Is it time for Mario Party 9?

[coolkid]

A game is horrible for motion control?
Look at Mario Galaxy! It has motion control! RUINED FOREVER >:(!!!....?

[jdaster64]

Personally, I think that game would have been just as fine with standard control as well, and NSMBWii as well. (Plus, it's cursed me with the muscle memory aspect; every time I jump a bit short in NSMBDS or such, I shake the DS expecting to get a bit more distance. Grrrr...)

[N64 Chick]

A similar thing happened to my boyfriend a couple of years back. He had played Super Mario Paper a lot and I let him borrow NSMB for a while. As soon as he jumped on the first Goomba he shook the DS so he would get more points. XD

[Trainman]

Mario Party 8 had great visuals. I don't know why everyone is like, "hurr early gaemcoob grafix AT BEST". It was a beautiful game (the mini-games, especially). I liked the depth of field going on... you know, how it'd blur everything in the distance upon a close-up of a character on the board; however, it was a kind of ugly blur, if I remember correctly. The only horribly disappointing thing was those ugly 4:3 pillarboxes. When I rented it I desperately looked for an option to get rid of those stupid things, but of course, no such option exists. Sad...

As for best Mario Party games, I'd say 1, 2, 3, and 4. 1-3 had awesome mini-games and 4 was just like, "holy crap, gamecube mario party? they're steppin' it up with the graphics and mini-games here." I didn't even mind that the board was floating above the terrain. It gave it a good feel that way. (I also love the updated die roulette sound from the previous Mario party games and the fact that the camera angle was set lower so you could see most of the map instead of Mario Party 3's almost helicopter-filming-a-high-speed-chase aerial view).

1-4 were great, 5 introduced the fall of items in favor of those stupid 50 cent gumball machine plastic orb "items", 6 was decent (the microphone was more of a poorly-executed gimmick than current Wii shovelware), I don't remember playing 7, and I just couldn't stand the pillarboxes in 8. It really killed the immersion; it felt like I was playing the game while looking through a wooden fence.

With Nintendo being so lazy and recycling everything these days, I'm actually extremely surprised they haven't revisited the older mini-games/boards from times past. If they were ever to do that, I figure they'd compile the crappiest boards and mini-games from the newer games and probably re-badge the majority of Mario Party 8 calling it: "Mario Party 9: Mario Party 8 MotionPlus New Play Control!"

What they should do is update all the old games and have it be a "Mario Party All-Stars" kind of thing including Mario Party 1-4 all updated graphically, etc.

[jdaster64]

Personally, I liked the Orbs/Capsules/etc., and I think the only major problem with MP5 was the sheer amount of random minigames (including 2 battle minigames, for crying out loud). The minigame modes introduced in and unique to that game (specifically Tile Wars and Decathlon) were utter genius.  Conversely, MP4's minigames were top-notch (Trace Race FTW), but I didn't care much for the majority of the rest of the gameplay aspects.

[N64 Chick]

I do have to say that even though I generally don't like MP5, it does offer a few things that I actually really enjoy. Card Party, for instance, as well as the aforementioned Decathlon.

I also prefer MP6 & 7's Orbs over MP5's Capsules. God help you if every space on the board has a capsule on it during the last five turns...

[ShadowBrain]

Which one has the tank death battles, or whatever? Is it 5? Yeah, that one's great, then.

[Weegee]

It's saying something that the "Super Duel Mode" was more enjoyable than the main game itself.

[Toad]

MP5, Super Duel Mode. Lakitu's Cloud for the body is extremely underrated, btw.

[jdaster64]

I also prefer MP6 & 7's Orbs over MP5's Capsules. God help you if every space on the board has a capsule on it during the last five turns...

Oh yes, I remember those times.  Beats having 5 stars on the map, though... I think.  Still have no idea why they cheapened out on the Decathlon in MP8, even after MP7 had (what I consider) the best one yet.

And Lakitu's Cloud + E. Gadd (other parts) + Mr. I laser = WIN.

[Lizard Dude]

Just for the record, how many Mario Party-bashers here primarily play them single-player?

After reading all this talk about the various "modes", I'm starting to form a theory where all the MP hate comes from.

[Toad]

Well, I often play through whatever the single player mode is before diving into the multiplayer things, unless I happen to have a group of friends with me at the time. It was easier to have a bunch of people over and play back before we all got married, had kids, went to college.. you know, real life stuff.

It's not always easy bein' green getting a bunch of people together to play Mario Party. Usually, if we're all together playing games, it's some form of Mario Kart or SSB (or here lately, my wife playing some form of Final Fantasy while our friends help..)

[jdaster64]

When I get on a Mario Party kick (which is nearly always for #5 or 6), I start a new file, playing single player and multiplayer modes simultaneously.  Or my siblings and I just do a Decathlon (so close to 7000 I can taste it).  Perhaps I'm wrong, and I only like MP5 for the nostalgia factor, as it was the first multiplayer game (unless you count the Mario Bros. mode in SMA4) that I owned.

[Weegee]

I start a new file, playing single player and multiplayer modes simultaneously.

OCTOGAMER

[Tv_Themes]

It wasn't even time for Mario Part 4.