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Rating: Average Mario Party 2's slogan is "Get The Place Jumping!" Due to space constraints, Nintendo couldn't fit the entire slogan: "Get The Place Jumping... Out Of The Window To Avoid The Horror Of Playing Mario Party 2!" Mario Party 2 isn't as bad as the original, but it's still an embarrassment to the entire video game industry. First of all, there's the absolutely ridiculous story line. Once you get used to the idea that Mario and friends are going to save the world from Bowser by playing a freakin' a board game, you'll find that the rest of the story is absurd as well. The intro begins, "One day, Mario and his friends created a new world." What? Since when does Mario have God-like abilities? According to the intro, the whole purpose of the game is to determine who gets to name the new world (although it's always called Mario World in the game regardless of who wins). Whoever defeats Bowser first gets to name the new world and become the true "Super Star," whatever the hell that is. The fact that the characters treat it as a given that all of them can easily defeat Bowser doesn't help to make Bowser feel like an imposing enemy. Imagine what Resident Evil would have been like if Barry said to Jill, "Now Jill, of course we can all easily defeat the Tyrant, but whoever does it first will be the true Master of Unlocking!" Enough about the crazy story line. Everything else in the game reeks of low production values and half-assed effort. Like all too many N64 games, the graphics in Mario Party 2 are very plain and generic. The sound effects are pathetic, particularly the ones for Toad. I think the Toad sound effects may be the worst sound effects ever recorded in the history of mankind. The gameplay revolves around randomly-generated outcomes and dumb luck. It's completely out of your control whether you land on spaces that give you big bonuses, or spaces that force you to start all the way over at the beginning of the board. Landing on Bowser spaces and losing your coins is just as cheap as it was in the original game. At the end of the game, the winner is determined by whoever has the most stars. The ability to steal stars from your opponent destroys what little balance the game might have had. It's not uncommon to play a game of Mario Party 2 for hours and end up losing on one of the last couple turns because somebody steals one of your stars. Most of the time, you have no control over where you're going on the board, so getting stars is just a matter of dumb luck. The only thing you're ever in control of is the mini-games, and the vast majority of those are also mindless and luck-based. Some of them are literally nothing more than a test to see who is the fastest button masher. Hey Nintendo, why don't you leave the button mashing to Konami's Track and Field games? As much as this game still sucks, I have to admit that it's a heck of a lot better than the original. Some of the music is actually pretty decent and catchy, and overall the music is nowhere near as annoying as the original's. The pace of the game is (thankfully) much quicker, with much less time in between every turn. There are still plenty of mini-games that are completely pointless, but this time there are also a few that are actually decent fun. Mario Party 2 is still boring most of the time, but for short periods of time it can be mildly entertaining in a sick and disturbing sort of way. That's something I can't say about the original Mario Party. With games like Mario Party 2 being released (and with Pokemon accounting for the vast majority of Nintendo's profits), it's clear that Nintendo's target age demographic is lower than ever. As more and more teenagers and adults continue to become video game players, Nintendo is going to be left in the dust unless they manage to pull off something miraculous with the Dolphin. Nintendo is pounding nails into their own coffin by releasing games like Mario Party 2. Send your thoughts on this review to ivan@mastergamer.com
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com