jogador que ganhar mais mini games receber uma estrela bônus no final desequilibrou completamente o jogo, torna até injusto, pois ele não tem muita estratégia nos tabuleiros e as partidas são decididas basicamente por quem vence mais mini games.
O que eu gostei: tabuleiros temáticos, músicas memoráveis, algumas são minhas preferidas de todos os tempos em vídeo games. A ambientação é perfeita e a jogabilidade evoluiu muito em relação ao primeiro jogo.

Much improved over the first game. No analog rotating but button mashing is still here.
Items are now included adding a degree of strategy to the game. You now must ask yourself: Is it better to buy an item and hope you win the next mini-game or slowly head to the star and hope the other characters don't make it to the star first.
The boards are now designed for a theme park and the cast now dress up to match that world.
Hidden blocks are all round the maps they contain either coins or stars which could change the entire game.
Boo returns and he can either steal coins for 5 coins, but the player he is stealing from can button mash to prevent him from stealing many coins, or he can steal a star for 50 coins.
This is better than Party 1 so start with this one. Only play Party 1 if you enjoy pain or you want to see where it all began.

If you are still friends with me after playing all six boards of Mario Party 2 with me, then not only is your patience incredible, this is a friendship that absolutely will last.

Mario Party 2 lacks the wild swings of titles like Mario Party 3 or Mario Party 6, where a bounty of items raining down from a random space or a Reverse Shroom in the right place can shift the trajectory of a game in one turn. It's the best slow-burn Mario Party, where you'll need to decide your game plan for the next five turns and perform well in mini-games in order to actually achieve it. Options are limited, but that creates a rather consistent game state within the first five turns compared to other titles, letting you properly set up. After this point, it becomes a weapon of debilitating psychological warfare, as you try to convince everyone else of who's going for Happening Star, who's leading in mini-games, what the best decision to steal at a Boo would be. Board design is probably the best equipped for its item layout of the series, with the very limited options all being well considered and making item play not an instant swing, but a stepping stone to get there. Plus Bower Land, Horror Land, and Western Land probably have the best, most competitive Boo placement in the entire series.

Mario Party is as fun as you want it to be. If it's just a time waster to you, then yeah, it's fairly mid. But if you are willing to make deals, throw games, stab people in the back knowing that they will never trust you again but you NEED this win right now, desperately try to dig yourself out of a 1v3 where everyone wants you to lose a mini-game and you skill your way to the top because you're just that good at Hot Bob-omb? There's few experiences like it. Mario Party 2 hits the perfect sweet spot for me between being charming and accessible in how quickly understandable its mini-games are and how oppressive you can be with board knowledge and proper play (plus it has 1v3's that aren't total gimmes sometimes, and that's hard for this series!). And it's got the funny costumes that everyone will assume is the entire reason you like the game, because they're blinded by the allure of the Reverse and Sluggish Shrooms! But you know the truth. The funny costumes are the way. Bowser giving you money from his secret bank account if you're poor is the way. Getting in horrible debt to the Baby Bowser Bankers to the point where they'll steal a star from you if you try to repay your loan with zero coins is the way.

Congratulations, DK. You are the true super star!!!

The song that plays on Space Land, is a Space Jam.























I hope you cringed when you read that