Top Ten Most Underrated Mario Party Games
Mario Party is one of the most known sub-franchises of the Mario series, being developed by Hudson Soft and ND Cube, consisting of Mario and friends partying together on a board-style game. Unfortunately, it also has one of the most toxic fanbases in the Mario games, praising the first few installments like gods, and demanding the newer titles to be the same as them, or else they're not good.
Out of the console entries, 8, 9 and 10 are the most hated of the bunch, with 10 being the most hated and 8 being the least of the trio. Although, I won't deny 10 does have a fair share of flaws that makes the game slightly boring most of the time, so I put 9 higher on the list instead. That's because Mario Party 9, is actually an AMAZING game. While it was my first mario game ever, even now, trying to look from unbiased perspectives, it really isn't bad. It changed formula because it was necessary, and even if the car isn't as fun as walking freely, it still has stuff it did better than in the older games. By the way, minigames and minigame mode are legendary in this game (especially High Rollers)!
People hate it for being "too different" from the previous seven and the Kamek incident. Nitpicking at it's finest.
Tied for best one with Superstars.
Both this game and Mario Party 9 could complete against each other for the #1 spot. They're both in my opinion, some of the most well-made entries in the series, while at the same time getting slack for a minor reason (it doesn't use original formula or something like that), completely disregarding it from an unbiased perspective. Comparing the two games though, 9 gets a lot of hate, but also a little praise, plus it's relatively known. Mario Party: Star Rush on the other hand is one of the most forgotten titles in the franchise, and while the few people that did play it liked it, it still has its hatebase all for being and Cube. It's really unfair and biased, the situation these two games are in the fandom. I'd go as far as saying Star Rush's Toad Scramble mode is even better than the classic formula (come at me). For this reason, Mario Party: Star Rush is #1 on this list.
So, Mario Party 8 and DS are interesting games in terms of the fandom. When they were released, no one remembered or liked them, but fast forward a decade later, everyone LOVES them..., and yes it's because of nostalgia, and "because they still at least used the classic formula", which puts this game just barely onto the list. While it's super loved, it's also on a handheld, and most people don't remember the handheld games, so... While it's not very innovative, it did many good things, such as adding boss battles, the big-house theme making sense on the boards, and the music is pretty chill. Overall, this game is #10.
This game is actually amazing. Like, sure, the multiplayer is practically nonexistent, but before you say this game is trash, play Shroom City. It's actually a pretty good "story mode" with interesting side-quests. It's not just fetching, but it's pretty varied, with quests from raising flags to call UFOs, to having a "footrace" with bullet bills. All the dialogue is funny. You don't have to force yourselves to laugh like in that one comedian mission to get a chuckle out of this. And the guy that composed MP3&4 returns, resulting in SPECTACULAR music. If you haven't tried it because of the internet, you're missing out on a lot of stuff.
Even though Mario Party: Island Tour and 10 are much more hated than 9 and Star Rush even though they aren't that bad, I do believe they have a bigger number of problems than the above games, which sorta defeats them a bit. But Island Tour is still an immensely underrated title, hated because..., luck. Even though luck always has played a huge role in Mario Party, and I'd say it's handled much better in Island Tour than in the older titles. That's because the boards in this game are all revolved around a certain type of gimmick, one has you reaching the end first, the other has you choosing risk vs. reward, and another has you collecting the most mini-stars, etc. One thing people overlook in this game is the soundtrack, which I believe is the best in the entire Mario Party franchise.
The Top 100..., is without a doubt the most lackluster game of the entire franchise. Even Advance, IT and 10 had more to it than this game. It's a game that gets the right amount of hate in my opinion, as it's so inconsistent and empty. The gimmick is bringing back 100 minigames from previous games, but it's very inconsistent. 5 got like 17 minigames and 8 only got 3. And the only modes to play the minigames on, are Minigame Match (one board even worse than any of Star Rush's Balloon Blast boards), and Minigame Island (a Challenge Road), and while the latter isn't terrible, it's still not enough really. Although, Minigame Island does make this game just SLIGHTLY "underrated".
This game gets just about the right amount of praise from what I've seen. Being the most original and unique of the classic titles, with a day/night cycle, unique and creative board (rules), and a nice selection of minigames, Mario Party 6 just barely makes it onto the top five. To some extent, it's even underrated because of how harsh the N64 purists tend to be.
While it's widely agreed that Mario Party 5 is the weakest console Mario Party, and for good reason, it still has its fans. Why...? The only fun part of it was debatably Super Duel Mode. The boards are shallow at best, the capsules are pure luck and the minigames suck. "Oh but it's not like the newer games", *sigh*.
Mario Party 10 is kinda meh..., but is it an abomination? No. I won't deny the HD graphics actually make the game feel more bland, in contrast to 9's popping colours..., as the HD on the Wii U made most things look very plastic. That..., in addition to an immense lack of content for a console game is just embarrassing, as Mario Party DS was released nearly a decade before with much more to do. But Mario Party 10 can still be fun. The standard car party isn't as great as it was in 9, but it's playable. Bowser Party was a unique addition too, as you either play as Bowser trying to eliminate everyone on the car, or you play as someone on the car, trying to get as far away from Bowser as possible. Overall, another underrated game.
This game is essentially a Super Mario Galaxy 2 to Mario Party 6, and by that, I mean it's ridiculously similar to it, more so than any other Mario Party game. In a nutshell it took Mario Party 6 and then just kinda downgraded it. No day/night cycle, the boards are essentially slower versions of previous game as they use same rules, and even the minigames feel oddly familiar. Even copying half of 1's minigames in 2 isn't the crown for cheapness. However, Super Mario Galaxy 2 was equally as great as the original, like this one is pretty much as great as 6, because they're both "fun". Although, that doesn't excuse how unoriginal it pretty much is.
People aren't a fan of this one but I like what they incorporated.
