The Evolution of the Item

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Evolution of the Item by madstarr

We all know those crazy items we have grown accustomed to in Mario Party games (with the exception of the first one), and throughout their life-span, they have gone through an Evolution. But sometimes it’s not necessarily for the better. What exactly do I mean you ask? Well whether you asked that or not, I’m going to tell you. First, let us take a trip down memory lane…..

How did the item start in the Mario Party series? There was sort of an item system in the first installment of the series, and this included the Plus, Minus, Speed, Slow, Warp and Event Blocks. These items were purchasable in the Mushroom Shop and by doing so, it made them appear at random throughout the board when moving about. This is the building stone for the monument of items that appear in the later installments of Mario Party. I see this as unfair if you are rolling either a Minus, Slow or Warp block because since they appear at random, and they can affect your outcome in the main game without planning it. In fact, no one planned it, it just is rotten luck. Anyway, this is the start of how items came to evolve later in its lifetime. So, the noticeable evolution  began in Mario Party 2, where items were introduced but as actual items which you can choose to have or not have. These items include things like Mushrooms, which gave you two blocks to roll instead of 1 (3 blocks if it was a Golden Mushroom), Skeleton Key (which allowed you entry into a secret passage way) and several more. And for the first time, item spaces were around to allow you to play an item mini-game! Yay!!, free items!! Yes yes, that’s very exciting…but there were even some exclusive items available like the Boo Bell item which allowed you to call upon Boo, which can commit evil deeds for you at a price. The Bowser Suit was also there, and really gave things an interesting twist. Apparently, everyone else thinks that you’re Bowser even though you clearly have a suit on that kinda resembles Bowser, and they give you 20 coins because of it. For some reason, I would try to steer away from buying a Magic Lamp at all, unless It was necessary in order to win if the game is almost over. I just don’t like using them because, it’s just too easy. In fact, I almost never use them and still win. They are for desperate people >:D” /> . Lol jk.</p> <p>Then we go through further advancement in the Evolution of the Item for Mario Party 3. The items make a return from Mario Party 2, and there are new ones as well. The Cellular Shopper is a new one that ‘s pretty useful whenever you need an item delivery service, on the go! The shops are run either by none other than the very important always appearing everywhere Toad, and also by Baby Bowser. Toad’s Items are usually good chi items which are to help you out in a friendly way, while the Koopa Kid shop has negative chi items which cause nothing but trouble for opponents. I really don’t understand why the Reverse Mushroom is part of the evil Chi store, because it isn’t evil or anything. All it does is reverses your progression through the board. Item bags are useful, when they actually carry items which are actually useful. I constantly like buying the item bag, but sometimes never get items which would be useful to me at that time of unloading the bag. Anyway, what evolution is seen here? Other than adding a couple more items to the stock of Mario Party 2’s items, nothing really major. Though the inclusion of more dark chi items makes things a bit more interesting.</p> <p>Now we move on to Mario Party 4 where we see the last of normal items. I believe that this item system is the best one there is, because there aren’t too many items like in the next 3 installments of Mario Party following the 4th, and there aren’t too little amounts of them. There are also a good variety of items there too, like the Mega and Mini Mushrooms with their Super counterparts. One thing I really disliked about the [Super]Mega Mushrooms was that you would pass all sorts of board events, like star spaces, item shops, lottery shops etc. Grow big, but don’t grow out of play. Items like the Bowser Suit, Magic Lamp, and Item Bag make a return, also items with new similar additions. By that, I mean the Boo Bell has become the Boo Crystal Ball. Yes, somehow a crystal ball can call upon the Boo. The Lucky Lamp from MP3 has been replaced with the Chomp Call which is handy at times of war. The Boo Repellant is repelled from history and becomes the Gaddlight. Hey, Gadd’s a familiar name now isn’t it? The generic Warp Pipe makes a return as the same as it always has been, the Sparky Sticker makes an interesting new entry. Way to leave a trap when at war right? It was a great time with these items, but we have to leave them as parts of history, because we won’t be seeing regular items anytime soon.</p> <p>Mario Party 5 introduces the next part of the Evolution of Items, the introduction to capsules, which will then evolve further into orbs in Mario Party 6. Yes, Orbs. Funny word.  Anyway, capsules were annoying because anytime you would get an item, it would be by random. That just wouldn’t do when an item would really be useful. Yes, that sounds odd, you need help from a capsule but let’s face it, you need it as much as I do. Well, the correct one. Anyway, how do members of the board game go about adaption to survive? Well that’s just it, they’ll have to rely less on items and more on luck of the dice roll to get to where you need to go on the board. Mario Party 6 keeps these capsules, but renames them to Orbs. Orbs, Orbs Orbs. It’s a funny word. Anyway, even though I prefer normal items, these Orbs actually are very fun to use. Finally we can buy them, so us the players can easily adapt to survive, and there’s a considerable amount of Orbs available and different types too. Green Orbs help you out, Red Orbs attack, and Yellow Orbs are a mix: they help you out and attack. I would always keep a Sluggish ‘Shroom Orb handy at all times, because it’s the easiest way to land on a particular space you want to land on, and what makes it simpler to get the number you desire than the Sluggish Shroom Orb? I mean, it’s not too hard to hit any number, as long as you have an intermediate level of reflexes. The Generic Warp Pipes make a comeback, again. It’s always fun to set consecutive yellow orbs in one spot of the board. Meaning, that for like 5+consecutive spaces, there are nothing but yellow orbed spaces marked by me. This is helpful sometimes, but really, I don’t rely too much on yellow orbs. If I have them, I throw them to a space (which is a cool feature) if not, then I don’t care. Blue orbs are pretty useful when you are in need of protection. That’s all I have to say about them. Mario Party 7, well Orbs come back. Orbs. They pretty much are the same as Mario Party 6 with slight differences. It introduces the next evolutionary tidbit of Character Orbs where only specific characters can use specific orbs. These are quite fun, they remind me of the special items of Mario Kart Double Dash!!, and it’s a nice inclusion. I always thought of the Koopa Kid/Mini Bowser Orbs to be an annoyance, because they really don’t do much for you because it can backfire on you. Well, anyway, orbs are orbs.</p> <p>Now this is where we see the next evolution of the item for Mario Party 8, and I find these to have had the best idea’s for items, but also the worst selections. Candy. Candy that makes you transform. The Red Candies are literally, blocks. What happened to the original Mushrooms? Screw Blocks. Anyway, then there are the candy that make you transform like the Springo Candy and the Vampire Candy. Yes, apparently, bouncing off an opponent while in Vampire form defines the very Vampire Candy itself. One thing to mention is the Duelo Candy. I just hate that Duelo Candy. I sometimes get it and just don’t use it really. If I use it, it’s to take advantage of the two dice rollings. Lol, anyway, the item stock here in Mario Party 8 has been reduced from 29 to 14. That’s a very large difference. Adapting to survive with that is just hard.</p> <p>I only covered the console Mario Party series where an evolution of the item is more noticeable. What have I noticed? Well, the evidence is as clear as Boo’s Crystal Ball. Mario Party 9 better have an improved item system than what Mario Party 8 had. The idea’s of transformations are nice, but I think that they shouldn’t be used due to actually waiting for them to transform. So, where else would the Evolution of the Item take us? Evolution takes time, so we will have to wait and see if this evolution is worthwhile.</p> <!-- CONTENT END 2 --> </div> </div> </article> </main> </div> <div class=