eyestar's Full Review: Mario Party 2 for Nintendo 64
I usually have a hard time finding Nintendo 64 games that I actually like and enjoy playing. Lately I’ve been having trouble finding any games that I like and that don’t make me sick. I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed Mario Party 2.
Unlike most of the other N64 games, Mario Party 2 doesn’t make me sick. It doesn’t make me walk around in first person viewing everything in 3D. Instead it’s a regular video game, similar to the other great ones Nintendo used to make that I enjoyed playing so much.
Mario Party 2 is centered around the idea of a playing a board game as a video game. You get to choose from various lands to go to which contain different boards. Each of these boards are different difficulty levels. When you first begin playing you can go to Rules Land which will take you through the process of how to play and what everything means on the boards.
Once you start a regular game you will get to choose different options. Mario Party 2 allows for up to 4 players. Toad is your guide throughout the entire game process and he comes and asks you how many players. There are always 4 players in the game. The players that are not human are run by the computer. You get to select which character you want to be and which characters you want the computer to be. You get to choose from: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, or Donkey Kong. After this, you then get asked how long you want to play for and if you would like to play with bonuses or not. If you choose to have a bonus, during game play there will be spaces with hidden stars or extra coins. Playing with the bonus also allows for extra star bonuses to be given out after the game is finished. There are 3 bonus stars that are awarded after game play: one for the player having the most coins, one for the player who did the best in the mini games, and one for the player who landed on the ? mark spaces the most. To make the game more challenging I usually pick to play with the bonus.
After you decide from all these options you finally get taken to the board. You then determine turn order and are on your way. Every board is set up differently but focus around the same basic idea. When you first begin, Toad will appear and tell you where the first star is located. He lets you know that the first player to reach the star can purchase it for 20 coins. The goal of the game is to get as many stars as possible to win. Toad will also show you where Baby Browser is located on the board. If you run into Baby Browser, he will make you pay him 5 coins.
Each player takes a turn and at the end of the fourth players turn you are all taken to a mini game. The mini games are short interactive games that you play against your opponents. You can get a 4 versus game in which you compete against all your opponents, a 2 versus where you are paired with another player and together you must beat the other team, or a 1 versus where one player versus all the 3 other players. Whoever wins the mini game gets 10 coins. If you are on a team and win, then each member on the winning team gets 10 coins.
As you are moving across the board you can land on several different spaces. The regular spaces give you 3 coins, the red spaces take away 3 coins, the ? will usually do something bad to you or for the game, the spaces with Browsers head on them will take you to Browser himself. Broswer’s space is something you want to avoid landing on as he will make you and possibly all your opponents pay him coins.
Other sections of the game include the bank, the ghost, item shop, and various other obstacles. When you pass by the bank you must pay them 5 coins. They keep track of all the coins and the player that lands directly on the space for the bank wins all the coins. By paying the ghost coins he will steal coins or stars from other players and give them to you.
The only drawbacks I’ve found are that it takes quite awhile to play a whole game (about an hour on the 20 turn level), there are not enough mini games to choose from, and you can’t choose Toad as your own character. Besides that, like all Nintendo 64 games it’s expensive to purchase this game.
If you’re looking for a entertaining game that will keep you busy for hours, then give Mario Party 2 a try.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.