Part I: A little history of me and Mario Party
If you asked me what video game in the whole wide world is my favorite, quick as a wink I would say Mario Party. All the mini-games were really fun and inspired, espically the 1 vs. 3 mini-games. I've been playing this game ever since I was three, and that's were my nostalgic journey starts.
I can't really remember much from when I was three, but I'll try. When I was three and at my cousin's house I played Mario Party 2 on the Nintendo 64 with them. It was one of the first video games I ever played. Because I was a three-year-old, I didn't understand half of the mini-games and my cousins beat me at most of them too, but that didn't stop me from liking this game.
Let's skip forward ahead to when I was eight. I had just bought my first Gamecube, oh the joy! But I couldn't leave the store with just a Gamecube, I had to buy a couple games first. I looked around and saw Mario Party 5 and thought that it was going to be really fun just because it had the word "party" in it. When I got home, I played that game for hours and hours. I just couldn't put that game down!
Mario Party 7 was announced and I just couldn't wait! I kept talking about it to everyone! Really, who couldn't talk about a game that now had 8-player support?! Anyway, I didn't notice it then but I think I was getting annoying. My friend tricked me and said that he had an early copy of the game and there is a whole bunch of them at a Gamestop in a different town. He also kept making up other stuff like what the mini-games were like and other non-sense. Unfortunately, my parents wouldn't take me there so I had to wait.
I had Mario Party 4, 5, 6 and 7 but no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find Mario Party 1, 2 or 3! I searched it up on the internet and to my surprise, they were Nintendo 64 games! After seeing that they were Nintendo 64 games, I begged my mom to buy a Nintendo 64 on eBay.
Once the Nintendo 64 arrived on Christmas, I couldn't have been happier! No, I'm not the Nintendo 64 kid, but my reaction was pretty close to his. Anyway, my cousins also sent me a bunch of their old N64 games that they didn't play anymore, and one of them was Mario Party 2! I quickly put Mario Party 2 in the N64 and, like Mario Party 4, 5 and 6, I played it for hours. I also kept having this weird feeling that I played this game before, but eventually I figured out that I played this game with my cousins when I was three.
I was extremely lucky to find Mario Party 3 at a store (I forget where), but I could never find the original Mario Party! I also had to make a very tough descision. I wanted to get a Playstation 3, but my mom said I can only have three consoles in the house at one time. I had to choose between getting rid of my N64, my Playstation 2 or my Wii. I was not getting rid of classics like Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar hero that you can only find on the Playstation 2 and Mario Party 8 was announced at the time for the Wii, so I got rid of the N64. Man, what a really stupid descision I made.
I was really getting used to looking forward to getting a new Mario Party every year, but it appears as though that Nintendo has stopped making Mario party games after Mario Party DS. Well, I guess I really couldn't blame them. Once you have a game that has gone all the way to 8, 10 if you count Mario Party advance and Mario Party DS, it's time to stop. Nintendo, if you're listening, please grant me one last thing. Please put Mario Party 1 on the virtual console!
Part II: A wish gone wrong
Back when the Spongebob Squarepants episodes were actually good, I was a huge fan of Spongebob. Then I heard about a video game called "Lights, Camera, Pants!". It was basically Mario Party except for two things: 1. There were Spongebob characters instead. 2. Instead of there being a game-board you jump around on, you play mini-games so you can get a part in the new Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy movie!
Anyway, I loved this game as much as any other Mario Party. All of the mini-games were fun and once you beat all the mini-games, you got to watch the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy movie, which I loved about as much as another Spongebob episode.
When the Nintendo Wii was released, all of the Nintendo fanboys were wishing that the Nintendo Wii would win first place in the console war. I also had made a wish myself. The wish was that there would be a bunch of party games on the Nintendo Wii, like Lights, Camera, Pants! Today, the Nintendo Wii has sold more units than any other console because Nintendo betrayed there hardcore gamer fanbase, and now there are a bunch of crappy party games on the Wii, too. Yay! We both got our wishes, well, sort of.
Part III: What do I think of each Mario Party?
Mario Party 1: Like I said before, I never got to play it.
Mario Party 2: This was the best game ever. Whenever I hear the words, "Mario Party 2" I instantly think of "Hours and hours of fun!". "Hours and hours of fun!" is an understatement. Let me tell you, there is no better feeling than having three friends over playing Mario Party 2 with you on a rainy day.
Mario Party 3: To me, this was pretty much the same game with new mini-games and that's what I loved about it.
Mario Party 4: This kind of felt like a disappointment. I guess the charm of the N64 versions didn't translate well over to the Gamecube. Don't get me wrong, I loved this game, but when you compare it to the N64 versions or what it could've been it is disappointing.
Mario Party-e: I never found Mario Party-e. I used to have an E-reader, but I never really used it.
Mario Party 5: This game got it right! It's like Nintendo recognized that the charm of the N64 didn't translate well over to the Gamecube and then they gave this one its own charm. It's not as good as the ones on the N64, but it's still pretty good.
Mario Party 6: Even better than Mario Party 5! Still not like a Mario Party on the N64, but getting closer.
Mario Party Advance: I can't really say Mario Party Advance was really a Mario Party. If you want a little world to explore while you're on a four-hour trip to grandma's, this game is fine, but if you have a craving for mini-games, look further.
Mario Party 7: I feel the disappointment of Mario Party 4. Not only because the mini-games don't feel the same, but the 8-player mode was disappointing. When I heard about the 8-player mode while the game was in development, I thought Nintendo was going to make the 8-player mode as complete as the 4-player mode. I thought 8-player mode was going to have more mini-games and not only 8-player games, but 4 vs. 4 games and 2 vs. 6 games.
Mario Party 8: Yeah, I kind of felt like they were killing the series here.
Mario Party DS: Nintendo was going in the right direction here now. It wasn't exactly like Mario Party 2 or 3 or even 5 or 6, but they are headed in the correct direction.
Part IV: Do I really want Mario Party 9?
There are two reasons people would ask this:
1. Aren't you getting bored of the same game?
No, I am not. If I play the same Mario Party over and over for like 6 hours I'll be like, "I've already played this mini-game...100 times!" so I'll pop in a new Mario Party, and I'll keep doing that until I've played all of them. Then I will wish that a new Mario Party would come out so I can play more mini-games. I will always want more mini-games. Please, just give me more!
2. Don't you feel like the franchise is going dry?
Mario Party 8 was a disappointment, but Mario Party DS wasn't. Will it be more like Mario Party 8 or DS? Will it have Nintendo Wi-fi connection? Will it have an 8-player mode again?
Bottom line: I'd rather have Mario Party 1 come to the virtual console, but if Nintendo won't do that then I'll buy Mario Party 9 the day it comes out.
If you asked me what video game in the whole wide world is my favorite, quick as a wink I would say Mario Party. All the mini-games were really fun and inspired, espically the 1 vs. 3 mini-games. I've been playing this game ever since I was three, and that's were my nostalgic journey starts.
I can't really remember much from when I was three, but I'll try. When I was three and at my cousin's house I played Mario Party 2 on the Nintendo 64 with them. It was one of the first video games I ever played. Because I was a three-year-old, I didn't understand half of the mini-games and my cousins beat me at most of them too, but that didn't stop me from liking this game.
Let's skip forward ahead to when I was eight. I had just bought my first Gamecube, oh the joy! But I couldn't leave the store with just a Gamecube, I had to buy a couple games first. I looked around and saw Mario Party 5 and thought that it was going to be really fun just because it had the word "party" in it. When I got home, I played that game for hours and hours. I just couldn't put that game down!
Mario Party 7 was announced and I just couldn't wait! I kept talking about it to everyone! Really, who couldn't talk about a game that now had 8-player support?! Anyway, I didn't notice it then but I think I was getting annoying. My friend tricked me and said that he had an early copy of the game and there is a whole bunch of them at a Gamestop in a different town. He also kept making up other stuff like what the mini-games were like and other non-sense. Unfortunately, my parents wouldn't take me there so I had to wait.
I had Mario Party 4, 5, 6 and 7 but no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find Mario Party 1, 2 or 3! I searched it up on the internet and to my surprise, they were Nintendo 64 games! After seeing that they were Nintendo 64 games, I begged my mom to buy a Nintendo 64 on eBay.
Once the Nintendo 64 arrived on Christmas, I couldn't have been happier! No, I'm not the Nintendo 64 kid, but my reaction was pretty close to his. Anyway, my cousins also sent me a bunch of their old N64 games that they didn't play anymore, and one of them was Mario Party 2! I quickly put Mario Party 2 in the N64 and, like Mario Party 4, 5 and 6, I played it for hours. I also kept having this weird feeling that I played this game before, but eventually I figured out that I played this game with my cousins when I was three.
I was extremely lucky to find Mario Party 3 at a store (I forget where), but I could never find the original Mario Party! I also had to make a very tough descision. I wanted to get a Playstation 3, but my mom said I can only have three consoles in the house at one time. I had to choose between getting rid of my N64, my Playstation 2 or my Wii. I was not getting rid of classics like Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar hero that you can only find on the Playstation 2 and Mario Party 8 was announced at the time for the Wii, so I got rid of the N64. Man, what a really stupid descision I made.
I was really getting used to looking forward to getting a new Mario Party every year, but it appears as though that Nintendo has stopped making Mario party games after Mario Party DS. Well, I guess I really couldn't blame them. Once you have a game that has gone all the way to 8, 10 if you count Mario Party advance and Mario Party DS, it's time to stop. Nintendo, if you're listening, please grant me one last thing. Please put Mario Party 1 on the virtual console!
Part II: A wish gone wrong
Back when the Spongebob Squarepants episodes were actually good, I was a huge fan of Spongebob. Then I heard about a video game called "Lights, Camera, Pants!". It was basically Mario Party except for two things: 1. There were Spongebob characters instead. 2. Instead of there being a game-board you jump around on, you play mini-games so you can get a part in the new Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy movie!
Anyway, I loved this game as much as any other Mario Party. All of the mini-games were fun and once you beat all the mini-games, you got to watch the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy movie, which I loved about as much as another Spongebob episode.
When the Nintendo Wii was released, all of the Nintendo fanboys were wishing that the Nintendo Wii would win first place in the console war. I also had made a wish myself. The wish was that there would be a bunch of party games on the Nintendo Wii, like Lights, Camera, Pants! Today, the Nintendo Wii has sold more units than any other console because Nintendo betrayed there hardcore gamer fanbase, and now there are a bunch of crappy party games on the Wii, too. Yay! We both got our wishes, well, sort of.
Part III: What do I think of each Mario Party?
Mario Party 1: Like I said before, I never got to play it.
Mario Party 2: This was the best game ever. Whenever I hear the words, "Mario Party 2" I instantly think of "Hours and hours of fun!". "Hours and hours of fun!" is an understatement. Let me tell you, there is no better feeling than having three friends over playing Mario Party 2 with you on a rainy day.
Mario Party 3: To me, this was pretty much the same game with new mini-games and that's what I loved about it.
Mario Party 4: This kind of felt like a disappointment. I guess the charm of the N64 versions didn't translate well over to the Gamecube. Don't get me wrong, I loved this game, but when you compare it to the N64 versions or what it could've been it is disappointing.
Mario Party-e: I never found Mario Party-e. I used to have an E-reader, but I never really used it.
Mario Party 5: This game got it right! It's like Nintendo recognized that the charm of the N64 didn't translate well over to the Gamecube and then they gave this one its own charm. It's not as good as the ones on the N64, but it's still pretty good.
Mario Party 6: Even better than Mario Party 5! Still not like a Mario Party on the N64, but getting closer.
Mario Party Advance: I can't really say Mario Party Advance was really a Mario Party. If you want a little world to explore while you're on a four-hour trip to grandma's, this game is fine, but if you have a craving for mini-games, look further.
Mario Party 7: I feel the disappointment of Mario Party 4. Not only because the mini-games don't feel the same, but the 8-player mode was disappointing. When I heard about the 8-player mode while the game was in development, I thought Nintendo was going to make the 8-player mode as complete as the 4-player mode. I thought 8-player mode was going to have more mini-games and not only 8-player games, but 4 vs. 4 games and 2 vs. 6 games.
Mario Party 8: Yeah, I kind of felt like they were killing the series here.
Mario Party DS: Nintendo was going in the right direction here now. It wasn't exactly like Mario Party 2 or 3 or even 5 or 6, but they are headed in the correct direction.
Part IV: Do I really want Mario Party 9?
There are two reasons people would ask this:
1. Aren't you getting bored of the same game?
No, I am not. If I play the same Mario Party over and over for like 6 hours I'll be like, "I've already played this mini-game...100 times!" so I'll pop in a new Mario Party, and I'll keep doing that until I've played all of them. Then I will wish that a new Mario Party would come out so I can play more mini-games. I will always want more mini-games. Please, just give me more!
2. Don't you feel like the franchise is going dry?
Mario Party 8 was a disappointment, but Mario Party DS wasn't. Will it be more like Mario Party 8 or DS? Will it have Nintendo Wi-fi connection? Will it have an 8-player mode again?
Bottom line: I'd rather have Mario Party 1 come to the virtual console, but if Nintendo won't do that then I'll buy Mario Party 9 the day it comes out.