The results are in! Members of Mario Party Legacy have come together to submit custom Mario Party designs for our second Create a Mario Party Board Contest! I’m here along with SpiderStaryu to rate, review, and judge the three submissions. We have a list of criteria of what we looked for in each board that you can see here.
All submissions are compatible with PartyPlanner64, the editor for importing your own custom creations into Mario Party 1-3. To check out the program and for access to our custom board database, hit the links below!
- PartyPlanner64 Editor
- Custom Boards Downloads Database
- Submit Your Custom Board (.json files only!)
- Custom Boards Feedback Forum
As for the contest, keep in mind that the theme this time around was Summer/Beach/Tropical. With that said, let’s get into it!
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEgh3H5KUe4
Watch our video review panel above!
Please remember that our comments and opinions are all made with intent of helping you create the best board you could make. Please don’t take anything personally!
Summer’s lake
by Poisonclaw64 for Mario Party 3
Even Mario can’t go on a vacation without a party. Explore the glorious Summer’s Lake and try to get the most stars, so you can be able to have your break.
Happening Space: The shark from Pirate Land will take you to the beginning of the board.
Review
- Theme – We have a boardwalk that leads to a bunch of tubes floating in the middle of the ocean. Fits the theme but keeps it basic. 3/5
- Gimmicks – Nothing stands out as too appealing. Happening space is useful but not original. 2/5
- Background – It’s a good idea but it’s a basic photograph. The background is what gives a board life and should include characters, references, things to see, etc. And there shouldn’t be any transparent sections. Tubes are nice but not enough. 1/5
Path Layout – Unfortunately, very confusing. A lack of arrows makes it hard to understand which direction you’re heading in. A path outline should be concise and clear. Players should not have to resort to a map outside the game. 1/5 - Space Distribution – Good overall, but lack of additional Battle Spaces, Happening Spaces, and Bowser spaces are detrimental. No Item Spaces is a SIN! 2/5
- Passing Events – Bank is out of the way and thus rarely passed, Item Shop is good as is Boo. Both are not subject to abuse. 3/5
- Originality – Tube Party 64! The idea of jumping off the boardwalk and hopping from tube to tube is a nice touch. 3/5
- Playability – Everything works. Background dimensions are correct but the photograph somehow did not fit. Also make sure to place Toad and Baby Bowser to the side of the space. 4/5
- Guidelines – Bowser art has a white background. Minimum spaces not met. Spaces were not aligned to matched PP64’s limitations. 2/5
- Overall Presentation – The ideas at play are interesting but in terms of execution, the board lacks in creativity and visual appeal. Next time we suggest creating something original instead of finding an image. 2/5
Final Score: 23/50
Yoshi’s islands
by Spongyoshi for Mario Party 3
The name might reminds you of Yoshi’s Tropical Island but besides the fact there’s two different islands, those are two different boards!
Those two islands are separated by gates, you must have keys to cross to the other side (or other items such as warp blocks or genie lamps).
You start at the island below, really simple with an item shop and ? spaces, it also have the most star slots!
The other island however is more chaotic with a good number of different spaces and has the bank and boo but no item shop so be careful to not be stuck there for too long!
I tried to make the artstyle of the board reminiscent of Yoshi Island’s artstyle so hope it looks good! Hope you have fun on this board!!
Review
- Theme – It matches the theme of the contest but doesn’t go beyond that. 2/5
- Gimmicks – Two islands, one more chaotic than the other. Good concept but ultimately players don’t have too many incentives to go to the northern island, breaking the board in a way. 2/5
- Background – It’s an original design so that is definitely a plus, but it’s still basic in style and ideas. 3/5
Path Layout – Junction arrows are good but at times we don’t know the direction of certain paths. While it’s the point that the northern island is dangerous, it’s very easy to get trapped and pretty unreasonable. 2/5 - Space Distribution – Besides the chaos up in the north, it’s relatively fair. 3/5
- Passing Events – Need a second Item Shop, but the first one is in a good spot. Bank and Boo are fine but are not desired at all! 2/5
- Originality – You have two islands and two bridges, nothing more than that. It works, and we love that it was custom made, but it’s still basic in design. 2/5
- Playability – Everything works! 5/5
- Guidelines – Spaces are not are all aligned correctly, a few spaces are overlapping each other. 4/5
- Overall Presentation – The board has a nice concept that has its issues. The design itself is a nice attempt at a custom made board but could use some artistic improvements. 2/5
Final Score: 27/50
Paradise Isles
by StalfosKing for Mario Party 3
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, but it’s finally finished! A lot of hard work, late nights, and extensive partying–that is, testing, went into this one. Board layout is pretty conventional, but with a fun little gimmick being the skeleton key doors in the center. The player travels around the islands in a clockwise direction (following the arrows on the path; there is no returning once you cross a bridge). However, from the central island, the player can choose to use a skeleton key to jump to the other half of the island, effectively skipping two of the islands. This makes skeleton keys quite coveted in this board. For a better idea, check out the images.
Happening spaces cause Plessie to rise out of the water and carry the player to any other player’s location for 10 coins (the player gets to decide if they want to or not). I tried not to add too many happening spaces since they don’t do anything at the moment,
and I can always add more in the event that they ever come to life. I really hope everyone enjoys it. I’ve been looking forward to the video review panel ever since I started this project last monday (I discovered it a bit late). I put plenty of references, details and references, so I hope it’s a good time.
Disclaimer: I got most, if not all, of the decorative models used in overtop of the board I sculpted from Sketchup’s 3D Warehouse. I did, however, do a bit of texture work (not too much) and arranged all of the models into their current layout.
- Theme – Fits the contest theme perfectly, combining all the suggested elements. So many cool objects that fit the theme! 5/5
- Gimmicks – The looping islands are great and fun to play on. The Skeleton Key doors are not as useful as the description makes it sound, at least in our playthrough. Having a Star Space immediately a door can help remedy this. Have more stars in the center island. 4/5
- Background – Phenomenal. Looks like it was ripped right out of Mario Party 3. Nothing looks out of place, so many things to look at. We love it! 5/5
Path Layout – We tried to look for problems and came up short. Everything is spaced out just as it should. 5/5 - Space Distribution – Looks great, but including additional Item Spaces would have helped contain Staryu’s addiction to items! 4/5
- Passing Events – Everything is good! We like the loop with the Bank and Item Shop. Boo is not set up to be abused. 5/5
- Originality – Where do we begin? The atmosphere of this board is incredible! Traveling around this board is never a bore, there is always something to see. 5/5
- Playability – Everything works! 5/5
- Guidelines – Met every guideline, including making sure the spaces were aligned! 5/5
- Overall Presentation – There are so many different adjectives to use to describe this visually spectacular and well thought out board. This is the new standard of custom Mario Party boards. And we had a blast playing it! 5/5
Final Score: 48/50
And with that, our top three winners include:
- Paradise Isles (48/50) – StalfosKing
- Yoshi’s Islands (27/50) – Spongyoshi
- Summer’s Lake (23/50) – Poisonclaw64
Thank you to everyone who submitted a board for this contest! We enjoyed looking through each and every one, and we look forward to what everyone has planned for the next contest!