Mario Party - N64

Originally, party games were a difficult task to accomplish for developers, mainly due to the lack of multi-player functions on older formats. As the console industry progressed, the desire for multi-player games was recognised and taken into consideration for later hardware developments. Multi-tap equipment was developed for PlayStation, and Nintendo 64 went the whole hog and put four sockets on the machine to begin with. One of Nintendo’s earlier party games to come from Miyamoto’s R&D team is the self-explanatory Mario Party. The name says it all. Keeping true with typical Nintendo methods, this game is, of course, based upon the Mario Universe and features a number of classic Nintendo characters that include Luigi, Bowser, Peach and Donkey Kong.

There are two main areas of Mario Party that separate single player game modes from multi-player challenges. Should you be a solo gamer, you take on the adventure mode. Here, you must go the distance alone through a dotted map, tackling each challenge as you progress. On each spot of the map you will be challenged to one of Mario Party’s fifty mini-games by random characters. Each game is quite unique, simple and fun to play.

Should you opt for the multi-player option, you will begin on one of a number of themed levels available. Each game takes place on a themed board withvarying spots that the player can land on, depending on the outcome of the dice. Your goal is to collect as many stars and coins as possible in a customisable number of turns. To make the challenge more interesting, the active board has many variables and routes that can differently affect each players’ destiny. As a result, Mario Party offers a series of games that will never be played the same way, making it unpredictable and exciting. more