Oh heck yeah. I am not at all good at Mario Party 2, as is documented in the Tarvould's Quest Mario Party League. But I'm all right with that. So much of the heart of what makes Mario Party good really hits its stride in the second game. Great board design, great mini-games (many of which are salvaged from the first game, true, but they're uniformly improved here), fun item balance, ample opportunity for inter-player politics... I don't know that I'll ever have the patience or interest in becoming good at a Mario Party, but I am very happy to return to this one as a favorite among friends.

Most of my issues with the game come in retrospect: one item allows for less strategy than three items, more interesting items are waiting a little further down the series, more characters are generally more fun, etc. But what's here, especially for its placement in the series, is really damn strong.

Reviewed on May 02, 2023


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