Mario Party 9 has a mixed reception from a lot of people. Some people said it failed horribly, others found it an epic. I have mixed opinions about it.
Mario Party 9 is inventive. Granted, it was poorly executed at times, and a lot of the games and even some board mechanics are based off of luck (And faith if you want to use that as an excuse.), but it was a starting ground of seeing how people would react to a sudden change.
Keep in mind also that Mario Party 9 was made by a different developer, so there are bound to be some changes. The fact that there was a simple Mini-Star system instead of the 20-coins is the 1-star norm with sometimes stupid variations kept the series alive, especially after the disaster Mario Party 8 turned out to be. And heck, others might not agree, but that's our opinion. This game clearly brings it out.
Nor for my own "mixed" opinion. To me, it uses elements from some other Mario Party games starting with Mario Party 2. In the museum, you get a different selection of 3 vehicles per map, such as a mushroom car, a bob-omb "spider-walker" (I never knew the enemy name), and, if you bought it, even a King boo flying carpet. About half the mini-games may have been inspired from past titles or even direct ports of it. Even the boss fights put in an interesting twist, actually beating Dry Bones rather than selecting it. (Though I'm sure people would prefer playing Dry bones.)
Perspective mode was also a good highlight for me. While some are basically routine like their top-down counterparts, there's one in particular that gave me trouble, and that was Billistics, mainly because the bills could be thrown from a blind spot now that the camera is on you for a change. A bowling mini-game featuring Goombas and a castle arcade-like game were also interesting to play (Especially since the latter nets you a good sum of party points.)
But of course, there are quirks with this one. As stated earlier, a lot of the game is luck-based, throwing off a true Mario Party aspect in the fact that at least the boards were decent, the AI is just terrible. (It seems to be a bit worse here, actually, but then again, some boards are luck-based.) The boards are basically split into two sections, a fortress and a castle, which sounds like a Party-style Super Mario Bros, which didn't seem to quite fit. (If they were at least decorated with party favors, then it'd at least fit a bit.)
The one thing I didn't enjoy was that even some of the bosses are cheap. King Bob-Omb, in particular, will probably toss the bomb that YOU picked, and throw a small one in your face. (Thankfully, that only happens in a 1-on-1 party.)
All-in-all, like all Mario Party games, this one kills your spare time. The good news? It does so quite a bit faster, since when everyone is done, it doesn't force a mini-game on you like previous titles, instead going to the first Captain that played right away. (This might be due to the Shuffle space.) I never owned a GameCube Mario Party game, Mario Party 8 told me that the series was pretty much killed. The inventive ideas of Mario Party 9 reminded me a bit, although surprisingly, how good Mario Party 3 was, and how much I liked it as a child. After picking up the game and trying it out, it was worth my cash.
It may not be good for everyone, but it's good enough for me that I'm interested to see what the new Mario Party developers have in store, even if some might not like it. (As an added note, I believe the game was meant to be a trial run to see how the new developers were doing. To me, they're doing quite well.)
Mario Party 9 is inventive. Granted, it was poorly executed at times, and a lot of the games and even some board mechanics are based off of luck (And faith if you want to use that as an excuse.), but it was a starting ground of seeing how people would react to a sudden change.
Keep in mind also that Mario Party 9 was made by a different developer, so there are bound to be some changes. The fact that there was a simple Mini-Star system instead of the 20-coins is the 1-star norm with sometimes stupid variations kept the series alive, especially after the disaster Mario Party 8 turned out to be. And heck, others might not agree, but that's our opinion. This game clearly brings it out.
Nor for my own "mixed" opinion. To me, it uses elements from some other Mario Party games starting with Mario Party 2. In the museum, you get a different selection of 3 vehicles per map, such as a mushroom car, a bob-omb "spider-walker" (I never knew the enemy name), and, if you bought it, even a King boo flying carpet. About half the mini-games may have been inspired from past titles or even direct ports of it. Even the boss fights put in an interesting twist, actually beating Dry Bones rather than selecting it. (Though I'm sure people would prefer playing Dry bones.)
Perspective mode was also a good highlight for me. While some are basically routine like their top-down counterparts, there's one in particular that gave me trouble, and that was Billistics, mainly because the bills could be thrown from a blind spot now that the camera is on you for a change. A bowling mini-game featuring Goombas and a castle arcade-like game were also interesting to play (Especially since the latter nets you a good sum of party points.)
But of course, there are quirks with this one. As stated earlier, a lot of the game is luck-based, throwing off a true Mario Party aspect in the fact that at least the boards were decent, the AI is just terrible. (It seems to be a bit worse here, actually, but then again, some boards are luck-based.) The boards are basically split into two sections, a fortress and a castle, which sounds like a Party-style Super Mario Bros, which didn't seem to quite fit. (If they were at least decorated with party favors, then it'd at least fit a bit.)
The one thing I didn't enjoy was that even some of the bosses are cheap. King Bob-Omb, in particular, will probably toss the bomb that YOU picked, and throw a small one in your face. (Thankfully, that only happens in a 1-on-1 party.)
All-in-all, like all Mario Party games, this one kills your spare time. The good news? It does so quite a bit faster, since when everyone is done, it doesn't force a mini-game on you like previous titles, instead going to the first Captain that played right away. (This might be due to the Shuffle space.) I never owned a GameCube Mario Party game, Mario Party 8 told me that the series was pretty much killed. The inventive ideas of Mario Party 9 reminded me a bit, although surprisingly, how good Mario Party 3 was, and how much I liked it as a child. After picking up the game and trying it out, it was worth my cash.
It may not be good for everyone, but it's good enough for me that I'm interested to see what the new Mario Party developers have in store, even if some might not like it. (As an added note, I believe the game was meant to be a trial run to see how the new developers were doing. To me, they're doing quite well.)
