Rankings

Here I will be making Rankings of different stuff check back regularly to see the new update or ranking!!  First up, a ranking of the MP games.  Something simple.  I will base the games on these 5 catagories: Story, Minigames, Modes, Difficulty, and Boards!  Post your comments on the updates or the thread itself.  The first one will be up tomorrow.
 
marioparty4boxart.jpg
Mario Party 4!
Story: Mario and Friends are relaxing one day when a bag flies through the sky.  It hovers around but soon explodes.  They look on as they see a huge cube floating and Toad, Koopa, Goomba, Boo, and Shy Guy pop out.  They explain that it is called a "Party Cube" and ask if they want to play inside of it.  They accept.  This is an okay story.  It leaves a lot unexplained like how they found the Party Cube but it's MP it's not supposed to have a story.

Minigames:  The minigames in this are fine but this game has to have the record for most button mashers.  Domination, Slime Time, and Take a Breather are all games in this catagory while Dungion Duos makes you do it at the end.  Some games though were unique including Long Claw of the Law, Mr. Blizzards Brigade, and Hide and Go BOOM!

Modes: Story, Party, Minigame, and Options modes are used in all MP games but it does have an Extra Mode.  The Extra Mode was a spot where you could play extra games that are not in the actual boards.  These were mostly fun and clever.

Difficulty: This is where the game's love for me takes a nosedive.  This is the most frustratingly hard MP game to finish.  The Story Mode is long and teidious and is the only MP game that I have rage quit over something happening!  In terms of difficulty, you need to hit a sweet spot.  This one overshoots the mark for a pary game.

Boards: The boards in here look really uninspired.  They all have the same grey walkway which only decreases the originality in it.  Only 2 of the 6 boards did I fully enjoy playing on.  Those were Toad's Midway Madness and Shy Guy's Jungle Jam.  Koopa's was only okay, Bowser's was bland, Boo's was only a square with a line through it and Goomba's... Well Goomba's is my pick for the Worst Board in MP history.  The AI get's a star when putting nothing in, they get hidden stars every 4 turns, and before you can get to the star they use a Magic Lamp!  I was stuck on the Red Island for 9/15 turns!

Overview: This is a very fun, average MP game that for me get's plagued by frustration and Bad Board Design.  Mario Party 4 is my least favorite Mario Party.
 
*Sigh* If anyone's reading this here's the next update.
marioparty8.jpg
Mario Party 8!
Story: Mario and friends find that the Star Carnival has rolled into town!  They decide to go and battle to see who can become the Super Star!  You can really tell Nintendo was running out of ideas when they made this.  Look at how short this write up is!

Minigames: The minigames were mostly bland.  There were a few good ones: Mosh Pit Playroom, Scooter Pursuit, Power Trip, but most were unoriginal and just had you flailing you remote around.  Flip the Chimp has been named by most players as the worst game in the series!

Modes: It has the usual: Party, Story, Minigames, and bonuses.  This does have an extra mode though which is actually original! :eek:  The games in this were usually more fleshed out than the normal games, but none left me wanting more except one.

Difficulty: The CPU's were not very difficult but they do get lucky.  They can hit a lucky space every few turns if it gets bad!  The only real difficult part of this was having to go through the story mode twice.

Boards: These were good.  Two of the boards, sadly, were mostly straight lines.  The ones that weren't though were fun!  They were all different from each other in any way.  The only bad one is King Boo's Haunted Hideout!

Overall: This is like the opposite of #4.  This is mostly unoriginal and flat but the quality of the boards and the nice level of difficulty puts this just above #4.
 
You know you can say your opinions on this right...
marioparty5.jpg
  Mario Party 5!
Story: Apparently there's this land called the "Dream Depot" where everybody's dreams go.  There are guards in the Dream Depot.  These guards wonder one day if they should let people with the power of dreaming in.  They decide that they should allow it to happen and invite Mario and co. to go here because...nobody dreams more than they do.  Mario and co. accept and the guards prepare games for them to play.  Out of all of the rediculous MP stories, this one takes the cake.  This is the only one I have trouble remembering.  This also raises many questions for this.  I can come up with a better, easier to follow, story that even makes more sense.  Here goes.  There is a place called the Dream Depot where all dreams go.  The dreams in the Dream Depot look like townspeople.  They have a king inside of the Dream Depot.  The king decides that those who dream can come in and the people agree.  Mario and co. get invited and they accept so the dreams begin making games for them to play.  The guard stuff was confusing and unnecisary.

Minigames: I actually thought these miinigames were a good batch.  Games like Fish Sticks, Dodge Bomb, Pushy Penguins, and Defuse or Lose were all original while other games were some of the best!  They had the usual luck, button mashing, and race games but these were kept down.

Modes: Usuals (Party, Story, Minigames, Options) along with an Extra mode with 3 games not found in the normal mode.  These were fun but the main non-usual mode is... Super Duel Mode!  I found this to be quite enjoyable.  You get to customize your car/hovercraft thing and battle against, capture the flag with, or shooting at rabbits against a computer or another human.

Difficulty: I'm not sure as this is one of the two games I do not own so I don't know this myself but after seeing videos I'm leening towards hard.  That's fine with me though.  They didn't look excrutiatingly hard.

Boards: I'm also fifty-fifty with this as well.  Toy Dream, Pirate Dream, and Sweet Dream were great but Bowser was meh and Rainbow and Future were only okay, Undersea Dream was too small and little background...  Not as bad as 4 but I think 8 had better ones.

Overall: MP 4 and 8 were the only ones I disliked.  This was fun but to difficult of a story and okay boards dragged this down.  Again this is still good but not as much as it could have been.
 
Reply if you read please!



Next out:




936full-mario-party-screenshot.jpg

Mario Party 1

Storyline: Mario and friends argue who is the super star.  They decide to let Toad settle this matter so Toad tells them that it will be decided by playing Mario Party.  They agree.  Very simple storyline but this is okay because it is the first version.  Almost too simple though.

Minigames: Almost all of them are classics.  Face Lift, Grab Bag, Skateboard Scamper, and Bumper Balls are famous!  Very simple though and I wish some of these had a little more creativity.

Moads: Usual.  Party, Minigame, Options, and a shop.  They did have extras: Minigame Island and Minigame Stadium.  Very few.

Boards: Am I the only one that finds it funny that the first one has the most boards?  8 Boards in this and they were all fine to pretty good.  I liked how they had a board for each character though.

Overall: Very plain, Very simple.  This can mostly be excused because it is the first one but it does not age well.  Mid-range is as far as it gets.
 
Thank god at least 1 person is reading.

Mario+Party+ds.jpg


Mario Party DS!

Storyline: Mario and co. are chillin' out when one night, strange glowing objects fall from the sky.  Kamek comes over and drops an invitation for them to come to Bowser's castle for a feast because he is repenting his evil ways and this is his apology.  Donkey and Diddy Kong get an invitation as well.  Naturally they go and...IT'S A TRAP!  Bowser and Bowser Jr. lock all of them in a cage.  Bowser then uses a magic wand called the "Minimizer" and shrinks them all down to the size chess peices.  This allows Bowser to collect the 5 shining gems that fell from the sky.  While they try to get back to Bowser's castle, after he boots them out, they begin to help people along the way.  These people after they have helped give them a star gem.  I am dead serious.  Bowser's been looking all this time for the gems when the residents have them.  This is the story's one major flaw but hey it's Mario Party not Final Fantasy.  Anyway, they get to the castle fight Bowser but Bowser has such a height advantage and so traps them in a pinball game.  They break free but are still at a disadvantage when...DK runs through, wanting the free food, and causes Bowser to drop the Minimizer and DK breaks it.  Bowser though has another tool up his sleeve: the Mega Morph Belt!  This transforms him into "Blockhead Bowser" but the gang fight him and prevail.  They tie Bowser and Bowser Jr. up and unite the gems.  It turns into a DS(unnecissary product placement FTW)and they can now play the game Triangle Twisters.  Bowser and B.J. admit that they wanted to get the gems just so they can play that game.  Mario, hearing this, frees them and they all play Triangle Twisters together.  DK eats all the food and quite satisfied.  The End.  Look at how long this story is compared to the others!  What is surprising about this is that this is for the DS not for the console's!  One thing that used to bug me was "why did it take so long for Diddy and Donkey Kong to get to Bowser's castle?"  I now have an answer: Dk lives on another island (as is proven in the DKC series)so he will have to take one of Funky's boats to the other island (1-2 hours)and get through the jungle to the center of the island (30 min. to 1 hour.)  They also got delayed when DK gets turned into stone and they may have gotton lost because this is not their island.  This overall is a good storyline and the the best in the franchise.

Minigames: Some original ones but what you needed to do to accomplish it was not.  Rubber Duckie Rodeo, Big Blowout, and Dominoe Effect looked good but played a tad boring.

Modes: Divided evenly at Boards, Options, Minigames, but also had something called Puzzle Mode.  This allowed you to play Triangle Twisters and puzzle games from previous MP games!  Very fun and also some nostalgia!

Boards: This and minigames are what is holding it back.  The boards are small and there is only 5 of them.  This game also got me frustated a few times when the computor got very lucky, and I mean REALLY lucky.

Overall: Fun and has a nice storyline but the unoriginal minigames and small, yet still little in numbers, boards.
 
Next:

Mario_Party_2_-_2000_-_Nintendo.jpg


Mario Party 2!

Story: Mario and co. make a new place (or "land")and argue over what it should be called.  Mario thinks "Mario Land", Peach thinks "Peach Land", Wario thinks "Wario Land" etc.  Bowser sees this land and wants to run havok in there.  Toad comes up with the idea that the one who defeats Bowser should name the land.  They agree and run off.  Decent but a step down from MP1's.

Minigames: This game took ones from Mario Party 1 and revamped them.  They also took previous games out and put new games in their places.  The quality of the games got a tad better.

Modes: The boards, a minigame room, and options.  Not a lot.  The minigame room has extra things inside of it but this game feels barebones.

Boards: Some good, (Pirate, Western, Space) some bad (Mystery, Bowser) and one in between (Horror) this one is a mixed bag.

Overall: A good MP game and a step up from the original but it feels a little too short.  Some extra modes would have been nice.  Minigame Coaster was also WAY too tedious and difficult.  I have done Easy, and Normal mode fully but Hard mode I am stuck on Mecha-Marathon.  I am just not a good button masher.  It is fun and you only have to play each board once to unlock Bowser's!
 
Thanks!  Next one out:
mario-party-9.jpg

Story: Bowser is stealing all of the mini stars from the sky so Mario and co. rush off to try and stop him.  This is actually pretty decent of a story for a MP game.  It is worth noting that in this game you ride around in a car together instead of seperatly. 

Minigames: Some fun ones that I will replay but a few duds.  Near the middle of the pack in terms of quality.  Oh and can anybody post their record on Tubor Tug.  Mine is 49 and I want to see if anyone can beat it.  No cheating. ;)  Loved Speeding Bullets.

Modes: Story, Party, Minigames, Options are all normal but this has an Extra mode with special, longer games and a "museum."  The museum is basically a place where you can spend the Party Points you accumulate and spen them to unlock stuff.

Boards: Mostly good with only one board being bad (Boo's.)  This is fine because I do not like ANY Boo boards in Mario Party.  The 7 boards in this means that this is tied for being the game with the 2nd most number of boards.

Overall: Very well made.  This is a great MP and does not deserve all the bashing it gets.  The reason it does not get higher is because of the the amount of fun the other ones are.  The car thing is alright but it leads to less "moments."  Because of that it only lands here.
 
So, who else is excited for MP3DS?  I will add it once I get it to the list!
In the meantime...
mario_party_7.jpg

Story: Mario and co. are relaxing when Toadsworth invites them on a cruise.  They except but Bowser is mad and wants to ruin their cruise.  Although light, this story does offer refreshing things.  1. Mario and co. relaxing, this shows that they can be somewhat believable and take time off.  2. They go on a cruise for fun, again giving them slack.

Minigames: Pretty decent, most are good but there is a couple of clunkers (DART ATTACK!!!!!)  Otherwise, fun abounds.

Modes: This one offers a nice plethora of modes like the duty-free shop and story mode (one of the best) as well as the usuals (Party, Minigame, Options.)

Boards: One of the best of all time (Pagoda Peak) alongside "good" to "meh" courses.  No collasal failures.

Overall: Very good of a game and TOTALLY underated.  Like MP8 but less flaws.
 
I have been on this site for 1 year!  Let's finish this (FINALLY!)
The winner is not:
Mario_Party_3_-_2001_-_Nintendo.jpg

Story: Once upon a time...there was a Millenium Star.  Sadly, this star was but a newborn and fell from the sky.  It crashed in front of Mario.  His friends came up and they began to argue about who got to keep the Millenium Star.  The Millenium Star says that he has an idea.  Mario Party then comes out but they are transported into the toy box.  This was one of the best in terms of storyline.  However it raises a couple of questions.  Why would Mario feel he should keep it?  A hero like him should have wanted to return it to the sky.  Does the person you play through story mode with still HAVE the Millenium Star?  I played through it withh DK, so does he still have it?  Why does a newborn star have a magnificant moustache?  These questions have still not have been answered.  Come on Nintendo!

Minigames: I happen to not be a fan as much for the minigames.  They were OK, but not to the greatness of the rest of the game.  The cardboard theme however is very nice.

Modes: Story, minigames, options, party.  All of the standard.  However, along with Party mode boards were the dual boards.  These proved to be just as fun and a great addition to the game.

Boards: All great!  I really do not dislike any of them.  Dual boards ditto.  Waluigi's Island is a real highlight for the franchise.

Overall: Very good, minigames were sometimes lacking but thsis would be the top Mario Party if not for... 
 
250px-MP6_Cover.jpg

Story: The sun and the moon began to quarrel one day so Mario and pals set out to play Mario Party to settle this debacle.  "But would the power of the stars be enough to solve the fight?"  Fine, it's fine for a Mario Party game storyline.  It was a geat introduction to the game mechanics and I liked it.

Minigames: All very good.  I brelieve this game has the best minigames out of any MP game.  Sadly, my disk is a little scratched so I can't play many 1 vs. 3 minigames or it says that it can't play.  :(  Whatever though, it is still a fine game.

Modes: Party, Solo, Options, Minigames, all good.  This game also has a mic mode and a star bank.  The mic mode was great and you didn't need to unlock the games and the Star Bank gave you some incentive to get the stuff while not making you feel overloaded.  Solo was also new and different.  Very nice!

Boards: The best is the franchise.  Boards had their own rules without making it feel stupid or gimmicky.

Overall:  This game did everything right.  New modes, fantastic boards, good storyline, this game is my favorite Mario Party!
 
Back
Top