Top Ten Best Things About Mario Party 9

I'm With Darthvadern here. I'm kind of tired of the Mario Party Fanbase throwing this game out the window and shoving Mario Party 2 down our throats. Why Can't Fanbases be happy with what they have these days?

This is honestly in my opinion the best looking game in the Mario Party series, even better than 10 and Super. I felt this game was incredibly colourful, and having a great aspect ratio while still retaining the magical colours and visuals. This, in comparision to 10, whose HD graphics made entire textures look bland, and Super which looked a little too reallistic for a Mario Party game, while also looking terrible in certain situations like the hub world. So this one is a winner.

This collection of minigames I mostly have a soft spot for because I grew up with this game, but even now looking at some other games, I think 9 triumphs pretty easily over a lot of other games. I felt the ones in this game were much more unique from previous games, in that you did stuff you'd normally not expect too. And even those that aren't unique, they're still fun because of the vibrant atmosphere.

It saved the seires from being the same crap the last 8 were. 8 was great. I like 5-7 but really repetive. 4 was just decent and 1-3 were just horrible. The modern games are masterpieces all of them (except MP: TT100)

Oh my this game has probably the finest collection of music tracks in the entire Mario Party franchise, alongside Mario Party: Island Tour. My main problem with the other titles' soundtrack is that the early ones (1-DS) are too hectic and lack any emotion, whereas the latter installments from 10 to Super instead are too quiet and lack any substance. Mario Party 9 and Island Tour on the other hand have soundtrack which is the perfect blend of meaningful and exciting. Some of the best songs from this game include A Starlit Sky, Main Theme, Magma Mine, Bowser Station, Garden Battle, King Boo Battle, Chain Chomp Battle ajnd Bowser Battle. It's just really amazing!

I wouldn't hesitate to say that Mario Party 9 is the Mario Party game with the most content overall. There are so many different things to have fun with in this game that each appeal to specific audiences that it adds so much more replay-ability than a lot of other games in the franchise. You've got the infamous but good party mode alongside its story mode counterpart, but you've also got six different minigame modes, which are not only great, but ACTUALLY UNIQUE! They are much more inter-active than previous games' minigame modes, as you now not only earn points during the minigames, but even in-between them, such as in High Rollers, Garden Battle, Choice Challenge, etc. And the other minigame modes are good too, like Step it Up, Boss Rush and Time Attack. I'm not even done yet. There's also the extras mode, which has a flull-fledged goomba bowling tournament, a mode where you play minigames in 3rd person view, and even a shell soccer mini-mode. But I'm not done..., there's also the museum where you can listen to music and the typical stuff, but also buy star constellations and then look into the night sky, viewing star consellations such as "Super Major Bro. (Mario)". And the music there is legendary...

Mario Party 7, 8 and DS was when the serious began to show extreme fatigue. after the series reached its peak at the 6th game. Why? Well..., 7 was essentially just a watered down version of 6, as day/night was replaced by the dreaded Bowser Time, the board gimmicks copied over weren't as greatly executed, and it's just overall kinda slow. But it did add 8 player mode at least, and I liked the boards and minigames nevertheless. In 8, it's even more redundant as the board gimmicks are copied over again and likewise, not as greatly executed. Not to mention to overuse of motion controls. And DS was so bare bones in its board layout and minigames... So, 9 comes to the rescue and revives it all. It feels new, fresh, and fixed the dullness from the previous games.

As evident by how boring the series became by the DS entry, it was obvious that the series needed to be rebooted, and so this game removed the basic star-hunt gameplay of the original games, and replaced it with a race to the finish-styled game where all characters are in a car and you compete to get the most mini-stars along the way through minigames, on the board, and through events. It's a little more luck-based than the previous games, but it's also far more exciting and interesting, because something like this has never been done before in any board game. Most people hate this style, but most of it comes from people who grew up with the originals primarily. I love this gameplay, and the revamption saved the franchise.

Mario Party DS did have boss minigames as well, but I felt they were miles better executed in this game, and this is where they started to gain their reputation, as now you're all teaming up to defeat mario enemies in certain types of minigames. Boss battles gave the game a much more epic and meaningful feel to it, because you were truly fighting to get the most mini-stars. It also made board games end much less abruptly compared to previous games.

Mario Party 9 has the happiest and most vibrant atmosphere to it out of the Mario Party games, I feel. This has to do with the combination of fun music, cartoony yet great looking art-style, the variety of stuff to do in the game. and the graphics..., which brings us too...

It's not the best of all time, but for what it contains, it's incredibly solid. While it did remove some fan favourites like Boo,Toadette, Dry Bones and the obscure duo from 8, in return we get Koopa Troopa, Shy Guy and Kamek, who are all pretty excellent additions nevertheless. And Birdo is still here, so it's automatically great, even if 8, 10, Star Rush and Super have slightly better rosters.

Boards being diverse from each other wasn't a thing until Mario Party 6, when each board got their own set of rules (although 3 had it to an extent as well). This game, using the car formula, needed to be really creative to make each board stand out from each other, and they not only nailed atmosphere and board settings, but also gimmicks. You've got basic Toad Road, luck-based Bob Omb Factory, mirage-esque Boo's Horror Castle, rising lava in Magma Mine, etc. It's all a breath of fresh air.