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Mario & Wario Review
It is always a shame when you have a pretty solid game that is really ruined by a single aspect of it. Unfortunately that is exactly what happened here. The game has solid graphics and an interesting level system but alas the controls are just dreadful. They actually make the Wii Remote look good in comparison! Trust me, you’re going to be feeling rather down about the whole thing by the time you’re done. Still, this was the first new Mario game I’ve played in quite a while so that was pretty cool.
The game lets you choose between Mario, Yoshi, and Peach. Naturally I had to go with Peach because she doesn’t get many chances to shine, but also because her walking speed is slower. That is actually very important in this game because the character is always moving. How it works is that Wario has thrown a bucket over the hero’s head and so you play as a fairy who has to keep the road clear. You will tap on blocks to summon them in front of the player or attack enemies who would have been in the way otherwise. This takes a lot of precision timing and you have to react quickly. So when the player is slower, it ends up helping out a lot.
There isn’t really a plot beyond that unfortunately. There are 10 worlds here and each world has around 10 levels in it So that’s a lot of levels but they tend to be very quick. Most levels you can beat in around 2 minutes or so. The levels start to become more like puzzles once you get deeper into them though. In World 10 there were several times where I just didn’t know where to go. That’s rather impressive in a game like this where there are only a limited amount of actions you can take.
You really have to memorize how high the springs will send you here for example. Otherwise you won’t reach the target or you will go way past it. So it’s definitely something to chew on a bit there. You can use the fairy to reverse Peach’s direction as well which will be key in the final levels. You have to do this a whole lot and with quick timing to avoid the various traps. I can tell you this, without the rewind feature this would have really been a very difficult game to complete.
The artstyle is pretty fun and has definitely aged well. It’s something that Nintendo in particular has done really well over the years. The soundtrack also isn’t bad. It’s not extremely good or anything like that but the main tune doesn’t get too tiring even after hearing it for a large chunk of the game. It’s clear that some real thought was put into the game and that’s why it is a shame that the controls are no good. The gameplay itself is fine. It’s all about pointing and clicking but I have no problems with that.
No, where the problem lies is in the controller itself. To play this game on the Switch Online you need to use the Joypad and then convert it into mouse mode. Nobody wants to use mouse mode. I don’t even know why this is a thing in the first place. Sometimes Nintendo just develops new gimmicks for no real reason. It has really hurt this game and it will hurt others if it continues to be a mandatory style of playing.
There is some replay value here as you don’t have to clear every level to get to the final one. If you go back and do them all, you unlock a final boss level. So you may want to do that to see how the story really ends. Ultimately I just couldn’t get past the controls to do that though. They are really draining the whole time and so you don’t get a whole lot of enjoyment out of them. You’ll die quite a few times even when you know exactly what to do because the controller just isn’t listening to you. Those are always the worst ways to go out and you’ll be left just shaking your head.
Overall, Mario & Wario may have finally arrived on modern consoles but unfortunately it should have been left to history rather than return in this form. It tarnishes the Mario brand and ends up being a waste even with Wario being the big villain. This is the kind of game that could desperately use some kind of high budget remake. I think there are many ways they could improve upon the source material without drastically changing things. It could be a worthy puzzle rival to Mario vs DK. In the meantime though, this is the kind of game you’ll want to skip. If you have the Switch Online then you may as well check it out for free but otherwise I certainly wouldn’t spend any money on it.
Overall 3/10
Mario’s Picross Review
I remember playing the Legend of Zelda Picross a long time ago and it was surprisingly fun. I’m more familiar with Sudoku than Picross but they have a lot of similarities. It’s satisfying to see the picture that you have created by making all of the matches. While Mario may not have quite the same amount of polish that the Link title had, I would say that it holds its own. The levels also throw you into the deep end right away with how many rows and columns there are.
For those who don’t play Picross, the basic goal is to try and figure out whether each tile is an X or an O. You do this by reading the numbers listed on each column and row. There are 15 rows and 15 columns. So lets say a row says “15” on it. Then you know that every tile in that row is an O. Likewise if it says zero, then every tile is an X. You start the level with one “hint” where the game completed 1 row and 1 column for you. Then from there you have to figure out the rest with logical deduction. After the first levels you won’t see any 15 or 0 indicators. Instead there will be numbers in the middle like 5, 7, etc. So for those you just have to check every field and narrow down your search. Don’t try to solve everything at once and eventually you will get there. You can get a few guesses wrong but each one hurts your score.
So that’s the gameplay and of course like I said you get to see a fun image related to Mario once you have completed the puzzle. It’s a nice incentive for pulling this off. Perhaps if you recognize the image that will appear it can also work as a hint but to be honest that’s never worked for me. It’s just too specific to really zoom in and make a great guess like that. You will need to really be a genius to pull that off so you’re probably going to be stuck trying to solve the puzzle the normal way.
How much you enjoy the game will all depend on how much you like Picross because that’s literally the only mode here. You won’t be doing anything else. Now if you do like the style, then you’ll be glad to know that there are over 100 levels to go through here! That’s a lot of Picross to get through and so you can’t say that the game is lacking in content. I’m curious which symbols are used but I guess across the Mario franchise it should be easy to make 100 pictures. I wouldn’t be surprised if the last one is a Mario face or something.
The graphics aren’t bad here. I’m not going to say they’re amazing or anything but they hold their own and don’t show the age all that much. The art style works well and then you’ve also got a decent soundtrack. Surprisingly they don’t go ahead and throw in all of the big Mario tunes though. That would have been really fun to have gotten a large variety of those. Maybe next time if they were to ever make a new Picross title.
It’s hard to estimate how long it would take you to complete every level but surely it would be at least a few hours. After all the puzzles only get harder and harder the more you go on. I wouldn’t be surprised if they increased the size to a 20 by 20 or even a 30 by 30 in the end. The difficulty should feel really hard by the end and so this works as a real educational game as well. You have to really focus and give it your all in order to reach your way to the top. One wrong move or bad guess will send you back.
There’s not much else to say about the game because of how direct it is. Likewise you should know if you will like it or not right away based on this as well. Picross is Picross at the end of the day. There may be some slight differences in how it can be presented but there certainly are no differences in how the game itself is played. Although if anyone was to ever add items or gimmicks to the game, it would definitely be Nintendo.
Overall, Mario Picross is a good game. It’s definitely not all that ambitious but you don’t need to be for a game like this. The real fun is in trying to see how far you can go. You can even implement big challenges on yourself like considering it a game over if you get any wrong responses or turning down the hint at the beginning. Just keep on going and your skills are bound to continue improving over and over again. Soon you will be a Picross champion!
Overall 6/10
Yoshi’s Island DS Review
Yoshi’s Island is one of those games that I would have imagined that I’d have played years ago but it always fell through the cracks. As a result it feels really retro to be playing this one because it’s just from such a different time. This was back when Nintendo really did not hold back on the difficulty. Some of these levels are really quite hard but never in an unfair way. Your platforming skills will simply be tested in ways that you wouldn’t have thought possible.
The story is fairly basic but with one little twist that was nice. Basically babies around the world are being kidnapped and this includes poor Luigi. Fortunately the stork is able to save Mario and quickly locates Yoshi so that they can team up to save the world once again. These two are no strangers to mixing it up with the likes of Bowser and so they quickly get ready for this. What they don’t realize is that King Bowser has come from the future as well to really complicate matters. Dealing with two fierce opponents may be a bit much and then we have Wario as a wild card.
Right off the bat I can appreciate the wide character roster here. At least for a Platformer this feels pretty big. You can use Baby Mario, Peach, Wario, DK, and even Bowser at one point. Each character has their own special abilities while riding on Yoshi and this even affects your running speed. Additionally Mario has the ability to grow his cape while using a power star and you temporarily control him instead of Yoshi. It’s clear that Nintendo was really working hard to ensure there was a whole lot of depth to the gameplay. It’s certainly doing more than the original.
That said, more isn’t always better. How much you enjoy this game will really come down to how much you like playing as all of the characters. If for any reason you do not like playing as them, then you will probably miss the standard Yoshi gameplay. As its core the gameplay still has many of the same elements like running through the levels and getting past all the obstacles but then you use the character specific items like DK’s climbing to get past different barriers in the level.
I mostly stuck with Mario as his basic gameplay is the most comforting but the game does force you to switch on many occasions. So get used to playing as everyone. Like I said before the difficulty is also quite high so don’t think that you will just be sleep walking through this adventure. No, you’re going to have to really put in a lot of effort. Stock up on as many lives as possible in the first few worlds. I nearly didn’t spend enough focus on that since I figured lives wouldn’t be important but the difficulty really spikes starting with world 4. I had around 65 lives by that point and ended up with less than 20 by the end.
There are a lot of check points in the game which is good but some of the jumps and timings are really intense. It’s fun to see how creatively Nintendo added this difficulty while preserving the basic concept of Yoshi not having a health bar. You die if you fall through a pit, touch lava, or let your baby get away from you for a long period of time. The latter is the easiest way to die so just be careful where you’re at when you take damage.
For the most part the bosses are all really easy though as even the final boss moves fairly slow and only has a few different attacks. I suspect that it is harder to balance a boss than it is for a level which explains the huge disparity between them. So at least that’s one part you don’t have to worry about, for the most part you will be blowing the bosses away with ease. For the levels, you just have to keep going at them over and over again until you’ve found a way to win. Over 90% of the challenging parts are just about execution though so you don’t have to worry about solving puzzles or anything like that. Just put your best foot forward and you’ll be fine.
The graphics are pretty solid here. Again it has a very nostalgic kind of vibe to it with the looks and designs really being classic Mario all the way. It’s an easy game to enjoy visually and the soundtrack is also good. A solid array of themes even if I can’t point to any one theme and say that it’s an all star. They all work well within the context that they appear in which is good enough for me. Nintendo typically always does a good job on that front so I’m not surprised.
There is also a formidable amount of replay value here. The main campaign is fairly long with 5 worlds of 8 levels each but then each world has 3-4 bonus levels as well. Then you have the collectibles and there are a ton of those to grab in each level. We’re talking massive Yoshi coins as well as red coins. It will take a very long time to achieve all of those so that will add more than a few hours to your total docket.
Overall, This is a very complete Yoshi game. It holds its own with the classic Mario titles although I will always prefer the Mario gameplay over Yoshi overall. Nothing wrong with Yoshi’s but Mario’s tends to be more fast paced. Here you do often have to wait for things to get set up. The worst are the auto scroller levels but that is true for any platformer title since the movement is so slow. You should definitely check this game out if you are looking for a good challenge. I can definitely guarantee that you will find one here. It’s the kind of game that you really can’t underestimate.
Overall 7/10
Mario & Luigi: Brothership Review
Mario is one of those characters who has been around for a very long time. He has had games in many different genres and has two different RPG series. It’s definitely impressive and it was nice to get a new Mario & Luigi title after many years. The story is not particularly strong as this modern era of the plumber tries to steer away from getting too serious but the game itself is still fun. I have some quality of life issues here but all in all it is a fun game for you to have fun with.
The basic plot is that Mario and Luigi are transported to a whole new world all of a sudden. Their assistance is required as all of the islands here have been split apart. This is preventing friendship and harmony from being united across all of the land. It’s a sticky situation to be in but the bros are ready for this. The situation gets more complicated though when Peach and Bowser show up. Now the stakes are higher than ever and they will have to rely on their bonds of Brothership to get through this.
Like I said, the story isn’t going for a very hype kind of vibe so you shouldn’t take this too seriously. It’s not like the whole thing is played for laughs or anything but when things are getting too serious the game will try to throw a gag or two in there. Even the main villain not being able to remember names seems like a way to diffuse every cutscene that he is in. Ultimately I would say that you are playing this game for the gameplay and not for the story. I still like the cutscenes when they show up and every scene with Bowser is a winner but the story does move at a very slow pace.
This is by far the longest game in the series as well. Typically you can expect around 15-18 hours but this one is over 30. There is a lot of content here but the story didn’t really make the most of it. They tend to repeat the info quite a bit or drag out the conversations. Unfortunately the game uses the most annoying vocal sounds that I’ve ever heard. Think of the Banjo & Kazooie games but if two characters were talking at the same time for every cutscene. It ends up being quite brutal as a result and you end up having to hold that L.
The audio direction was really quite bad. We do have a few limited sound clips but as a result they have to be thrown in randomly a lot of the time instead of really making sense in the moment. The graphics are good at least. The game isn’t trying to be too bold with them so you’re not going to see anything on the level of Sonic Frontiers but the art style is fun. As for the soundtrack, there are some decent tunes but it’s not the strongest Mario soundtrack. It could have used one or two more really good tunes.
As for the gameplay, it’s your classic turn based system. You have your standard attacks as well as your Bros attacks. Along the way you also get equipment that amps up your abilities as well as badges that you equip which then expire after a few turns. This adds a lot to the strategy as you have to be careful when you turn these on. For example if you use your best ones against some minions then you will be in a really bad spot for the boss battle. There is no quick way to recharge then either as you just have to fight for a certain amount of turns before they are back to normal.
This is one of those games that prefers to go with a long approach to level ups. It takes a long time to get a level up because every combat animation is on the long side. Normal battles are much longer than they need to be. I know a lot of effort was put into the animations but they really should have an option to turn these off after a while. In particular the Bros attacks take a while since you have to do some command prompts. I suppose it wouldn’t be possible to turn those off but it’s definitely unfortunate.
I also think they should let you skip encounters when you are vastly over leveled compared to the enemy. For example when you go back to the first world to grab some collectibles, those level 1 enemies will still force an encounter. You can run away of course but now you’re already in the battle. These are fairly basic quality of life updates that would make the game a lot more fun. It’s why I would say the game is fun but it’s not going to touch almost any of the other big RPGs. They are in a completely different league.
One thing that was implemented rather well were the collectibles. Each world has some extra sparks which is how you unlock the new plugs (badges) and gives you a reason to explore every world twice. Most of the sparks don’t appear until after you have beaten the world after all. There is just enough where it doesn’t feel like a chore and additionally this is completely optional which I was glad about. So this is the right way to add a collectathon element.
Aside from the campaign itself being super long, there are also a number of side quests and optional items to grab. A lot of the side quests are time sensitive as well so you will want to take care of them quickly. There are also a lot of landmarks to find outside of the islands but the most disappointing thing was I bothered to find them all and there was no reward. Felt like a let down, I was expecting something. Ah well, it was still a fun thing to do on the side.
As for the new Luigi mechanic, it’s not bad but doesn’t really change much. This game tries to really show how Luigi is the smart one of the group and it’s one of those really unassuming twists. Like he’s scared of everything but when he focuses then he can do great things. The concept is sound, but the execution just feels a bit tacked on. I would have liked it to have effected gameplay a lot more or been presented in a way where it enhances the experience. Instead it’s just something that’s around.
Overall, Mario & Luigi Brothership may be a little underwhelming but to be honest I wasn’t expecting a ton out of it in the first place. That probably sounds bad, but at this point I play Mario for the fun gameplay experience as opposed to the story. The story does have its fun moments to be sure but just don’t expect anything too grand. The gameplay has a lot of strategy to it and I would even say that the game can be reasonably difficult at times. That’s something that I was impressed by. You really need to learn the enemy’s attack patterns or you will be buried in short order. Hopefully the next game brings in the Mushroom Kingdom more but either way I can recommend this game.
Overall 7/10
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins Review
It’s time for the next big Mario adventure! I got to play this one pretty much right after the first Mario Land so this way I could compare them directly. The colors take some getting used to though. It’s not black and white anymore but now it’s like a steady green which can be a bit weird. I just want my normal colors back but hey I can deal with this as needed. In the end it doesn’t take away from the game itself which is solid.
Land 2 learned from the first game and made things longer this time around. You actually have a whole hub world too which is pretty advanced for such an old game. Basically you have to walk to where each world is and each world is 4 levels this time. Completing each world gives you a gold coin and once you have all 6, you can go infiltrate Wario’s castle and take him down. Wario actually has a lot of presence to him in this game. It’s hard to see him in this way now but back then he was a serious enemy. When he showed up, you automatically had to fear the guy. He has a lot of resources and enemies backing him up as well.
The boss fights are all pretty fun here. The Wario one in particular is really good but they all test your platforming abilities. No gimmicks or anything, just fast reaction times and seeing if you have what it takes as the bosses rush towards you all the time. The levels are also a lot of fun as you’d expect. They’re fairly short but always have a good amount of enemies running at you. There was only one cheesy level that had an invisible block so when you jump you automatically lose. That was a bit much not gonna lie. Without the rewind it would be such an annoying way to die.
The graphics aren’t bad but the colors do kind of mess it up. The green will have you shaking your head before long. Trust me on that! The soundtrack works out well. I wouldn’t quite say that it’s an all star or anything like that though. I don’t remember too many of the tunes afterwards but there was one or two that I remember hearing in the newer games so that was definitely nostalgic.
In this game you get to have fun with some underwater levels as well and there is even a bubble power up that lets you fly to the top. That was definitely cool even if it only shows up for one level. I don’t totally understand the point of the auto scrolling levels though. There are like 2-3 in the hub world that don’t count towards any of the coins and seem to just move you around the hub world. The thing is, it’s quicker to just walk around manually than to complete a whole level and get the slight movement. So maybe I’m overthinking things here but it just seemed like a weird choice.
Perhaps this is for some kind of secret collectible and the game has more replay value than I would have guessed though. If that is the case then I definitely have to give the game some bonus credit because I underestimated it. Regardless, while there isn’t a ton of content here, it’s a serviceable amount. The gameplay is rock solid and that’s what counts. It’s easy to see how Mario became a global hit when all of his games were so consistent. You always knew that you would have a good time with his titles.
Overall, Super Mario Land 2 is a pretty good game. It’s a lot of fun and the experience lasts longer than in the first title. There’s nothing to really dislike here and Wario makes for a pretty intense villain. I would still like to see more Mario games like this that totally flip the setting and villains around. I do love Bowser of course but a quick change is never a bad thing. Just keep switching things up and you’ll have some new settings to play around with. Of course I would like a modern game to have more of a story since this one is basically nonexistent.
Overall 7/10
Super Mario Land Review
It’s time for one of those really retro Mario games. In fact it’s so retro on the classic Game Boy that it’s even in black and white! But that’s crazy right? Well it’s definitely odd to be playing it without all the colors but it’s still a fun game. All of the classic Mario staples are there from great level designs to interesting and innovative enemies around every corner. Yeah this is some good stuff, it’s just a shame that it’s so short.
The game barely has a plot in terms of what you see in the game but officially there is a story thanks to the booklet. All you need to know is that Princess Daisy needs your help so it’s up to you to vanquish all of the enemies in your way. Can you pull it off? Well you better be able to or everything’s going to be falling sideways before long. Right off the bat it is fun to be fighting whole new opponents here compared to Bowser and friends. It was a good opportunity for Nintendo to flex their creative chops and have to come up with a whole new cast of fighters. So that was really cool.
The bosses were fun and the whole game really flies by. In part because the game is extremely short, you can complete it in around an hour, possibly less than that. It’s a mix of the stages being short, each world only having 3 stages, and the levels not being super difficult. Of course with the rewind feature you can feel free to rush in every time and if you make a mistake just rewind. If you have to play strategically then it might slow you down just a tad but even then I doubt it would be a big delay.
So you’re not here for a long time but for a good time. The game delivers there like I’ve been saying. The levels are all very diverse and you have to keep your wits about you with the various enemies running around. The graphics are decent, perhaps not as good as the other Mario games because they aren’t in color but they still look good. The soundtrack is also fun as always. Perhaps not on the level of Mario World but few things are.
There isn’t a ton of replay value which is the only thing you would want to consider if you were buying the game for a price. After beating the game there really isn’t anything to do except beating it again and all. Not a bad idea of course but yeah there’s not a lot of bonus content here. So if the game was 50 dollars or something like that then I’d say to skip it but as long as you have the Nintendo Switch Online and it’s free then you should definitely check it out. In a way you are finally getting to experience the lost entry in the Mario series. It certainly took me long enough to try it at any rate.
In a way because the game is so direct and straightforward there isn’t much to talk about though. So this will be a fairly small review. After all you can only explain how Nintendo did a great job with the gameplay, level design, and everything so many times. It’s a very complete title and it would be fun to see some of these enemies and levels come back someday. Some kind of big Mario remake project taking elements from all of the old titles. There’s really a ton Nintendo could do with that kind of premise someday. Hopefully we get something like that as a celebration.
Overall, Super Mario Land is a pretty fun game. It is extremely short which I assume was more of a console limitation however it still gives you a good time all the way through. I didn’t really have any problems with the game. The gravity and platforming gameplay themselves take a little getting used to compared to some of the newer games but you’re still ready to roll right from the jump. Just trust in your own gameplay abilities and you will really be dominating. Definitely check this out if you have the Nintendo Switch Online. You can’t beat free right?
Overall 7/10
Super Mario Party Review
Mario Party is one of those really long running series that just keeps on going and it’s always impressive. It did hit a bit of a slump for a while there starting with Mario Party 8 but this one is getting on the right track. My main problem with it is just that the control scheme isn’t great. The fact that you can only use the single Joy Con and can’t use any of the actual controllers is rather puzzling to say the least. Why would you even do that? The only explanation I could think of it that maybe it would be slightly easier for 4 people to be in the same room playing buttttt I’m not sold on this because in theory if you had more standard controllers you could use the 2 Joy Cons and two wireless for an instant 4 player session. So yeah that was a little too bad.
When you boot up the game, you get the brief intro cutscene which is pretty much a remake of the first Mario Party at least in terms of the concept. Everyone is fighting to be recognized as the greatest superstar on the planet. To prove this, they will all compete in a bunch of minigames and so that sets the stage for all of the modes. There are a decently large amount of options to be had here outside of the normal party mode and it’s all connected within the hub world. You can quick travel to any area once you have unlocked it as well.
Interestingly the intro movie plays every time you boot up the game but you can skip it so that’s not a big deal. I suppose the first place you will likely go to is Party Mode which is always a safe bet. You are able to set each stage to 10 turns which is nice. That may sound like a given but believe it or not this isn’t the case. After playing through the original Mario Party titles I was reminded that you used to have to choose 15 turns. 10 turns is fairly long anyway so don’t worry about that. There are a ton of unskippable cutscenes on every turn and of course you can’t skip the CPU’s turns so that’s a lot of waiting time anyway. It’s why this is a game that is really meant to be played with friends.
There are 3 main maps and then a 4th one that you unlock by playing the first 3. A key thing to note is that you don’t have to beat these levels, just playing them is enough to unlock everything. By playing the 4th level you unlock a jewel. Gather all of the jewels to unlock the true ending. You do this by completing each mode. So aside from the party mode you also have co-op party mode. I’m not exactly sure what that entails but maybe if it’s a 2 v 2 the whole time, any stars and coins you obtain are merged? That means you need to hope you have a good teammate.
Another mode is music based. All of the minigames that you play in this one are build around timing and rhythm. So feel the beat as best you can and then you will be fine. This mode is the quickest by far and only has 3 levels to play through in order to unlock the gem. This time I think you do have to win but the games are fairly easy so you shouldn’t have a problem. Then there is the water-raft mode. This one feels the most pointless to me so far. Basically everyone is stuck on a boat as you try to maneuver your way to the end. Completing minigames adds more seconds to your timer so just keep on playing and you’ll make it to the end. I think part of what holds this one back is everyone is stuck together anyway so there’s no real competitive aspect to the game. It also feels really hard to lose. There’s just not much to it.
Outside of that you have the classic minigame modes, mini, minigames in Toad World, and you can check out the shop to buy advice. There’s a fairly large variety of content to be found within the game so I give the title a lot of respect there. There were still a lot of question marks within the game by the time I finished it. In terms of minigames, I unlocked nearly all of them, there are just 2 left. A great quality of life update is that the game prioritizes minigames that you haven’t unlocked yet when playing. The curser will intentionally stop on the question marked ones for any area where I was missing a game.
I can’t stress enough what a big deal that is. It saves an incredible amount of time and makes unlocking the games no chore at all. It could be rough in older games if the RNG wasn’t just right. There are also unlockable characters here which feels nostalgic since you don’t get to go through that process nearly as much anymore. Each character has different unlock criteria so I recommend looking that up online. Once you fulfill the criteria, just run around the hub world until you find that character. I ended up unlocking Dry Bones so I have 3 characters left to go through.
In terms of graphics, the game definitely looks nice and modern. I definitely have no issues there, no corners were cut here. Of course without much of a story it’s not like there is much to really test the game with either. For the soundtrack, it’s a bit more forgettable. I can’t say that any of the stage tunes really stood out to me. Fortunately this game really just needs fun minigames in order to succeed and those were good. I may not have been all that thrilled with the Wii tier motion controls running around but the traditional games were fun. There’s a really good soccer game and a lot of fun platforming ones. Running through a maze filled with bananas for example made for a very memorable stage. I certainly won’t forget it any time soon.
Overall, There are enough minigames here to keep you busy. So mix that in with the general replay value and you have a lot of bang for your buck. The fact that the game has a lot of unlockable content here is a pretty good trick to keep you interested for a long while. None of the unlockables are particularly grueling in terms of time to unlock either. So since you’ll be having a good time, it will fly by as you play through the next levels. Throw in the online modes and that’s pretty nice since it’s still a fairly new concept to be able to challenge people online. I’m not sure if it’s quite $60 good, but if you can get a bit of a deal on this game then I definitely recommend buying it.
Overall 7/10
Mario Party 2 Review
Usually I had been doing the Mario Party reviews in order but I actually never got around to publishing this one. Well, it’s time for a blast to the past because Mario Party 2 is a title that really had fun going the extra mile. The fact that each board has a full cutscene at the end where the heroes take down Bowser is really fun. I didn’t test if the cutscene is skippable so if it isn’t then maybe this would get old eventually but otherwise it’s just a really nice way to cap off the adventure.
The game has your classic story where you take Bowser out and prove that you’re the best while also having the iconic party/minigame modes at the ready. This is a party game that really has a ton of content for you to go out and enjoy. I would expect nothing less from this AAA title though. The character roster is still a bit on the small side but of course they all play the same so it’s not like it’s a particularly big deal. I just enjoy having more characters because it’s just fun to keep switching things up. This game is fairly old so we can really let that part slide.
Now where the game shines is with the levels. There’s a decent number of boards here and they are all very unique. They each commit 100% to the level’s theme whether it be outer space or the wild west. They have their own event spaces and a lot going on here but don’t break up the gameplay as much as the original or Party 3 where they could be a little excessive at times. Here we get to just jump in with the minigames and really just have a party. The A.I. is still as strong as ever though so get ready to have some real competition there. It’s just so good as predicting where you will go and making the right action. You wouldn’t see that from a newer title.
The selection of minigames is pretty solid as well. It has some of the most iconic ones of course like riding on the ball to knock out other opponents and a bunch of others. While Party 4 will always have the best lineup, these games hold their own rather well. Unlocking them all is bound to take you a long while too with how many there are to select. That’s still one thing I wouldn’t mind changing in a future title, some other way to unlock them aside from RNG. After all as we all know, RNG can be really rough to deal with at times.
As you can expect the graphics here look really good. Mario Party has a very timeless artstyle that still looks sharp and colorful many years after the game comes out. I suspect that this will always be the case as well. Colorful artstyles just work, it’s something that I’ve tried to say for years. Realistic artstyles are more risky because when they’re old, they look old. The soundtrack here is also fairly decent. Not super memorable but it has enough energy to it to work well with the minigames.
It goes without saying that the replay value here is also quite extensive so there’s a lot of reason to keep on coming back to have a good time. The minigames are different enough where you may want to play this one for a while even over a newer installment just for the nostalgia. As a result I would say there is always a market for this title even if it’s not my personal favorite Party title in the franchise. It’s still good enough by a considerable margin to be worth the play.
Overall, Mario Party 2 is a really fun game. There’s not a whole lot more to say about the game because it’s jut really solid due to the excellent gameplay and creativity in the games. There’s no real story to talk about or some kind of hidden theme for me to unpack. It’s a very direct title in that sense. You’re playing a game to have a fun time and this one delivers. So I can easily recommend this to any gamer no matter what your skill level is. It’s just good fun all around. You feel like they could have made a 15 turn Party Mode which would be easier to play in a short batch but you do also have minigame mode for that. Also since we’re on the Switch Online you can always create a save point whenever you want. Now there’s one of those modern quality of life perks I love so much! Of course that’s not from the game itself so I wouldn’t be counting it as part of the review.
Overall 7/10
Mario Party 3 Review
It’s time for the next Mario Party title! The series has definitely come a long way and it’s always fun to take a trip down nostalgia lane with the older ones. Back in the day I played a lot of Mario Party 2 but 3 was sort of the odd man out. Now I could really go through it and see how it stacked up. It’s a fun game as are all of the parties but I would say that it’s not quite at the elite level of some of the latter ones like Mario Party 4 and Mario Party 5. In particular I think there are too many event spaces which do have a tendency to slow up the game somewhat.
I played a classic party match on the snow level. The gimmick here is that there is a snowman who throws a snowball at you and if you don’t time your jump perfectly then you will be sent flying and may even go right past the star you were hoping to be at. It’s a pretty tough one to deal with because the timing does have to be absolutely precise on every level. Mess it up by even the smallest amount and the stage will definitely make you regret it. Also there are a ton of event spaces littered about the stage so no matter what you really end up bumping into them. In my match the space was probably landed on at least 10 times.
It would be nice if the cutscene could be skipped after the first time but I guess because of the jumping that wouldn’t really be possible. As always I do have to say that the computer is incredibly skilled. It’s like you never really stood a chance against that guy. He wins just about all of the minigames and has incredible luck. I’m glad that Nintendo didn’t hold back here but man is it a different feeling than the A.I. nowadays. Although maybe I’m speaking too soon and I’m about to get clobbered when I try Super Mario Party soon. It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility right?
The graphics have aged very well if you ask me. Yeah they’re certainly a bit blockier and more pixelated as you would expect since it has been many years but the art style is magnificent so it just doesn’t matter. There’s one minigame where the characters are in their vehicles so you just see their giant heads popping out and it works extremely well. Meanwhile the soundtrack and sound effects are on point as well.
I haven’t talked much about the gameplay because it’s pretty self explanatory but I will say the most impressive thing here is really just that the game is a lot of fun. At no point are you bored or anything and the flow is pretty good. The minigames have a lot of variety as well. I should warn you that the Z button doesn’t appear to be configured/mapped with the GC controller. Not sure if there’s a way to fix that in the settings but if not there are definitely some unwinnable minigames here so I would keep that in mind. You basically just end up losing which boosts the CPU’s chances of winning matches even more as a result.
There are quite a number of maps in the game, each with their own little quirks so that adds a lot of replay value to the title. It’s also fun unlocking so many new minigames each time. I do think that it could get a little tricky eventually when you’re down to the last ones to unlock with RNG but that is always the case. Just means you have to get in there and keep on playing matches until you’ve obtained them all. A 20 turn match seems to take close to an hour so I wonder how long doing the 50 turn party they suggest would take. I feel like I did get to try that once in Party 4 or 5 but that was so many years ago that I just don’t remember.
Obviously the game has tons of replay value with minigame mode, and all of the other ways to play. You could really keep playing this game forever which is by design and Nintendo definitely aced it there. I would say it does beat Mario Party 1 with ease although to me Mario Party 2 seemed to have the better selection of minigames. I would also take it over a lot of the modern titles that really messed with the rules, these traditional settings are definitely the best way to go.
Overall, Mario Party 3 is definitely a pretty good game. I had fun with it and while you can definitely see some areas that could use a bit of work like all of the interruptions within the party stage and all, it’s still a positive experience in the end. The minigames themselves are a lot of fun and there’s also such a large variety of them. Even party games that would come out many years later like Sonic and the Secret Rings had far less minigames. So this one showed what was possible on a much smaller budget and made it look easy. Nintendo was definitely ahead of the curve. So I would say playing Party 4 is the better bet but if you have the Switch Online then you definitely owe it to yourself to give it a shot. No reason not to play it when you’ve got it in the collection right?
Overall 7/10
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