Just because a game has a great concept, doesn’t mean the end product will be the same. Mario Party: The Top 100 is an incredible idea on paper. With over a dozen titles released and a combined total of over eight hundred minigames, this series has been long overdue for some kind of compilation; it’s fantastic that Mario Party: The Top 100 is finally doing just that. While the returning 100 minigames are a joy to see once again, the rest of the package nevertheless delivers a lacklustre experience.
Playing through all 100 minigames that have returned from the ten console Mario Party titles is a blast - one by one they're a nostalgic trip from start to finish. While the game allows the player to play them individually, the main mode - known as Minigame Island - throws each minigame into a progression-based world where winning one round lets the player advance to the next game. It’s a fun but simple mode that provides an extra reason to play through all the minigames again. Nevertheless, don’t expect this to retain anyone's attention for too long; this mode can be finished completely in about two to three hours and there isn’t any incentive to go back and play again.
Each minigame has been revamped and crafted for the 3DS. The visuals have gotten a significant upgrade, all the music has been remixed, the controls have been ported over perfectly, and even some of the games themselves have received gameplay improvements.
The Nintendo 64 minigames - like Desert Dash from the original Mario Party and Snowball Summit from Mario Party 3 - have received gorgeous graphical updates. Crank to Rank from Mario Party 8 now uses a stylus to spin instead of the Wii Remote, and those pesky blister-inducing minigames from the original Mario Party now use the less exploitable Circle Pad of the 3DS. Balloon Busters from Mario Party 7 is now elimination based, and Dizzy Dancing from Mario Party 2 takes longer than three seconds to complete thanks to the rule change of collecting multiple music notes instead of just one. These little quality of life improvements show how much care went into making the minigames just right, and this is easily the highlight of the entire package.
And that’s about it. Sure, Mario Party: The Top 100 features a few additional modes, but those pale in comparison to the equivalent options of past entries in the series. The board gameplay is by far the most disappointing. Minigame Match throws four characters on a small board where everyone moves at the same time to reach and purchase Stars with coins collected from minigames played at the end of every turn. It sounds like classic Mario Party gameplay, but is ultimately a mode reliant on luck where the turns are repetitive and the coins too plentiful. With just a single board to play on it’s clear this mode did not get the necessary development attention it needed. It’s basically Balloon Bash ripped right out of last year’s Star Rush, but worse.
The other modes offer even less. Championship Battles is just a fancy way to play a set amount of minigames. Decathlon is a fun mode that sets up a number of minigames where players compete for the highest scores, but there’s nothing beyond that. Once all the minigames have been played and the other modes touched, there’s nothing left to do.
Mario Party: The Top 100 is a wonderful idea, but it's also held back by the hardware. Mario Party is a multiplayer game at its core. This series is the kind that needs to be available in front of a big TV where friends can easily gather to pick up and play. Once again, this Mario Party does not have online functionality. Being able to play online with friends, even if it’s just to play a few minigames, would significantly raise the replay factor. Otherwise players are stuck searching out and gathering friends who need to have an additional 3DS to play, though download play is an option if you can't muster up multiple copies.
It's a game with a few cut corners and head scratchers, too, typified by the fact there are only eight playable characters.
Conclusion
There is a lot to love in the way Nd Cube brought back 100 beloved minigames from the Mario Party series, but this package falls short in the content used to deliver those bite-sized delights. Mario Party: The Top 100 may hold the record for the most minigames, but it certainly has the least amount of content and the lowest replayability.
The game set out to compile a collection of the best minigames in the series; that goal was accomplished with great results. That makes the initial time spent with Mario Party: The Top 100 an awesome walk through nostalgia lane - unfortunately the rest is a rushed project; with that in mind it fails to live up to its full potential.
Comments 63
This is great but nothing will capture the magic like the originals when everyone has their own tiny screens.
Im still buying it and very excited for its UK release.
i feel like it is automatic for 99% of people to be negative about Mario Party but i absolutely love it. Star Rush was fantastic!
As always it'd be fun to play with friends, but not $40 worth of fun. I don't know why there is so many Mario Party games on the 3DS. I'm just sticking to Star Rush.
Not Day One for me.
Will buy it later, but i'm not sure if i will get hyped as Portal Knights.
Never was a fan of portable Mario Party. Mario Party is best enjoyed on a bigger screen together with three friends.
Is download play available in every mode?
Just imagine what this could’ve been with proper boards and with single system multiplayer on a TV. It’s such a waste.
@JoakimZ
Exactly my thoughts, never bought a portable version as it's nearly impossible for me to find three other 3DS players. I personally would prefer this title on Switch.
Yeah this should have been a full fledged Switch game. Would have made so much more sense.
This is such a baffling game to me.
First of all it would've been a much better game for the Switch, I dunno about everyone else but I think party games work the best on the big screen. But the major problem is how they left the board game out completely, it's a huge part what makes Mario Party what it is, they had such a perfect opportunity to bring back old boards along with the old minigames and make the ultimate "best of" Mario Party title, but no. As it is this game isn't worth anything to me. I'll stick with Mario Party 1-7.
Nintendo needs to just stop with the MP 3DS games. Not one single one version is any good. The Wii U version was crap, too. I don't get it. The first like 7 were so great but now they can't make any good ones.
1.) Get away from group movements - it sucks
2.) Bring back traditional boards
3.) Online play - barely anyone is playing this couch co-op anymore. Splatoon is proving the Nintendo community wants online functionality in their games. If people rage quit, ban them for like 2-3 hours and then have a computer automatically take over.
I feel like Nintendo is too afraid to return to the good old style of gameplay due to people complaining it‘d take forever. The sole reason each turn felt longer in the later GC/Wii titles was the excessive amount of items you got around every corner. Back in the N64 days, items were rarer so you‘d often just throw the die and move your spaces. The worst that could happen was Chance Time and that rarely ever happened. Plus, only people who don‘t care for the game in the first place complain about turns taking too long.
This whole game just baffles me. Why no real board game mode? Why not the Switch?
so, how about a switch version? Being the multiplayer-friendly hybrid and all?
I think the review was rushed more than the game was. Need an editor? I'd work for free in this case just to save the reviewer from embarrassment!
Can we get a Vc release of mp3 already
They should make a Mario Party 200 for Switch. Include these 100 games and then a hundred more from every MP game (or maybe 50 old and 50 new), then add in the 10-20 best boards (redone slightly to accodmate the new game platform). This game was a good idea but has that “quick release/tech demo mode” feel.
Hopefully Mario Party Switch will just be like the old ones. I'm looking forward to a good party game on the Switch.
Out of all of the games I don’t understand why they put them on 3DS instead of Switch, this one is the craziest. I want to play this will all of my family and friends. Not on my aging little handheld with maybe one other person that happens to have a 3DS. Makes no sense
@Aaron09 I would argue that. I actually haven't played a console Mario Party with my friends yet, but when I was younger I played Mario Party DS for many hours with my friends and it was amazing. We can stull talk about every minigame or about certain events and how we got angry on each other, so I don't think that the game being on a handheld reduces the magic of the game.
@Pluto14 Yes so did I and it was fun. But I think console play is a little more fun.
At this point, Mario Party needs to be given the Metroid treatment and just be locked away in a vault for years, never to be mentioned again until somebody comes up with a good way to revitalize this series.
Somehow, Nd Cube manages to make each entry worse than the last. It's embarrassing.
It's a shame, though I think I'll still pick it up as the very last title for my New 3DS XL. Despite its obvious flaws, it's still a Mario Party filled with the best mini-games at the end of the day.
Here's to hoping for a resurrection to the series with MP11 for the Switch.
Just as I thought. A Mario Party game that focuses on the mini games and very little else. Having only one board is not a good thing and although it's functional unlike Island Tour's boards, why there aren't more than just the one is just absurd. And Mini Game Island also isn't enough to make me buy this game. It pains me to say this, but I think I'll just pass this one up and stick with Star Rush for now...and wait for January and get Kirby Battle Royale instead.
I'm sorry, what?
No 10 out of 10?
...
...
Who are you and what have you done to NintendoLife's editorial team?
#MakeMarioPartyGreatAgain
Never really played much of the Mario Party series bar one (the one of the big star crashing into a sunbathing Mario). Like already stated, it is surprising this was put on the 3DS rather than the Switch. I honestly think Nintendo is sometimes oblivious to the reality that most people don't bump into other 3DS players or organise group play sessions. Maybe they do in Japan?
In a console like the Switch with the Joycons, this game series has so much potential.
Mario Party Top 100 Deluxe for Switch. With classic boards. In a way it's good this one won't outshine Star Rush b/c I can get Star Rush for cheaper and it seems to be the best choice on 3DS.
The problem with Mario Party, and the like, is that they are a product of a different time in gaming. People no longer gather around one TV to play this stuff. Do gatherings still happen? Sure, but they are forced, themed gatherings for this sole intention whereas in the past people just organically gathered to play and hang out.
It's called the internet, people. Now that we all have it, we do things differently because of it. Like gathering around a single TV to play party games.
Such a waste this isn’t on Switch. It also really needs online play. I haven’t played a game in local multiplayer since about 2006.
The only reason the game scored low is because DK is not playable. Some idiot thought Rosalina was more popular than DK. Never in a million years.
I wish it was on switch!
Does anyone would like to see someone do a spiritual successor of Mario Party?
Looking forward to seeing Game Informer's review lol.
Unfortunately based on some gameplay I have seen on Peanut Butter Gamer's YouTube channel I knew this game was going to be average at best, it looks like it strips away alot of the stuff that makes Mario Party the fun series that it is. I dont know why Nintendo doesn't listen to fan feedback when it comes to this series because all people really want is a return to the classic gameplay that 2 in particular had.
@Nintendofan83 you obviously havent played island tour or star rush or youd know the car movement together has been gone for years...
I really hope they put a lot of effort into the inevitable Mario Party 11 on Switch. I miss when this series was really good.
@Toads-Friend What are your thoughts on Island Tour if you have it? Good or Bad?
@gortsi As far as I can tell yes. I like how you can see all players screens on the top screen and then yours alone on the lower screen. It's a great collection of games but would have a hard time being everyone's top 100. I've been playing it over the past week or so unlocking games and its a decent collection. I would have rated it an 8 out of 10.
@Oat i really liked it a lot..but Star Rush was even better in my opinion
@Toads-Friend I guess I meant the concept of people moving all around at once not necessarily in the car. But as you said earlier, if 99% of people don't like the games that should be a pretty clear sign to Nintendo. Good for you if you like the game and it's your choice to buy it. But your own statement literally proves the point almost everyone on this forum is saying - the games are not well received but Nintendo keeps making them the same way.
I'm mad that Dungeon Duos isn't in this game. That was like the best minigame in Mario Party 4.
@GoldenGamer88 Actually I'd like to argue that Mario Party 3 boards went on the longest. That game really focused on items and events that make the turns much longer with the item spaces, battle spaces, gameguy spaces, board events, ect.
I was expecting a 3...
the mario party series always made me sad cuz I never had anyone to play them with lol. i just have 4 and 5 though. i remember back in the gamecube era buying pac man party or something like that and having no one to play with as well. those games aren't fun to play alone. mary kate and ashley's license to drive was a fun party game that was like mario party and some of my friends would play it just for the fun corny factor though!
Still no online functionality? I feel like this is the Sonic of Mario games. Why does it still exist. And sure, there will still be people who defend this idea with the core of their soul, but does leaving out online functionality really make the game better? In 2017, no, leaving online play out does not make this game better.
This still feels like half a game to me. The whole point of Mario Party to me is the boards, with the minigames adding some extra flavour. I like the idea of a "best of" title but it has to include boards! And I'm never going to play a new 3DS game now I have the Switch, it's too much of a step back (and y'know, I can't actually use it for multiplayer since nobody has a 3DS these days). Mario Party 3 will always be the best MP game to me and I haven't enjoyed any since (except MP8). Try again Nintendo! I live in hope that one day the series will return to its roots (and have online).
@PipeGuy64Bit Mostly agree with you, though, unlike MP3, where you still had to land on an Item Space, you get your capsules and candy (MP5-8) simply by passing by, giving you potential tactical choices even before rolling your die almost every turn. People who care little for the game will just throw them out wherever but those who do wanna win often thought about it for several minutes (at least from my game experience, playing with friends). And there were so many different ones in the GC titles you had a hard time remembering which capsule did what. I also feel like the GC titles introduced Events that would take much longer than the ones in the N64 days and these would often only give coins, having little effect on the tide of the party. Duel Minigames also became a thing. Yeah, they should just cut down items to a minimum, make events faster and with a minimum of 10 rounds, I doubt anybody would complain it‘s taking so long. But Nintendo‘s solutions to that complaint is like putting a bandage on a tumor. Haven‘t played the newer handheld titles so I can‘t tell how the item situation is over there.
Matio Party needs to have an Oddessy or BotW moment, where they go back to their roots.
I feel that fans have been clamoring for proper board games, and that is what it needs. Listen to the fans NDcube (i hope some other company can take over this atrocity).
They need characters with costumes to create that charm (on board maps), minigames that are fun - heck even classic ones , features like day and night - etc.
I just hope that the Switch MP version will be great with revisiting the roots and starting over
Any of the best 100 mini games based only on chance or luck? If so, it might just be the Best 99.
Still, I look forward to the game. If nothing else, it will be a trip down memory lane for me and my daughters.
@Toads-Friend Interesting. How much better would you say Star Rush is in comparison to Island Tour and Top 100?
@RedYoshi999 I've been thinking about this and I think Nintendo is going to keep the 2DS/3DS line going for young kids that parents are afraid to buy a switch for until they release a switch mini or something in a few years.
@Toads-Friend I understand what you mean, but rest assured I LOVE the Mario Party series. Star Rush is great, I think it's definitely the best of the Nd Cube era!
@SuperZambezi then you, my friend, are very cool!
This years Mario Tennis Ultra Smash? "Yeah just basically remake one of the Mario spin-off titles to fill a hole in the holiday release schedule for a console that's on it's way out. Don't spend too long on it though. Try Mario Party, something for the family"
Totally a cool idea but on the 3DS it's just meh to me. Despite enjoying the 3DS for literally thousands of hours, the idea of returning to it with any regularity is not appealing. I have done so for Pokemon Ultra Moon and while I am enjoying the game, it does feel like a massive downgrade after playing the Switch almost exclusively since March.
I do hope Nintendo puts a lot of effort into an eventual Mario Party on the Switch.
@Angelic_Lapras_King this is a hastag I can get behind.
Sooo its another rush job. I mean, great minigames but no proper boards. A shame. Pass!
So it's the usual rushed Mario shovelware Nintendo drags out to try and extend a console generation without any effort. Same old, same old.
Watched PBG play it. What utter garbage! How it got a 6, i will never understand. It's a 2 at best.
A Mario Party game without a proper board system is heresy! I can't imagine playing one without that.
@Oat I have Mario Party Island Tour and to me it's a pretty good game and it's not as bad as many say it is. If you don't have it you should consider getting it.
Wow, a Mario party game with 100 minigames, os so much, dont have a board is sad, but a Lot of minigames is good for me!!!
Tap here to load 63 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...