Mario Party is the first release to come out of Nintendo and Hudson's special partnership to produce games.  Nintendo has lent Hudson one of the most valuable properties in videogames: Mario and his associates.  In turn, they have designed a game around the multiplayer capabilities of the Nintendo 64.

The basic premise behind Mario Party is that Mario and all of his friends have gotten into an argument over who is the biggest star.  They each try to make their case, and Toad finally decides a way to resolve the situation.  They will all participate in a competition to decide who is the best.  That competition is Mario Party.

Before I get to the actual review, I should mention that this is a multiplayer game! I cannot stress this enough.  While the game has a single player mode, it is designed primarily as a multiplayer game.

Mario Party's plays much like a board game.  Each player picks a character (Mario, Luigi, Wario, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong) and a board on which to play.  At the beginning, there are six initial boards, with more to be earned later.  Each board is different and has it's own storyline. Each player begins the game with 10 coins, the use of which I'll get to later.  You also receive 10 coins for making a trip around a board, i.e. passing go. Gameplay mainly consists of each player "rolling the die", and moving the corresponding amount of spaces.  The majority of game spaces are either red or blue, red spaces take away 3 coins, while blue spaces give 3 coins.

The main objective of the game is to become the superstar.  The superstar is the winner of the of the most stars. And this where the coins come in.  On each of the boards, there is a place where Toad resides (depending on the board, this can change randomly, or be changed by the players), and Toad will sell you a star for 20 coins.   Other stars are awarded at the end of the game for in game performance.  The person with the most stars at the end of the game wins.

Once the game has been started and each player has rolled the die and moved once, the real fun starts.  Depending on what happened when players moved on the board, one of 50 mini games will begin.  The mini games are where players can really make strides towards winning.  Depending on the individual game, players can steal coins, win coins, force others to lose coins and so on.  Lots of the mini games rely on old school Track and Field style controller abuse, so be ready to replace some controllers.  The mini games are quite varied and give hardcore gamers as much enjoyment as they do the uninitiated.

One of my personal favorites is "Bumper Balls," a game where each player stands atop a ball and the object is to unicycle around and knock each other off their ball.  It may sound simple, but once you have four buddies in a fierce rivalry, insanity ensues.  My friends and I played this mini game for 3 consecutive hours, it's that addictive.   Simplicity is the very essence of the mini games.  None of them require heavy duty gaming skills. 

Another incredibly fun game is "Shyguy Says," which is probably as simple as a game can get. It consists of Shyguy the Pirate lifting a white or red flag.  Red Flag is "B" button and the White flag is "A" Button.  You simply press the button corresponding to the flag that is raised.  It's simple, yet it will entertain you to no end.  Not every mini game is that interesting, but many are incredibly simple, yet insanely fun.  There is certainly something here for everyone.

As you progress through the game, you can also land on Bowser spaces, chance spaces, repeat/lose-a-turn spaces, and Bowser himself.   Each of these spaces can have a fairly large effect on the entire game.   Bowser spaces and meeting Bowser himself are bad news.  Bowser, nine times out of ten, will screw you by either taking coins, stars, or letting other players do the same to you.  Boo the Ghost is also located on one spot , and he will become your best friend.  He will steal coins from any player of your choice and give them to you at no cost.  But the real value of Boo the Ghost is when you pay him 50 coins, he will steal a star from any character of your choice which, if done at the right moment, can swing a game's momentum completely. 

The end of the game is determined by how many turns you chose at the beginning, 20, 35 or 50 turns.  According to the manual, 20 turns is about an 60 mins of play, 35 is 60-120 mins, and 50 turns is 2-3 hrs.  I've found that 20 turns can be played much faster in about 30 mins, whereas the 50 turns could make for a night of play.  When there are 5 turns left, Koopa Troopa, the referee, announces that there are 5 turns left, gives the current standings (ranked by stars, and then coins) and then predicts a winner.  He also doubles the value of everything on the board, blue spots become worth 6, red-6, and a trip around the board become worth 20 coins.  At the very end of the game, Koopa awards prizes.   In addition to stars earned during the game, Koopa will award stars to players who have done certain things-who gathered the most coins, who hit the most chance spaces, etc.  Then he totals this up and who ever has the most stars wins, if there is a tie, it is decided by who has the most coins. 

In order to encourage multiplayer play, the game keeps track of coin and star totals.  You can then use the coins to unlock the minigames, to play alone, buy enhancements for the regular game, and other bonuses.  There is also a special prize for collecting 100 stars.

The game also has modes for single player.  You can play the standard game with the computer.  You can also play a special game called minigame island that puts you on a quest to play all 50 minigames.  And if you have earned minigames, you can play those with computer AI.  But I stress that these are more a diversion than anything. Mario Party is a multiplayer game.

If you can get past the fact that Mario Party is not a game designed for one player, you will love it.  It's hard to adequately describe how much fun a group of people can have playing Mario Party.  It is simply one of the best multiplayer experiences for a game system.  High points include lots of options, ease of play, and it's fun for all ages.