Nintendo Wii - Mario Party 8 Recommended

Format
Nintendo Wii
Publisher
Nintendo
Developer
Nintendo
Country of origin
Japan
Genre
Party games

Mario Party 8

By David Rasmussen
25th Jun 07

It’s a party that never seems to end, though maybe this time it’s worth joining in on the party even if it does suffer from abit of failings here and there.
Way back in the day of the Nintendo 64, which brought about some of the greatest games of Nintendo including Donkey Kong 64, Resident Evil 2 (the only RE game ported to the N64), and groundbreaking Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time, came the first Mario Party.

Mario Party 1 to 3 was born on the N64, and gave us our first taste of the Party to come.
As each game came out the franchise slowly evolved one game at a time, always adding new characters and new elements to the game. Some didn’t stick (like costumes) and some did (event spaces and dueling mini games). It was a good time for Mario Party.

Then it went to the GameCube and the Party began to grow old.
After the failed port to the GameBoy Advance, as well as the attempt to amp up the Party by adding the microphone to the gameplay (which didn’t last long as only so long after that happened the GameCube soon became illrelevant), we come to it’s first outing on the Wii with Mario Party 8 (which is in fact the 9th iteration of the franchise counting the monstrosity that was Mario Party Advance).

At some point in the franchise the game stopped caring about having a “Story” and just focused on having a game. This is no different. Welcome to the Star Carnival, whose attractions are open to you as you travel the carny with your new Master of Ceremonies the love him or hate him disturbing character known as LollyGag, and his talking sentient parasitic hat called Big Top (who occasionally spews coins near the end of every party board‘s rounds which makes him dizzy). They’ll be the ones calling the shots as you go through a new set of options, including a few options for your Miis, in this brand new land.

Mario Party 8 innovates quite abit and offers up a perfect party game for 4 people to really enjoy their Wiis to the fullest… but if there is a flaw in this it’s that while we have a Party that really gives you a Wii workout it doesn’t do much for it’s Mii tie-in. Yes, this game does offer some content for your Miis, but said content is rather light in comparision to what you might have hoped for in terms of Mii content.
It’s the same party, yes, and there is some brand new twists (as I’ll soon mention) but the inability to use your Miis in the party boards (or even a party board set aside specifically for Miis), as well as no chance to mix and match your Miis and Mario characters in mini-game battles? That’s just wrong. All you have is just a tent set aside for Miis with… what? Eight games? That’s it? Not to mention half of the games you have to purchase from this bonus area AND most of the games are not too inspired (a bowling game that makes you appreciate Wii Bowling in Wii Sports, a lackluster racer and a uninspired find and match the panels game for starters)? Not good. The only other things your Miis can do is be the icon to save your game AND be the audience to cheer the Mario gang on in certain events. And that’s it. Very not good.

The concept of using Miis in Mario Party is unique, but it needs a lot of work before it will perfectly integrate into the Mario Party franchise. Party boards for the Miis, the ability to use Miis in party boards, as well as mini game contests, alongside Mario Party characters. These are innovations that (hopefully) are explored in Mario Party 9. Something for the future.

As for the game? Mario Party is a nice slice of innovative. The boards are nice (start off with the train board on your first go as it is short, yet filled with more than enough twists and turns to keep you interested), the game is it’s usual large surplus of mini-games (with a surprisingly large amount of mini games requiring you to hold the Wiimote sideways like a traditional Classic NES controller, thus showing the purpose behind the 1 + 2 buttons on the Wiimote), but the real twist is some of the board’s innovations.
Besides the DK jungle level (which brings back the thrill of seeking stars) you have the Koopa town level, which innovates the way you collect stars in a way I never saw before. In this level you’ll find that the key to racking up stars is NOT to locate and purchase stars, but to invest your coins in hotel development. The more you invest in a hotel the more it’ll grow, and as long as you are the controlling interest in said hotel you’ll keep the stars it generates (from 1 to 3 stars) until you have dumped 100 coins into the hotel and become it’s owner. Then there’s the Bowser level which encourages you to steal and cheat your way to victory, what a concept!

Oh, and then there’s the challenge of gathering stars to become the “Superstar” of the game (which requires powerups to give you an advantage). This time out your powerup of choice is a wide arrange of specialized “candy”, each with it’s own power (and own color representing it’s specific effect) which can provide lots of abilities from extra spins of the dice to stealing stuff from rivals. As far as powerups go it’s nice and offers lots of strategy possibilites. Then there’s the DK/Bowser spaces. Unlikes past games these both exist on one spot and rotate as you step on them. DK offers free stars if you can get him once it’s activated, while Bowser takes a star from you… which brings us to one loss of innovation.

Unlike previous Mario Parties the star point seemingly is no longer fluidic (I haven‘t played Mario Party 6 and 7 so I have no idea when this first happened in the franchise). With the exception of levels like the DK level and the hotel level this time out half of the levels (at least) you’ll find the star pre-set into a specific spot, and while there is some variety and play with this format it is still not completely the amount of complexity of past Mario Party games in terms of star securing. Also no more of hiring Boo as a hitman to steal stars and coins for you (I sorta miss that option from way back when, and I have no idea when the Party stopped using that option).

Otherwise you have six party boards (I still need to dig into the Boo board and Bowser board as of this review), all the mini-games to play (mostly with the Wiimote though a few of the Mii games do require 1-2 nunchuks to play at least), a place for Miis to play, and lots of unlockable content including figures you can buy for a Mario Party figure parade (not as interesting as it should sound). Oh, yes, the shop. All purchases are done through a specific shop (set in a specific tent) which uses carnival tickets to make purchases (requiring you to extensively play Mario Party 8 in order to rack up the tickets needed to purchase stuff). Lengthens the lifespan of Mario Party, but once again like previous Mario Party games it shines the brightest with multiple players as playing this alone is possible, but becomes abit lonely as a Party is no fun without friends to play against (I need more friends!)

One glaring error besides the lack of Mii content, however, is the lack of WiFi support on this game.
What could have been the greatest party game ever without the ability to go online and party with people around the world? What a glaring error! But then again without the ability to use your Miis on party boards is another error that this game should have exploited, keepiing Mario Party 8 from a perfect score.
Still, it does deserve a 4 out of 5 (Silver Star Recommendation) for being the only really big party game available right now for the Wii that I think is most worth recommending.

Yes, the game should have had Wifi capability allowing for really long range partying.
And for that, yes, it would have required the ability to port your Miis into the Party boards, allowing for players to use their Miis in the main meat and potatoes of Mario Party, the party board Battle Royale games, in order to really make the game immersive for players.
These, and other innovations I talked about above, are things I hope Hudson Soft look into for Mario Party 9 for the Wii, but for now Mario Party 8 is a good start that I hope somebody expands on with the next version, still earning 4 Princess Daisys out of 5 and a hope for more Mii content next version out.

-- David Rasmussen 25th Jun 07

Nintendo Wii Mario Party 8 Images