Mario Party 3
| System | N64 |
| Genre | Party |
| Players | 4 |
| Developer | Hudson |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Release Dates |
JPN - February 7, 2001 USA - May 7, 2001 EUR - January 16, 2002 |
| Overall Score |
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Introduction
The Mario Party series had the tendency to dazzle and rock the world of anyone who played them. After the first two Mario Party’s were released, the bar was set rather high for Mario Party 3. Even so, the developers at Hudson blew me even more with number 3. Because of this game’s replayability and multiplayer, Mario Party 3 is my favorite Mario Party to date.
Story
Though you really shouldn’t expect much of a story from a board game type video game, Hudson went ahead and gave it a shot. This story is as follows: A star is born every one thousand years, the Millennium Star. Who ever possesses this star becomes the SuperStar of the universe. However, because the Millennium Star was just a newborn, it fell from the sky. The star fell next to Mario and company. The group began to argue about who should keep the star. The Millennium star then gave off a big flash of light and Mario and friends were transported into a toy box. The star explains to the group that in order to possess him you must go across many lands and acquire star stamps. If you were to collect all seven, then you would become the superstar of the universe.
Gameplay (9/10)
The gameplay in Mario Party 3 can be absolutely outstanding or slightly mediocre. It all depends on if you’re playing alone or with a group of friends. You will get quite a bit of enjoyment just playing the Story mode, however, you will not want to play it for hours upon hours. The gameplay of Mario Party 3 is pretty similar to the previous except a new mode, Duel Mode.
In Normal mode: You start by selecting a player and playing a kind of board game with 3 other people. After everyone rolls, the group plays a mini-game for coins. With these coins, you can by items and stars. The person with most stars at the end of the set number of turns wins. There are special stars given out at the end for the person who lands on the most blue spaces, mystery spaces, who has the most coinc, etc. This can work to your advantage or disadvantage. I like the special star awards but since they are sometimes based on luck, I find myself turning them off more than leaving them on.
In Duel Mode: The rules are similar in the fact that you take turns rolling. Instead of 4 players though, there are 2. Each of the characters has a partner with an attack and health. The player then chooses where the partner stands, in front or behind them. The players then try to sneak up on the others partner to attack and kill it. Then the objective is to attack your opponent. Once you attack your opponent 5 times, you win. If your partner is killed, you can purchase one from a designated area with the coins you win from landing on blue and mini-game spaces.
Graphics (6/10)
The graphics are a little cartoony, as to be expected from a Mario game. The maps look great and show a great deal of character. The ways the map interacts with the characters can sometimes be an impressive thing to watch and be apart of. There are so many mini-games and most of the graphics are not reused. So there is plenty of eye candy to look at while you play without losing any of that classic Mario charm. The graphic are no means impressive but are plenty good for a Mario game.
Sound (4/10)
The music in this game is decent. The pieces written for this game seem to have the same theme but because of this, there are times when it seems the music constantly is repeating. During the board maps however, the music can get old. The same music is playing the whole time through the time you roll to the time the mini-game starts. Overall, the music is decent and nothing better.
The voice acting is nothing special. Just several different yells, yelps and screams. There are some classic goomba and koopa sounds but, there is nothing huge to expect in the voice acting department in these games. The screams and cheers can tend to repeat since there is only one cheer/yelp for each action of a character.
Replayability (9/10)
Mario Party is built like a board game so in essence, it is meant to be played again and again. No matter how many times you play, the game still stays fresh with the variety of spaces and over 70 different mini-games to play. The replayability really shines with multiplayer. You probably wouldn’t play the single player for too long.
Challenge (4/10)
Mario Party 3 doesn’t really hold that much of a challenge. The only time this game gets challenging is when the luck games start. It can really suck when you have to trade coins with an opponent that has 2 coins.
Overall (8.5/10)
Overall, Mario Party 3 is as good as it gets for Mario Party. It features some of the best mini-games and seems to stand out of the bunch. The sound in this game is decent along with the voice acting. The graphics really show the Mario feel the best of any Mario Party game and indeed is one.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I suggest buying Mario Party 3 if you were to find it in a retail stole or online. It’s definitely worth a look into. It’s a great game for people of all ages and for any gamer. It’s a classic that can’t be beat.
Screenshots
