REVIEW: Mario Party 1997, Nintendo 64
	By: Nintendo/Hudson Type: Board game Players: 1-4 Difficulty: Medium

The history of console-based board games is a bit like Lino Ventura; short, dark and not very cheerful. After all, one doesn't need to explain why the idea of playing Monopoly on your Super NES was always doomed to failure. But Mario Party, one of the first fruits of Nintendo and Hudson's joining hands has made a brave, and surprisingly rather succesful attempt at transforming this ill-fated gaming subgenre into something more like Jean-Paul Belmondo (in his younger days, of course).

Admit it, you've always dreamed of tugging his red hair...

So, it's a board game. And a rather simple one at that; a group of four Mario characters move around one of six themed boards using a dice, with some squares triggering special happenings, while most other squares just earn you a few coins. The aim of the game is to collect stars, which one can obtain by paying 20 coins to Toad, who pops up around the board. And whoever has the most stars at the end of a set number of turns wins and laughs in the losers' faces. Of course, if there was nothing but this to the whole game, it would be mind-numbingly boring, so Ninty and Hudson have thrown in a bucketload of other game elements to keep players busy, the most important being a hefty helping of mini-games.

And you thought Sumo was Japan's n.1 sport.

These mini-games are what makes up the meat of Mario Party. There are loads of them, a solid 50 in fact, and you get to play one of them at least once every turn. When the four players have finished their dice-throws and square-moving on the board, a mini-game begins, with the odds usually being 10 coins for the winner. Some other games will award more coins depending on how well you do, while others still will drain some coins away from the loser and pass them to the other players. It's obvious that the real action lies in these mini-games. And it's here that Mario Party really shines. The mini-games are some sterling examples of very simple, yet frantic and enjoyable fun. And with a total 50 of them, variety and surprises are assured. They include such tasks as racing over a collapsing bridge on a skateboard (complete with Thwomps to avoid), popping giant Bowser-sized balloons or swimming to the depths of a Bloober-infested sea to fish up sunken treasures. Some others, as a mini-game where one must deform Bowser's face in a twisted parody of Super Mario 64's title screen, or a miniature racing game with shades of Mario Kart to it are little jewels of basic, yet inventively silly design. All of these small bursts of action are extremely simple, often requiring just a few button combos and basic routine knowledge to get through, but they manage to give a good bit of simple, mindless fun, and often become hilariously hectic with four players thrown in. There are unfortunately a few genuinely crap ones in there, and some of the more plain stick-thwirling or button-bashing games are perhaps a bit too mindless, but overall, more than enough imagination has gone into the design of these mini-games to make them tons of fun. A jumbo helping of Game'n Watch-style simplicity coated in 64-bit sheen is what this comes down to, and it works very well in the end. Also note the clever touch that the mini-games are broken down into everyone-for-himself 4-player games, games where teams of 2 players are pitted against each other or even truly cruel games where three players gang up on one hapless victim (who usually does get an advantage in the shape of a trendy rubber Bowser suit to wear). Although most of the 2-on-2 or 3-on-1 games (no dirty puns, -please-) are far less enjoyable than the all-out 4-player games, it's still a showcase of thoughtful design to have thrown in these different types of games.

Each board is littered with giant contact lenses.

The typically Mario flavor of most of the mini-games is sure to please Mario die-hards, or anyone with some basic videogaming culture as well. Such beloved and familiar things as squishing nasties that pop up from green pipes, hammering your head against "?" blocks to produce coins, or appearances by many well-known Mario characters will make one feel right at home.

It's never revealed what he -does- with all the cash you give him.

By now, it should be obvious that Mario Party is intended mostly for multiplayer gaming (actually, anyone with half a brain probably already knew that before even reading this). And predictably, if you do try your hand at playing on the main boards on your own against three CPU drones, you will suffer. Not only is it very dull to have to sit there, twiddling your thumbs until the CPU players have finished their moves, but it's also genuinely painful to see how they can suddenly obtain superhuman bursts of good luck, or kill you dead by shamelessly playing dirty. However, if you must play this as a solo player (which means you're sort of missing the point, but oh well), there's always the aptly-named mini-game island. This is actually a Super Mario World-style map where you progress from area to area by winning mini-games. It's actually quite enjoyable, with different routes to take and a decent challenge curve, even though playing against the evil CPU bloodhounds can become a right agony sometimes (especially as they will mercilessly slaughter you time and time again at the more tricky games, or the games you're simply not very good at).

We'll kill Bowser for sure by playing him a Britney Spears song!

But, gather four players around, and Mario Party shows it's true colors; hilarious, hectic fun is to be had with the mini-games, and suddenly the evil feats of sneakiness possible on the boards become fun in a purely sadistic way, too. That said, playing on the boards is only fun for so long. There are six of them, plus two hidden ones, and each board features a special hazard and playing style of it's own. The stars you collect on these boards are added to your grand total in the game's bank, and new items or secrets crop up every now and then once you've grabbed enough stars to add some extra playing incentive. And yet, the appeal of the boards isn't quite that long-lasting. Especially since you can just have a big 4-player session after which every star you've obtained is added to your total, thus slightly killing off the challenge factor (who cares if you lose since you still get all the stars for yourself in the end?). Once you've seen each board a few times, you'll realise that the only reason you're playing Mario Party is because of the mini-games. Thank heavens, then, for an option that allows you to play each mini-game you have unlocked to your heart's content, providing you have enough coins to pay for it. By "buying" the games you've found, you can re-visit them as much as you want without having to trundle through the boards. Buckets of fun can be had by playing your favorite mini-games with 4 players as much as you like, without the tiresome boards to work around. Also note a "mini-game stadium" board, which feautres no hindrances or stars to collect, and where only the coins you obtain in mini-games will decide victory. It's these two options that provide the most long-term fun in Mario Party, as coming back to your favorite mini-games for a quick round of button-jabbing hysteria remains lots of fun for the odd five minutes and can make for some great multiplayer thrills.

Luigi shamelessly robs a poor Koopa's moolah.

Add to that graphics that are pleasingly colourful and overall none too shabby (although the polygon models do look a tiny bit rough), plus decent enough sounds that consist of amusing voice samples and some nice tunes (including some great mambos and remixes of the SMB cave level music), and you've got the zest of Mario Party. It's a gimmicky kind of affair, and only shows it's true merits on 4-player occasions, but it does really shine in those moments. Some of the better mini-games will have you coming back for a few goes from time to time without being truly compulsively addictive all the same. Mario Party can't really be recommended over a much more satisfying RPG or platform adventure, but it does it's thing well and deserves kudos for it's inventive design. In typical Nintendo fashion, this is a novelty in videogaming history; the world's first non-rubbish video board game. - Toasty 84%

[Key to the reviewing system]