The Mario Party series is often renowned for its mostly low quality and lack of attention to mini-games that are a testament to one’s skill over luck. However, there is one game in the series that is often seen as an exception to the game’s terrible legacy: Mario Party 2.
As mentioned previously, the Mario Party series is highly regarded as one that is almost purely based on luck. Mini-games often implement cheap tactics that cause the most skilled of gamers to fall behind and have gameplay mechanics that are subpar, at best. Hitting a dice block to determine how many spaces you move forward, in the style of a board game, sounds simple and charming in design. Instead, however, it can lead to being immiserated by landing on a space requiring you to engage Bowser and find out what your punishment is for doing so, which includes stealing Stars (needed to win the game) and other nonsense.
While Mario Party 2 does have some of these mechanics, it appears to never go overboard with them. The game improved upon the first game’s horrendous controls that were injurious to some players. Furthermore, it had mini-games that were actually quite fun, such as a classic Mario platforming mini-game and a racing one. Of course, Mario Party 2 implemented some arbitrary mechanics that led to scoff-worthy victories, but it wouldn’t quite be a Mario Party game without them.
What’s funny about this assertion is that Mario Party was only the second game in a series that now has 16 iterations. It’s kind of sad that Nintendo could never surpass this pinnacle. It’s worth noting that the recent Super Mario Party was surprisingly well-received, though this is the shining needle in a haystack of otherwise pointless needles.
So, this leads us to an interesting question: Can Mario Party 2 ever be surpassed? Admittedly, a huge element of gamers’ fondness of the 1999 game is the nostalgia factors. Gamers can’t help but be a nostalgic bunch, even for something as hated as the Mario Party franchise. Mario Party 2 is simply often regarded as the “best” of an otherwise despised series. It could be that its roots in the Nintendo 64, part of a console era that many gamers grew up in, is precisely why it’s regarded as the cream of the crop. Of course, Mario Party had been released just a year before. However, that game handled so poorly that memories of it cross into chilling nightmares.
Thus, if Mario Party 2 is so well-regarded, is Nintendo bound to bring it back? Elements of it can be seen throughout the rest of the series, but the question is whether a re-release, remaster, or remake could be imminent. It would make a lot of sense to do so on the Switch, which has been a very successful console. At first, it would seem odd to simply remake the second game in the series, but developers have done this before, with a prime example of Resident Evil 2’s 2019 remake. The first game had been remade in the early 2000s but never in the highly-polished style of RE2. Simply put, Mario Party 2 could easily receive a remake or re-release in the next while if there’s enough demand.
Mario Party is widely regarded as a series that’s fun to play if skill doesn’t matter to the players involved. That said, Mario Party 2 is seen as the best of the bunch because it doesn’t have as many frustrating mechanics and can be very entertaining otherwise. It definitely has the series’ trademark arbitrary elements, but these are typically brushed aside by its entertainment value. Nostalgia admittedly plays a large role as well, but it may be necessary for a series that has been panned across most of its iterations.
