I think that anyone who is decently literate in games or at least knowledgable about the consensus of many titles will rarely find themselves surprised by their opinions on a game. Like, when was the last time you were truly blown away by a game that you weren't expecting to be? For me, that usually comes from the inverse, hating games that are universally praised. But I found myself surprised by how much fun the original Mario Party turned out to be. This is supposed to be the one that aged poorly, right? There's not a different Mario Party 1 that has no reason to go back to it because the other games in the series surpass it in every way? Because this one slaps.

I LOVE the look of this game! Obviously this extends to 2 and 3, but the pre-rendered images for the maps are so detailed and lend a great aesthetic to each board. I love how the other characters shrink into little cursors when it’s not their turn, and all the bobbleheads in mini-games. The music slaps too, each board theme stars with a strong hook that makes the music more memorable than the other Mario Parties.

The mini games are ok overall. Some awful ones like Cast Aways, Bash ’n’ Cash, and Running of the Bulb, are balanced out by many surprisingly good ones like Face Lift, Hot Bob-omb, Mushroom Mix-Up, Shy Guy Says, Bobsled Run, and Bombs Away. The worst offenders, are the 1vs3 minigames as they almost always drastically benefit the 1 at the expense of the 3. Of the remaining 4 player minigames, the worst I can say about most of them is that they’re boring at worst but rarely groan-inducing. But getting paired with a CPU in Desert Dash is hilarious, because you can just move the stick back and forth as much as possible and your two friends can do nothing to stop you.

For better and for worse, I think this game showcases the two elements that need to come together in order to create a solid board: autonomy and gimmicks. These elements are what make or break every board in this game, and what determine whether a round of Mario Party is a hilarious time or a unanimous groaner.

Each board has a very distinct gimmick that permeates everything that happens in a given game; it's impossible to not notice, and I think in comparison the Gamecube Mario Parties (4 and 5 specifically) lack in gimmicks that actually do anything and are more tepid in comparison. Sometimes the gimmick is solid, like Mario's Rainbow Castle swapping Bowser and Toad when you land on a happening space. But other times (often actually) the gimmick ruins the board, like Yoshi's Tropical Island swapping Bowser and Toad when you land on a happening space.

Autonomy is the other big factors. The boards that have branching paths allow players to strategize not only their path to the star, but also to go toward Boo, and for the chance to land on chance time or happening spaces or one-player mini games. All of these things give meaning to your decisions and prevent Mario Party highly benefiting whoever gets the highest dice rolls. Obviously, the linear boards suffer because they lack in player choice relative to the non-linear boards.

Ok, here's the tier list
1. Eternal Star
2. Mario's Rainbow Castle
3. DK's Jungle Parkway
4. Bowser's Magma Mountain
5. Luigi's Engine Room
6. Peach's Birthday Cake
7. Wario's Battle Canyon
8. Yoshi's Tropical Island


Yoshi's Tropical Island fucking sucks. This board has easily the most aggravating gimmick, forcing Bowser and Toad to swap places whenever someone lands on a happening space. Other boards do this to, but the fact that you have to choose which island to be on means that any choice you make to head towards a star is completely meaningless, and all your board decisions are invalidated if any player lands on a happening space.

Wario’s Battle Canyon is guilty of being boring. I don’t know if the gimmick ruins it or if it’s the atrocious star placement. Either way it blows because it’s practically impossible to get stars, but it’s not aggravating like Yoshi’s Dumbfuck Fruit Rock.

Peach’s Birthday Cake feels suffocating. The piranha plants will likely never benefit you, and the seed roulette taking you away from the star is too punishing. Somehow feels like there’s even less player autonomy on this board than Wario’s Battle Canyon even though that’s objectively untrue.

Luigi’s Engine Room is pretty good. I like that everyone will end up going to Boo as, more than any other board, it will keep stars circulating the whole game. Sadly one particular star space can ruin this game, the one in the top right corner, as you have to land within a three block window on one turn and then roll high enough on the next turn or you’re blocked out of it.

Bowser’s Magma Mountain seems really punishing and restrictive, but I think the shortcuts actually work really well on this board to keep things fast paced and give players the opportunity to cut in front of other players in spite of its linearity.

DK’s Jungle Parkway is a pretty standard course, definitely the best board to start with. Sadly it has a kinda boring layout and the happening space is a little obnoxious as it gets activated a bit too frequently. Personally, I think I’d sooner play on Luigi’s Engine Room or Bowser’s Magma Mountain again, but I think it’s better designed, and the Whomp Gatekeeping the poor players is too hilarious.

Mario’s Rainbow Castle definitely rewards high rolls too much, but surprisingly gives a decent amount of player autonomy by allowing you to choose to rush or stall how quickly you go down the path. Also Toad and Bowser swapping works really well in this board to force all players to adapt on the spot and actually be able to do something about it unlike Yoshi’s Shitty @##&@$??!?!

Eternal Star is surprisingly my favorite board. The gimmick is really fun and forces players to pay attention while also being fresh on every playthrough. And the comedy potential is great.

Overall, a surprisingly fun time. Has some stinker boards and some stinker minigames for sure, but I really appreciate that the gimmicks of each board are distinct enough that every board feels different and has its own personality. And I think that Boo and the various space types are enough to make each game really fun. Went into this expecting it to be a slog, but found myself having a surprising amount of fun. Worth a few rounds at the very least.