Review: Mario Party 9

The Mario Party genre isn’t given much of a chance with gamers, even with most Nintendo and/or Mario fans. I believe the creators behind it were listening to the griping and decided to do something different with the ninth Mario Party game.

In Mario Party 9, King Bowser and his mini-me, Bowser Jr., are up to no good again, using a machine to suck all the Mini Stars from out of the sky and plunging the Mushroom Kingdom under a blanket of eternal darkness. Mario and his pals can see this going on at Peach’s castle while stargazing and now it’s up to them to stop evil father and son team and release the Mini Stars back in the sky.

You might say “ninth verse,  same as the first” because, well, it’s Mario Party, but it does differ from its past cousins.  Instead of running around themed boards continuously for 20, 30, 50 times, there is a finish line and it makes me more competitive to gain more Mini Stars and keep as many on me before reaching it. The blue and red spaces that give  and take away coins have been replaced with spaces that move you back or forward or either reward you or take your stars (or dice). You have to land on a space to play a mini-game or ‘find’ one in prize package instead of waiting after everyone’s had their turn on the board. Special dices are in place of items that can either get you closer to more Mini Stars or keep you from running into a disaster, such as rising lava or stalking Boos, or Mini Ztars.

There’s only one thing I don’t like about the game: teamwork.  Players are stuck together in vehicles and must work together make it to the end of the board. It is unique of playing Mario Party but it sucks when you’re driving as the captain and there’s Mini Ztars just up ahead or you are caught in a trap and lose your special dice or half your Mini Stars. That’s where your friends or NPC players can set you up. Then again, I guess it’s no different than a friend/NPC using an item that sic’s a Boo or Chain Chomp on you. 

Another con I heard from a friend is waiting to play the mini-games instead of playing after everyone had their turn on the board.  It didn’t hit me at first but the mini-games are the backbones of Mario Party.Without them or even waiting to land on the few mini-game spaces, it can make the game rather boring.

Mario Party 9 still follows suit with its predecessors but has different way of playing it. Families or those who do Friday game night with friends and are big fans of Mario and company will enjoy it and maybe even those who gripe constantly that it’s the same game will give it chance. Then again, maybe I’m just being the weirdo who likes to play solo mode in party games.

Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are!

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