Top Ten Things that Make Mario Party 6 Better Than Mario Party 7
Mario Party 6 and 7 are by far the greatest Mario Party games of the classic era (1-8+DS). This was when the franchise was at its peak, coming up with insane and unique concepts. Of the two however, I must say 6 is the overall better game, and that's by a long shot. Why do I think so? Let's find out. With that being said here is the list.
This is what decided for me that 6 is a better game than 7, which is the main universal gimmick that appears in all boards. Basically, in Mario Party 6, it would go from day to night every 3rd turn, and that would change up the gameplay slightly, such as opening up new pathways, or changing up the price, or in the case of Clockwork Castle, reverse its gimmick. It was such a neat idea and it worked really well without being too excessive. Mario Party 7 abolished Day and Night however, and replaced it with Bowser Time. Now, every 5th turn, Bowser would come up and ruin something, like stealing a star from 1st place or cut off pathways. Unlike day and night, this feels so much more shoved down our throats, as it's all just negative stuff happening, compared to 6 where day and night brought both positives and negatives. Especially is it annoying when your star is stolen, just because you were 1st place. Bowser Time kinda ruins the entire game as a result of this, and there's no way to turn it off. The game would've been perfectly fine without Bowser Time, so it just feels like something the developers came up with at the last second.
As I said above, the board gimmicks were far better executed in Mario Party 6 than in 7, and that made Mario Party 6's boards far better. I actually thought all boards were at least good in that game, with four of them even reaching the "Perfect category" (Clockwork Castle, Castaway Bay, Faire Square and Snowflake Lake). The other two are also pretty good. Mario Party 7 has a good board collection as well, but it pales in comparison to 6. It did make a unique move to make each of its boards based on a respective country, like Grand Canal obviously being based on Italy, which was a really nice touch. However, they were still significantly worse than in 6, because of worse board gimmicks, and just not being as interesting. Grand Canal and Neon Heights are great, I'll admit, and I love Pyramid Park and Windmillville, but even then their gimmicks could've been better. And then you've got two real mediocrities, namely Pagoda Peak and Bowser's Enchanted Inferno. Pagoda Peak has a perfect atmosphere, but the execution is all over the place. Imagine a static star board with no alternate pathways, which also has a price-changing gimmick. It takes away all strategy in the board! And Bowser's Enchanted Inferno is just another basic lava level, and not to mention it's island-hopping. Yeah..., 6 has all great boards, and 7 has four great but two bad ones. An easy win for 6.
Mario Party 6 was the game that introduced day/night cycle, different rules for each board, a Gamecube Mic, a unique take on a Solo Mode, etc. Mario Party 7 just took the already existing concepts introduced in Mario Party 6, and worsened them. Pyramind Park is a weaker Snowflake Lake, Pagoda Peak is Castaway Bay gone wrong, Bowser's Enchanted Inferno is everything you don't want Clockwork Castle to be, the Mic isn't used as greatly, and the Solo mode is pretty basic. The only original part of this game I'd say would have to be the whole travelling-plot, and Windmillville, as it introduced a new gameplay gimmick, and thus it's my favourite board in the game. Neon Heights is an improved version of 3's Spiny Desert too, but the mirage star isn't a very unique concept.
Between Clockwork Castle and Bowser's Enchanted Inferno!, I think the winner is obvious. One is the most unique and interesting board ever made in Mario Party, and the other is about as basic as it can get. What I especially don't understand is why Bowser's board in 7 is as basic as it is! It's literally just inside of Corona Mountain from Super Mario Sunshine, when the theme of 7 itself is around the world. Couldn't they have made a Japanese-themed Bowser board, kind of like in Super Mario Odyssey? Or ANYTHING more unique at least? This entire board pales in comparison to my favourite board of all time, Clockwork Castle.
Actually, this is where 7 succeeds over 6, and I can't see why anyone would think otherwise. 6 has 11 playables, while 7 has 12. And as for the exclusives, 6 has the dreaded Koopa Kid, while 7 replaces him with Dry Bones AND Birdo. Obviously, 7 wins in this category.
Mario Party 6 was unique in that it was the first Mario Party game to have individual rules on how to get a star on each board. You had two basic Star Hunting boards (Towering Treetop and E. Gadd's Garage), two slightly modified star-hunting boards (Faire Square, Clockwork Castle), and two boards with completely different rules (Snowflake Lake, Castaway Bay). All of the gimmicks are executed fairly well, because the boards are built around those gimmicks, so it all feels natural. Mario Party 7 re-uses a lot of these board ideas, but they aren't executed nearly as great. Pyramid Park for example. It's another star-stealing board like Snowflake Lake, but the board layout makes no sense for being a Star-stealing board. It would've been better off as a basic Star Hunting board. And Pagoda Peak. It's a straight-line board, but with NO alternate pathways on the go, and every time someone buys a star, the price goes up. Who the FRICK thought that was a good idea? It's random if you get a star or not. So yeah, 6 did a lot better in this category.
Toadsworth is my least favourite host in the Mario Party series. It's not that I don't like the character itself, it's just his damn voice! It's so freakin' irritating and gets on my nerves every time I play the game. I know people don't like McBalliho from Mario Party 8 either, but at least he's kinda charming. Just like Toadsworth is my least favourite host, my favourite hosts are Brighton and Twila in 6. The fact that two spirits based on the sun and moon are our hosts, is in my opinion, just a really neat concept, and not to mention, they look cool.
Speaking of which, the hub world! Mario Party 7 had a decent but kind of bland main menu. You were just looking at a board with all of the different modes nailed into it. Mario Party 6 on the other hand, has you looking down onto a world map, with the western side belonging to Brighton, and the right half to Twila. Each of the modes were found in one of these locations, and Brighton was the host of the west side, etc., with the exception of Party Mode and Star Bank which was located in the middle, and so both Brighton and Twila were the hosts of these mode. This hub world just has so much more atmosphere than the board in 7.
Mario Party 7's soundtrack seems to fall into the same category as Mario Party 8, in that the songs have a lot of iconic melodies, but they really aren't any great. Mario Party 6's music isn't as memorable overall, but the songs that are good, are really amazing! Clockwork Castle is the finest example!
Despite the really awesome "around the world"-theme of Mario Party 7, I felt like the game itself remained kind of bland. Might be something about the colours being too bright and too monotonous. The only really vibrant board was Pagoda Peak, which was also the most insufferable one. Meanwhile, in Mario Party 6, all boards are really alive and colourful, even the Solo Mode boards like Astro Avenue and Thirsty Gulch! Not to mention, it has a better hub!