Homemademech - Nintendo 64 Mario Party 3 reviews

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Mario Party 2 & 3

As previously stated in my last review of this nature, Mario and his friends seem to like to party all the time, party all the time… you get the point. But his latest outing on the GBA wasn’t exactly… well, it wasn’t fun.
Sure it was loaded with a lot of mini games (filled with comical violence and pretend gambling) to play BUT no party boards to have fun with, a lame RPG style gameplay. and a sucky “multiplayer” option that really was a lowball gimmick that Nintendo should have been ashamed of even thinking of!

Thankfully we still have the Nintendo DS to look forward to… or maybe that isn’t such a blessing after all.
While they seem to do lots of Mario games of late they haven‘t done any Mario Party games.
Mario games… and of the Mario games we have so far we have a few which requires lots of “rubbing” fiercely, madly, with long and strong or short fierce jerky strokes with your stylus to… to… at this point Nintendo should just shove off and port Sexy Beach 2 to the DS since it’ll never escape the immature antics of us reviewers who equate “rubbing” the screen with sex, so you might as well give us what we want. Anyway where was I… Oh, right, the review.

As for the DS? Well, considering the DS seems to be the dumping ground for 101 Mario related games that require little effort to release (since it’s all recycling old stuff to make it new) you’d think they’d have rethreaded the ultimate Mario game, Mario Party, and made it available for the Nintendo DS by now.
They’ve gone and ported just about everything else including Wario Ware, Mario 64 AND Yoshi’s Island!
Them porting Mario Party might actually be a good idea, by the way, since the only games out right now that makes me even consider owning a DS is Urbz : Sims in the City (only because I have every other portable Sims except Sim City 2000 which I need, so I might as well stick to it and get one more for the road), Asphalt Urban GT (because I won‘t have to worry about crashing), Rayman 2 : The Great Escape & Zoo Keeper… yup, not a single Mario related title to be found on my DS wish-list!
Given the choice I’d rather play a relatively unknown PC import like Zoo Keeper than Mario anything!

That’s where Mario Party 2 & 3 come in.
Originally put out on the N64, Mario Party 2 & 3 hold the possible potential of birthing a new DS game that might actually make people forget there was ever such a thing as Mario Party Advance.
In fact I must INSIST that Mario Party 2 & 3 be the big influence towards the creation of Mario Party DS… just so there’s no temptation to attempt to make another “Mario Party Advance” debacle on the DS!

Mario Party 2
As the game opens you find that everyone is having a bad case of egos.
They all think they deserve to be the Super Star of Mario Party World, but nobody knows how to accomplish that… enter the timely solution of playing Mario Party once again.
Like the previous original Mario Party you have all these game boards to challenge, and mini games to play, but this time the game is different!

First off for the first… and probably ONLY time… you dress up in costume as you play!
Each world has a theme, and for each theme you dress in costume to fit the theme! And, to top that, there are also duel modes in each level that matches the world that duel is taking place in!
On a pirate infested island you become swashbuckling pirates! Yarr! (Eyepatch, talking parrot and DVD copy of Pirates of the Caribbean not included). Here you look for buried treasure… or stars which you purchase for 20 gold. Along the way you have to avoid the “?” lest you set off cannon fire from the ships that knocks you back to the starting point. Your “enemy” here is Bowser in pirate form.

Meanwhile in an old Wild West you suit up as cowboys to fate the bad guy Bowser… whose supposed to be a bad hombre here… go figure. Anyway here the trick is to avoid the “?” so you are not run over by the train… only this time players can actually hire the services of the train and purposidly run people over!

In a haunted forest, where day turns to night and vice versa, you all wander the paths as wizards in this magical place. Here you turn day to night, night to day, and do other amazing things… and you fight the evil wizard Voldemort here… oh, wait, he’s not available… you fight Bowser.

Round it out with a jaunt into the jungles of mystery with pyramids, ruins and aliens and a space station level, not to mention a Bowser level complete with Bowser Parade and you have the wrap-up of Mario Party 2... But not all!
You also have a “World” where you can purchase and play all the games you collected and have fun with them in several different formats! There, that’s the end… but wait! There’s more!

Mario Party 3
Sadly in this version the costume changes and the quirks of Mario Party 2 are gone, replaced with new characters and a new story.
This time out the gang has come across the Millennium Star, and it is during this Party that they fight to see who’ll claim the Millennium Star and become the Star of the 3rd Mario Party.
New worlds, HOWEVER you can’t change into costumes here and you’ll find the duels aren’t patterns after each world like in Mario Party 2. But the mini games are more, with new types which adds more fun to the game. And after you beat each Party world you’ll have to face the “boss” character of that world in a duel world, who you’ll have to beat in order to move onwards.
New characters to play include Waluigi (who has fallen down low to become a generic sidekick to Wario in present Mario games) and Princess Daisy (the not so ladylike princess who kicks Bowser‘s rear and… uh… don‘t ask) which kind of makes up for the lack of interesting quirks that MP2 had.
And since my favorite character to play as IS Princess Daisy I guess this has it’s merits for me.

The Merger…
What would a Mario Party DS game be?
For me it should take traits of MP2 & 3 and merge them into one game.
Hmm… but how to merge these games. Hmm… I’m going to put that question out to you, the reader.
What is it about Mario Party 2 & 3 that deserves to be in Mario Party DS, and what doesn’t?
Also is there anything about the original Mario Party you’d like to see in Mario Party DS?
Let me know. I want to hear all about it. Ok. It’s breakdown time.

Mario Party 2 & 3 Breakdown
What’s Hot?
I happen to like these early Mario Party games… what I didn’t like was the more recent GameCube versions, especially the godawful Mario Party 5 which just blew.
As long as the Nintendo DS’s Mario Party is inspired by these classic Mario Parties, and NOT by recent GameCube escapades, nor by the terrible GBA version, then I think we’ll have a winner.
If not then it’ll be another instantly forgettable party, like Mario Party Advance.

What’s Not?
Hmm… the fact that I’m actually asking for more Mario on the NDS?!? Well, as long as it’s a good Party and you can connect wirelessly to other players without them having to own said game (like you can do now with Zoo Keeper) then I guess I won’t feel regrets about asking for a Mario Party DS game.
Otherwise bring on those wacky pandas, crazy crocs and maniac monkeys cause I’m ready for some zoo keeping madness until such a time that the DS rolls out a game I can really be hyped about.

Moments to Remember?
Of the two? I want the gameplay and costume changing antics of Mario Party 2, and the choice to play as Princess Daisy from Mario Party 3. That and a fine selection of mini games from both that’ll be fun to play (though the dueling games should be based on the Mario Party 2 format with duels fitting each board you are presently playing on). That’s what I remember about why I liked the two Mario Party games, and what I hope will make it’s appearance in a Mario Party DS game… maybe. Memories are good, aren’t they? I think so. So don’t forget to not do a lousy Mario Party game. One Mario Party Advance is enough.

What to Ignore?
Nobody said anything about Mario Party DS so I’m just going on about something that should happen… actually what should happen is we see some Star Wars games on the DS, but that’s just me.
Star Wars : Battle for Naboo, Star Wars : Shadows of the Empire… yeah. Those were good games.
For now ignore me since it’s not like we’re anywhere near Mario Party DS so… oh, well.

Overall?
It sort of reminds me of the scene from The Hunt For Red October.
If Nintendo plays it’s cards right this will work! If we get some… buckaroo…
If we get some buckaroo we’ll get another lousy game like Mario Party Advance, and who needs another Mario Party Advance. Not us. No sir, most definitely that would not be us. No way.
Please make a good Mario Party DS… or release Star Wars games on the DS… something good please.
I can’t stand anymore sucky games… makes me want to own a PSP if not for the fact I’m saving up for a Playstation 3. Oh, well. Mario Party 2 & 3, possible inspiration for Mario Party DS? You decide.!

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