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mario party is back... more great multiplayer fun!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 59 / 70
Date: October 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Generally speaking, a good party consists of loud music, obnoxious people you don't really know, copious amounts of cheap vodka, and a few loose women. While Nintendo's Mario Party 4 doesn't rely on any of the above, it does provide a digital alternative to raging hangovers and vague memories of the previous night's activities. Although it's the fourth title in the series, it's the first Mario Party game on the GameCube, and it packs a decent four-player punch.

Mario Party 4 goes a little above and beyond its previous incarnations, and thanks to some skillful development from Hudson Soft, eight of your favorite Nintendo characters are ready to do battle through over 50 nutty mini-games in order to win a juicy prize. Lending itself to a very simple gameplay premise, Mario Party 4 is best enjoyed with four human players -- the idea is to be guy that collects the most hidden stars and gold coins at the end of a party. Each party is played over a selectable number of turns (from between ten and 50 -- ten turns takes around 30 minutes to play) on one of five themed game boards.

Some familiar faces are on hand to meet and greet the party-players. Toad, Shy Guy, Koopa, Boo, and Goomba all offer a game board with themes such as the "Seaside Soiree," the "Haunted Bash," and the "Jungle Jam." There are eight Nintendo-friendly guys and gals to choose from at the player select screen: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, Daisy, and Waluigi. There are essentially two main modes of play in Mario Party 4.

Party mode is where the most fun occurs and involves between one to four human players getting jiggy on any of the game boards. Story mode is the single-player component of the game and pits you against three randomly selected CPU-controlled guys. If you win the game, you'll be awarded a prize, and depending on which character you were playing as, it'll be different each time (e.g. Playing as Waluigi, I won Waluigi's Shelf, which is one of many unique pieces of furniture that can be found for his mini-apartment -- viewable in the prize room).

One new feature to the series is the mini-mega system -- which manifests itself in the form of two different mushroom-based items. These items can be taken before you roll the die at the beginning of turn. A mini-mushroom will shrink you down, allowing you to access other areas of the board, but it'll limit your maximum die roll to five instead of six. Being mini will allow you to tackle some special "mini" mini-games too.

Going the other route and taking a mega-mushroom, will in contrast increase the size of your guy, and it'll give you a combined roll of two dice, increasing your ability to travel further around the board. You'll also squish any players that you travel past, causing them to hemorrhage value gold coins. Being large also means you'll be immune to any event spaces on the board. The mini-mega system is cool in theory, but in actuality, it doesn't really add that much to the gameplay.

There are a ton of new items, events, traps, and bonuses that are scattered through the game -- such as the Genie Lamp which costs 30 coins to buy -- but it'll warp you straight to the current star on the board. All these factors throw more uncertainty into the mix, with the final game experience getting more and more random compared to the first three games in the series. Is this a bad thing? It depends on your point of view, but it can be pretty frustrating to be on top for most of the game and then have it all snatched away at the last minute. There are a few constants; these arrive at the very end of the game in the form of stars awarded to the player that collected the most coins, won the most mini-games, and triggered the most event features.

There's no doubt that Mario Party 4 sports classic multiplayer fun and all of the mini-games are a blast in their own right, but there's one hugely annoying factor -- the CPU controlled characters. In the single-player mode, you'll be forced to watch the CPU guys take their individual turns.

This happens at a mind-numbingly slow pace, and after a few games you'll be begging to have bamboo shoots inserted under your fingernails to alleviate the tedium. Essentially, the single-player game exists to let you win the prizes -- something that becomes very unimportant all too quickly.

Huge Mario gets ready to squash the others. Putting those issues aside, Mario Party 4 as an actual party game, works really well. Teamwork, smack talk, and cajoling come heavily into play, and it's certainly the best in the series to date. The GameCube provides the graphical grunt to take Mario Party 4 to the next level and all of the characters, boards, and mini-games display slick animation, special effects, and a sweet bouncy-cartoony look and feel. Controls for the most part are extremely simplistic, but this really only adds to the pick-up-and-play nature of the game as a whole. There's a myriad of nice Nintendo-tastic tunes, voices, and sound effects, which wrap the game up into a well-presented, good-looking game.

For those that enjoy Nintendo's rich characters and imagination, Mario Party 4 is a great game to have. With four-players in tow, it's a total blast, but for those that are looking for some solid, non-anger-inducing solo play, you'd do well to swerve away from this one for sure.

The Lowdown: More of the same great Mario Party multiplayer action.

Pros: It looks great; the mini-games are a hoot; really good fun with four players.

Cons: More features aren't necessarily a good thing; there's little fun when flying solo.

BIG DAN's OVERALL RATING - 7.5/10

Fun, but not Great.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 18 / 21
Date: March 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Mario Party 4 continues the traditional Mario Party games. You get together with 4 other classic Mario characters, you get on a huge board, and you play a game, filled with Mini-Games. Who the hell is Waluigi anyway? It's kinda like Mariopoly, or a game of Monopoly, except with Mario. Now, the N64 titles were absurdly fun, and this one is too, but it's probably the worst in the series although it's not a bad game! Half of the mini-games are incredulously fun, while the other half are a waste of gaming time. The boards are a little bit more boring than previously, and the mini-games aren't as good as the earlier ones. The scheme this time is boring-you have to get back Mario's presents for his birthday. Overall, it's a tough decision. If you really love Mario or the Mario Party series, then buy this game now! If not, stay far, far away!

By Far the Best Marioparty Game in Series but...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 18
Date: December 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Marioparty 4 has made significant improvements from all three of its predecessors on N64. The graphics are much better as my man Yoshi doesn't have a boxed nose anymore and the visuals are much better (N64 didn't use it's full graphics compacity anyway on those series). Marioparty 1 was highly successful because of the originality of its platform - board games with mini-games. However, even as a fan of these party series, Marioparty 2 and 3 began to fade, even with the addition of items, duels, and battle games. It was because the regular mini-games were very poorly done.

That's where Marioparty 4 made its most significant improvement. Not since Marioparty 1 did I enjoy the mini-games as much as I did now, and Marioparty 4 contains, by far, the best mini-games (very fun, visuals are excellent, and very simple), such as Domination, Three Throw, and Hide and go BOOM!.

This game definitely should've gotten five stars, but, even as a fan, I see three flaws that prevent me from giving it the full thumbs up. First, the item variety of the game was horrible. The only new item additions were the Mini and Mega Mushrooms. They were both really fun to work with, but I expected more than TWO new item additions. Second, the game took a fall when duel games were gone. Don't know why, but 1-on-1 games existing in 2 and 3 were missing in 4. That was their most significant backdrop since removing duels removed chances for a comeback or more laughter. Disappointing.... Finally, the single-player mode could've used a bit more tuning up. The game loses some fun if you are friendless or if you're alone.

Those three minor falls are miniscule compared to the plusses of this game. Much much better minigames, much better visuals, awesome looking boards (cool looking costumes for Boo, Shy Guy, Goomba, Koopa Troopa, and Toad), and much better gameplay made this game by far the best game in the series.

I really recommend this game to any ages, young or old, especially to all Marioparty and Mario fans.

Another 4-Player Funfest

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: December 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Well what did we expect from the latest Mario Party game. There are many other games that tried to imitate these series' successful achievement of delivering an accessible fun and simple 4 player game has failed and this latest addition effortlessly beats the rest of the competition. Well technically it doesn't look very good at all by today's standards and sounds quite annoying but those points are quite irrelevant because this game is simply about multiplayer mayhem. Alone this game is OK but is so much better when there is 2-4 of you playing. I recommend this to anyone looking for a good multiplayer game which doesn't require so much skill but which still provides great entertainment for any kind of gamer.
Graphics:6
Sound:5
Gameplay-1 PLayer:8
Multiplayer:10
Value:10

Simply The Best.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: June 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Ah, yes. Many years of playing Mario Party games, this one can only be dubbed Number 1 in the Mario Party series. I've played most of these games, let alone Mario Party 6 (Provided with the information from so many people that it sucks so much), and of all of them, THIS is the one to buy. We could go into detail on it, so I might. Mario Party, Mario party 2, and #5 are the only ones that may come close to this one. Trust me, 3 was really.......odd. 7 Is a great game, but let's face it folks, microphone games aren't everyone's thing. Now, Mario Party 4 has a few playable characters, but just in case you don't want that 'Ugly Gorilla', Donkey Kong, there might be something else for you. Then there is the 'Happenings (Question mark spaces, remember those?)' of the game. Building that little Koopa's cabana/resort is usually worth the money, he's cool. But what makes that thing a challenge is that if you land on a Question Mark space, bam. Gone.

Theres lots of great minigames in this particular Mario Party. If you're looking for fun, this game is for you.

A very addictive game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: October 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you are a fan of the Mario Party series, you will love the newest installment, Mario Party 4. It is the same premise as past Mario Party games: You can compete against up to 3 different players (which is highly recommended) in trying to collect stars and coins. You begin in a board game setting, but the real fun begins with the mini games. There are over 50 here, and some of the highlights include a basketball throw game, a skiing game, a speedboat/parasailing game, and a co-op dungeon escape game. These pit player against player or have you team up with your opponents. These are highly addictive and you will find yourself playing for hours to try and uncover new ones.

You also have a 1 player option in which you face off against 3 computer opponents, so if you're not hanging out w 1, 2 or 3 of your friends, you can still play. There is even a new option, offering more mini games if you have exhausted the regular ones.

For those of you who have not played the previous Mario Party titles, this is a very fun and addictive game that is optimally enjoyed if played with friends. For those of you who have played past Mario Party games, it has more mini-games, more options, and improved graphics. If you enjoyed previous versions, you will really like this one. If you haven't liked past Mario Party's, give this one a shot. You will not regret it.

A pretty good game, but what's new?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: December 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Well, I don't own a GC, but I love and play it daily and at various friend's houses. Well, one of my friend's picked this up and played it with me. I was amazed by several things, but it did have a few problems:

1. Graphics: Fantastic! I can't beleive how good this game looks. The N64, my friends, was a good system, but its graphics were anything from good. It showed in the first 3 Mario's (on the N64). But finally, Mario is given some justice. This game looks awsome, and exploits what the N64 could only dream of! The characters, backgrounds, coins, levels, everything is so sharp. There is no framerate slow-down here (for those who don't know, where the game gets REALLY slow for a few seconds) and the worlds seem to feel and look HUGE compared to pasts. Firy volcanic explosions, water in the swim pool, the ball swishing through the nets, the characters breathing in and out. This game ROCKED in terms of graphics, and is my favorite among the Mario Parties just for that reason.

2. Gameplay: Good, as usual. All the games are extremely addictive, and there are many options to try. The classic square off between you and 3 other characters or 4 player gaming frenzy is where this game shines, keeping all the same rules, characters, and fun games from the past, and adding something new! Most games are extremely addictive, and are fun to play over and over and over... But mostly, this game is a multiplayer game. The single player gets a little old playing computer generated foes. I mean, sure, its fun for a few days. But the computer foes just never do anything new, or do really stupid things no human would ever do. You'll find yourself beating the computers every game, or getting your butt kicked the other way around. There's no real even competition against the computer. Do NOT get this game for single-player (which ROCKS!)

3. Replay Value/Depth/Controls: Well, this game is as good in terms of gameplay as the last 3, and sure, its all fun. But its beggining to get a little old. The replay value is there in multiplayer, but once beating the computer a few times, where is the fun? They haven't added a sort of record keeping system so you know what you've done (would've been cool), there are NO new characters to play as, no ADDED rules to the game. I mean, sure, a few new games here and there, but how many Mario Parties can they make? This is easily the best, but it's not much better than Mario Party 3 except for graphics. What else can be done to the Mario Party series? The graphics are awsome, there all already over 400 games, and well, its just getting a bit overwhelming. A good buy, but don't expect anything real NEW here.

Overall, if you are new to Nintendo systems, Mario Party 4 is great for Multiplayer fun, or even single player. Its easily better than Mario Party 3, but its not a HUGE improvement as some might put it. This game is fun, and if you have 2 or 3 friends over to play it every day, this game will rock! But by yourself, you'll beat all the games, and find you never take it out of its case. It has several new awsome games, the graphics are a HUGE improvement, and the classic formula of fun from the original Mario Party still sticks to the fourth sequel.

I would buy this game when the price drops, and buy it for multiplayer. Its a good game, impoves a little on everything. and is a blast in multiplayer. Your choice this X-mas, but don't expect greatness over the first 3, or to spend dozens of hours playing it buy yourself. Good game, but in my opinion, not great.

Hope this helped!

THE BEST GAME AROUND

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Mario Party 4 is the 4th in the series of Mario Party.Makes sense, doesn't it? But here's the lowdown on what you'll get if you buy it:
EXCELLENT GRAPHICS-they are so good you could just try and jump into the screen at first glance.
SUPERB MINI GAMES-Teamwork,concentration,and a sense of humor are required to play these games, which are focused on different themes (e.g.skiing,swimming,and even paragliding)
ACTION-if you are the fighting type, you probably won't like this game as it's focused on people who are the more action type. But it's still worth it with a quest for every prize in 1 player mode.There's something that I know that happens if you manage to complete the game...WITH EVERY CHARACTER!! Overall, this game deserves a 9.95/10.

Mario Party 4, you get what you pay for.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: November 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I'm going to make this review short. Mario Party 4 is fun, if you've played any of the others, you know what to expect and you get it. The game isn't a break through, but if you want a fun party game for all ages this it. This game can entertain kids under 10 for hours, or provide a great game to drink to for college kids. While this may be best to rent when you want to play, it does have a story mode, and a chance to unlock prizes for each character, which can take a long amount of time. In closing if you want a non challenge but fun game, get it.

Fast Party-Style Action!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: November 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This was my first play of a Mario Party game and I must say I enjoyed the experience. It beats playing [other games] with friends due to the constant change in mini-games and environments. The controls are easy to pick up but do get a bit annoying when playing mini game after mini game, all with different controls. Thank [goodness] for the practice mode option. Mario Party 4 has a nice array of characters and a nice graphic's base as well. The sound isn't as organized and as well put together as other party-style games for GameCube, but it isn't annoying either. With friends this is a must have. By yourself, you could probably find a better one player title in my opinion.

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