Mario Party Advance (Game Boy Advance)
Developed by: Hudson Soft
Published by: Nintendo

The next time you’re getting ready to throw a good kegger, Nintendo might not be top on your list of invites. Let’s face it, no one wants to risk their rep by bringing along a sissy to the bash. But when it comes down to it, the big N likes to throw back a few brewskis and hang with buds just as much as the next guy. Why else would they have invented the Mario Party games?

Already up to a 6th installment on the Gamecube, the Mario Party series has long been a fan favourite with its wide variety of hectic mini-games and classic Nintendo charm. Some might say that the games have become bloated and somewhat unimaginative over time, but its popularity remains strong. Ever the opportunists, Nintendo and developer Hudson Soft have finally seen it fit to bring this hit franchise to the Game Boy Advance, and you might ask yourself why they didn’t do it sooner. The most likely reason is that the Mario Party games aren’t much fun by yourself, and despite the game link capability of the GBA, multiplayer sessions with the handheld system are pretty difficult to arrange. If there’s one thing that Mario Party Advance proves, it is that a single player Mario Party game is missing most of the magic that the series holds.

Now don’t get me wrong, Nintendo’s not so oblivious that they would simply omit the multiplayer component of a Mario Party game. There are some linked gameplay modes, but unfortunately the full board game is not available in this setting. You are reduced to short head-to-head battles using the mini-games you have unlocked in the single player story mode, many of which do not actually support multiple simultaneous competitors. There is also a challenge mode where you can compete for the best score in single-player mini-games (either linked or by passing a single GBA around), and you can trade mini-games with others. But this doesn’t really cut it, and Nintendo knows it. They tried to make up for the lack of a full-fledged multiplayer game by offering a digital game board that you can download and print from the Mario Party website… the idea being that you roll dice and move around the board but let the GBA select mini-games for you. What a lame substitute for the real thing.

The single player mode, affectionately referred to as “Shroom City”, attempts to adapt the board game into a quest-based story mode. You travel around the board by rolling dice and attempt to win stars by completing quests for various well-known Mario characters.Unfortunately, these quests strive to add “story” by spewing out reams of long-winded dialogue that you have to click through every time you attempt a quest. Enough with the useless set-ups already, I only care about the mini-games! Mario Party is supposed to be simple and intuitive, I don’t think anyone needs a story to connect the games. The other weird thing is, the number of dice rolls you have is limited, and you must win more along the way by playing the various mini-games. Once you run out of dice rolls, the game is over. The end. You’ll have to start all over again. You will at least have gained direct access to the mini-games or gaddgets that you acquired along the way.

Which brings me to these so-called “gaddgets”, which is a new thing they have added for this Mario Party. Gaddgets are the ultimate embodiment of Nintendo’s theory of video games as simple playthings. Some of them aren’t even “games”, insofar as there is no way to win or lose. All you can do is play with these gaddgets indefinitely until you get bored of them. Some of them allow up to 4 people to play at the same time on one Game Boy by assigning a button to each person, which can get pretty damn crowded. They range from 4 player pinball or “Block Punch”, where 4 players hammer at a cement block with boxing gloves until it breaks, to “Compat-I-Com”, a random number generator that indicates the romantic compatibility of two people currently holding down buttons, and “Stick To It”, some kind of weird decision maker tool that shows a stick falling in a certain direction. I know Nintendo likes to target the kiddies with their games, but come on… some of these are ridiculously stupid.

The mini-games themselves are mostly hit and miss. There’s a lot of run and avoid obstacles type games, and not many creative ones. I guess this is because they all have to be single player compatible, although why they couldn’t make more multiplayer games and just have you compete against CPU controlled opponents is beyond me.

Although Mario Party Advance takes the franchise in some new directions, for the most part it just isn’t all that fun. Nintendo has proven with WarioWare Inc. that mini-games can be extremely addictive and fun on the Game Boy Advance, and I was hoping that a GBA version of the coveted Mario Party series might prove to be just as compelling. Unfortunately, it doesn’t live up to the name.With the number of GBA releases slowly trailing off as Nintendo shifts its attention to the DS and the GBA’s successor, some might be tempted to take a chance on this game. I would advise against it. Nintendo really crashed the party on this one, kind of like your parents coming home right after someone puked on the couch. Unless you’re a complete Mario Party fiend, you’re likely to be disappointed, and you’re probably better off waiting for the next WarioWare game for your quirky mini-game needs instead. — Sean

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