WHEN IT comes to party games or games to play with friends, we all have our choices. This may be things like video games such as Halo or Call of Duty and board games like Monopoly and Twister.  However, one of the most fun and annoying games would be the Mario Party series. I am referring to the classic Mario Party 2 from the N64, which is rated the best one in the entire series by the gaming community.

Those of us who have had a childhood know how fun Mario Party games were and how many times we got mad when someone steals your star.  The new Mario Parties give you traps, and you win bonus stars by getting the most coins in mini-games, unlike the classic version. The original takes more skill due to the fact that you have to win the most mini-games to get a bonus star and you don’t have any fancy shmancy traps.

For those who want to experience the original Mario Party that took true skill, there is no need to worry about the game only being for the Nintendo 64, because the Wii U released a remastered version of it. Kids nowadays can now know how much more fun the classics were compared to the new Mario Party games. In addition, they’ll now know how difficult the maps were, as sometimes 15 turns could barely get you around the map once.

With the new Mario Parties like 9 and 10, you can go through the entire maps about 4 or 5 times in just 15 turns while in the classic Mario Parties it takes 25 turns just for everyone to go through it 3 times.  Yes, there are smaller maps where it is possible but those smaller maps in Mario Party 2 had more passages and routes to take, while in the newer ones you just set traps for people, like in Mario Party 7 with the orbs.

There is not really much of an adventure when it comes to new Mario Parties in comparison to Mario Party 2. Plus, Mario Party 2 had costumes if that is something you enjoy.  Yes, every map has its own little outfit that each character wears. The following maps in the game, ordered from easiest to hardest, are: Pirate Land, Western Land, Space Land, Mysteryland, Horror Land, and finally Bowser Land.

For Western Land the characters get into little sheriff costumes with hats and sheriff badges. They all get the sheriff clothing except for Peach because she loves her dress.

In Pirate Land, they have pirate hats, sashes, and swords. In Space Land they are dressed like an astronaut/space patrolers with mini ray guns. In Mystery Land, they are dressed like archeologists and in Horror Land they have mage hats and robes.

The costumes really makes a difference when it comes to gameplay because the 1v1 mini-games changed into pirate duels, shootouts, spell brewing, and telekinesis battles based on the map that you were on.

Some 1v1 mini games are more challenging than others or take more strategy than others, which is what causes close friends or family members to end up turning on each other and getting mad.

It is true that in order to have the best experience, you have to play it on the original console. But as I mentioned in the beginning, the Wii U brought it back to download but I do not know how much it is or if it is even still is available.

So the other way to do it is to go to an outdoor swap meet and buy it there or find someone that still has it and play it.  Keep in mind that some of the animations are pretty cringey, such as trees in a mini-game island.

You can practice and buy mini-games with coins and stars earned from playing the game. That is how you add more variety to them but when you visit the trees, they look a bit creepy. Since the rendering is weird with the N64, the trees’ smiles and color look like something from the hipster era. You can still get a couple of laughs from it, though.