Best Mario Party 5 Boards
Alright we've finished the lists about the boards and boss battles of the original four modern mario party games, Mario Party 9, Mario Party: Island Tour, Mario Party 10 and Mario Party: Star Rush. I'm not gonig to do Super Mario Party just yet, instead I'm going to look at boards and soundtracks from the classic mario party games I own, which include Mario Party 5, Mario Party 7 and Mario Party 8. First it's Mario Party 5. Overall this is one of my least favourite mario parties, mainly due to that I find it generally boring and stuff. But you see I'm not the biggest fan of the original formula either. In the classic mario party games, you don't go from point A to point B. Instead you look for stars around the boards and you must get as many as you can before a certain amount of turns has gone. With that being said here's the list.
Of all the six boards in Mario Party 5, the only ones I really like are Pirate Dream and Undersea Dream personally. They are a bit bigger and don't feel stale like the rest of the boards. Deciding between this and Undersea Dream can be a bit of a pain because they are both pretty great but I'm going with Pirate Dream. It's probably the visually most stunning and has a lot of things going on in the background.
This board is set on what seems to be a cliff filled with crystals and pirate assets, as there is a pirate ship near the bottom of the board. I'm guessing this board is loosely based on Keelhaul Key from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door which is a nice touch. There's a lot going on in this board and there are a number of interesting things that can happen on this board. It seems a lot more events can happen on this board compared to other boards *cough*, Future Dream, *cough*.
Then again it's not an amazing board or anything unfortunately. May be because of how tedious this specific game can be, as every time I play it, I'm usually just bored because everything is so slow and tedious. However the music can be one of the answers to that. Because to be fair no board music hit my ears really. They're forgettable or just not good. The song for Pirate Dream, "An Adventurer" is overall just forgettable. It has some elements to the main menu theme which is nice but I hardly notice that. It's not necessarily a bad song but nothing I like either. Board is semi-great though in my opinion overall.
This is an passable board I suppose. Even though I'm personally not a big fan of sweets at all, this board definitely looks pretty good (tasty maybe as well). All the events that can happen are pretty interesting like those bridges that bridge from one cake to another. Even more interesting how all the cakes seem to make a nice setting. There is like a forest at the bottom and a tall mountain at the top of the board. It's very interesting.
The music is pherhaps the best board music. It's not forgettable, but rather happy and candyish. It fits the board very well and it's one I'm most likely to remember so overall a good-to-great board.
This board is actually pretty good I suppose. Keep in mind I played Mario Party 7 before this, and I hated the bowser board and boss battle in that game so much, so all bowser stuff in this game astounded me how much better it was. The board is better too. The visuals are pretty nice and the overall lava fortress setting looks pretty cool. Although it's not necessarily a fortress, actually it is, but it's pretty low and small. Ironically it's the biggest board in the game though. It's actually quite fun to play though.
There's a handful of events that can happen as well. The final bowser battle is also pretty amazing. It feels pretty big and challenging and it's very well executed. Especially compared to the dread that was in 7.
The music, maybe not amazing but it's alright. Forgettable but once you listen to it it's pretty good I must say. Although I'll probably forget it again, because you know, it's forgettable. So overall this board is pretty good as well.
This is the first board in the game and probably also the most simple and easy board in the game. It's also the first board I ever saw on Youtube, before I got the game thus I have some nostalgia for this board. However from here on, boards range from good to bad. This is not a great board, but just a decent-to-good board.
This board is based around toys and all those stuff, I like toys a lot so that gives this board a lot of plus points. There's also a railway that goes around the entire board, with a train, I like trains (no pun intended). Lots of presents and toys are scattered around the board as well. However the board overall looks a bit bland. The floors have generally bland colours and all that so it's not a top two board for me.
The music is alright. It's among the more memorable tunes in the soundtrack but then again it's not too memorable and slightly boring. I like the train sound effects and toyish feel of the song though so that's a point. Overall a good board.
As if Future Dream wasn't boring enough, this is that board times 10. While it has a lot more detail, this board is just so boring. There is not a single rainbow found in this board. Just four small islands on clouds in a pink sky and all of them have some sort of "princess" theme. This is a board for little girls. I personally can't stand this board.
Don't get me started on how the music even feels like some princess music. It's not a terrible soundtrack but honestly it's not something that good either. So overall this is probably the worst board in the game in my opinion.
This is the other board in the game besides Pirate Dream that I honestly care about. It's also a semi-great board and I consider it to be about as good as Pirate Dream. One of the reasons is because it looks a lot more alive and interesting than pretty much all other boards in the game. It's set in this coral reef underwater and the aestethics and assets look pretty colourful and nice to say the least. There's also a sunken ship on the board which is interesting.
It's a bit big and has a lot of pathways which can make gameplay pretty fun at times. The music while not great or anything is a lot more memorable than the other tunes. Probably one of the better songs in the game. It feels like you're underwater and has a more unique theme. So yeah I guess this is also a semi-great board.
Now THIS is a stale and boring board. Sometimes I feel like this board describes how I feel about Mario Party 5 altogether: Boring, slow and forgettable. That's how I'd describe Future Dream as well. It's set somewhere in space with three round and small space stations. This needs to be said, it's always random which station the star will spawn on, and getting from space station to space station is annoying enough. Basically there are teleportation pads on each space station, two on one and there are so many spaces in between you have to cross so by the time you've gotten to right station someone has already taken the star.
Oh and did I mention how boring this board is? Since this board is set in space, there are no details at all in the background. It's just a dark blue background with a planet in the top-left corner. The music really helps it feel more boring. While it's not that forgettable and I guess it's an alright tune, together with this board, it's just so boring. Yeah it fits a bit with the futuristic theme but it's boring as well. Sometimes I question my sanity whenever I choose to play this board. Every single time I'm just bored when I play this board. So this is a bad board in my book.