I just wanna say that Mario Party is a series I never thought could actually be analyzed or critiqued in any serious way, so it's super cool to watch these fantastic in-depth analyses. I love this series.
Especially since next we're going to start the best overall generation of Mario Party. No deep lows like 1, 9, or 10. All the best innovations in place, and not a car in sight. I'd say 5 is overall weaker than either of the surrounding titles, but is still overall acceptable.
@@hockeater Meh...I'd say 5 is *bordering* on acceptable. The minigames are fun overall even if there are far too many luck-based ones for my taste. Board design is all over the place; when it's good it's really good, when it's bad it's really bad. The capsule system...just sucks. It's a decent idea, but one with a really sloppy execution that's done much better in later games.
@@Nintendotron64 Yes, weaker than 4, 6, or 7, but it kicks the ass of 1, 9, or 10 pretty conclusively. That's an important point when arguing gamecube generation as best mario party.
Mario Party 4 always had my favorite set up: it’s the character of your choice’s birthday, and the game you’re playing is all the characters literally playing party games together.
I think that the ridiculousness of Game Guy spaces is balanced out by the rarity of the spaces themselves. There's only one per board and they're always in pretty tough spots to reach, so usually there's no more than one Game Guy game per full game, in my experience. I think it's a good system
There was a time when a friend of mine had to face Game Guy as Wario. He beat him and had a total of 999 coins (and it probably would've been more if that wasn't the game's limit). It was so funny when Game Guy fainted, and I can't help but think to this day how appropriate it was for Wario to get all of those coins. 😄
I think one thing that would enhance the section where you talk about the maps is a view of the map as a whole. As someone not familiar with all the maps it isn't the most clear all the time what the layout of the map is when you are just describing it and showing snippets.
Duel mode is actually one of my favorite aspects of any Mario party. I think the partner system leaves a lot of room for strategy, and the boards, while some are lacking, can also provide strategy. Most of these do factor in a lot of luck, but I still have a ton of fun. I tend to think the more luck, the better, so more game guy usually makes the whole thing more memorable
Even though I disagree with most of your insight during this video, still thoroughly enjoyed the hell out of it. Well done! Personally, I LOVE the boards in this game. They all play well to the strengths of the items, with plenty of choice involved. I agree that the sandpit in Spiny Desert is a bit annoying at times, but the rest of your criticisms don't really match with my experiences. Waluigi Island's centre gimmick has the same timing all the time: Jump when the direction you want to go is lit up. The speed of the light simply adds or removes challenge from it. Woody Woods is built around using all the different types of mushrooms to your advantage, by rocketing ahead with the golden or regular mushroom to reach a junction when it's pointing in the direction you want, using a poison mushroom to avoid going to a junction when it's pointing in the direction you don't want, or using a reverse mushroom to undo going the wrong way. Creepy Cavern requires good usage of Skeleton keys or those action events. Notice specifically that the areas with the carts are small loops in and of themselves, allowing you to return a cart as needed, or to screw over another player. Of course on top of all of that, the Lucky Lamp allows for your to change the location of the star at any point. As for the minigames I pretty much completely agree (although I would liken Ice Rink Risk to Bombs Away more than Bumper Balls), although I enjoy Stacked Deck and Merry-Go-Chomp (Bowsers Big Blast is better though). Also, Chip Shot Challenge is always one that confuses me, as everyone says the arrows are hard to understand? I don't find that to be the case at all, it's a simple case of understanding the perspective given to you. Game guy was a really odd criticism I found, considering how RARE it is to even get him. You have to practically go out of your way to land on him for the most part (He has, like, 2 spaces max per board minus Waluigi Island), and the fact that you are forced to bet all of your coins is what makes the Lucky Charm so effective. As for the Duel Mode, I'm surprised how much you hated it. While far from being the main attraction, I find it to be a harmless little side mode that's short and enjoyable in its own right. Turns don't take long, and proper planning and adapting allows for solid victories. All in all, great video. Looking forward to your thoughts on 4. (Personally consider 4 to be at the bottom of the list for me. It's just so damn slow)
Waluigi's Island is my favorite map of all of them! And I too was shocked at the hatred of Duel Mode and Game Guy. You summed up my feelings pretty much, but I will disagree on Merry-Go-Chomp and Stacked Deck. Pure Luck games make me feel like the game is playing me, other than me playing them.
I understand where he is coming from, dueling gets old real fast, especially if you play the single player story, and the boards are super hit or miss for me personally. But this game one of my favorites simply thanks to the best selection of items by far imo. Makes up for any shortcomings the maps have. Also mp4 is my second fav xD
I agree with many of your points. I tend to find myself enjoying MP3 more than MP2 even if it's a bit less refined. The stuff that it does right is done so well, that it really elevates the experience beyond what the first two games had previously achieved. It's my second-favorite Mario Party, behind only 6. And yes, MP4 is very meh. I don't consider it the worst in the series, but the general slowness of the boards make it a less exciting game overall.
I wish you weren't forced to gamble all your coins if you simply land on the Game Guy space. Forcing another player to gamble all their coins is wickedly satisfying, but having it happen to yourself just because of a bad dice role is pretty demotivating and removes the key element of choice and strategy that gambling usually has.
@Ben Florez like idk what he is expecting. They instilled the bullshittery in Mario Party 1. I don't recall him complaining about the Happening Spaces in 1 and 2 as much as here, despite the fact they're arguably worse in those games in certain instances.
@@weirdkid5 i agree with him that is slightly worse in mp3, since mp2 happening spaces were more about strategizing how to fuck everyone else with you, and 3 is more strategizing how not to screw up you.
@@Canalbiruta Pirate Land's Bridge would like to have a word with you. I literally played that map once and was completely unable to pass the bridge until about 15 turns in (20 turn game). What about Pirate Land's Bridge seems better than any of the happening spaces in 3?
@@pluubooruu i know how you fell bro... but while that fucking bridge can be avoided, with a little bit of luck involved, mp3 happening spaces are all about luck. but yeah... that bridge fucked some matches for me too
I think Mario party 3 takes the most skill of any Mario party to win. The mini games are unforgiving and the player who is the best at them will have the most coins in 9/10 games. Since the bonus stars stay the same you have the most skilled player taking 2/3 of them in a high percentage of games. There is a lot of ways to lose coins in Mario party 3 but not many ways to gain them. Unless you are playing a 30+ turn game the most skilled player just needs to magic lamp their way to a few stars and then you have a scenario where another player needs to collect a minimum of 4-5 stars on the board to even think of winning. Nothing is guaranteed and RNG is a factor but it goes both ways. Plenty of games end up low star count because of board RNG which benefits skilled players also. Unless you are playing with people who are familiar with Mario party 3 you have a very high chance of winning and them saying you “paid your way to victory”.
I really enjoyed Mario Party 3. It's my favorite entry in the series alongside 2! Despite the luck based stuff, I've grown fond of them mainly because the item system makes things less bad. Waluigi's Island also was quite an amazing board in my opinion. AND YOU CAN PLAY AS MY TWO FAVORITE MARIO CHARACTERS DAISY AND WALUIGI PECK YEAH
I was surprised by how many criticisms you had for the boards due to luck. I would argue you need luck events all over the boards in order for it to not just be a numbers game where whoever is rolling higher wins. In MP3, you can always mitigate the luck by purchasing items. The items effectively turn this game into the most strategic Mario Party game (at least that I've played). You mention the reverse mushroom for Woody Woods, but any of the mushrooms will allow you to play around the signposts (just rip a regular mushroom or golden mushroom when the signs are correctly aligned to get through them in time, or poison yourself if you don't want to pass through). Sure, sometimes the star appears at the very top where it's difficult to reach, but golden lamps are plentiful and keep the game in motion (thus why I think the 20 coin price is a positive change). ALSO, if you don't like the golden lamps, you can instantly shut them off by purchasing a plunder chest. Nobody is going to buy a golden lamp if another player is holding one of those. You complain about the mechanics for creepy cavern, but you can always buy a skeleton key from the shop and it always allows you to cross to the other side of the map, so you're never actually stuck on one side. For Deep Blooper, just buy a warp block. If you're the one that loses the explosion, then often that means everyone else succeeded, so warp block has a very good success rate. For Spiny Desert, I'm surprised you complained about the quicksand pits, as a strong strategy on that map is to just sit in the pit and accrue happening space triggers. Only once a mirage goes away, you can then leave the pit to reach the real star first (ideally with a golden mushroom to give yourself the best chance of getting it). I especially liked triggers like this because they caused more duels to occur in the last 5 turns (also why I really like the middle of Chilly Waters). Even on Waluigi's Island there's things you can do to mitigate the luck. One strategy is to just sit in the island with all spaces being the same and go for Game Guy and Chance time events to win the game (you'll get several attempts). If your coin count is low, you could strategically stay in the bomb circle and build up happening space triggers and possibly bomb another player. Every time you pass start you can buy an item, so if you're behind, a golden lamp or boo bell will always appear, and if you're ahead, you can get a warp block to try to avoid the bomb circle if it's dangerous. My main criticism for the map is that the action time in the center can actually be timed every time to get the result you want with enough practice. This was a negative for me since for my friend and me who played some single player MP3, we always had a significant advantage on this map. As far as the mini-games go, I definitely agree with you that the Beat Goes On is bad and should have at the least given everyone that survived to the end 10 coins for their troubles. End of the Line wasn't great, but in general it's good to have some purely luck based minigames mixed in. It creates extremely fun scenarios with the right group (one of my favorite mini-games is MP2's Day at the Races because it's soooo fun to root for the character you picked and smack talk if your character wins the race).
Yes, my favorite MP now! I think 3 is when they finally had a nice system of bells and whistles, the zenith of the series. Not that the Gamecube games were bad, just a little stagnant.
@@mack_r-s I'm good at memory games and I enjoy them. I like the added pressure of the timing and especially the atmosphere of the mini-game. Feels like a high-stakes event.
@@fairlyoddenginecreations No. Remember that there are plenty of situations where it’s actually better for nobody to get coins than for both you and someone else to get them. Imagine there’s a player with a Magic Lamp planning to warp to a star right in front of you, but they only have 10 coins. Drawing this minigame would be crucial for your chance of getting the star (or stopping them from getting it). Plus, the minigame’s draw system tends to favor highly skilled players, who probably already have plenty of coins. Since they rarely need to win a minigame just to afford something on the map, they benefit the most here-not to mention the Mini-Game Star bonus. This is a specific example, but it shows how important this minigame can be in determining the board’s outcome. There are many other similar situations where this strategy applies, making this a surprisingly tense minigame (even if you didn’t already think so just based on its mechanics).
I can’t believe I just stumbled across this series. As a fellow oft-shunned Mario Party fan, your thorough analytical coverage of the games is honestly kinda touching. You got yourself a new subscriber, my man!
The most significant memories I had of this game were getting stuck in Deep Bloober Sea and skimming through the long lists of minigames. I now see why those aspects stand out so much.
Creepy Cavern was always my favorite map but I love checking out the art and just imagining the stories that they could convey without words thank you for the great video
Whenever The Beat Goes On comes up when I play Mario Party 3, I immediately press a wrong button to get out. I just don’t have the tolerance for that crap.
Wow really? Me and my brother LOVE that game... seems I'm in the minority who actually likes that game. We get a special joy when that game comes up, since we can be really tied for most of it.
So is it common for it to go on that long when playing with other people? I didn't play Mario party 1,2 or 3 with other people until I was in highschool lol. As a kid I played against the comps so this mini game never made it past the first line usually.
@@LunaSDominni I and most people I have played Beat Goes on with will regularly memorize everything they throw at us. I personally hate the game because most people will shout "B!, A! Z! A! etc. in random which will completely throw your brain off. it basically ruins the game but no one I've played with has ever made it a house rule to be silent during it.
8:24 My friends and I played a 20 turn game on Spiny Desert where we got a Koopa Bank Card, a Game Guy Token, and a Wacky Watch in one game. Our luck must be insane
Love these long videos, & your thorough, skill-valuing, soft voice with the nice music is great! ....Even if I'm saddened you don't like Duel Mode as much as I do. But I feel I do understand WHY you feel how you do.
This and MP6 are the two best strategy games in my opinion, but they require a full group of tryhard players who are experienced and can strategize around the game to really shine. It definitely has some flaws but none of them ruin the experience or are unique to this entry. The boards are absolutely the strongest of the 1-5 series where every board was a traditional format.
You say we’re better off “watching the cutscenes” yet if you wanna play Waluigi Island or Backtrack or even access Game Guy’s Room, gotta do the Story Mode at least once
With the reverse mushroom, you can _triple dip_ boo. As in, you can go to boo, pass him, use a reverse mushroom, go back to him, bounce off the skeleton gate, then visit him again. In other maps, you can still triple dip him in the span of 3 turns.
And that is with a single reverse mushroom. If you manage to get three of them, you can visit boo 7 times in a row, potentially stealing 7 stars if you have the money to burn (and if your oponents have such stars).
Here in April 2021... I await for the continuation of this series. The (in my opinion) the best Mario party games out there. Mario Party 4, 5, 6 and 7.
I like 2 and 3 about the same, love them both, I definitely remember 2’s boards more than 3’s though, and maybe there’s a reason for that XD The dual boards are a guilty pleasure of mine. I know they’re not quite good, and it took forever to get anything done sometimes, but I enjoyed them because they were different.
The #ChanceTime videos are what drew me to your channel in the first place, so I’m glad to see you haven’t dropped the series. It’s been well worth the wait. Just don’t let yourself get burnt out. Whenever the next one comes it’ll be worth it all the same.
I like this review, I'll just say one thing though. At the start of your review, you said you'd be analysing the game based on how it balances Luck, Skill, and Strategy, but it feels as though even a little bit of luck is unacceptable based on how you react. There are of course areas in the game where the amount of luck involved does not match well with the consequence of being unlucky, but even the smaller stuff you tend to have a problem with. I like control as much as the next guy and that's why I play competitive fighting games now, where RNG tends to contribute the least, but for a Mario Party game I'd think these aspects are par for the course because it allows for even the youngest most inexperienced player in a family for instance to feel a sense of victory, even if only for 1 mini game or chance time, and even if they don't win the game in the end.
Yeah, but it's all about balance. Luck plays a big part in every single game. Rolling is random, mini-game choice is random. Many of the events are random. But there is a point when it becomes too much for the boards, and becomes a chore to play.
There's the point where he openly states that singular gimmicks are fun or interesting, generally wanting one all effecting luck based gimmick to strategize around instead of multiple.
I'm fine with some minigames and elements of the board leaning towards luck for the reasons you said. Me personally, I hated mp3 because so much of the board relied on luck, that it made trying to make reasoned decisions less fun because it mattered a lot less than it did in MP2. I remember abusing the cheap price of the magic lamps in this game over trying to risk getting around. I think excess luck is worse on boards than minigames becuase, with a minigame those are over pretty quickly and have an immediate award, but with boards if you get a bad roll you can end up having to traverse around the whole board again just to get another shot. And then with game guy, I have to agree: it's immediately all or nothing. It's a lot worse than Chance time because with that, at least the stars/coins are redispersed among players themselves. Someone can lose really bad, but someone can win pretty good, and it's possible to get that back, and there's this feeling of control about it, at least with the first two blocks. Game guy? IF you get bad roll, lose all your coins. Get a good roll? You've kinda capped the coin star. Seeing someone get like 300+ coins seems like such a huge divide from the other players, even if you know that another game guy could just as easily take it. I agree about the minigames feeling good when a young player can win, but for long term stuff, it makes it so I can't really enjoy MP3 without just disregarding making strategic decisions and just letting stuff happen.
I do enjoy some luck elements, because it makes it more accessible for inexperienced players to win. I've had times where people who never played before won due to luck based elements, and I think it makes it a lot more enjoyable as a party game for anyone to be able to win.
Somehow, I think the one mini-game that stands out to me the most in Mario Party 3 is Toadstool Titan. That mad rush to break the block with the mushroom inside felt like a precursor to the mad dash for a Smash Ball in Smash Bros. Brawl. There's a lot I enjoy about Mario Party 3 and I often feel it's forgotten compared to the first two, but I do like a lot of these new mini games, even if I do think a lot of the ambition put here ends up falling flat. Another great retrospective.
I love the reverse mushroom and maybe it’s rarity had something to do with it since there were times you can take it to your advantage. Like in Waluigi’s island if you take the wrong path you can use the reverse mushroom to pick where you wanna go if you can’t time it
I was so hoping you'd do Mario Party 3! I was checking your channel two days ago and was disappointed when there was nothing on it, and look what I wake up to! Super excited.
A lot of fair criticisms here, but your I gotta say your viscousness towards Duel Mode hurt my soul a little. Duel Mode was by far my favorite part of the game as a kid. Yes, the reliance on dice rolls is an issue, and sometimes you do just end up wandering around the board for a while, but I still think it has more merit than you give it credit for in this video. In particular, you didn’t mention how varied and creative the partner selection was. In addition to their varying stats, most of the partners also had unique passive abilities or means of attacking that really made them feel different from one another. That was the coolest part of the mode for me, and the wide-ranging selection made every game feel different, which I loved.
I love this game i can see the flaws but still the boards the music the strategy the items all bring me so much joy that a bit more luck doesn’t ruin the game for me
22:27 Dude just hit it when it's on the one you want, regardless of which speed it just will loop back to the one you pressed the button on, there is no timing. I figured this out when I was 7 dude.
One of my favorite memories was in Story Mode I was going for the Millenium Star Rank on the Hardest difficulty. Board one I was already in dead last and there were 2 turns left. I got a Lucky Watch and extended the turn count and made the craziest comeback in my life.
Despite 3 being one of my favorite Mario Parties, I was never that much of a fan of the boards for pretty much all the reasons you went over. I only ever enjoyed Chilly Waters and Waluigi Island that much.
You never mentioned that Mario Party 3 added a few options to increase the speed of people's turns, allowing the game to flow more quickly than ever before. I found it to be particularly noticeable if you compare Mario Party 3 to Mario Party games on the Wii or Gamecube, where suddenly you have to spend so much more time watching non-interactive sequences, and also just waiting for load times here and there, which get really boring really fast, and cause the game to just take a lot longer than it really needs to.
I love Mario Party 3. It was my first Mario Party game and remains my favorite. It's always had the perfect blend of strategy and randomness for me. It always bums me out that the Mario Party community consensus rules against it in favor of Mario Party 2 or 6, but it will always hold a special place in my heart. I appreciate the review, even if I disagree with a lot of the arguments.
I don't really understand the love of Mario Party 2. It's an expansion pack of Mario party 1 in my eyes. Sure there is new content, but I still find its reused minigames to be lazy. Not many of the new maps in Mario Party 2 are fun to play on. I have not played Mario Party 3 but I've seen gameplay of it's boards and Minigames. It looks so fun and has the best minigames in the series. I was so disappointed that Mario Party 3 never got a rerelease. I saw that Mario Party 2 had a rerelease on the Wii Virtual Console and I had hope that Mario Party 3 would also be released. I almost wonder if Nintendo even likes Mario Party 3. It wasn't in the eshop when they released N64 games. I have this impression that that Nintendo wants to bury the memory of Mario Party 3. The only time that Nintendo acknowledged its existence, was the top 100 minigames. So they at least agree that Mario Party 3 has great minigames. I still wonder why there is no rerelease of MP3? Is there a copyright reason (audio or visually) that keeps it from being rereleased? I just want to play this game without shelving out a ton of money for an N64 with 4 quality controllers and the game itself. Sorry for ranting about Mario Party. I really love this series and have huge respect for MP3 but I am annoyed at how it's overlooked in favor of MP1 and MP2.
I gotta give you props for being able to play these games through like this and make these vids man. You know what mario party is to me? My parents taking us to blockbuster so we can rent mario party, since we played it at an actual party and wouldnt shut the fuck up for a week. Damn those weeks were fun. My last memory of it is trying to have as much fun playing it by myself on my gamecube, as at that point my brother was too sick and friends were in that "mature" gaming phase. My brother has since passed away, maybe ill play the n64 games again some time to bring these memories back. But i certainly couldnt play them this much.
Mario Party 3 is my absolute favorite in the series. I can’t go back to the older games because this game has spoiled me on it’s amazingness lol. There’s a lot to do on the boards so it’s always chaotic, the ability to have 3 items and there being so many good items is amazing. I actually like all of the boards with the exception of Creepy Cavern(the giant sleeping Thwomp in the middle ruins it for me) and most of the mini games are great. I always tell people that Mario Party is basically 70% luck and 30% skill, if your luck is bad then you always have your skills and strategy to fall back on to at least give yourself a chance. I just love the chaotic randomness to it because it doesn’t entirely fuck you over and isn’t complete BS like in the newer games in the series(like MP7 with the random Bowser event every 4 or 5 turns)
The Game Guy coin cost me the game but not in the way you think. My buddy had it and used it on himself and got the staircase game. He had 27 coins. Got the 7 step so he got x10 his bet, so it put him at 270 coins. That landed him the Coin and Mini Game Stars AND he got the Happening Star. He went from probably 3rd to 1st because of the Game Guy Coin. I will probably never forget that game.
I feel like that's not the right word for it. He sounds measured, in my opinion. He's not putting too much emphasis or emotion into any particular section, which can come across as being disinterested, but I think it's about being equal in this case. Speaking cynically about a complex game just doesn't do it justice, and neither does hyping it up. An analysis that's truly analytical should tackle all parts of the game and recognize that whether it sucks or is great, there are strengths and weaknesses to each moving part. There's also a history with a lot of these games that give people a predisposition toward highly opinionated videos on them. Thus, adding a "full" delivery can stand to muddy the words with a biased tone that would be counter-productive to the thoughtful approach these videos are taking.
I've never played The Beat Goes On, but it's nearly identical to the Clefairy minigame in the first Pokemon Stadium. The only difference is that there's 4 inputs (4 directions on the D-pad), and the computer adds the additional inputs.
KingK are you ok??? You sound a little bit off here, I noticed as soon as I started the video!!! Hope everything is going well there man :) well I'll continue the video!
I want to say thanks for looking at Mario Party & Knuckles with a more critical eye than I ever bothered to while my friends were contemplating murdering me in my sleep as I was contemplating the lifecycle of an N64 stick. I hope you wind up with an ever-broadening audience, because you're striking all the right notes with your critiques, and people who stand a chance of designing games ought to see someone's well-prepared ideas of how games should and shouldn't be designed and why. Even if they all ignore a thing or two, they might be steered toward aping the right traits of the games that came before theirs, or avoiding their major pitfalls.
IIRC, the speed of the action time in Waluigi's Island isn't random - it follows a sequence of Slow -> Medium -> Fast -> Basically RNG, which each player taking it one speed up until it loops back to slow. You can decide to make one more lap around the bomb to let other players take the fast speeds so you can take the slow one, but you're risking the bomb. Risk management!
Am I the only one who loved Duel Mode and wished it came back? I've spent more time on them than the normal maps. I still agree Backtrack is a sorry excuse for a board. The partner battle mechanic was awesome. You can power them up, every 3rd roulette allows you to more easily choose your partner, getting 2 of the same partner gives you 1 extra attack, the partners have diverse mechanics, Belltop adds a layer of strategy, Salaries encourages picking partners wisely, I can never agree to anyone who says this mode is worthless. I have a love-hate relationship with Game Guy. Also, Waluigi's Island is 1 of my favorite boards in the entire series! Scrub, I win most of the time against Super Hard CPU's on Duel Mode! Though they are pretty mean on Battle Royal maps.
This slander of duel maps will not stand. Yes they're lucky, but 1) character choice and partner swaps allow you to adjust accordingly, and 2) it's 2p Mario Party that actually works! Great video. Thanks for all the hard work.
Cheep Cheep Chase is actually a little unbalance because once a player gets ahead of the other players the act of diving under the bomb becomes much more difficult for the outside two as they are pushed out of alignment and may even be stuck behind the leading player. I do agree with you on most of the boards, but until we get boards that exemplify the unique mechanics of Waluigi Island's top left randomly generated island the board will still be considered an interesting board to play. Heck, if they ever make a Mario Party Maker/Board Editor than Waluigi Island becomes essentially obsolete. Also, I wish the duel mode in Mario Party 3 had stuck around longer because it feels like it has so much potential if you could simply choose your starting allies based on strategy rather than luck
Having played all main series Mario Party games, Waluigi's Island is easily among my top three boards of all time. The action time that sends you in a "random direction" can easily be timed with 99% accuracy unless you get the top speed, but even then you can usually get your chosen path with some practice. You missed the fact that the speed of the spinning motion is determined by your current placement, where the player in the lead will always suffer the fastest speed. This acts a small check on the player in lead to prevent him from getting too far ahead, leading to a competitive game until the very end. The island where every space is the same is super unique, creating tons of opportunities for comebacks and random shenanigans with frequent game guys, chance times, battles and items. The bomb counter at the start adds another layer of strategy, since you want to keep away from that area at any cost if it's close to zero and you have a stack of cash. Without the 50/50 minefield just before boo, it would have been way to easy to reach boo. To me, Waluigi's Island is the quintessential Mario Party-experience, with something fun happening every round. Whenever I sit down with some friends for a round of Mario Party, we choose Mario Party 3 80% of the time. While mini-games and boards can always be discussed, Mario Party 3 has by far the best item system of any of the games, with the later orb mechanics feeling extremely lackluster in comparison. Hope to see more of this series!
The way I'd fix the golf minigame is to have all 4 players line up a shot at the same time under a 10-to-20 second timer. Then once it runs out everybody swings at the same time, and the closest will win the minigame.
The Action Time in Waluigi's Island is actually quite predictable. No matter the speed, the timing is always the same: Press the button when the arrow you want to go to lights up. Sure, the input window might be a bit smaller sometimes, but you don't need to hit the button like one or two arrows early depending on the speed.
One thing that struck me as odd is that you did not talk about the overall gamespeed. The pop-up effect, the action time events and the influx of board gimmicks...they all add up to a way SLOWER game than Mario Party 2. Like, trigger 4 snowballs in Chilly Water and that's around 1:30 seconds on JUST that animation. Starting up Mario Party 2 after that feels like turning on the turbo button on an action replay. Blissfull speed!
I hope that the boards in this game get some representation in Mario Party Jamboree because I think that they're the ones that deserve it the most in comparison to Mario Party 1 and 2's boards because off too much shit being added. Like if they made it so that Spiny Desert didn't have the quick sandpits, Deep Blooper Sea didn't have the Shark with the buttons and Creepy Cavern had two Whomps at the junction who would charge the player to pass them, then I think that they could be some nice add ons to the already existing seven boards that have been shown off.
Mario Party 3 was a significant portion of my childhood. I haven't played all of the iterations, but I think 3 had the best item selections and solid mini-games, so it stands a personal favorite. Plus the music for selecting the pre-game options ingrained itself into my DNA, in a good way. But yeah, it definitely went too far with the maps over-gimmicking. And my friends and I reached the end of "The Beat Goes On". It's a fond memory and was very tense at the time, but... when a minigame lasts so long everyone forgets where the Star is, you know you've got a problem.
Are you still planning on making a Mario Party 4 video? I was getting super into this series but then realized the last one was made a year and a half ago.
Excellent analysis, as usual. I'm not a fan of Game Guy, either. My favorite board is Creepy Cavern, personally. It takes some getting used to, but once you understand it all, you understand that Skeleton Keys are the most common in the game (the only item held by both Toad and Baby Bowser), and shops are easily accessible on both sides of the map. About half the time, you can use Thwomp to pay your way across, or even pay to move the mine car away from someone trying to get to the other side, even if you don't want to go there yourself. Like you, I really enjoy the new items, item system, and increased strategic options for board movement. I feel like boards with more thought put into their strategic developments could make a near-perfect Mario Party, but alas. If 3's item system were implemented with boards with as much solid design as 2 (not 2's boards, necessarily, as 2 wasn't designed with the new item system in mind), then we'd have a great combination of excellent N64 Mario Party, my personal favorite era of Mario Party. I consider 3 to be the 2nd best of the franchise just behind 2. 1 is very far behind these titles as well as most subsequent titles.
I just wanna say that Mario Party is a series I never thought could actually be analyzed or critiqued in any serious way, so it's super cool to watch these fantastic in-depth analyses. I love this series.
There's a channel called ZoomZike that is doing a similar series going *_even further_ * in depth. He does a pretty good job too.
Totally agree!
Especially since next we're going to start the best overall generation of Mario Party. No deep lows like 1, 9, or 10. All the best innovations in place, and not a car in sight. I'd say 5 is overall weaker than either of the surrounding titles, but is still overall acceptable.
@@hockeater Meh...I'd say 5 is *bordering* on acceptable. The minigames are fun overall even if there are far too many luck-based ones for my taste. Board design is all over the place; when it's good it's really good, when it's bad it's really bad. The capsule system...just sucks. It's a decent idea, but one with a really sloppy execution that's done much better in later games.
@@Nintendotron64 Yes, weaker than 4, 6, or 7, but it kicks the ass of 1, 9, or 10 pretty conclusively. That's an important point when arguing gamecube generation as best mario party.
Mario Party 4 always had my favorite set up: it’s the character of your choice’s birthday, and the game you’re playing is all the characters literally playing party games together.
Mario Party 1 and 2's stories are pretty much It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episodes.
"The Gang Want To Be Super Stars"
"The Gang goes to Party Land"
"The Gang Kill Each Other Over a Party Game"
Well they got Charlie Day now lol
Mario Party: The Game of Games
Mario Party 2: Electric Boogaloo
I think that the ridiculousness of Game Guy spaces is balanced out by the rarity of the spaces themselves. There's only one per board and they're always in pretty tough spots to reach, so usually there's no more than one Game Guy game per full game, in my experience. I think it's a good system
There was a time when a friend of mine had to face Game Guy as Wario. He beat him and had a total of 999 coins (and it probably would've been more if that wasn't the game's limit). It was so funny when Game Guy fainted, and I can't help but think to this day how appropriate it was for Wario to get all of those coins. 😄
I think one thing that would enhance the section where you talk about the maps is a view of the map as a whole. As someone not familiar with all the maps it isn't the most clear all the time what the layout of the map is when you are just describing it and showing snippets.
That's a really good point. Plus it's cool to look at the whole thing at once.
Agreed!
This would be VERY useful.
Showing short clips of the WHOLE map, along with specific clips of the map up close.
Duel mode is actually one of my favorite aspects of any Mario party. I think the partner system leaves a lot of room for strategy, and the boards, while some are lacking, can also provide strategy. Most of these do factor in a lot of luck, but I still have a ton of fun. I tend to think the more luck, the better, so more game guy usually makes the whole thing more memorable
Even though I disagree with most of your insight during this video, still thoroughly enjoyed the hell out of it. Well done!
Personally, I LOVE the boards in this game. They all play well to the strengths of the items, with plenty of choice involved. I agree that the sandpit in Spiny Desert is a bit annoying at times, but the rest of your criticisms don't really match with my experiences. Waluigi Island's centre gimmick has the same timing all the time: Jump when the direction you want to go is lit up. The speed of the light simply adds or removes challenge from it. Woody Woods is built around using all the different types of mushrooms to your advantage, by rocketing ahead with the golden or regular mushroom to reach a junction when it's pointing in the direction you want, using a poison mushroom to avoid going to a junction when it's pointing in the direction you don't want, or using a reverse mushroom to undo going the wrong way. Creepy Cavern requires good usage of Skeleton keys or those action events. Notice specifically that the areas with the carts are small loops in and of themselves, allowing you to return a cart as needed, or to screw over another player.
Of course on top of all of that, the Lucky Lamp allows for your to change the location of the star at any point.
As for the minigames I pretty much completely agree (although I would liken Ice Rink Risk to Bombs Away more than Bumper Balls), although I enjoy Stacked Deck and Merry-Go-Chomp (Bowsers Big Blast is better though). Also, Chip Shot Challenge is always one that confuses me, as everyone says the arrows are hard to understand? I don't find that to be the case at all, it's a simple case of understanding the perspective given to you.
Game guy was a really odd criticism I found, considering how RARE it is to even get him. You have to practically go out of your way to land on him for the most part (He has, like, 2 spaces max per board minus Waluigi Island), and the fact that you are forced to bet all of your coins is what makes the Lucky Charm so effective.
As for the Duel Mode, I'm surprised how much you hated it. While far from being the main attraction, I find it to be a harmless little side mode that's short and enjoyable in its own right. Turns don't take long, and proper planning and adapting allows for solid victories.
All in all, great video. Looking forward to your thoughts on 4. (Personally consider 4 to be at the bottom of the list for me. It's just so damn slow)
I too found the criticism of Game Guy odd. I just always looked at it as a Bowser space that had the potential to have a good outcome.
Waluigi's Island is my favorite map of all of them! And I too was shocked at the hatred of Duel Mode and Game Guy. You summed up my feelings pretty much, but I will disagree on Merry-Go-Chomp and Stacked Deck. Pure Luck games make me feel like the game is playing me, other than me playing them.
I understand where he is coming from, dueling gets old real fast, especially if you play the single player story, and the boards are super hit or miss for me personally. But this game one of my favorites simply thanks to the best selection of items by far imo. Makes up for any shortcomings the maps have. Also mp4 is my second fav xD
I agree with many of your points. I tend to find myself enjoying MP3 more than MP2 even if it's a bit less refined. The stuff that it does right is done so well, that it really elevates the experience beyond what the first two games had previously achieved. It's my second-favorite Mario Party, behind only 6. And yes, MP4 is very meh. I don't consider it the worst in the series, but the general slowness of the boards make it a less exciting game overall.
I wish you weren't forced to gamble all your coins if you simply land on the Game Guy space. Forcing another player to gamble all their coins is wickedly satisfying, but having it happen to yourself just because of a bad dice role is pretty demotivating and removes the key element of choice and strategy that gambling usually has.
You have a calming voice, y’know that? I swear you help me fall asleep at night
King K. voice is unmistakable.
The moment I saw curtain call I realized it was emulated, (nothing wrong with that) but that is honestly the funniest artifact of MP3 emulations
My friends and I loved playing against super hard CPU's, it gave us an excuse to go after the BS computer instead of each other XD
These Giant Bomb clips give this retrospective such an elegant structure i have to say.
We are getting closer to my favorite! Mario Party 6 HYPE
Linkamanjaro HYYYYPEEEEE
"You could land on a happening space and screw yourself over."
How is that any different from any other Mario Party game?
@Ben Florez like idk what he is expecting. They instilled the bullshittery in Mario Party 1. I don't recall him complaining about the Happening Spaces in 1 and 2 as much as here, despite the fact they're arguably worse in those games in certain instances.
@@weirdkid5 i agree with him that is slightly worse in mp3, since mp2 happening spaces were more about strategizing how to fuck everyone else with you, and 3 is more strategizing how not to screw up you.
@@Canalbiruta Pirate Land's Bridge would like to have a word with you. I literally played that map once and was completely unable to pass the bridge until about 15 turns in (20 turn game). What about Pirate Land's Bridge seems better than any of the happening spaces in 3?
@@pluubooruu i know how you fell bro... but while that fucking bridge can be avoided, with a little bit of luck involved, mp3 happening spaces are all about luck. but yeah... that bridge fucked some matches for me too
@@weirdkid5 well, its not like they can be omitted from consideration just because they were present in previous iterations
I love this show! I've never played Mario Parties 3, 4, or 5, so it's cool to learn more about these games.
I think Mario party 3 takes the most skill of any Mario party to win.
The mini games are unforgiving and the player who is the best at them will have the most coins in 9/10 games. Since the bonus stars stay the same you have the most skilled player taking 2/3 of them in a high percentage of games.
There is a lot of ways to lose coins in Mario party 3 but not many ways to gain them. Unless you are playing a 30+ turn game the most skilled player just needs to magic lamp their way to a few stars and then you have a scenario where another player needs to collect a minimum of 4-5 stars on the board to even think of winning.
Nothing is guaranteed and RNG is a factor but it goes both ways. Plenty of games end up low star count because of board RNG which benefits skilled players also.
Unless you are playing with people who are familiar with Mario party 3 you have a very high chance of winning and them saying you “paid your way to victory”.
Once me and a few friends played MP3 a lot, it definitely became a lot more skill-based.
@@arekhautaluoma4276 Was that like back in the days?
12:42 "I often don't find myself using the middle section very often."
I really enjoyed Mario Party 3. It's my favorite entry in the series alongside 2! Despite the luck based stuff, I've grown fond of them mainly because the item system makes things less bad. Waluigi's Island also was quite an amazing board in my opinion.
AND YOU CAN PLAY AS MY TWO FAVORITE MARIO CHARACTERS DAISY AND WALUIGI PECK YEAH
I was surprised by how many criticisms you had for the boards due to luck. I would argue you need luck events all over the boards in order for it to not just be a numbers game where whoever is rolling higher wins. In MP3, you can always mitigate the luck by purchasing items. The items effectively turn this game into the most strategic Mario Party game (at least that I've played).
You mention the reverse mushroom for Woody Woods, but any of the mushrooms will allow you to play around the signposts (just rip a regular mushroom or golden mushroom when the signs are correctly aligned to get through them in time, or poison yourself if you don't want to pass through). Sure, sometimes the star appears at the very top where it's difficult to reach, but golden lamps are plentiful and keep the game in motion (thus why I think the 20 coin price is a positive change). ALSO, if you don't like the golden lamps, you can instantly shut them off by purchasing a plunder chest. Nobody is going to buy a golden lamp if another player is holding one of those.
You complain about the mechanics for creepy cavern, but you can always buy a skeleton key from the shop and it always allows you to cross to the other side of the map, so you're never actually stuck on one side.
For Deep Blooper, just buy a warp block. If you're the one that loses the explosion, then often that means everyone else succeeded, so warp block has a very good success rate.
For Spiny Desert, I'm surprised you complained about the quicksand pits, as a strong strategy on that map is to just sit in the pit and accrue happening space triggers. Only once a mirage goes away, you can then leave the pit to reach the real star first (ideally with a golden mushroom to give yourself the best chance of getting it). I especially liked triggers like this because they caused more duels to occur in the last 5 turns (also why I really like the middle of Chilly Waters).
Even on Waluigi's Island there's things you can do to mitigate the luck. One strategy is to just sit in the island with all spaces being the same and go for Game Guy and Chance time events to win the game (you'll get several attempts). If your coin count is low, you could strategically stay in the bomb circle and build up happening space triggers and possibly bomb another player. Every time you pass start you can buy an item, so if you're behind, a golden lamp or boo bell will always appear, and if you're ahead, you can get a warp block to try to avoid the bomb circle if it's dangerous. My main criticism for the map is that the action time in the center can actually be timed every time to get the result you want with enough practice. This was a negative for me since for my friend and me who played some single player MP3, we always had a significant advantage on this map.
As far as the mini-games go, I definitely agree with you that the Beat Goes On is bad and should have at the least given everyone that survived to the end 10 coins for their troubles. End of the Line wasn't great, but in general it's good to have some purely luck based minigames mixed in. It creates extremely fun scenarios with the right group (one of my favorite mini-games is MP2's Day at the Races because it's soooo fun to root for the character you picked and smack talk if your character wins the race).
Yes, my favorite MP now! I think 3 is when they finally had a nice system of bells and whistles, the zenith of the series. Not that the Gamecube games were bad, just a little stagnant.
3 definitely felt like the zenith. The GameCube entries were good, but started to introduce gimmicky tricks. I just want more boards and mini-games!
Introduction (0:00)
*The Boards* (1:13)
1. Game Guy Minigame spaces
2. Items and Item Minigames
9:04 3. The Boards themselves
30:01 Ah, openly discussing where the remaining players should hide on the seeker's last turn... GG
The Beat Goes On is literally my favorite mini-game from Mario Party 3.
Are you saying that unironically, or just to be funny? If you are being serious, then let me ask why do you love it so much?
@@mack_r-s I'm good at memory games and I enjoy them. I like the added pressure of the timing and especially the atmosphere of the mini-game. Feels like a high-stakes event.
@@BackwardsHatAnd what about when both players memorize the entire thing and the minigame ends? You just wasted three minutes for no reason
@@fairlyoddenginecreations
No. Remember that there are plenty of situations where it’s actually better for nobody to get coins than for both you and someone else to get them. Imagine there’s a player with a Magic Lamp planning to warp to a star right in front of you, but they only have 10 coins. Drawing this minigame would be crucial for your chance of getting the star (or stopping them from getting it). Plus, the minigame’s draw system tends to favor highly skilled players, who probably already have plenty of coins. Since they rarely need to win a minigame just to afford something on the map, they benefit the most here-not to mention the Mini-Game Star bonus.
This is a specific example, but it shows how important this minigame can be in determining the board’s outcome. There are many other similar situations where this strategy applies, making this a surprisingly tense minigame (even if you didn’t already think so just based on its mechanics).
I can’t believe I just stumbled across this series. As a fellow oft-shunned Mario Party fan, your thorough analytical coverage of the games is honestly kinda touching. You got yourself a new subscriber, my man!
The most significant memories I had of this game were getting stuck in Deep Bloober Sea and skimming through the long lists of minigames. I now see why those aspects stand out so much.
I know I'm late, but it's been a year since this video and I'd love to see you continue this series if it wouldn't be too much trouble for you.
This is the installment I happened to grow up with. Good to see a chance time about it!
Creepy Cavern was always my favorite map but I love checking out the art and just imagining the stories that they could convey without words thank you for the great video
Damn, you be making bangers
Whenever The Beat Goes On comes up when I play Mario Party 3, I immediately press a wrong button to get out. I just don’t have the tolerance for that crap.
Wow really? Me and my brother LOVE that game... seems I'm in the minority who actually likes that game. We get a special joy when that game comes up, since we can be really tied for most of it.
I got to the point where i tied with someone. It is very exhausting. But its a fun minigame xD
So is it common for it to go on that long when playing with other people? I didn't play Mario party 1,2 or 3 with other people until I was in highschool lol. As a kid I played against the comps so this mini game never made it past the first line usually.
@@moriallen643 we liked the game too! It was like a little game of simon says for coins, super challenging for our 8 year old brains at the time XD
@@LunaSDominni I and most people I have played Beat Goes on with will regularly memorize everything they throw at us. I personally hate the game because most people will shout "B!, A! Z! A! etc. in random which will completely throw your brain off. it basically ruins the game but no one I've played with has ever made it a house rule to be silent during it.
8:24 My friends and I played a 20 turn game on Spiny Desert where we got a Koopa Bank Card, a Game Guy Token, and a Wacky Watch in one game. Our luck must be insane
28:21 Editing Error. Great video non the less!
You have a very chill voice, I find it quite soothing 🥰 excellent video, and very informative too!
The action time on waluigi island is NOT random. I can control which path I go EVERY time.
Love these long videos, & your thorough, skill-valuing, soft voice with the nice music is great! ....Even if I'm saddened you don't like Duel Mode as much as I do. But I feel I do understand WHY you feel how you do.
This and MP6 are the two best strategy games in my opinion, but they require a full group of tryhard players who are experienced and can strategize around the game to really shine. It definitely has some flaws but none of them ruin the experience or are unique to this entry. The boards are absolutely the strongest of the 1-5 series where every board was a traditional format.
You say we’re better off “watching the cutscenes” yet if you wanna play Waluigi Island or Backtrack or even access Game Guy’s Room, gotta do the Story Mode at least once
With the reverse mushroom, you can _triple dip_ boo. As in, you can go to boo, pass him, use a reverse mushroom, go back to him, bounce off the skeleton gate, then visit him again.
In other maps, you can still triple dip him in the span of 3 turns.
And that is with a single reverse mushroom. If you manage to get three of them, you can visit boo 7 times in a row, potentially stealing 7 stars if you have the money to burn (and if your oponents have such stars).
Thank you for keeping up this series it is always the highlight of my day.
Here in April 2021... I await for the continuation of this series. The (in my opinion) the best Mario party games out there. Mario Party 4, 5, 6 and 7.
I like 2 and 3 about the same, love them both, I definitely remember 2’s boards more than 3’s though, and maybe there’s a reason for that XD
The dual boards are a guilty pleasure of mine. I know they’re not quite good, and it took forever to get anything done sometimes, but I enjoyed them because they were different.
The #ChanceTime videos are what drew me to your channel in the first place, so I’m glad to see you haven’t dropped the series. It’s been well worth the wait. Just don’t let yourself get burnt out. Whenever the next one comes it’ll be worth it all the same.
Good stuff as always. Seriously you have the best game analysis on the internet right now
I like this review, I'll just say one thing though.
At the start of your review, you said you'd be analysing the game based on how it balances Luck, Skill, and Strategy, but it feels as though even a little bit of luck is unacceptable based on how you react. There are of course areas in the game where the amount of luck involved does not match well with the consequence of being unlucky, but even the smaller stuff you tend to have a problem with. I like control as much as the next guy and that's why I play competitive fighting games now, where RNG tends to contribute the least, but for a Mario Party game I'd think these aspects are par for the course because it allows for even the youngest most inexperienced player in a family for instance to feel a sense of victory, even if only for 1 mini game or chance time, and even if they don't win the game in the end.
Yeah, but it's all about balance. Luck plays a big part in every single game. Rolling is random, mini-game choice is random. Many of the events are random. But there is a point when it becomes too much for the boards, and becomes a chore to play.
There's the point where he openly states that singular gimmicks are fun or interesting, generally wanting one all effecting luck based gimmick to strategize around instead of multiple.
I'm fine with some minigames and elements of the board leaning towards luck for the reasons you said. Me personally, I hated mp3 because so much of the board relied on luck, that it made trying to make reasoned decisions less fun because it mattered a lot less than it did in MP2. I remember abusing the cheap price of the magic lamps in this game over trying to risk getting around. I think excess luck is worse on boards than minigames becuase, with a minigame those are over pretty quickly and have an immediate award, but with boards if you get a bad roll you can end up having to traverse around the whole board again just to get another shot.
And then with game guy, I have to agree: it's immediately all or nothing. It's a lot worse than Chance time because with that, at least the stars/coins are redispersed among players themselves. Someone can lose really bad, but someone can win pretty good, and it's possible to get that back, and there's this feeling of control about it, at least with the first two blocks.
Game guy? IF you get bad roll, lose all your coins. Get a good roll? You've kinda capped the coin star. Seeing someone get like 300+ coins seems like such a huge divide from the other players, even if you know that another game guy could just as easily take it.
I agree about the minigames feeling good when a young player can win, but for long term stuff, it makes it so I can't really enjoy MP3 without just disregarding making strategic decisions and just letting stuff happen.
He also mentioned how the super rare items can make things really exciting, and that their usefulness is balanced with how rare they are
I do enjoy some luck elements, because it makes it more accessible for inexperienced players to win. I've had times where people who never played before won due to luck based elements, and I think it makes it a lot more enjoyable as a party game for anyone to be able to win.
Somehow, I think the one mini-game that stands out to me the most in Mario Party 3 is Toadstool Titan. That mad rush to break the block with the mushroom inside felt like a precursor to the mad dash for a Smash Ball in Smash Bros. Brawl. There's a lot I enjoy about Mario Party 3 and I often feel it's forgotten compared to the first two, but I do like a lot of these new mini games, even if I do think a lot of the ambition put here ends up falling flat. Another great retrospective.
Top best Mario Party 3 board
6 - Deep Blooper Sea
5 - Woody Woods
4 - Chilly Waters
3 - Creepy Caverns
2 - Waluigi's Island
1 - Spinny Desert
IT'S BEEN A YEAR WHERE IS 4?
I love the reverse mushroom and maybe it’s rarity had something to do with it since there were times you can take it to your advantage.
Like in Waluigi’s island if you take the wrong path you can use the reverse mushroom to pick where you wanna go if you can’t time it
I was so hoping you'd do Mario Party 3! I was checking your channel two days ago and was disappointed when there was nothing on it, and look what I wake up to! Super excited.
A lot of fair criticisms here, but your I gotta say your viscousness towards Duel Mode hurt my soul a little. Duel Mode was by far my favorite part of the game as a kid. Yes, the reliance on dice rolls is an issue, and sometimes you do just end up wandering around the board for a while, but I still think it has more merit than you give it credit for in this video. In particular, you didn’t mention how varied and creative the partner selection was. In addition to their varying stats, most of the partners also had unique passive abilities or means of attacking that really made them feel different from one another. That was the coolest part of the mode for me, and the wide-ranging selection made every game feel different, which I loved.
Great video I completely agree about Chilly Waters being the best map!
I love this game i can see the flaws but still the boards the music the strategy the items all bring me so much joy that a bit more luck doesn’t ruin the game for me
Where is the rest of this series? I absolutely adore this analysis!
I’m still salty that Daisy never got a board named after her. 😤
22:27 Dude just hit it when it's on the one you want, regardless of which speed it just will loop back to the one you pressed the button on, there is no timing. I figured this out when I was 7 dude.
These videos are so well made. Thank you for this! 👍🏼👍🏼
One of my favorite memories was in Story Mode I was going for the Millenium Star Rank on the Hardest difficulty. Board one I was already in dead last and there were 2 turns left. I got a Lucky Watch and extended the turn count and made the craziest comeback in my life.
Love your retrospectives and can't wait for MP 4!!
28:21
A bit of dejavu. Haha.
Despite 3 being one of my favorite Mario Parties, I was never that much of a fan of the boards for pretty much all the reasons you went over. I only ever enjoyed Chilly Waters and Waluigi Island that much.
Yeah if there is one thing 2 does better than 3 is it without doubt the board design (though I dislike the gameplay of Mystery Land).
True, Mystery Land really sticks out with how much better all the other ones from 2 are
*hears about duel mode*
*gets excited because it was my fav*
King K: It’s bad. It’s real bad.
Me: ;-;
Mario Party 3 was great because of the music, and Daisy and Waluigi being added in. Especially Daisy.
I love your breakdown of the games, but your heavyset friend is the highlight of every video.
You never mentioned that Mario Party 3 added a few options to increase the speed of people's turns, allowing the game to flow more quickly than ever before.
I found it to be particularly noticeable if you compare Mario Party 3 to Mario Party games on the Wii or Gamecube, where suddenly you have to spend so much more time watching non-interactive sequences, and also just waiting for load times here and there, which get really boring really fast, and cause the game to just take a lot longer than it really needs to.
"YO
Yoyoyoyoyoyo
Straight Goomba here kid
Yoyoyo we're battling for 10 coins up in this" - DMX Goomba
Loving the content mr kingk. I was hoping for this one in particular for so long since it’s my favorite. Great as usual
What a cool Halloween vid. Thanks for the content!
I love Mario Party 3. It was my first Mario Party game and remains my favorite. It's always had the perfect blend of strategy and randomness for me. It always bums me out that the Mario Party community consensus rules against it in favor of Mario Party 2 or 6, but it will always hold a special place in my heart. I appreciate the review, even if I disagree with a lot of the arguments.
I'd argue it's the best of the N64 set, but simply can't beat 4, 6, or 7.
I don't really understand the love of Mario Party 2. It's an expansion pack of Mario party 1 in my eyes. Sure there is new content, but I still find its reused minigames to be lazy. Not many of the new maps in Mario Party 2 are fun to play on. I have not played Mario Party 3 but I've seen gameplay of it's boards and Minigames. It looks so fun and has the best minigames in the series. I was so disappointed that Mario Party 3 never got a rerelease. I saw that Mario Party 2 had a rerelease on the Wii Virtual Console and I had hope that Mario Party 3 would also be released. I almost wonder if Nintendo even likes Mario Party 3. It wasn't in the eshop when they released N64 games. I have this impression that that Nintendo wants to bury the memory of Mario Party 3. The only time that Nintendo acknowledged its existence, was the top 100 minigames. So they at least agree that Mario Party 3 has great minigames. I still wonder why there is no rerelease of MP3? Is there a copyright reason (audio or visually) that keeps it from being rereleased? I just want to play this game without shelving out a ton of money for an N64 with 4 quality controllers and the game itself. Sorry for ranting about Mario Party. I really love this series and have huge respect for MP3 but I am annoyed at how it's overlooked in favor of MP1 and MP2.
The Mario Party community is full of sheeps. 3 is the best.
@@egg2043 Luigi's voice is terrible in the first 2 games. I'm glad that they fixed it in MP3
I gotta give you props for being able to play these games through like this and make these vids man. You know what mario party is to me? My parents taking us to blockbuster so we can rent mario party, since we played it at an actual party and wouldnt shut the fuck up for a week.
Damn those weeks were fun. My last memory of it is trying to have as much fun playing it by myself on my gamecube, as at that point my brother was too sick and friends were in that "mature" gaming phase. My brother has since passed away, maybe ill play the n64 games again some time to bring these memories back. But i certainly couldnt play them this much.
Mario Party 3 is my absolute favorite in the series. I can’t go back to the older games because this game has spoiled me on it’s amazingness lol. There’s a lot to do on the boards so it’s always chaotic, the ability to have 3 items and there being so many good items is amazing. I actually like all of the boards with the exception of Creepy Cavern(the giant sleeping Thwomp in the middle ruins it for me) and most of the mini games are great. I always tell people that Mario Party is basically 70% luck and 30% skill, if your luck is bad then you always have your skills and strategy to fall back on to at least give yourself a chance. I just love the chaotic randomness to it because it doesn’t entirely fuck you over and isn’t complete BS like in the newer games in the series(like MP7 with the random Bowser event every 4 or 5 turns)
The Game Guy coin cost me the game but not in the way you think. My buddy had it and used it on himself and got the staircase game. He had 27 coins. Got the 7 step so he got x10 his bet, so it put him at 270 coins. That landed him the Coin and Mini Game Stars AND he got the Happening Star. He went from probably 3rd to 1st because of the Game Guy Coin. I will probably never forget that game.
KingK sounds so empty inside discussing these Mario games.
He's dreading the realization of having to cover the later Mario Party games down the line
tbf he sounds like this in every video
God Of Spaghett That’s kinda mean, dude. He almost certainly reads these. He sounds fine.
@@SevenFingerDiscount Yeah. I'd rather him be relaxed like this than mask it with fake energy like a Fortnite youtuber.
I feel like that's not the right word for it. He sounds measured, in my opinion. He's not putting too much emphasis or emotion into any particular section, which can come across as being disinterested, but I think it's about being equal in this case. Speaking cynically about a complex game just doesn't do it justice, and neither does hyping it up. An analysis that's truly analytical should tackle all parts of the game and recognize that whether it sucks or is great, there are strengths and weaknesses to each moving part. There's also a history with a lot of these games that give people a predisposition toward highly opinionated videos on them. Thus, adding a "full" delivery can stand to muddy the words with a biased tone that would be counter-productive to the thoughtful approach these videos are taking.
I've never played The Beat Goes On, but it's nearly identical to the Clefairy minigame in the first Pokemon Stadium. The only difference is that there's 4 inputs (4 directions on the D-pad), and the computer adds the additional inputs.
KingK are you ok??? You sound a little bit off here, I noticed as soon as I started the video!!! Hope everything is going well there man :) well I'll continue the video!
In Waluigis, even at the fastest speed you can still consistently get the direction you want if you're good enough.
I want to say thanks for looking at Mario Party & Knuckles with a more critical eye than I ever bothered to while my friends were contemplating murdering me in my sleep as I was contemplating the lifecycle of an N64 stick. I hope you wind up with an ever-broadening audience, because you're striking all the right notes with your critiques, and people who stand a chance of designing games ought to see someone's well-prepared ideas of how games should and shouldn't be designed and why. Even if they all ignore a thing or two, they might be steered toward aping the right traits of the games that came before theirs, or avoiding their major pitfalls.
IIRC, the speed of the action time in Waluigi's Island isn't random - it follows a sequence of Slow -> Medium -> Fast -> Basically RNG, which each player taking it one speed up until it loops back to slow. You can decide to make one more lap around the bomb to let other players take the fast speeds so you can take the slow one, but you're risking the bomb. Risk management!
Am I the only one who loved Duel Mode and wished it came back? I've spent more time on them than the normal maps. I still agree Backtrack is a sorry excuse for a board. The partner battle mechanic was awesome. You can power them up, every 3rd roulette allows you to more easily choose your partner, getting 2 of the same partner gives you 1 extra attack, the partners have diverse mechanics, Belltop adds a layer of strategy, Salaries encourages picking partners wisely, I can never agree to anyone who says this mode is worthless. I have a love-hate relationship with Game Guy.
Also, Waluigi's Island is 1 of my favorite boards in the entire series! Scrub, I win most of the time against Super Hard CPU's on Duel Mode! Though they are pretty mean on Battle Royal maps.
I Love Duel mode too!, this guy just has unhealthy hatred to this and story mode, lol
Nobody talks about how great it was.
Man oh man have I been looking forward to this vid!
This slander of duel maps will not stand. Yes they're lucky, but 1) character choice and partner swaps allow you to adjust accordingly, and 2) it's 2p Mario Party that actually works!
Great video. Thanks for all the hard work.
I've never seen a wacky watch in person. That's a crazy powerful effect, for sure
Cheep Cheep Chase is actually a little unbalance because once a player gets ahead of the other players the act of diving under the bomb becomes much more difficult for the outside two as they are pushed out of alignment and may even be stuck behind the leading player. I do agree with you on most of the boards, but until we get boards that exemplify the unique mechanics of Waluigi Island's top left randomly generated island the board will still be considered an interesting board to play. Heck, if they ever make a Mario Party Maker/Board Editor than Waluigi Island becomes essentially obsolete. Also, I wish the duel mode in Mario Party 3 had stuck around longer because it feels like it has so much potential if you could simply choose your starting allies based on strategy rather than luck
Having played all main series Mario Party games, Waluigi's Island is easily among my top three boards of all time. The action time that sends you in a "random direction" can easily be timed with 99% accuracy unless you get the top speed, but even then you can usually get your chosen path with some practice. You missed the fact that the speed of the spinning motion is determined by your current placement, where the player in the lead will always suffer the fastest speed. This acts a small check on the player in lead to prevent him from getting too far ahead, leading to a competitive game until the very end. The island where every space is the same is super unique, creating tons of opportunities for comebacks and random shenanigans with frequent game guys, chance times, battles and items. The bomb counter at the start adds another layer of strategy, since you want to keep away from that area at any cost if it's close to zero and you have a stack of cash. Without the 50/50 minefield just before boo, it would have been way to easy to reach boo.
To me, Waluigi's Island is the quintessential Mario Party-experience, with something fun happening every round. Whenever I sit down with some friends for a round of Mario Party, we choose Mario Party 3 80% of the time. While mini-games and boards can always be discussed, Mario Party 3 has by far the best item system of any of the games, with the later orb mechanics feeling extremely lackluster in comparison.
Hope to see more of this series!
These Chance Times are so awesome! I wish KingK would do MP4 :(
The way I'd fix the golf minigame is to have all 4 players line up a shot at the same time under a 10-to-20 second timer.
Then once it runs out everybody swings at the same time, and the closest will win the minigame.
This is my favorite mario party. I always have fun when i play it.
I have been obsessively rewatching your Zelda series; I am so excited for new King K! 😍
The Action Time in Waluigi's Island is actually quite predictable. No matter the speed, the timing is always the same: Press the button when the arrow you want to go to lights up. Sure, the input window might be a bit smaller sometimes, but you don't need to hit the button like one or two arrows early depending on the speed.
One thing that struck me as odd is that you did not talk about the overall gamespeed. The pop-up effect, the action time events and the influx of board gimmicks...they all add up to a way SLOWER game than Mario Party 2.
Like, trigger 4 snowballs in Chilly Water and that's around 1:30 seconds on JUST that animation.
Starting up Mario Party 2 after that feels like turning on the turbo button on an action replay. Blissfull speed!
I hope that the boards in this game get some representation in Mario Party Jamboree because I think that they're the ones that deserve it the most in comparison to Mario Party 1 and 2's boards because off too much shit being added. Like if they made it so that Spiny Desert didn't have the quick sandpits, Deep Blooper Sea didn't have the Shark with the buttons and Creepy Cavern had two Whomps at the junction who would charge the player to pass them, then I think that they could be some nice add ons to the already existing seven boards that have been shown off.
Merry Go Chomp has always been a favorite of my friend group
Mario Party 3 was a significant portion of my childhood. I haven't played all of the iterations, but I think 3 had the best item selections and solid mini-games, so it stands a personal favorite. Plus the music for selecting the pre-game options ingrained itself into my DNA, in a good way.
But yeah, it definitely went too far with the maps over-gimmicking.
And my friends and I reached the end of "The Beat Goes On". It's a fond memory and was very tense at the time, but... when a minigame lasts so long everyone forgets where the Star is, you know you've got a problem.
Mario Party - Put your friendship to the test
Mario Party 3 was the first and only Mario Party I've ever played. I beat it with Luigi and I was damn proud of it.
He's the true winner of the game. Good choice
Best Mario party by far. BEST
I love duel mode. So hectic and random!
i play this game with my friend in school because its the latest one we can find to emulate but its actually so fun
Are you still planning on making a Mario Party 4 video? I was getting super into this series but then realized the last one was made a year and a half ago.
When I get back to it, I plan to hit the ground running and update it more frequently. I have just been juggling a lot of ideas lately.
Absolute favourite mario party of all time
Excellent analysis, as usual. I'm not a fan of Game Guy, either. My favorite board is Creepy Cavern, personally. It takes some getting used to, but once you understand it all, you understand that Skeleton Keys are the most common in the game (the only item held by both Toad and Baby Bowser), and shops are easily accessible on both sides of the map. About half the time, you can use Thwomp to pay your way across, or even pay to move the mine car away from someone trying to get to the other side, even if you don't want to go there yourself.
Like you, I really enjoy the new items, item system, and increased strategic options for board movement. I feel like boards with more thought put into their strategic developments could make a near-perfect Mario Party, but alas. If 3's item system were implemented with boards with as much solid design as 2 (not 2's boards, necessarily, as 2 wasn't designed with the new item system in mind), then we'd have a great combination of excellent N64 Mario Party, my personal favorite era of Mario Party. I consider 3 to be the 2nd best of the franchise just behind 2. 1 is very far behind these titles as well as most subsequent titles.