Mario Party DS

The good
An excellent conversion of the Mario Party Experience to handheld
Complete multiplayer experience with only one game card
Less crazy game-changing pickups
A plethora of modes and options

The bad
The Mario Party Juggernaut has now spread to handheld
Stars are as frustratingly fickle as ever
Solo experience manages to be depressing AND frustrating
If you are lucky enough to have friends around you, there are probably better things to do

7/10


Well, another year has rolled around, which means on average another 1.5 Mario Party titles have been released. The Wii already has the distinction of bearing the weakest ever Mario Party, so from a review perspective the only way is up, right?

This latest version for the DS doesn’t have the distinction of being the first hand held Mario Party, which came out on the GBA a few years back. Technology and time have ensured that this version bears more relation to its big brother console versions. Still, no one will be shocked to discover that you’ll still be playing as your choice of Mario Mascot in a chance-heavy board game peppered with mini games of varying quality.

Nevertheless, Mario Party DS does distinguish itself from its brethren for one important reason: It contains arguably the most important innovation in handheld multiplayer history.

No, that innovation is not Wi-Fi. After all, unless you’re within a distance that could easily be covered by a cable, the true freedom of wireless play needs to piggyback off a desktop or other hardlined connection, so it doesn’t count.

Nor is the innovation in question 3D graphics, touchscreen play or anything involving microphones. The innovation in question isn’t even a new one, come to think of it. But it is something that should have been standard in every shred of handheld multiplayer gaming since the day Nintendo introduced the gamelink cable for the first ever Gameboy.

The innovation is called single cart multiplayer, and Mario Party DS stands as one of the cleverest examples of its use. While it’s true that many DS games feature downloadable play, up until now single cart play has always meant “stripped down”:
Palette swap characters, smaller levels, reduced gameplay options and a nice fat download time to kick off. Not so here.

Upon booting their first partay session (woooo), most will notice that the single player menu features a rich list of options, including a mini game mode, puzzle mode, the standard party mode and the now obligatory story mode. Therein players may discover a completely bonkers take on the standard “Bowser steals/transforms/kidnaps something, turns out stars/shines/crystals are the only solution, go get them stars/shines/crystals” story. This time it involves shrinking. Hopefully only children of rural Australia will find themselves isolated enough to find out how it all ends.

Luckily all of the single player modes are fully functional in multiplayer using just one card. Kudos has to go to the developers for pulling this one off, as aside from at the start of each mini game, loading is almost entirely masked during the mini game introduction screens. Unless everyone in the party has gone through the game enough times to know all the mini game controls, that’s hardly an issue.

So what’s it like to have a freakin’ Mario party? (woooo) Well, you'll be floored to learn that not much has changed in this respect. Long term fans of the series (There’s got to be at least a few left) will note that there’s a shift of focus away from Mario Party’s shopping and item heavy past, with the focus generally staying to the board. They will probably be happy about this.

Others will note that the switch between touch and D-Pad controls in various mini games mean that you’re doing a lot of stylus stowing and retrieving at times. They will probably not be so happy about this, but then someone will pipe up that this only happens during the mini game loading scenes so it’s barely a problem.

The mini games have the same issues with repetition and quality as before, but porta-party fans are sure to be pleased by the graphical variation in the new DS games. The coathanger flying fox through a giant garden is just one example of a standout.

Of course it goes without saying that the graphics are extremely clean and bright, that’s virtually guaranteed by the word “Mario” in the title. The soundtrack and voice samples are also very clean and detailed, with the music shifting appropriately for each stage but remaining within the signature Nintendo bouncy-midi genre.

As you’ve probably realised by now, it’s a console standard Mario Party experience pared down expertly for the DS. If the score was purely based on the conversion then I’d definitely be considering five stars.

So if you’re after the consummate handheld party game experience this title is a no brainer. Just be sure to stay away from that solo mode. If you find yourself getting pissed when a mate steals your four star lead on the last turn of an hour long game, imagine how you’ll feel when the computer does it.