Mario Party is a series that has a special place in my heart. Back in high school, the first game was the first I pulled an All Nighter on, and despite my experience with more dangerous games like Prop Cycle, Dance Dance Revolution and Pump it Up, Mario Party has the distincting of being the first game I got injured playing (Oh that Tug O’ War and having to explain to my boss the next day why my hand was all taped up.) As one of the best social and party games of all time, the series never disappoints and now, it’s here for the Wii U.
I had the chance to check out Mario Party 10 when Nintendo set up a demo booth at the annual Spring Break tradition in Vancouver – The Playdome at BC Place.
Fans young and old came were coming up to the booth to check out the game. Some kids were playing their first Mario Party, while others had been playing for years. You had one younger kid in line, and then behind him, an entire family waiting to play. That’s the great appeal about a title like this – It appeals to all ages because it’s just good, clean fun. The Mario Party series in my family has usually drawn a lot of people together to play too (even the non-gamers.) Rock Band is the only other gaming series that can claim that.
Series fans were treated to the new Bowser Party game in which the gamepad player takes the role as Mario’s nemesis in 10 different mini-games, ranging from Bingo to slots to even blowing to spit fireballs at your enemies. Bowser Party takes full advantage of your Wii U Gamepad (including the gyroscopic features) and isn’t a mode to be missed.
The regular Mario Party game sees you competing on one of 5 boards with a multitude of new and fun mini games (more than 70 in all spanning all game modes.) This all takes place on regular Wii and Wii U controllers, and takes you through the usual 1v3. 2v2 and free for all games as well as the Bowser mini games.
I have to say that my favourite mini game was the same as some of the staffers there – The (game?) where you can hurtle at some crazy speeds avoiding spinies. I managed a time of 17.48 which barely beat the existing on-location record. Think you can do any better? We all agreed that sub-17 seconds was doable, but requires a lot of luck since tracks are never the same.
Don’t forget that there are new Amiibo available for Mario Party 10 too. Here’s a look at the Luigi and Princess Peach amiibos, which look much different than their Super Smash Bros. counterparts. I’ve gone and purchased a Yoshi amiibo (I’m beginning now to see that Yoshi is clearly my favourite character in these games) and will have a look at that for you when I post my review.
After all was said and done, for all of our efforts, we were also sent off with a cake pop too!
Judging by the happy faces playing the game, Mario Party 10 is definitely destined to be another classic in the long-running series.
Special thanks as well go to Sire from Nintendo Canada who seemingly gets stuck with me asking the difficult demo questions all the time but always knows the ins and outs of the games he’s demoing for us all. First it was Smash Club, and now Mario Party. Thanks Sire! I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.
Mario Party 10 is now available for the Nintendo Wii U in just software form, or with an additional Mario amiibo. Keep an eye out here at Plug In for a full review coming soon
