Mario Party 7

[stone_cold_julia]

I just played MP7 today and I haven't since 4/06/2013! (It keeps track!) I loved Pagoda Peak, the music was catchy and the music in the game is so nostalgic! I also noticed Waluigi's winning poses being weird, like WTF is he doing? He's either rubbing his tummy and giving a thumbs up or jacking off, because I have a dirty mind. BTW I always play as Waluigi! It's funny when he says "You're lousy!"

[Stray Dawg]

Bowser Time only really bugs me in the Grand Canal- 3 bridges of 3 consecutive Bowser Spaces?! They really tick me off in MP7. Since the Revolutions and Shuffles are now in the hands of Mini-Bowser, all that can occur on a regular Bowser space is a high-stakes mini-game. Both the single player and multiplayer varieties are annoying in their own ways. The single-player ones are too easy, thus a drag (in fact 'Tunnel Of Lava!' is basically an elongated way for Bowser to say 'Yeah... I'll let you go this time') while the multiplayer ones take far too long for casual gamers (a.k.a. my family) to not make one wee mistake. That wouldn't matter if it weren't for how much losers have to give up- so often ALL their coins get snatched.

Mario Parties are so miserable when players have no coins. Even if someone survives a Bowser Mini-Game they'll be bored for a while as their competitors can't buy stuff or be stolen from- it's so annoying when someone finally lands on one of your traps... but they're skint.

The number of times me and friends land on Bowser Spaces in Grand Canal is obscene- there's been quite a few turns with nothing but BS landings.

Anyways, maybe my favorite Mario Party in spite of that. The items are perhaps the most balanced in the entire series (price-wise) and there's very few nauseating mini-games aside from Bowser's. Although the random reward is annoying in Duel MGs, this is the first game in the series where there's NO luck-based duels- in previous entries I was always too scared to invest 50 bucks or a star knowing that 'Get a Rope' or 'Pitifall' might show up.

[Annabah]

I want a Mario Party minigame that you need to get as many power ups as you can before the time runs up.
Poison Mushroom: -1 point.
Super Mushroom: 1 point.
Super Leaf: 3 points.
Invincibility Leaf: 5 points.

[GamingStar302]

I love this game. It's definitely one of my favorite Mario Partys of the group. I don't know exactly how I'd rank them, but MP7 is safely in my top 3 no matter how you slice it. 

The maps are pretty good - Pagoda Peak was always my favorite! And the music to Pagoda is spectacular as well. There is some variance from the traditional run around and collect stars mechanic I like most, but they don't go off the rails in this one and it at least keeps some influence from the traditional MP games.

The thing this Mario Party game does the best is the minigames! Track & Yield, Fun Run, Target Tag, Light Speed, Camp Ukiki, Bob-ombic Plague, Shock Absorbers - just to name a few. Heck, even the Bowser Minigames are enjoyable in this one.

This brings me to my next point - 8 players. Mario Party has thrown at us some weird things over the years that really takes a step away from traditional MP gameplay, but the idea of adding more players has to be one of the best ones I've seen so far. Granted, I think it would have been a bit more fun with each having their own controller, but with the 4 player restriction on the Gamecube I'm not complaining about this addition. Of course, they just let you play the classic way as well if you'd like, which is awesome. *cough* Mario Party 10 *cough*

I've certainly had some great times with this game. It does have some stiff competition, particularly with the other GC era Mario Party games, but this is one of my favorites to date. I still remember bringing this in our TV-equipped minivan to play on our family road trips ten years ago - times I'll never forget!

Hopefully when I return home next week from college I'll be able to play it some more.

[Racerboy]

I love this game. It's definitely one of my favorite Mario Partys of the group. I don't know exactly how I'd rank them, but MP7 is safely in my top 3 no matter how you slice it. 

The maps are pretty good - Pagoda Peak was always my favorite! And the music to Pagoda is spectacular as well. There is some variance from the traditional run around and collect stars mechanic I like most, but they don't go off the rails in this one and it at least keeps some influence from the traditional MP games.

The thing this Mario Party game does the best is the minigames! Track & Yield, Fun Run, Target Tag, Light Speed, Camp Ukiki, Bob-ombic Plague, Shock Absorbers - just to name a few. Heck, even the Bowser Minigames are enjoyable in this one.

This brings me to my next point - 8 players. Mario Party has thrown at us some weird things over the years that really takes a step away from traditional MP gameplay, but the idea of adding more players has to be one of the best ones I've seen so far. Granted, I think it would have been a bit more fun with each having their own controller, but with the 4 player restriction on the Gamecube I'm not complaining about this addition. Of course, they just let you play the classic way as well if you'd like, which is awesome. *cough* Mario Party 10 *cough*

I've certainly had some great times with this game. It does have some stiff competition, particularly with the other GC era Mario Party games, but this is one of my favorites to date. I still remember bringing this in our TV-equipped minivan to play on our family road trips ten years ago - times I'll never forget!

Hopefully when I return home next week from college I'll be able to play it some more.

Great story 

I too share some fond memories with Mario Party 7, as it is the only one I grew up with on the Gamecube. My friends and I have certainly pushed the meta for the minigames, always trying to optimize the games like Fun Run, Snow Ride, Kart Wheeled, Hop-O-Matic 4000, Sphere Factor, Buzz Stormer (always shouting LEFT and RIGHT!), Easy Pickings (i still believe it's possible to clear the whole field with 3 people ) and, of course, Pokey Pummel.

[GamingStar302]

Great story 

I too share some fond memories with Mario Party 7, as it is the only one I grew up with on the Gamecube. My friends and I have certainly pushed the meta for the minigames, always trying to optimize the games like Fun Run, Snow Ride, Kart Wheeled, Hop-O-Matic 4000, Sphere Factor, Buzz Stormer (always shouting LEFT and RIGHT!), Easy Pickings (i still believe it's possible to clear the whole field with 3 people ) and, of course, Pokey Pummel.

Ah, yes! Games like Hop-O-Matic 4000 can be a ride on the struggle bus if you're teamed with the limp noodle of the group, lol. I find that on Buzzstormer, whoever is teamed up with a CPU always wins, because we usually play with the highest difficulty on most games.

Kart Wheeled I still remember that one time my mom played with us and did the whole course backwards and was confused why she wasn't going anywhere. And Pokey Pummel was a button-smasher if I recall correctly? Those are fun from time to time but I hate when you get them over and over again, haha. There is usually one or two in each MP, which I think is appropriate.

[Racerboy]

Great story 

I too share some fond memories with Mario Party 7, as it is the only one I grew up with on the Gamecube. My friends and I have certainly pushed the meta for the minigames, always trying to optimize the games like Fun Run, Snow Ride, Kart Wheeled, Hop-O-Matic 4000, Sphere Factor, Buzz Stormer (always shouting LEFT and RIGHT!), Easy Pickings (i still believe it's possible to clear the whole field with 3 people ) and, of course, Pokey Pummel.

Ah, yes! Games like Hop-O-Matic 4000 can be a ride on the struggle bus if you're teamed with the limp noodle of the group, lol. I find that on Buzzstormer, whoever is teamed up with a CPU always wins, because we usually play with the highest difficulty on most games.

Kart Wheeled I still remember that one time my mom played with us and did the whole course backwards and was confused why she wasn't going anywhere. And Pokey Pummel was a button-smasher if I recall correctly? Those are fun from time to time but I hate when you get them over and over again, haha. There is usually one or two in each MP, which I think is appropriate.

Yeah, Buzzstormer is like "Right Oar Left?" from Mario Party 4, the CPU pretty much just does what you do 

And yeah I think MP5 is notable for having a ton of button mashing minigames, 7 doesn't have too many which I like. Same thing with luck.

[GamingStar302]

Yeah, Buzzstormer is like "Right Oar Left?" from Mario Party 4, the CPU pretty much just does what you do 

And yeah I think MP5 is notable for having a ton of button mashing minigames, 7 doesn't have too many which I like. Same thing with luck.

Yeah, I think MP7 has a great mix. I like one or two luck and one or two button mashers thrown in per game, because let's face it, by now they are Mario Party staples.  I don't need too many of them though, otherwise things can get aggravating.

I am notorious among my group of friends / family for always winning the luck games though. I seriously think I win MP4's Bowser's Bigger Blast 90% of the time. XD

[Racerboy]

Yeah, Buzzstormer is like "Right Oar Left?" from Mario Party 4, the CPU pretty much just does what you do 

And yeah I think MP5 is notable for having a ton of button mashing minigames, 7 doesn't have too many which I like. Same thing with luck.

Yeah, I think MP7 has a great mix. I like one or two luck and one or two button mashers thrown in per game, because let's face it, by now they are Mario Party staples.  I don't need too many of them though, otherwise things can get aggravating.

I am notorious among my group of friends / family for always winning the luck games though. I seriously think I win MP4's Bowser's Bigger Blast 90% of the time. XD

I don't mind button mashers as long as some other skill is involved along with it, such as moving the joystick to avoid obstacles at the same time. A lot of the original N64 Mario Parties did this right, the early Gamecube ones had a lot of just straight up mashing of A with nothing else.

[GamingStar302]

I don't mind button mashers as long as some other skill is involved along with it, such as moving the joystick to avoid obstacles at the same time. A lot of the original N64 Mario Parties did this right, the early Gamecube ones had a lot of just straight up mashing of A with nothing else.

Yeah Im definitely familiar with those. My favorite of the bunch has to be MP4's Domination. I just liked the nature of the results in that one, how you all jammed A and then had no clue who was going to win until the end it was revealed. 

But MP4 also had Slime Time, which had identical gameplay but a different method of victory. Looking at MP5, they gave us Will Flower AND Manic Mallets which both required liquidating your A button, and on top of that Merry Poppings was very similar except that you smashed A and B.

After those two I think they began to chill out a bit.