Today, I'm going to review the very hated, yet beloved, Mario Party! It's loved since it would be the beginning of countless ports for more than 15 years into the future. Can't believe it is going to be that far into the series of Party games already. Well, we are going to review the one that started it all, and there are some points to go through about the game. So, let's get right into it.

Difficulty: 7
The difficulty can be graded from Easy, Normal, and Hard to the CPU, if you're playing by yourself. There is some difficulty between the maps or boards you play as well from DK's Jungle Adventure, Peach's Birthday Cake, Yoshi's Tropical Island, Wario's Battle Canyon, Luigi's Engine Room, Mario's Rainbow Castle, Bowser's Magma Mountain, to the hidden map Eternal Star, which can only be unlocked if you do a specific requirement. Yeah, the Party game has somewhat of a story, but I guess it doesn't count. I'll tell you when I'm in the Story category. There's also up to 56 mini games, from 4 player free for all, 2 vs. 2, 1 vs. 3, and even 1 player games, it can go pretty much anywhere. It has its share of difficult games as well, depending on what input you do, such as the infamous Analog rotation. It is said that many people sued Nintendo since it severely hurt their child's hands as the skin started to burn off by doing this, and Nintendo gave all of them a special "glove" for them to have to relieve the pain on those games. Besides those, you shouldn't have much problem playing these games.

Depth: 5
The game doesn't have "Depth" per-se, but getting through each mini-game, unlocking everything, and the Mini Game Island optional quest, it has some length to offer. It can take a little bit since it requires you to play each games to get to the very end in a pathway for the Mini Game Island, and for unlocking the mini games for free to play access, you need to play a lot of Adventure Mode and earn coins. The more coins you earn, they go to your "bank" and you can buy items and blocks, and games. Besides that, there's nothing worth noting to offer.

Story: N/A
This is a party game. There is no story worth noting. Until you earn 100 Power stars and play each Board at least once, your bank that keeps your stars would be robbed by Bowser himself, and he has taken off to the Eternal Star. If you win the Board, you stop Bowser from getting away with all the power stars and repair the giant star you're playing on, the Eternal Star. Do that, and Bowser and his Koopa Kids will be blasted into space. That's the only story you'll get. I don't really count it as a story, though.

Addictiveness: 9
This game is a guilty pleasure of mine since I grew up with the original trilogy when I was younger with my N64. I have so much fun with the simplicity of the game, and the mini games even more. It keeps me entertained, especially playing with my best friends growing up. I guess you can say the peeling skin of my hand was worth it in the end.

Sound: 8
The music in the game is relaxing. The game has each characteristic depending on what map you're on, and what kind of mini game you're in. If it's something of platforming, an athletic theme kicks on, if it's a dark and mysterious game, an eerie theme kicks on. It's very atmospheric, and fits the mood of each game and board. Sound effects, not worth noting, it's as simple as you'll get. Voice acting? There's a little. Wario's legendary D'OH I MISSED, and everyone else's chants were pretty much on the money. Unless you're playing the Japanese version and Luigi and Wario say OH MY GOD. But that's just hilarious to me. Everything is pretty good, nonetheless.

Graphics: 8
There isn't much to say about the character models in this game, it's the simplistic 3-D models of Mario, Luigi, Wario, DK, Yoshi, and Peach. But what gets the rating an 8 is the board details. It's quite amazing to just look at each board, especially boards like Yoshi's Tropical Island, and Mario's Rainbow Castle. The colors pop out, and you really feel like you're in the area it's representing. I could gush more about the music, more so on Mario's Rainbow Castle Theme but you can take a listen yourself. Again, it fits the mood, and you feel like you're not playing a board game at times.

Overall: 8.5
The beginning of the Mario Party series overall, is not the beginnings of most big series are, like clunky and just a test on what they can do. This game brought everything, and delivered. That's why they were successful. It's quite amazing, and I can't say that enough. Does it hold up to today's standards? To me, it does. Some of the mechanics are dated, but everything else about the game still holds the nostalgic feeling in my heart. I love it. If you haven't checked it out, you should give it a try, but I would recommend a game controller for it. Have fun!

Another review for Pacman, another job well done! I am not really a huge fan of Mario Party. In fact I'm hardly a fan at all. This is the only Mario Party game I ever played. The first one, the only one for me. In my opinion, it was an okay game. But obviously, it wasn't good enough for me to pursue future Mario Party games.

Anyway, about your review, like I said you did a nice job with it. My only question mark is not giving the story any rating. The only game review I have done so far is a football game. Of course football games don't have an actual story, but I believe I gave it a 5 (not sure about that). I noticed you at least described what happens when your stars are robbed by Bowser, and when you win the board. I probably would've at least given it some kind of rating (probably a 5 like I did with TSB).

Other than that, you did another really great review. Keep 'em coming brother!

Well done! I'm among those for which the series is beloved. I grew up on this stuff, and it brought together two of my great loves, board games and video games. However, the original Mario Party is among those I never owned. I'd love to own the game someday, and as I remember, the minigames were great! I was severely disappointed, however; by Mario Party 9. I have no interest in buying that game at all, since I tried it out and found it lacking. It simply didn't provide the fun of the N64 Mario Party games. Ever since Mario Party 4, the series has gone downhill. They've made some progress, but all progress has been offset by failings, imo.

Great review! I remember playing the first Mario Party when I was younger. I really liked it but I wished that it didn't involved spinning the analog stick ( I was one of those unlucky people who got blisters from it). Some mini-games were fun, some were unfair, and some were painful. This is the origin of breaking friendships!

I've played Mario Party 1,2,3,4,5, 8, and DS. In my opinion, the Mario Party series for the Nintendo 64 were the best ones that I've ever played and the best at ruining my friendships with my friends.

Keep up with the good work and write more good game reviews!

Awesome review pac! I remember growing up playing Mario Party, I really enjoyed it but I think that the 64 version is better. It's something I used to play when I was bored I guess you could say. It never gets old reading your reviews they are so great and you do an awesome job. Keep up the amazing work!