A week on since I suggested Mario Kart in general, but winter specifically for it’s Ice/ Snow tracks. This week I submit Mario Party for the same reasons.
If you own Nintendo systems, and you have the luxury of having friends at your place a lot, then you owe it to yourself and your Nintendo console to have a Mario Party for it (unless the console is from a Pre-Mario Party era).
Playing it solo is pretty much always a sub par experience, but sat alongside friends the game can be a riot. Temporary allegiances, cunning plans, constant betrayals, all common place. The element of strategy you’re left with in Mario Party really puts the series as the number 1 party game when it comes to really testing the strength of friendship.
Sure you can curse out the friend who cost you a race in Mario Kart over a last minute red or blue shell, but those wounds heal quicker because you’ll be in the next race soon enough. The same can’t be said for when you’ve fought your way to 1st place over the course of 40 minutes only to have a friend take away all your hard work through “chance time”. Mario Party has made me harbour many a grudges long after playing over the years, sometimes I’d find myself apologising for winning simply because I could people were seething from some actions during the last turn or the way the bonus stars turned out.
As mentioned in previous Winter in Gaming days. This game is a hoot any time of year, but if you want it to be a more winterrific serving then the options are either Mario Party 3 on Nintendo 64, or Mario Party 6 on GameCube.
Mario Party 3 has “Chilly Waters” as a board option, with a great little festive feeling song accompanying it.
Unfortunately Mario Party 3 is only available on the Nintendo 64, and has never seen a re-release through the Virtual Console which is strange because Mario Party 2 has been released on both Wii and WiiU’s Virtual Console download services. I understand the original Mario Party has been left behind because of it’s problematic mini-games that had you rotating the Nintendo 64 analogue rapidly which would both damage your hand and your controller.
Jumping forward to the GameCube. Mario Party 6 (the third Mario Party game for GameCube) offers up “Snowflake Lake” as a board. Again, another fitting song pairs up with the stage (see below), and again this game can only currently be played in it’s original form on GameCube. Although rumours suggest that GameCube games will be able to purchase through the Nintendo Switch’s digital marketplace. Time will tell if the system will use the USB Gamecube adapter from WiiU, or if the Switch will have analogue shoulder buttons like the GameCube did to ensure no restrictions play into what GameCube games come out on that service.
You’ll have a fun time with either of those Mario Party options. Personally only Mario Party 4 disappointed me in terms of multiplayer mileage, it felt like a step back in series progression and for a while the N64 offerings were the favourable choice to go with if I had friends round with an appetite for some Mario Party.
