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[PeakPointMatrix]

Thinking about picking this up to play with friends on a long-ass plane ride, especially since it has a guest mode where 4 other people can play with just one copy.

Anybody get their hands on it and like it? It seemed to come and go with little to no fanfare or even an OT to speak of. For the record, I played Mario Party 10 and loathed it, due to the non-competitive car feature and the drought of mini games during normal board sessions.

 

[| Praxis |]

 

[@MUWANdo]

I think the core concepts are fun but it's definitely not as accessible as either traditional MP or cart-based MP and I think it suffers from the number of modes, just like MP10 did--a few modes with more content would have been preferable to a bunch of modes where the good ones feel a little lacking and you won't ever touch some of the others.

 

[ForkNetwork]

I've heard the number of mini-games kills it, a shame really.

 

[blame space]

it's probably fine. the anti Nintendo bias permeates every non AAA Nintendo release though, so you'll never know.

 

[Greatest Ever]

the anti Nintendo bias

Get off it

 

[blame space]

listen if you think Nintendo ISN'T rallied against in the gaming press + by the people who don't play their games then i have a bridge to sell you where there are no bodies of water in the vicinity.

 

[Poimandres]

listen if you think Nintendo ISN'T rallied against in the gaming press + by the people who don't play their games then i have a bridge to sell you where there are no bodies of water in the vicinity.

There's definitely an organised anti-Nintendo conspiracy going on. That's why Hillary wasn't elected, because she's pro-Nintendo.

 

[Greatest Ever]

listen if you think Nintendo ISN'T rallied against in the gaming press + by the people who don't play their games then i have a bridge to sell you where there aren't any bodies of water.

I feel bad you have a persecution complex about them. Nintendo fans tho. Never underestimate their persecution complex.

 

[blame space]

literally no one here knows the answer to this question. or there's one guy, and he's about to drop a truth-bomb.

 

[blame space]

Is the bias FOR Nintendo B games more extreme than the bias by people who don't play the games? now there's a question.

 

[Mega Man's Electric Sheep]

There are waaaay too few minigames, and the main Toad mode has you playing the same 10 or 12 boss battles over and over again. Aside from the boss battles, there are about 40 minigames, the lowest number since Mario Party 4. And some of them are locked to the coin chase mode, so the variety is lacking and the mind numbing repetition is high. Incidentally, that aforementioned coin themed mode has you playing the same 3 minigames out of a set of 10 choices over.and.over.and.over.again. The rhythm mode sucks, the tower mode sucks, the stupid "roll the dice to move your 3 guys with no minigames" mode sucks. The non-boss minigames are good, I'll give it that, and only that.

Oh and the bullshit is higher than ever in this one. I always won every boss minigame, only to barely win overall due to the bonuses given to the computer for "least spaces travelled" or "lucky partner of the day" or "name that best rhymes with Aquafina" or whatever garbage they make up to help the computer cheat.

 

[ckaneo]

There is an anti Nintendo bias, but that bias isn't exclusive to Nintendo. Sony and Microsoft experience the same thing when they release a bad game or have negative press. Fanboys from the other side just feel more comfortable to come out.

Which leads to my point. The game is terrible as has a lot of Nintendo releases has been. I don't think the company has ever been thus bad, but it might just be because of the lack of 3rd party releases

 

[ScientificPizza]

I just never understood the appeal of a portable Mario Party

It doesn't really translate well, unless you want to play those games single player. And if you do; WHY??

 

[Glowsquid]

The impression I got from friends and acquaintances is that Mario Party fans who didn't care for the direction of the ND Cube installments generally tend to like this one better, but the low number ofm inigames really hurt it.

 

[THEAnderson21]

I'm enjoying it. I've only played solo, but the modes are pretty fun.

 

[blame space]

remember how good the mini games on sm64ds were?

 

[Menitta]

The impression I got from friends and acquaintances is that Mario Party fans who didn't care for the direction of the ND Cube installments generally tend to like this one better, but the low number ofm inigames really hurt it.

Really? I haven't liked a Mario Party since 8, so I might just give this a shot. But I am curious about the actual number of minigames, now.

 

[Greatest Ever]

There is an anti Nintendo bias, but that bias isn't exclusive to Nintendo.

No, there's not, and there's not any rational body of thought ruminating that suggests any actual bias that's not either a set of fanboys or a bad conspiracy theory.

 

[blame space]

there are 6 minigames

 

[SocksAndShoes]

there are 6 minigames

Are you for real? That's ridiculous.

 

[blame space]

no I'm not serious but thank you for proving my point

 

[Glowsquid]

But I am curious about the actual number of minigames, now.

paging mariowiki

Mario Party: Star Rush has a total of 53 minigames, a considerably lower amount than its predecessors (in comparison, Mario Party: Island Tour has 81 minigames and Mario Party 10 has 75 minigames).

 

[Stopdoor]

I've played quite a bit of it. I didn't hate Island Tour though, it was pretty luck-based but still had great minigames and some funny upsets with good presentation, so can't really call these games garbage and I'm a bit of an apologist I guess.

Star Rush does have less minigames, but that's less noticeable than the repetition of boss minigames, which there's only 12 of but you play 3-5 a game. Those games are interesting though because the main mode, Toad Scramble, is all about building your squad of characters and it's cool they made games that support up to 11 characters and are also able to be dropped-in mid-game by people racing to the boss location. You can probably tell from trailers and that description that it's a much different formula, so it's hard to describe if you'll like it, but it definitely offers alot more choice and strategy than previous games even if there's decent luck elements. The minigames are lesser, but the board part is more interesting this time and compensates for that.

So yeah, that's probably why the sentiment is more positive - more strategy in items, picking recruited characters in your squad for specific diceblocks, moving on a grid, using items, balancing coins and stars, etc. You can check out this funny GameFAQs thread - most of the analysis is a bit moot because the game still has large luck components, but there's actually a semblance of strategy here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/191663-mario-party-star-rush/74555447

The other modes are pretty hit and miss, yeah, most only qualify as novelties really. Coinathlon only has 3 minigames per game but it's designed that way, to escalate and be over quickly. Balloon Bash is interesting but mostly as fun as amiibo Party. The rest of the modes are pretty much minigame-tier, alright but nothing worth writing about.

So yeah. Decent game. Interesting gameplay you haven't seen before. Some repetition. Some luck. Some dumb modes. If you want a good time with friends it's not a bad choice, I think the sentiment is it's "better", or at least more interesting than Island Tour and MP10. Having to download the guest edition beforehand is a bit of a pain imo though.

 

[janoDX]

Can we get a proper Mario Party back? a Mario Party 1, 2 and 3 remake at least?

 

[GhostTrick]

Is the bias FOR Nintendo B games more extreme than the bias by people who don't play the games? now there's a question.

Maybe there's no bias ? Maybe a lot of these B-tier games released these days are lazy or flawed in their concept ? Like you know not having online play since 6 entries when they were released on hardware capable of online play ?

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

Um this thread took quite a turn, lol.

Soooo concerning the actual topic. It looks like the main gripes are low minigame count. This might actually work in our favor since it means less games to learn on repeat plays. And modes that range from extraneous to poorly fleshed out. I think I may still bite since the download-play option is so tempting for friends without copies, since there aren't many games that can do that.

Thanks for the impressions, those of you that gave it. As for the anti-Nintendo talk, wtf?

 

[Machina]

Make Mario Party great again

 

[RBH]

$28 on Amazon right now:


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H3NU4OS/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[DR2K]

Make Mario Party great again

It was never great.

 

[Jonneh3003]

I reviewed it a little while ago, it was fun but a little shallow after a while. Some modes are fantastic whereas others are mediocre, no mode really has enough content to keep them interesting. Multiplayer is brilliant with other players being able to download a special version on the eShop, its basically download play on steriods.

 

[Cess007]

It was never great.

Now, now. Mario Party 1-3 were pretty great.

 

[Glass Rebel]

there are 6 minigames

Are you for real? That's ridiculous.

no I'm not serious but thank you for proving my point

amazing

 

[Ocelott]

It was never great.

What are you talking about?

 

[MANUELF]

Now, now. Mario Party 1-3 were pretty great.

Mario Party 1 was never great, their rotating minigames are a nightmare and they physically hurt you also the boards were BAD

Mario Party 3, 4 and DS are my favorites

 

[Revven]

Mario Party 1 was never great, their rotating minigames are a nightmare and they physically hurt you also the boards were BAD

Just because the rotation mini-games exist for it doesn't make it not great. It's definitely worse than 2 & 3, sure, but there's aspects of it that don't exist in any of the later Mario Parties that make it stand out. The hilarity that can happen in it is great. For example, unlocking different dice blocks that you can turn on and when turned on, they can randomly replace the usual dice block. So, you can get a random Warp Block and switch places with someone. Or, you can get a Minus Block. A 1-3 dice block or a 8-10 dice block, etc etc.

Then there's the fact it's actually really brutal in how you can get coins from mini-games. If you lose in some mini-games, for example, you lose coins. 1v3s are often like that with the loser(s) giving their coins to the winner(s).

And no, the boards are definitely not bad. There's maybe one or two that aren't super great but Yoshi's Island, DK's Jungle, Mario's Rainbow Cruise, Peach's Birthday Cake, and Magma Mountain all range from decent to very good (esp. Yoshi's Island). They all have their own gimmicks but they're still designed much in the same way as 2 & 3's boards just with added bits of challenge (and not really RNG).

MP1 is the most punishing of the original trilogy but it is most definitely pretty great, I'd say what it does good far outweighs the rotation mini-games (which if you play with friends who also agree they're terrible, you can all just agree to not actually try on those mini-games or just let the other player if it's a 1v3 win).

 

[Shadynasty]

I found the Mario Party games in the past to be a lot of fun. Have they changed the formula much?

 

[TheBaldEmperor]

Still not cheap enough. I'll wait and see what they have in store for a Switch version of Mario Party.

 

[Jonneh3003]

I found the Mario Party games in the past to be a lot of fun. Have they changed the formula much?

Everyone now takes their go at the same time, speeds up the game a lot and makes it actually fun to play on your own. The core formula can be very different depending on which mode you're playing.

 

[Stopdoor]

I reviewed it a little while ago, it was fun but a little shallow after a while. Some modes are fantastic whereas others are mediocre, no mode really has enough content to keep them interesting. Multiplayer is brilliant with other players being able to download a special version on the eShop, its basically download play on steriods.

I just had this argument with some other guy on another forum, what's with people and this guest edition thing? It actually actively presents a hurdle to full multiplayer in that I have to harass people to download a demo now, or have a limited experience, whereas previous Mario Party games allowed you to do Download Play with all the content.

The only positive I've heard is that it lets you transfer progress over to the full game - but Zelda: Tri Force Heroes already does this with plain Download Play, proving it's unnecessary.

I swear I'm in the Twilight Zone with this stuff, people love defending a novelty that sounds cool on paper but actually provides no benefit.

Just because the rotation mini-games exist for it doesn't make it not great. It's definitely worse than 2 & 3, sure, but there's aspects of it that don't exist in any of the later Mario Parties that make it stand out. The hilarity that can happen in it is great. For example, unlocking different dice blocks that you can turn on and when turned on, they can randomly replace the usual dice block. So, you can get a random Warp Block and switch places with someone. Or, you can get a Minus Block. A 1-3 dice block or a 8-10 dice block, etc etc.

Then there's the fact it's actually really brutal in how you can get coins from mini-games. If you lose in some mini-games, for example, you lose coins. 1v3s are often like that with the loser(s) giving their coins to the winner(s).

And no, the boards are definitely not bad. There's maybe one or two that aren't super great but Yoshi's Island, DK's Jungle, Mario's Rainbow Cruise, Peach's Birthday Cake, and Magma Mountain all range from decent to very good (esp. Yoshi's Island). They all have their own gimmicks but they're still designed much in the same way as 2 & 3's boards just with added bits of challenge (and not really RNG).

MP1 is the most punishing of the original trilogy but it is most definitely pretty great, I'd say what it does good far outweighs the rotation mini-games (which if you play with friends who also agree they're terrible, you can all just agree to not actually try on those mini-games or just let the other player if it's a 1v3 win).

Great comments, I agree with a lot of it. Mario Party 1 definitely has its own interesting flavour. The control stick spinning minigames are way too focused on and people ignore that the bigger deal is that N64 analog sticks literally can't deal with heavy use rather than their "poor palms".

I found the Mario Party games in the past to be a lot of fun. Have they changed the formula much?

Yeah, it's pretty different. Mario Party 9 and on controversially shook up the formula quite a lot. This one is especially different with grid-based boards, moving at the same time, etc.

They're still well put together with fun minigames but whether you'll like them or not depends on much you can put up with more emphasis on dumb luck, though this entry is a bit better in that regard.

 

[-MD-]

It was never great.

The original was.

 

[Blues1990]

Gotta love that the first thing that comes to mind with the Mario Party series, is this poor sap losing his marbles playing the games back-to-back.

"Bigger."

 

[Jonneh3003]

I just had this argument with some other guy on another forum, what's with people and this guest edition thing? It actually actively presents a hurdle to full multiplayer in that I have to harass people to download a demo now, or have a limited experience, whereas previous Mario Party games allowed you to do Download Play with all the content.

The only positive I've heard is that it lets you transfer progress over to the full game - but Zelda: Tri Force Heroes already does this with plain Download Play, proving it's unnecessary.

I swear I'm in the Twilight Zone with this stuff, people love defending a novelty that sounds cool on paper but actually provides no benefit.
.

Download play can be very slow when you're rapidly loading a game like you are with Mario Party, it keeps it at a much better pace when you can just download the whole game from the get go. I agree it doesn't allow for the impulse of "hey wanna play Mario Party?" but it does provide a better multiplayer experience.

 

[Stopdoor]

Download play can be very slow when you're rapidly loading a game like you are with Mario Party, it keeps it at a much better pace when you can just download the whole game from the get go. I agree it doesn't allow for the impulse of "hey wanna play Mario Party?" but it does provide a better multiplayer experience.

Previous Mario Party games had a high upfront download cost and then the between minigame loading was equivalent to this entry.

Yeah, it's convenient it skips that loading, but then that doesn't explain why Download Play is therefore gimped.

And the cost of harassing people to download the guest edition, or "oh, now we can't play all these modes, maps, and characters" is a bit higher than "oh, we have to wait a literal minute for this to download up front".

Really don't understand why people are so defensive and quick to appraise on this and mention none of the negatives.

 

[Jonneh3003]

Previous Mario Party games had a high upfront download cost and then the between minigame loading was equivalent to this entry.

Yeah, it's convenient it skips that loading, but then that doesn't explain why Download Play is therefore gimped.

And the cost of harassing people to download the guest edition, or "oh, now we can't play all these modes, maps, and characters" is a bit higher than "oh, we have to wait a literal minute for this to download up front".

Really don't understand why people are so defensive and quick to appraise on this and mention none of the negatives.

How am I being defensive? I said I liked it. I also listed the negatives.

 

[Stopdoor]

How am I being defensive? I said I liked it.

I'm a bit sensitive about it because literally every review I read says the same thing and mentions none of those negative points, as if they haven't thought through any of the points I've mentioned. It's already been a hassle for me to organize meetups so it feels like appreciation of novelty over practicality to say you "like it".

 

[HvySky]

 

[Hoo-doo]

I had more fun with Sonic Shuffle than any Mario Party.

And Fortune Street >>>>>> Mario Party all day erry day.

 

[Polioliolio]

I had more fun with Sonic Shuffle than any Mario Party.

And Fortune Street >>>>>> Mario Party all day erry day.

I played Sonic Shuffle for the first time recently. That game is garbage.

Mario Party 1,2,3 were great (but still border on unplayable for a group of adults who sacrificed their time to sit down together and play) 4 was okay but kind of sucked, 5 was a little better than that, 6 and 7 kind of sucked, 8 sucks, was hyped for 9, but that was awful, don't know about 10, but word is, it sucked. Bought Island Tour, that sucked.

These games suck.
Was tempted to get Star Rush until I read the real reviews in here. (And I really appreciate it). Sounds like another Mario party, bordering on fun, but squanders it.

What this series needs is a new developer. It also needs more dexterity based games or games using the actual Mario platforming engine, less downtime (the simultaneous movement is a must, let's be honest). You know how fun something like Gangbeasts is, despite it being an unfinished mess? Mario Party could really benefit from having a load of physics based minigames. So many amazing party games on steam that should be inspiring to Mario Party.

Mario should flat out steal mini game ideas from better games. No reason Bomberman, Pacman, etc, can't be a Mario Party minigame, for example. Meanwhile, there's zero reason not to bring back the very best minigames in the series every time.