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!!!

A really fun, yet challenging, sequel to the Pokemon Stadium games on the N64. Like the Stadium games, this functions as a 3D battle simulator for Pokemon Ruby and Saphire, if you have the link cable for it of course, however unlike its prequels this is much more than that. It also has a unique story mode that is remembered quite fondly by the fans.

The story revolves around Wes, a former Team Snagam member who stole their Snag Machine after quitting, and Rui, a woman with the ability to see Pokemon whose hearts have been sealed away and have become what's known as "Shadow Pokemon". Together, they work to steal these Shadow Pokemon away from their captors, a different evil team known as Cipher, and try to stop this team from taking over the region of Orre.

This plot is much more simple than I let on, but the premise alone is unique, especially for a Pokemon game. What stands out more in this game however would be the battles, and not the story. Each battle is done in Doubles format, meaning you are always fighting with 2 Pokemon and are fighting against 2 Pokemon. This makes each encounter more complex since you need to account for unique strategies that can only be used in this format. On top of that, your selection of Pokemon is limited to the Shadow Pokemon that trainers have, most of them being "missable" during large sections of the main story. This makes for a very challenging, yet fun, game.

This game does have its faults though, as the Shadow Pokemon you save can be a hassle to purify. Most of them will only know the one move, Shadow Rush, until it gets purified and the move will always inflict recoil. As well, Shadow Pokemon cannot level up or gain experience until it is purified. Not that you really can grind experience, since there are also no wild Pokemon battles, only set trainer battles and they cannot be refought.

This game is hard, but if that is what you are looking for then I cannot recommend it enough. It was a fun playthrough, and I had a blast experiencing it. If you can get your hands on a copy of the game I would recommend trying it out.

Was ADDICTED to this for the longest time and then Mario Wonder came out and then I bought Tetris: The Grand Master on Switch which has taken over this one as my new quick 10 minute game and now I'm slowly getting back to other games in my never-ending library and now I'm not sure if I'll ever get back to this one. Too many games, too little time. For my time with it though it was an absolute blast. Get in, race for your life, get out. Perfect 4ish minutes every time. Could easily sit down and play ten races in a row, no problem. So fast and smooth with both gameplay and, equally as important, connectivity. Can definitely see this turning into another Tetris 99 for me where I come back to it every few months and play the HELL out of it for a good while but even if I don't get back to this anytime soon I'll surely cherish my 10ish hours with it. Wonderful game just like the original and all the others. Now back to being a dumb IDIOT with being hopeful that Nintendo will eventually make another entry in this series.

I was honestly super scared to replay this one after watching a YouTube video dunking on it last year.

But then I actually played the game again and thought it was pretty good! The cheesy edginess, the over-exaggerated character designs, and the overall challenge provided by limiting you to 48 Pokémon created a one-of-a-kind experience that pushed me to the limit. This game isn't for everyone, and I think that's what makes it so great.

Overall, common Tama Hero L, never watching a Pokétuber again.