Mario Party has gone through many changes from the Nintendo 64 to the Nintendo Switch. These changes have both helped and hurt the series as a whole, gearing it towards a more, family-orientated game. The updates throughout the series, however, have led to better games in the previous years but may have lead to the changes that exist now.
Are the updates good or bad for you? Perhaps these 10 updates ranked as good or bad for the series will shed light on the issue. Maybe you agree or disagree, or there might be others on the list that have caused bigger changes to those that are used to the Mario Party games of old.
10 More Cooperation: Mario Party 9, 10, and Super Mario Party (Bad)
Mario Party was always a competitive game, challenging each other in minigames and boards to collect the most Stars and Coins to be the Superstar. However, Mario Party 9 changed things up with everyone moving in one vehicle, taking away the independence of the game’s previous titles. This continued in Mario Party 10 and was furthered in Super Mario Party, where the game even opens with you high-fiving your opponents. Mario Party has slowly been turning into more of a game that you play with family, rather than a game you play with friends, reducing the competitive spirit of the game.
9 More Characters: Mario Party 3 and Onward (Good)
Initially, with the original Mario Party, the classic characters were present such as Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario and DK. Mario Party 3 added Daisy and Waluigi, and the list continuously got bigger and bigger in more games.
It was nice to not always play as the good guys in Mario Party. Sure, Wario and Waluigi aren’t exactly angels, but to play as Bowser Jr. in Mario Party: Island Tour or a Hammer Bro in Mario Party 8 was a breath of fresh air. You could be as creative with your character pick as you wanted, not having to argue between who gets to play Mario or Luigi all the time.
8 Start to Finish Stages: Mario Party 9, 10, Island Tour (Bad)
Mario Party was always a game about constantly moving around the board to collect Stars. However, there were turn limits to ramp up the pacing and to add some sort of time limit to the game. However, in Mario Party 9, the system was changed to where it was a quest to reach the end of the stage to fight a boss. However, the good thing about Mario Party was that you could set the turns to 50 and spend the evening with friends or family playing through minigames and causing orb or candy mayhem on the board to win it out. But the start to finish system quickened the game, having most boards in these games take, at most, one hour, compared to the two or three hours you’d spend in the 50-turn party.
7 Mini-Stars: Mario Party 9 and 10 (Bad)
Stars and Coins were a great system for Mario Party to base itself on. Basically, you’d collect coins from board spaces and minigames, and trade 20 of them for a Star when reaching a Star Space. Even if you had 100 coins, if you had no Star and someone else did, you’d lose, unless you received Bonus Stars at the end of the game. However, the Mini-Star system tossed that out the window. Now there was one kind of currency that would determine the winner of the game.
However, with the increased attempts to make everyone move together, it took the luck aspect of the game and stretched it a bit further. If you were one space away from a Red Space in Mario Party 8, you could roll a 2-10 to not lose coins. However, if there are Mini-Ztars one space in front of your path in Mario Party 9 or 10, you cannot avoid them unless you roll a 0, making other people’s actions more impactful to one’s own gameplay.
6 More Boss Fights: Mario Party DS, Mario Party 9 and Onward (Good)
While most of the new updates in Mario Party games are detrimental to fans of past games, boss fights began springing up starting with Mario Party DS and continued into Mario Party 9 and 10. Boss fight minigames were pretty creative and involved a mixture of skill and luck. From hitting blocks to shoot Bullet Bills at Lakitu, to playing a matching game to hurt King Boo, this is where the newer Mario Parties shined. And whoever lands the final blow on the boss gets a point bonus, making every hit or action count in the long run.
5 Allies: Mario Party: Star Rush and Super Mario Party (Bad)
Mario Party: Star Rush and Super Mario Party brought the ally system to the game. Players could recruit characters that are not being played in the current game from around the board, or on ally spaces. These allies would assist you in minigames and add to your dice rolls while you move around. While Super Mario Party used the allies in a…decent way, Mario Party: Star Rush botched it up with the design. In the game, you cannot choose the character you want to play in the main party mode.
You play as Toads, and you rely on finding allies to assist you. But you can only switch to allies you find. So, the arguments of who gets to play Mario or Luigi is over, because everyone gets to be a Toad.
4 Smaller Stages: Super Mario Party (Bad)
Super Mario Party’s stage designs are pretty good-looking. However, the stages are some of the smallest boards in the series, rivaled by a couple of stages in Mario Party: Island Tour. The vast, lively stages found in Mario Party 6 or 7 added fun and energy to the party game, whereas the smaller stages feel so bland and repetitive. It could be because of the smaller dice rolls because of the more independent movement but exploring every nook and cranny of all boards made the gameplay more expansive. But instead, they have limited that amount of exploration with the latest installment.
3 8-Player Party: Mario Party 7 (Good)
8-Player Mode was one of the best additions to the Mario Party, though, it only appeared in Mario Party 7. The normal player modes were four-player and two versus two. But this new mode pitted four teams of two against each other on the boards in the game. It also added 8-Player Minigames, which would give out 20 coins for winning instead of 10.
With friends, you’d share one controller with each group to play with each other. In duels, you could choose who participated in the duel, which made increased the strategic potential of the game itself.
2 Luck-Based Stages: Mario Party Island Tour (Bad)
While 8-Player was one of the best additions, Rocket Road was one of the worst boards in the Mario Party series. A stage where it doesn’t matter how good you are at the game if you are unlucky. It’s a race to the finish as you try each player is in a ship, rolling the dice to move forward. Every time minigames are played, you get boosters that can multiply your roll by two, three, four or five, depending on the number of boosters used. However, zero is on the dice block, and that number never changes. The game gives the skill level of this stage a rating of 2/5, but the real rating is a 0/5. Players have managed to use four boosters, multiplying the possible values of the dice by five, and then rolled a zero. It kills the mood when you perform well in minigames, only to be punished by the game for terrible luck.
1 Day and Night: Mario Party 6 (Good)
Mario Party 6 was one of the best Mario Party games of all time. Stages had a concept of Day and Nighttime, where certain events would trigger, or be able to be triggered depending on the time of day. For example, the Pink Boo could only be talked to at night, allowing you to steal coins and stars from a player. Even paths could close or open depending on the time. On the Clockwork Castle stage, DK would appear in the day and offer Stars for coins to those he reached, or reached him, while Bowser would appear at night to take Stars or Coins from the same players that contacted him. It was a high point of creativity for the Mario Party series.