Mario Party (video game)

Mario Party

Mario Party is a

After all four players have made a movement on the board, a mini-game is initiated. The type of mini-game that is played is determined based on the color of space that each player landed on. Players that have landed on a green space will be randomly assigned to "blue" or "red" status before the mini-game is selected. If all players have landed on the same color of space, a 4-player mini-game is played. Other color variations result in either a 1 vs. 3 or 2 vs. 2 mini-game.[4]^: 12–17 The specific mini-game is then selected via roulette. Mini-game titles are normally highlighted in green, though some titles are highlighted in red;^{[4]: 28–29} the winner of any given mini-game receives coins,^{[4]: 12–17} and in red-highlighted games, the losers will lose coins.^{[4]: 28–29} Another turn is initiated following the end of a mini-game, and the process is repeated until the allotted number of turns have been completed. After the end of the last turn, the winners of three awards are announced, with each winner receiving one additional star; the first two awards are given to the player(s) who collected the most coins in mini-games and throughout the board map game, and the third is given to the player(s) who landed on the most "?" spaces. The winner of the game, the "Super Star", is then determined by the number of total coins and stars collected by each player. If two or more characters have acquired the same amount of coins and stars, the winner will be determined with a roll of the dice block.^{[4]: 12–17}

Other modes

The game's main menu includes a "Mushroom Bank" at which coins received by the human player during gameplay are deposited. The Mushroom Bank will initially carry 300 coins. Coins can be used to purchase mini-games at the "Mini-Game House", which can then be played at any time outside of normal board games. The Mini-Game House includes the "Mini-Game Stadium" mode, in which four players compete on a special board map consisting only of blue and red spaces. Coins are neither gained nor lost from these spaces, and coins are only earned by winning mini-games. The winner of Mini-Game Stadium is determined by whoever accumulates the highest number of coins by the completion of the allotted turns. Coins can also be used at the main menu's "Mushroom Shop", where items can be purchased and stored at the Mushroom Bank. These items can be toggled on or off for use during games, where they will randomly take effect when any character rolls the dice block. Such effects include special dice blocks with only high or low numbers. Other items remove Koopa Troopa or Boo from the board.^[4]

The game includes the single-player Mini-Game Island mode, in which one human player must play through each mini-game. The player has four lives and progresses through a world map with the completion of each mini-game, while losing a mini-game results in the loss of a life. If the player loses all lives, the game ends, and the player must resume from the last

The music was praised,[7]^{[10][14][13][16]} although the graphics received a mixed response.^{[7][10][14][16]} Critics believed the game would have appeal for young children.^{[7][10][14][16][19]} Electronic Gaming Monthly's authors gave the game individual scores of 8.5, 8.5, 8.5, and 9 each, totaling 8.625 of 10.^[8] In Japan, Famitsu's standard quartet of reviewers scored it 8, 8, 7, and 8, totaling of 31 of 40.^[6]

During the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Mario Party for the "Console Children's/Family Title of the Year" award, which was ultimately given to Pokémon Snap.^[20]

Within the first 2 months of its U.S. release, Mario Party was among the top 5 most rented video games.^[21][22][23] It was also the fourth-best-selling video game of April 1999.^[24]

Hand injury complaints

In Mario Party, certain minigames require rotation of the Nintendo 64 controller's analog stick at top speed. Some players reportedly got blisters, friction burns, and lacerations from rotating the stick with palms instead of using thumbs because of the uncomfortable design of the analog stick and it is faster to beat the minigames that way.^[25][26][27]

Although no lawsuits were filed, around 90 complaints were received by New York's attorney general's office and Nintendo of America eventually agreed to a settlement, which included providing gloves for injured players and paying the state's $75,000 legal fees. At the time, providing the estimated 1.2 million gloves could have cost Nintendo up to $80 million.^[25][26][27]

Mario Party was not re-released via the Virtual Console on Wii and Wii U, with Mario Party 2 released instead. The game would not be re-released until November 2, 2022 via Nintendo Switch Online.^[28]

Minigames using stick rotation returned in Mario Party: The Top 100. In Mario Party Superstars, a disclaimer is placed on the rules screen for the two mini games that use stick rotation warning players to not use their palms to turn the stick to avoid hand injury and stick damage.^[29] A similar warning appears for the Nintendo Switch Online version of Mario Party when starting the game.^[30]

Notes

References

External links

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• Official website (in Japanese)
• Mario Party at MobyGames
• Mario Party at
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