Mario Party 5 is the best in the series, but not by enough to warrant its creation.
When Mario Party hit the streets in 1999, people went crazy over the four-player madness, and a plague of loose N64 control sticks struck the nation. Fueled by the game’s success in both Japan and the U.S., Hudson and Nintendo went on to make annual sequels. Mario Party 5 continues the tradition of boards, mini-games, and mischief, but its weather-worn mechanics will leave Nintendo fans once again wondering why the two companies even bothered.
The main game, Party Mode, remains virtually unchanged from the five-year-old original. Four characters compete (in teams or alone) on a game board for stars, purchased with coins won on the board and in mini-games, or obtained through more malicious means. If less than four humans are playing, those unaccounted for are controlled by the computer. Players hit random dice to move, choosing their direction at intersections and succumbing to whatever fate their resting space has in store for them. Instead of buying items, players receive capsules containing items and events, which they can place on board spaces for free or use on themselves for a fee. This new capsule system incorporates many of the items and events seen in earlier Mario Party games, but the capsules’ frequency and thrift make the system superior to the cruelly random shop system. Events range from theft to Bowser mini-games and are distributed among the board’s spaces at the start of a game.
MP5’s mini-games, which come in free-for-all, 1-on-3, 2-vs-2, and duel varieties, vary in substance. Some of the mini-games are rehashed Mario Party games with a new mask. The worst offenders are the button masher and luck-based games, though there are a few more pleasant remakes, too. Other mini-games, such as Hotel Goomba, a dungeon-room puzzler, and Coin Cache, with its platformer brick smashing, are surprisingly fresh for the series and excellent entertainment. A party game may employ all mini-games or pre-defined subsets; players can no longer compile a custom list of mini-games. Mini-games can also be enjoyed in alternate presentations, such as the Decathlon, or chosen individually. There are still unfair and boring mini-games, but overall MP5’s mini-games easily outshine those in most other Mario Party titles—including Mario Party 4.
Unsurprisingly, Mario Party 5 is not a fun single-player experience. A normal party game with one or two human players is just as monotonous as in the first four Mario Party games: you spend half of the game mindlessly picking your nose, eating your hat, or turning off your GameCube as the computer opponents make their moves. The story mode, which pits one human player against three computer-controlled Koopa Kids, is a decent attempt at a tolerable single-player Mario Party experience: the three kids all take their turns together, helping to speed things up. However, some of the best mini-games are excluded in this mode, since the player is always competing against the Koopa Kid team. Within the mini-games the AI is as frustrating as ever—eerily cooperative when working with itself, and as dumb as a goomba when paired with a human. Being partnered with the computer in a 2-vs-2 mini-game is usually a curse. The single-player woes will not turn away Mario Party fans that are already familiar with this setback, but newcomers should understand this before spending any money.
Perhaps the most unexpected surprises are Mario Party 5's bonus games. Beach Volleyball and Ice Hockey, with their Mario Party controls, certainly don't compete with games like Beach Spikers and NHL Hitz, but they do provide fun, quick diversions similar to those found in the Super Monkey Ball series. The Card Party, possibly inspired by the Mario Party e-Card game, omits the mini-games and replaces the board with path cards. Specially-labeled cards hold items, events, or stars, but the exact nature of a card is not revealed until a player piece moves onto it. The presentation is charming, but its subdued action makes anything but the shortest Card Party game a bore. Super Duel Mode, where players build and fight with unresponsive tanks, isn’t worth anyone’s time.
Mario Party 5 may be the best in the series, but it’s downright absurd that the series has reached its fifth installment. Hudson and Nintendo are merely tweaking an already-finished game, refusing to address the series’ larger flaws or considerably improve its engine. If Mario Party is the only project which Hudson and Nintendo can successfully collaborate on, perhaps they shouldn’t collaborate anymore.
Mario Party 5
