E3 Preview: Mario Party 7
Article by Justin Whitney
At its E3 2005 Pre show, Nintendo unveiled the first details and videos of Mario Party 7. Just moments before this unveiling, George Harrison announced, Mario is taking on four new leading roles for GameCube this year.
Immediately my head ran through the list of previously-announced Mario titles: Super Mario Strikers, Mario Superstar Baseball, and DDR Mario Mix. Perhaps I got ahead of myself, but the excited child in me couldnt avoid the thought: A secret Mario title? Super Mario 128? Please?!
Although I didnt audibly sigh at the announcement of a seventh Mario Party like other members of the press, I couldnt hold back the knowing laugh in the back of my mind. While I acknowledge Mario Party 7 will include some interesting features such as eight-player mini-games and the Microphone Grand Prix Mode, the seventh iteration of this series is undoubtedly the opposite of fan service -- its wallet service.
Yet when it came to picking up the controller, the only thing that mattered was whether Mario Party 7 could somehow squeeze more fun out of the formula. As a cosmetic addition to the series, Nintendo has added Dry Bones and Birdo to the character pool. The demo consisted of eight mini-games -- two eight-player battles and six four-player battles. After more than 375 mini-games, one would think the possibilities for fresh, fun, and intuitive contests were exhausted. A few of the mini-games on display validate this concern, but gems such as 'Picture This' and 'Grin and Bar It' promise to enhance the raucous insanity of the Mario Party series.
Four Player Mini-Games
Track and Yield
Players start in a precarious position: running along a speedy treadmill between a mechanical crunching machine and a bottomless pit. Every time the cruncher compresses, it places a hurdle on each players treadmill. This cruncher, however, is a bit devious. As the mini-game continues, it accelerates and adds electrically-charged (instant-death) hurdles to the mix. Players must run with the analog stick and jump with A. The game ends when only character remains on the treadmill.
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| Track and Yield |
The speed of the treadmill is calibrated quite well with the analog stick. A moderate push on the analog stick will make your character run at the speed of the treadmill. Thankfully, pushing forward full-tilt on the stick results in a smooth incremental movement toward the crusher, rather than a violent dash into the jaws of doom. Similarly, letting go of the analog stick wont cause Marios immediate plummet into the abyss. In this case, the forgiving controls are positive -- they allow new players to adjust to both the treadmill and the hurdles.
Monteys Revenge
Players assume the role of their local whack-a-mole while three hammer-toting Montey moles try to knock Mario and his friends unconscious. Mario can peek his head out of the ground by holding A. Moving holes (while underground) is accomplished with the analog stick. The holes were set in a star pattern, and movement was very responsive. The goal is to spend the most time with your head above ground, but if you get whacked by a Montey, your timer stops and your character is stunned for a few seconds.
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| Monteys Revenge |
Bubble Brawl
This contest pits Mario and his friends in a last-man-standing match within a bubble. Each character moves about the watery medium with the analog stick and punches with B. Punching does not cause physical harm, but can be used to push your enemies out of the arena.
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| Bubble Brawl |
This contest reminded me of the crazy, unpredictable Bumper Balls on the original Mario Party. While the heated competition of Bumper Balls is retained, Bubble Brawl dampens the unpredictable physics. As a result, theres no real potential for that gasp-inducing moment when you get bumped dangerously close to the edge of the arena, manage to save yourself, and evade your friends overzealous charge to win the match.
Picture This
This game of wit and speed presents a book of about 20 crayon-drawn pictures that form a sequence of events. The first time I played, the series of pictures represented a car driving home along a country road. Later, I watched a group a people flip through a sequence portraying the growth of a seed into a flower. Marios helpful hand flips one page forward with R and one page back with L. In the middle of the screen, a random page from the book is displayed. Players compete to find this page in their picture books and mark it with A. By marking the chosen page first, the player earns a star. The first player to three stars wins.
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| Picture This |
When the race to first star took more than ten seconds, I questioned whether three stars might make the mini-game too long. Coincidentally, it took less than a second for my competitor to earn the next star. The random picture matched his current page exactly. I realized then that random chance could totally dominate a one-star match, necessitating the three-star matches.
Target Tag
Mario and his compatriots are simultaneously shot out of cannons and must compete to tag floating targets along the flight path. Targets range in value from five to thirty points. Tagging the large Bowser targets envelopes your character in a black fog, hindering his movement. The player with the highest cumulative target score wins. |
| Target Tag |
Characters in this mini-game are surprisingly maneuverable, much more so than Marios wing cap adventures in Super Mario 64. In fact, Mario pulled off some crazy physics-defying moves such as zigzags and helixes with ease. While it made the game incredibly intuitive, it didnt take much anticipation to tag valuable targets and avoid Bowser targets.
Pokey Pummel
Four incredibly large Pokey cacti (Marios favorite desert-bound friends) have offered up their towering bodies for hammering practice. Players tap A as fast as possible to send Pokey-pieces flying into the desert. The first player to demolish their Pokey wins.
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| Pokey Pummel |
Eight Player Mini-Games
In the eight-player matches, teams of two share each controller. In the E3 2005 demo, every mini-game required only one button -- the analog trigger on your half of the controller. Given this limitation, the games were surprisingly fun. Imagine the hilarity when one player loses early in an endurance match, erupts in competitive rage, and throws his controller toward his enemies, only to realize that he just buggered his teammates chances of winning.
Grin and Bar It
The cap-steeling monkey is back from Super Mario 64 to provide the power for a gigantic jump rope. Each player jumps with their shoulder button, and the rope passes the characters from left to right in a wave pattern. To time their jumps properly, the teammate using the left side of the controller must press his button slightly before the teammate using the right side of the controller. The rope gradually accelerates until one character remains. This character and his teammate win the match.
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| Grin and Bar It |
My experience with this mini-game was rather interesting. I played one-on-one versus the Nintendo booth attendant, who volunteered to show me the eight-player mini-games. The six AI-controlled characters got knocked out pretty early, but she was keeping up with the jump rope far into the finger-twitch zone. I somehow outlasted her, but her silent congratulatory nod told me that I was dealing with a serious competitor.
Gimme a Break
Each character starts at the top of a speed ramp on a scooter. The object of this mini-game is to hit the breaks (with the shoulder button) at the right time so that your character is closest to the edge of the ramp without going over. Differing ramp surfaces, however, throw a bit of variety into the mix. Ice ramps force the player to hit the break much earlier than standard asphalt ramps.
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| Gimme a Break |
Again I faced off against the Nintendo booth attendant, and she showed the true power of her Mario Party skills. I noticed that the ramp was covered in ice, so I hit the breaks almost immediately after the ramp flattened out. It was a prudent move. Every AI-controlled character fell off the edge of the ramp and into the mud pit. My human adversary, however, stopped within a tennis balls width of the edge, putting me in my place as the Mario Party 7 apprentice.
Parting Words
In all likelihood, Mario Party 7 will be just as fun as its predecessors, but it seems terribly out of place at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Whereas most other products on the show floor promise a future of gaming filled with engaging stories, beautiful melodies, and groundbreaking gameplay, Mario Party 7 offers a tried-and-true board game experience within the simplistic, colorful Mario Universe. There may be very little that separates Mario Party 7 from its predecessors, but the continued sales of the series is not without reason. The Mario universe is fun, and board games are fun. As simple as that sounds, sometimes simple can be fun, too. Mario Party 7 is scheduled for release November 2005.