Mario Party 7 Review

By Ellie Gibson Published 1 February, 2006

Please, someone, make it stop.

Version tested: GameCube

Will it ever end? Apparently not. The Mario Party games are still proving hugely popular with vast numbers of GameCube owners, judging by the amount of copies shifted - and the fact that we're now faced with a seventh instalment in the series.

But let's resist the temptation to slag off Nintendo for churning out more of the same old stuff. Instead, let's slag them off for churning out more of the same old stuff without bothering to fix any of the infuriating problems which the previous six games - SIX, mark you - suffer from.

Mario Party 7 is utterly the same as Mario Party 1, and 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, except it comes bundled with a microphone. Oh, hang on a minute, Mario Party 6 came with a microphone, too.

So, Mario Party 7 is utterly the same as etc., except, er, it's set on a cruise ship. Yes, just the kind of creative innovation we've come to expect from the people who gave us a handheld that lets you play brilliant games with a plastic stick and are planning to give us a console that lets you play games with a crazy remote control thing that looks like it was invented in space by some kind of doctor of The Future. Well done. [Er, well, er. She only means about half of this, readers. I hope. - Ed]

Right, back to the cruise ship. So, Mario and all his chums are going on this cruise, only they haven't invited Bowser, presumably because he is a miserable old tosser who will only end up trying to kidnap Jane MacDonald and imprison her in a big castle or something.

Bowser isn't very happy about this, though frankly we can only assume that's because he has failed to realise that making your way around endless bloody game boards when all you want to do is PLAY AN ACTUAL GAME is in no way any more fun if you're on board a stupid boat.

Board stupid

'Mario Party 7' Screenshot 1

Ain't no party like a Mario Party. Apart from THE OTHER SIX.

That's the major problem with Mario Party 7, as indeed with all the Mario Party games. There's no fast-paced pick-up-and-play fun here, oh no - instead, you have to make your way round stupid game boards, watching and waiting while everyone else rolls the dice, makes their move, picks up some extra coins, visits the stupid "orb shop" etc. etc., whilst begging, PRAYING for someone to land on a square that actually launches a mini-game.

That said, the mini-games themselves are fun, and there are plenty to choose from - more than 80 in total. Although some of these are rather similar to other games featured both in this Mario Party title and previous instalments, there's still enough enjoyable stuff to be going on with.

None of the mini-games are particularly complicated - don't expect to be tasked with using more than one button and the analog stick in any of them - but this is a party game, and such simplicity is a welcome bonus for the young or drunk.

About a dozen of the games require you to use the microphone, but just as with Mario Party 6, there's a frustrating amount of inconsistency when it comes to your commands being recognised. Plus, in many of the mic games there seems to be an irritating delay between you speaking and the game responding, rubbishly.

Turn off

'Mario Party 7' Screenshot 2

Yoshi pauses to consider the futility of his existence whilst traversing yet another game board.

Too many of the mini-games are turn-based, and they're all over far too quickly. Which means you spend longer trying to make your way around the game board than bashing buttons, and most of your time feeling like you might as well give up and get the Star Wars Monopoly out (Ep II for preference).

There is a way round this, though - you can forget the game boards entirely if you select the Mini-Game Cruise mode. Except there's only a tiny selection of games to choose from when the game begins; you'll need to make your way through all five Solo Mode boards to unlock the rest. If there's one thing more tedious than watching your friends make their way around a game board, it's watching fictional characters do it, which makes Solo Mode an utter chore to play through.

But let's get back to the game's "new features," such as Bowser Time. As you make your way around the game boards, Bowser gets crosser and crosser, and a gauge shaped likes his big fat face fills up. Once it's full, Bowser Time kicks off, which means he goes round nicking coins, stealing stars and generally messing everyone about.

This, and let's be clear here, is NOT ANY GOOD AT ALL. It is neither fun nor challenging; it's just another thing that makes you want to throw your GameCube in the bin and lie sobbing in a darkened room until the Revolution gets here. Not to mention the Bowser spaces on the board - land on these and you're forced to play a special mini-game. Hurrah, you might think, at least we're playing a game, but wait - if you lose, you'll also lose coins or stars. If you win, you get nothing. Rubbish.

Share and share alike

'Mario Party 7' Screenshot 3

This squid serves only to remind you that you'd rather be playing Mario Kart.

The other new feature (singular) is the option to play games with up to eight other opponents. To do this, you'll need to share controllers, with each player using a stick and shoulder button on either side of the joypad. This system works well enough, but seeing as there are only a dozen or so eight-player mini-games to choose from the fun doesn't last for too long.

So, to sum up, Mario Party 7 introduces two new features to the series - Bowser Time (tedious) and eight-player games (moderately entertaining. For a bit). Mario Party 7 also sees the return of the utterly tiresome game board system, for reasons we completely fail to understand.

If you own any of the other games in the series, you don't need this one. If you're not a Mario Party fan, there is no chance that this game is going to change your mind. It's such a shame that Nintendo - the creator of Mario Kart, which is arguably the most fun you can have with platonic friends - just can't seem to sort Mario Party's problems out, even for the seventh instalment in the series. Roll on number eight, eh...

3 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (88) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • smoison #1 6 years ago

    This shows off Nintendo NEWs idea, sequels FOREVER.

    I really don't see why they charge 60 bucks for a remake. I know they do it for every football, F1 and other sports games, but this is just a joke to me.

    Nintendo needs to make some ORIGINAL games, its getting repetitive to juste have remakes. This will not help my Cube.
    Edited by 1 at 01/02/06 @ 08:26

  • Xerx3s #2 6 years ago

    "I really don't see why they charge 60 bucks for a remake. I know they do it for every football, F1 and other sports games, but this is just a joke to me. "

    And why is that exactly? Because i fail to see why one should pay for the same game every year again.

  • MadMirko #3 6 years ago

    If this were Final Fantasy, people would justify its existence by pointing out how different the setting is between the titles, and that they all have their own backstories. Seems to be in the eye of the beholder.

    Truth is, there is a No. 7 because enough people bought parts 1 through 6 to make it worthwile to produce another sequel. As long as it's profitable, this will continue.

  • Daan #4 6 years ago

    Well Final Fantasy IS quite different from the other titles in the series every time a new game comes out. You can't really say that with a game like Mario Party fucking SEVEN.

  • Psi #5 6 years ago

    Mario the party's over, you brought one bottle of cheap wine and have exposed yourself to everyone here. Now please leave before I have to call the police.

  • Genji #6 6 years ago

    Well, actually, me and my friends like this one a lot better than the other Mario Parties.

    Please don't hurt me.

  • Aretak #7 6 years ago

    It would be impossible for you to find a game which fills me with more of a sense of apathy than this.

  • Ignatius_Cheese #8 6 years ago

    To be honest, I partly blame Hudson for their inability to make decent games... I mean, I really enjoyed Mario Party back in the Nixty4 days but NOTHING has really changed with the series... They're doing the same thing to Mario Party that they did to Bomberman a long time ago...

    But wait, Ninty isn't out of the firing line! At the end of the day, they're the ones green lighting the project but can understand them if they just want to sit there with their wallets open and watch the moolah flow in... And they wonder why they have a reputation for lazy sequels!? o_O

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #9 6 years ago

    The reason I buy the new Mario Party every year is because I WANT more of the same. I spent the previous year playing the previous Mario Party and in the end, after hours and hours of playing it, was sick of playing the same mini games over and over and over again. Each new one brings in hundreds of new mini games which I can play (usually whilst very drunk, with friends) until I get sick of the same mini games and then wait for the next one.

    I don't see why changing, what is in my view a winning formula, would benefit the game. Considering how well it sells I can only assume that other people go through the same vicious cycle as me.

    "SCRAMBLE!"

  • Rambaldi #10 6 years ago

    Extract from 'The State vs. Sickly Cute Childish Japanese Garbage':

    "Your honour, I present to you exhibits M1 through M7"

  • Dynamize #11 6 years ago

    Ooof! Now roll for damage!

  • smelly #12 6 years ago

    The crass cash-in-franchise-misuse weak underbelly of Nintendo is exposed!


    LMFAO!!! And the others are any different how? Oh wait.. that brand new racing/fps/football game is TOTALLY different to the last one...
    Edited by 1 at 01/02/06 @ 09:41

  • #13 6 years ago

    THIS is the Nintendo party I'm interested in.

    http://www.m cvuk.com/newsitem.php?id=758

    :-o

  • Garulon #14 6 years ago

    Is there a mini-game where you get to milk Mario until his nipples bleed? And is it called "Nintendo"?

  • Rambaldi #15 6 years ago

    LOL!!!

  • Zero_ #16 6 years ago

    Will we see a another Mario Party on the Revolution, and if so, would it score higher than it's predessescor on the GC, given the only difference (Apart from graphical and different games), is the way of controlling it?

  • Rambaldi #17 6 years ago

    "LMFAO!!! And the others are any different how? Oh wait.. that brand new racing/fps/football game is TOTALLY different to the last one..."

    Maybe not, but at least all the new: racing/ footy/ golf/ baseball/ platform/ fighting/ RPG/ party/ puzzle/ tennis games don't have the SAME BASTARD CHARACTERS IN EVERY BLOODY TIME!!!!!!!!!

    \cringes at thought of EA Rooney Fight Round 12, Need for Rooney Most Retarded, Midnight Rooney: Chav Edition and Ghost Rooney: Advanced BarFighter
    Edited by 2 at 01/02/06 @ 09:57

  • reality_cheque #18 6 years ago

    @Frod: That sounds like it'd be a cross between Sega Soccer Slam and Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe. So I'd buy it.

    "Master Chief nimbly sidesteps a grunt - how does he do it in that armour? - quick hook over to the left field, recieved nicely by Sergeant Kelly... and she's going for it! Leaps over 1 grunt, spins round a second, she's only got the goalie to beat now... lines up her shot... and it's saved! With a remarkable beam-sword smash to the head by the Covenant player/coach The Arbiter, proving once again why he's the highest paid alien footballer in the Galaxy Cup! Sterling stuff, now over to you Truth for the action replay of that quality piece of action"

  • Eighthours #19 6 years ago

    LMFAO!!! And the others are any different how? Oh wait.. that brand new racing/fps/football game is TOTALLY different to the last one...

    Oh, so it's alright for Nintendo to do it because other devs do it. Oh right, how stupid of us.

  • Derblington #20 6 years ago

    Ellie, seriously, corner Rauper and make him let you review somethiing decent, just once...

  • ProfessorLesser #21 6 years ago

    Just what I was thinking, Derbs :-D

    Smelly, seriously, just for once, please do youself a favour: stfu and go away. Just this time. Try it. See how your mental wellfare will benefit.

    All the times I hear people crediting Nintendo with not having the rabid kind of PS2/Xbox fanboys, I think yeah, that's fair comment. Mostly true, anyway. There is still that little bit of me that thinks "Wait... there's smelly..."

    Come on man, on a serious note, Nintendo are not the infallible, all-powerful company you so unfailingly make them out to be. God knows they are good, and they are certainly my own platform/games dev of choice, but they are not without their faults. Everyone recognises that Nintendo has its dark side. Well, two dark sides. Namely, Nintendo Europe and their Mario division....

  • asphaltcowboy #22 6 years ago

    So what score would it get if you don't already own a Mario Party game (and don't hate Mario/the Mario party games)?

  • LetsGo #23 6 years ago

    Will ellie ever get a good game to review?

  • reality_cheque #24 6 years ago

    If you don't own a mario party game, which is the best?

    No doubt it still won't be as mental as Fusion Frenzy :)

  • Genji #25 6 years ago

    Tbh, I think this one is the best. The low score is only a result of this being, like, the 7th one. If you had never played a Mario Party game before, I'd say play this one. Because it is a lot of fun.

  • reality_cheque #26 6 years ago

    Even with this Bowser nonsense? I'm surprised, I would have thought 6 would have been the best (same game, no Bowser Time).

    They should have made it "Miller Time" where you have to successfully move your character from a pub to your front door despite controls that change every 5 seconds, if you fail you have to spend some of your coins on a taxi.

  • Talha #27 6 years ago

    @Smelly: Sorry pal, I feel inclined to agree with Rambaldi here. Racing games, sports games and shooters are VERY DIFFERENT - we like to play the same thing over and over again with new bells and whistles because (1) we like them and (2) developers put considerable effort into reinventing your average FPS/Racer/Sports sim every year. GT4 has four times the cars and tracks over GT3 - PGR 3 is effing nEXT GEN, for heaven's sake - Half Life 2 is VERY different from Half Life - Tiger Woods just about makes a case for itself every year.

    Which MARIO does not, I am afraid. People are thirsty for racing games and sports games and shooters (due to the duffers they are), and somehow Mario Kart, Mario Smash Football and Paper Mario are failing to fill that gap (wonder why?). We much prefer the earth-shattering explosions and gritty environments of BLACK to kiddy color palettes and boing-boing sounds of a typical Mario outing.

    Don't you honestly think GC sales are suffering because of it? I know people do like Mario and all, but that does NOT mean that Mario Party 7 can be equated to your next PES sequel - that analogy is totally broken.

    And please don't start about how GC is the most profitable of all consoles - been there, done that.

    Sorry for the rant - I am not against games like Mario Party - it is just that when people use them to ridicule fans of other game genres, I really get PO'ed.
    Edited by 1 at 01/02/06 @ 11:08

  • asphaltcowboy #28 6 years ago

    "developers put considerable effort into reinventing your average FPS/Racer/Sports sim every year"

    Er... really? I'd say some do, but "your average FPS/Racer/Sports sim" tends to be just that: average.

  • smoison #29 6 years ago

    Its nice to see i'm not the only one who is disapointed with a new Mario Party. I like to think they could have made a more original title . At least one that isn't on its 7th sequel in less then 6 years. (all of which are VERY the same)

    But, for the fans of the series, enjoy. And if you've never tried one, pick up number 4 for a fiver, and make up your mind.

    The wait continues for Zelda...

  • Genji #30 6 years ago

    @Talha

    So you think the sales of GC consoles may be suffering because of this? How, exactly? Surely you would buy a console because it has games that you want to play. The GC still has those for many people. If anything, this "Mario-whoring" would lead to a drop in sales of new Mario games, not the console itself.
    Edited by 1 at 01/02/06 @ 11:36

  • sopje #31 6 years ago

    Mr. T's link: http://www.m cvuk.com/newsitem.php?id=758

    “Nintendo is moving into a very exciting and innovative time as we expand the definition of gaming and broaden the population of video games players,”

    LOL!

  • Talha #32 6 years ago

    @Genji: As I said, I do appreciate that there is an audience for these sort of games. It is just not that big, but it is fanatical. But when someone goes out to buy a new console and Mario games are not his kind, he is much less likely to buy a GC (nevermind that so many great games exist for GC), precisely due to Ninty's Mario-whoring, having developed a cetain image for the console.

  • Genji #33 6 years ago

    I believe them when they say they want to broaden the population of game players. It's a noble aim, and a large part of why I like Nintendo.

    But they also need to make money.
    Mario makes money.
    Therefore: insofar as Mario continues to make money, Nintendo will make more Mario games, to pay for all of the more noble stuff.

  • Talha #34 6 years ago

    @Genji: Sure Mario makes money. Does it make it any good? Does it make the likes of Need for Speed Underground any better?

    And what would be the 'noble stuff' precisely? I do like Ninty, they do their own thing. But I think MS and Sony are also doing a lot for gaming, and certainly reaching more people in the home console market, and their cash cows are far less repetitive and far more in number, therefore less irritating.

  • Genji #35 6 years ago

    @Talha

    When I buy a console, I have a list of games that I want to play. I would refrain from buying it if I couldn't, for example, play GTA, or the latest Burnout, or Crash Bandicoot, or whatever. This would be a reason to not buy a GC. I would never say "gee, there's a lot of [genre/character] games on this console. I hate [genre/character], so I guess I won't buy this console." You see what I'm saying?

    EDIT (responding to later comment): I don't recall ever saying that Sony and Microsoft aren't doing anything good for gaming. I just respect Ninty for "doing their own thing", as you say it, for trying to take the medium in new directions, even if those directions don't turn out to be very compelling. I think it has a unique position in the industry, even moreso with the upcoming Revolution.
    Edited by 2 at 01/02/06 @ 12:10

  • Talha #36 6 years ago

    @Genji: Precisely. That's what I said basically. First time console buyers ARE quite thick - not everybody goes to gaming sites or does proper research before buying a console, let alone a game. And they are the one who expand the market, not experienced gamers. At least that is what I have experienced, might not be true for you. I have friends who call me up to ask about a latest game instead of bothering to click their mouse a few times. Why else do you think absolute wrecks sell millions?

    So there - call me thick all you want and employ all sorts of sarcasm, but I spoke from experience.

  • smelly #37 6 years ago

    I think you're being naieve to think that if microsoft or sony had a character which sold games they wouldnt be using it just as much if not more.

    But I think MS and Sony are also doing a lot for gaming

    Personally i'd disagree with that one. Unlike nintendo, neither microsoft or sony actually make games themselves, so rely predominately on 3rd parties to make the games for them. So apart from hardware itself, i dont see how that helps gaming?

    Sure, Sony helped gaming to become mainstream, but i'm not 100% sure that's a good thing looking at the only types of games which sell, and subsequently now the only types of games which get made.

    and certainly reaching more people in the home console market

    Well i'd agree on that one with sony, but not microsoft.


    As for mario party, I dont see the appeal myself and would certainly not pay full price for it, BUT a lot of my friends who have kids love it as a simple fun game that the whole family (from kids, to parents to gran) can sit around and enjoy. You lot (myself included and the reviewer) are judging it as a hard core game, how many games can you think of where everyone from kid to gran can figure out how to play and enjoy as a whole family? Not many. That is this games market, not any of you or I.


    As for overuse of mario, he's just a character. If every single mario game was the same, then i'd agree with you. But all the games are different, so i dont see the problem? I'd rather have mario in sports/racing/platformers/party/etc games, than lots of different characters in only racing games (for example).

    My only bone about mario is they dont make enough platformers with him in any more :-(

  • Genji #38 6 years ago

    @Talha

    Well, I don't think you're thick. You seem to be one of the most intelligent people on this forum. I can't say that I completely agree with you, but this place would be pretty damned boring if everyone agreed.

    Consider the "thick" call retracted. I'll do it right now, in fact.

  • MisterFalseName #39 6 years ago

    I've only played Mario Party 5, but I still think it's a really good game. Goes down a storm with a few brews too...

  • Talha #40 6 years ago

    @Smelly: I hate to admit it, but I did love Mario platformers. And I wholeheartedly agree with you about the market for games like Mario Party. It is not right for me to ridicule Mario games because I am simply not their target market - point well taken.

    That said, your other assertions are odd. Sony have plenty of first party developers, and there is such a thing called Microsoft Game Studios (whose last project was Forza, nothing less). Yes they have to rely on third party devs, mainly because so many are out there and for one reason or another they chose to support the hardware made by MS and Sony. And how can bringing gaming to the masses can be bad in any way? Is it only because Sony did that and not Nintendo?
    Yes, most games that come out are crap, but that is true of any platform. And there are a few gems too in there.

    My only bone here is that just because you don't like the 'mainstream' games, does not mean that those of us who do like them are in any way inferior - that is how you come accross.

  • Jaz666 #41 6 years ago

    'Yes, just the kind of creative innovation we've come to expect from the people who gave us a handheld that lets you play brilliant games with a plastic stick and are planning to give us a console that lets you play games with a crazy remote control thing that looks like it was invented in space by some kind of doctor of The Future. Well done'

    Finally, someone said it....

  • Talha #42 6 years ago

    @Genji: It's OK man - I have always liked to read your comments, and I look forward to you coming on forums. And I don't entirely blame you for the 'thick' call for I would sound thick to anyone living amidst gaming-aware people. Sadly, that is not the case with me, so it is just a case of different experiences.

    And thanks.

  • Cloudane #43 6 years ago

    Stick with Mario in his platforming adventures and karting series please Nintendo.

    Everything else is a joke.

  • Genji #44 6 years ago

    Oh come on. The tennis and golf games have been pretty damned good, too.

  • Rambaldi #45 6 years ago

    @Smelly

    "Unlike nintendo, neither microsoft or sony actually make games themselves"

    a) That's factually incorrect and you need to go and have a word with yourself
    b) Nintendo don't make most of 'their' Mario games - they get other studios to do it e.g. Camelot (Tennis/Golf)
    c) If you're quite happy with a camp, short-arsed, fat, helium-voiced, generally irritating plumber in all of your games instead of embracing a degree of aesthetic maturity I suggest you recend my first recommendation and, instead, move to Japan, apply for a Hello Kitty credit card and develop a fetish for long white socks and pleated tartan skirts.
    Edited by 1 at 01/02/06 @ 12:47

  • Genji #46 6 years ago

    Does "aesthetic maturity" mean that we should be playing sports games featuring women with large knockers? And guns?

    I think it does.

  • reality_cheque #47 6 years ago

    Why else do you think absolute wrecks sell millions?

    Because 50% of the people out there are of below average intelligence.

    c) If you're quite happy with a camp, short-arsed, fat irritating plumber in all of your games instead of embracing a degree of aesthetic maturity I suggest you recend my first recommendation and, instead, move to Japan, apply for a Hello Kitty credit card and develop a fetish for long white socks and pleated tartan skirts

    Errr, if I suddenly decide I like fat plumbers, will you pay for my plane fare then? :D I'm sure I could cope with a schoolgirl fetish if it was made up for by having access to games when they're released in Japan.

  • Rambaldi #48 6 years ago

    @Genji

    No. Not really.

    There is a middle ground y'know.

  • Rambaldi #49 6 years ago

    @Reality_Cheque

    If it means you can watch the new MGSolid movie before the rest of us...go on then: here's your ticket ;)

  • Genji #50 6 years ago

    "There is a middle ground y'know."

    So just the boobies then, or just the guns? Don't forget the dark, brooding male protagonists!

  • Carlo #51 6 years ago

    The other mario-party's didn't exactly blow everyone away either did they?

    http://www.eurogamer.net/gamedb.php?searchtext=mario+p arty

    Go see for yourself...

    Why this is a 50+ commented thread is beyond me

  • Rambaldi #52 6 years ago

    @Genji

    I'm sorry, I clealry missed to gun-toting double-D beauties in the PGR3 crowd. Darn that next-gen motion blur.
    Edited by 3 at 01/02/06 @ 13:27

  • Talha #53 6 years ago

    @Carlo: Yeah, you after all contributed only the 55th comment :-).

    @Genji: Don't be so hard man. I am also against exploitation of women and needless violence/obscenity as a device to sell otherwise crap games. But there IS a middle ground, and lots of good games reside there.

  • Rambaldi #54 6 years ago

    ...or it could be because we've far too much time on our hands:)

  • Aretak #55 6 years ago

    ...develop a fetish for long white socks and pleated tartan skirts.

    Way ahead of you buddy... ;-)

  • reality_cheque #56 6 years ago

    *dances with joy*

    I'm going to Japan! :)

    *glares at Rambaldi*

    I hope you're not joking. That'd be mean! :(

  • Daikon #57 6 years ago

    Never played Mario Party. Once was unfortunate enough to witness it being played and what a boring experience it was. Too long, and not enough players. ZzZzzZ.

    My goodness, if you have some friends over and you decide you HAVE to play a game together AND the only console in your posession is the Cube, then go for multiplayer:

    - Monkey Ball (especially monkey race and fight)
    - Super Mario Kart
    - Super Mario Tennis
    - Bomberman

    Or even better, get out the old SNES and Multitap and start up a 5 player Bomberman deathmatch. But bloody Mario Party x?
    Edited by 1 at 01/02/06 @ 15:47

  • darkmistx #58 6 years ago

    " And how can bringing gaming to the masses can be bad in any way?"

    50 cent: bulletproof, 'nuff said.

  • Pho-Zoon #59 6 years ago

    Extract from 'The State vs. Sickly Cute Childish Japanese Garbage':

    "Your honour, I present to you exhibits M1 through M7"

    move to Japan, apply for a Hello Kitty credit card and develop a fetish for long white socks and pleated tartan skirts.

    Rambaldi, you're an idiot. This is the second time now that you've revealed yourself as a narrow-minded, generalising-fool.

    And everyone out there who claims Ninty games milk Mario too much: a game is surely not dependant solely on its characters. With each iteration of a new Mario game, be it sports, kart, or traditional platforming, something new is brought to the table. Recently, Power Tennis, Football, Kart DS, and Partners in Time have all been fantastic, thanks to some great gameplay and the general sense of fun that goes with these titles.

    I've only played Parties 1 and 4, and I wasn't overly impressed with them. With friends they were pretty good, but nothing to write home about. Still, no need to go crying all over your freshly pressed BNP uniform about how much you hate Japanese culture, just because Nintendo have decided to do one annual remake of a game that features (shock!) cutesy characters. Come on now.

    p.s. Rambaldi, you're an idiot.

    Edited by 3 at 01/02/06 @ 17:04

  • Pho-Zoon #60 6 years ago

    reality_cheque, just so you know, don't go wasting too many posts on that 'I'm going to japan' joke. It's unfunniness is making me cringe.

  • r3tina #61 6 years ago

    It's pretty dumb to give this game a 3, MP6 a 4 and MP5 a 5, when each of them actually does improve things, if ever so slightly. Yes, it is the same concept rehashed and in some cases even blatantly copied from previous installments, but that doesn't mean the game in itself has gotten any worse from it.
    IMO, it should be very easy to rate this game... MP5 got a 5, so this should at least be given a 5 also. It is not as if in the meantime there has been another game that has put the bar way up there, and shows how bad the Mario Parties are, so while the status quo continues I don't see a reason to punish this game for being more of the same. In fact, given that this one includes new mini games should be enough reason for anyone who liked the previous games to buy this one without a thought.

  • #62 6 years ago

    Mr. T's link: http://www.m cvuk.com/newsitem.php?id=758

    “Nintendo is moving into a very exciting and innovative time as we expand the definition of gaming and broaden the population of video games players,”

    LOL!

    Say what sucker!!??

    Nintendo have given concrete proof of the above as the success of the DS will testify. Whether they can replicate that to the home console business remains to be seen.

    Don't get me wrong. Many Nintendo - but particularly Mario games, look like fading has-beens.

    For me personally, the core Mario games reached their apex with Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island. Super Mario Kart - despite having four further iterations - still remains unsurpassed. Starfox, being a 3D polygon game from the start, reached its prime on the N64 version. As did Zelda: A Link to the Past for some and Ocarina for many others – depending on which type of style you prefer.

    Many of the problems that Nintendo have faced post-SNES but particularly post-N64 revolves around two issues

    First, is that Nintendo have never been comfortable with epic, FMV-based games driven by an optical disc-based format. I think it’s fair to say that Sony owns that space and they, though they weren’t the first, transformed the industry by moving from publishing on Carts to CDs and then DVD’s. The Playstation was the first effective implementation of the technology. A true paradigm shift.

    In contrast, Nintendo's most successful years in the console industry were in the age of ROM cartridges where developers had no choice, by virtue of cost and space, to have anything but relatively small-sized games. This is why Nintendo continue to do well in the handheld games sector - because the space-size paradigm is ideally suited to handheld games. ie relatively short, accessible, pick-up-and-play games.

    The second issue is that Nintendo, being a games company, has never been comfortable with taking their console down the multi-media route. Having left-out DVD from Nintendo's GC will DVD inclusion for the Rev but the lack of High Definition support be good enough for the masses?

    Hard to say at this point considering we have not seen even one Rev game in action.

    If Rev bombs, I expect Nintendo will move fully towards how things were in the past. ie we’ll see a return of a solid-state Nintendo console whereby new and retro Nintendo games are downloaded over Nintendo’s wi-fi internet service (stored on flash RAM either internally, externally or a combination of the two) and epic optical disc-based games are jettisoned altogether. I think Nintendo is already moving in this direction and setting up the infra-structure with which to do it. If this were to be the case, it would represent another paradigm shift for the industry. Nintendo being a “disruptor” and, in effect, setting up an itunes-like service for games.

  • smelly #63 6 years ago

    embracing a degree of aesthetic maturity

    Dont understand why having a character like mario isnt mature, when the majority of the platform games he's in are fairly mature, almost hardcore.

    Or do you mean that he has to say "boobs", "bra" and "bum" lots? Or even "willy"?

  • smelly #64 6 years ago

    yeah, or pissed off with how little software comes out for GC.

    Any number of reasons really.


    It's a quality/quantity thing though isnt it?

    Put it this way, personally i dont see point in owning both the xbox and ps2, as both get the same games, and the exclusives are normally even fewer between than the cubes are.

    erm.. bugger, i've forgotten my point, back in a minute..

  • Pirotic #65 6 years ago

    It's nothing to do with Nintendo, they just give the licence out to use the franchises they own in order to tempt third partys into making shit games to fill out the gamecubes release list with.

  • Rambaldi #66 6 years ago

    @Phool-Zoon

    Narrow minded..maybe

    BNP...not likely

    Able to prod fun at things I don't like instead of resorting to heated knee-jerk comments...I reckon

    P.S. I'm thinking of you in long white socks and a pleated skirt ;)

    P.P.S @Reality: ticket's in the post

    P.P.P.S @ Smelly: look up 'aesthetics' in the dictionary. It's got nothing to do with being rude.
    Edited by 2 at 01/02/06 @ 18:27

  • Bates #67 6 years ago

    I find your continued anti-Japanese ramblings rather creepy Rambaldi. Fine line between 'poking fun' and thinly veiled racism from what I can see...

  • Rambaldi #68 6 years ago

    Don't even go there.

    I'm digging at their aesthetic style, nothing more. Listen to Japanese pop music and you'll see what I mean. If you consider someone expressing an artistic preference racist, you need to get out more often mate.

  • Xypher #69 6 years ago

    "Does "aesthetic maturity" mean that we should be playing sports games featuring women with large knockers? And guns?"

    Yes.. Yes it does

  • Bates #70 6 years ago

    Perhaps I do. Know any good places I can get a Swastika tattooed onto my forehead? :)

    You claim it's merely 'digging' then? Your persistence with this 'digging' suggests it isn't meant quite so 'amusingly' from what I can see.
    Edited by 1 at 01/02/06 @ 18:36

  • Rambaldi #71 6 years ago

    Yawn....

  • Razz #72 6 years ago

    I hate Nintendo for Mario Party. But obviously, a lot of people out there love it. So, Nintendo's obviously doing the right thing by releasing a sequel for them. But still... I hate the effing game. ;_;

  • Azu87 #73 6 years ago

    Eurogamer is wrong in saying that Nintendo is developing these games. If I remeber it right, it's Hudson who makes Mario Parties.

  • Pho-Zoon #74 6 years ago

    Oh... NOW I get it!

    Rambaldi just decided he hates an entire cultural style! Makes sense, really, to disregard everything under one broad category, doesn't it?

  • SeesThroughAll #75 6 years ago

    My my... aren't the Mario fans angry...
    I think Rambaldi has a point. Games like those in the Mario franchise stick to a fixed "classic" look and feel that was great for the 80's, but only is really appealing to people who like to experience gameplay as a trip down memory lane. Or kids.
    This doesn't mean that games should always resort to trying to appeal to male gamers goth fantasies (like PoP WW) or put 90% of the polygons on the female characters' boobs (like DOA), but after 20 years, Nintendo should do something for the image of the idiotic plumber to, at the very least, evolve a little bit. Or simply try to move forward, beyond the same old tired trick.
    Yes, there is a middle ground. Sega screwed up with Shadow the Hedgehog, but you can't blame them for trying. I still wonder how things would be today, if the DC had survived. Oh well, at least Nintendogs doesn't seem to have moronic plumbers for a change.

    I know it's pointless to wish so, but I wish Mario would not reappear in the Revolution. A true next gen leap forward.

  • Rambaldi #76 6 years ago

    @SeesThroughAll

    Appreciated.

  • SeesThroughAll #77 6 years ago

    Thank you for your reply, I was expecting the typical Nintendo vs EA argument to show up once again.

    "I think Mario Party games are great, as long as you only own one of them."

    The exact same thing can be said about yearly sports games, I certainly would not recommend anyone to buy them on a yearly basis either. If people don't waste their money on the same games for a few feature tweaks over and over again, they can actually get their money's worth.

    "I've got Mario Party 4 I think, and no matter what other MP I play, I always get a distinct feeling of apathy and 'meh' - if you've got one, then there really is no point in getting another."

    Precisely. So Nintendo isn't that different from the likes of EA or Komani after all, are they? I'm not saying it in a recriminatory tone either, it's just my impression.

  • Genji #78 6 years ago

    Just for a laugh, I'd like to start taking suggestions for ways in which Nintendo can "evolve" the Mario character. Everyone hates him now - the poor sales of Mario Party games are indicative of this - so it's up to you to put the "modern" back into "Mario".

    Guns and swearing are out, people.

    Ready and.... GO!

  • Talha #79 6 years ago

    Since when hating Nintendo's games meant HATING JAPANESE CULTURE? Since when hating Mario meant liking nude women playing tennis? Since when preferring mainstream games rather than boing-boing Mario outings meant asthetic immaturity?

    Really, some of you Ninty fans have gone over the edge here. You are so incredibly patronising and holier-than-thou, pretending that only two types of games exist in this world: Mario games and games with naked women, guns, and violence. Isn't that a little extreme stance to take?

    When EA brings out dumb games to milk semi-dead franchises, they are evil. When Nintendo do it, they are saints and advancing the art of gaming, and bringing gaming to the masses, and blah blah blah. When Sony sell a 100 million Playstations, they are evil for providing too many people with access to gaming. When Ninty do it with their handhelds, they are saints and advancing the art of gaming, and bringing gaming to the masses. When EA makes the same game over and over again (like Tiger Woods for example), they get slagged off and even a game as complete as Tiger Woods 06 gets a 6 (rightly so) - but when Mario Party 7 gets a 3, EG is urged to consider the game in isolation.

    I don't even believe what I have read in the last 30 or so posts. I used to respect Ninty fans for their well balanced posts before today.

    I don't have a problem with Mario (even if I hate his guts) - I have a problem with this attitude you guys show. Please try to accept that Nintendo are not saints - they are just another company trying to make money. Like Sony, EA, MS, everyone else. The difference is, those others usually do not don robes of nobility and justify their repetitive, done-to-death concepts as something which the general public is too dumb to 'get'.

  • Genji #80 6 years ago

    Hey man, I was just joking about the boobies thing. I hope that came through.

    And it was partly in response to allegations by various people on this thread that people who buy and enjoy Mario games are immature and of below average intelligence.

    I can handle debate, but not when it gets down to personal levels like that. And yeah, the cracks about hating Japanese culture etc went over the line, too. Honestly, anyone who begins to take this topic seriously needs their head examined. There are far more important things to worry about.

    And there are far greater personality flaws than liking to play games with fat plumbers.

    ...wait, that came out wrong. You know what I mean.

  • Talha #81 6 years ago

    @Genji: Very obviously I did not mean YOU in my post - I meant people who took your initial remark seriously and went along with it, also adding all sorts of incredulous bells and whistles. That is why I wrote 'SOME of you Ninty fans...'.

    And yes I agree, liking Mario games is NOT a sign of immaturity, just as not liking them is not a sign of that either....... hope you can get your head around the horrid grammar here.
    Edited by 1 at 02/02/06 @ 06:16

  • Rambaldi #82 6 years ago

    Two things, and then I promise I will refrain from speaking about this ever again (for those of you who are far too easily offended):

    1) Not liking the artistic style of contemporary Japanese pop-culture is not racist. Neither is it dismissive of the Japanese culture as a whole. The Japanese have a rich, diverse and historically fascinating culture. More to the point, art is only a small component of culture so to say that I have a problem with the Japanese en-masse just becasue I can't stand a recent development in their artistic heritage, is rather narrow minded to say the least.

    2) Let's say, for arguments sake, that I am a hardcore BNP racist (as some have suggested) hiding my opinions behind a 'thin veil'. If I was that kind of person (and to stereotype all racists as white, BNP nutters is in a fashion, racist) would I really, on an anonymous public forum, be that desperate to hide it? Or, could it be, that some people are just desperate to see it in others?

    @Bates: "Perhaps I do. Know any good places I can get a Swastika tattooed onto my forehead? :)"

    Learn your history before making baseless accusations: the Swastkia was the symbol of the Nazis, who just happened to be allied with the Japanese in WW2. By your (fuddled) logic, a Swastika on my forehead would be pro-Japanese if anything. Fool.

    I've made my point. No more comments on Hello Kitty from me.

    Promise.
    Edited by 4 at 02/02/06 @ 11:43

  • reality_cheque #83 6 years ago

    @Pho-Zoon: reality_cheque, just so you know, don't go wasting too many posts on that 'I'm going to japan' joke. It's unfunniness is making me cringe.

    Well you know I was going to let it lie there. But now my mission in life is to keep you in a permenant state of cringingness (my new word, invented just for you! aren't I just bloody lovely.). I bet you liked those Gizmondo/Jizz jokes didn't you?

    OMG IT'S A RUNNING JOKE ARG THIS WILL RUIN MY LIFE IF IT REACHES A THIRD STAGE. OH WOE IS ME. SEE HOW THE JOKE HAS CURDLED THE MILK IN MY CORNFLAKES? THIS JOKE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIRD WORLD HUNGER!

    Lighten the hell up man, it's not like I shagged ya missus.

  • Lagto_Soa #84 6 years ago

    I like, and have completed, Mario Parties 1-5.

    Although I do have young kids.

    Except I still play it after they've gone to bed. Bollocks!

  • gearoid #85 6 years ago

    um, i have mario party 4, 5 & 6 and they're perfect for playing with my young niece and nephew. i really think the reviewers are always way too harsh with mario party games, they're not really aiming for the post-pub hardcore crowd you know

    ;op

  • Genji #86 6 years ago

    I just finished a Mario Party 7 beer night with friends.

    It was a lot of fun. As fun as any Mario Party game has ever been. That's pretty much all I was hoping for.

    So yeah. I disagree with the review score. It's a cash cow, sure, but it's an enjoyable cash cow. If that ever changes, I'll be sure to let you know.

  • Carrybagma #87 6 years ago

    MARIO PARTY RIOT!!!!
    I WANNA MARIO RIOT OF MY OWN!

    BURN THE SITE DOWN!!!

    RRAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!


    I have enjoyed reading this thread so much.

    /thinks of really crap idea for Razz's rev game thread.

  • Duckers #88 6 years ago

    And to think I was actually considering *buying* this game.

    Oh.... for shame. For SHAME!!

    *collapses*