Cheap Mario Party 4 (Video Games) (GameCube) Price

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Customer Reviews of Mario Party 4

Great but needs minor improvements!!!
I just brought the gamecube back in May of 2003 and along with it, i got Mario Party 4. I tried the game and i immediately fell in love with it. I played it till the end and enjoyed it. The graphics were great (5 of 5), the music was also great (5 of 5). but the controls weren't that good.Just two weeks ago, while playing the mini-game domination (the worst mini-game)i suffered a blister which i still have. Also, the the game had a slow loading time and the game overall was slow. It takes one hour to beat one board. However, i heard that Nintendo corrected these mistakes in Mario Party 5 (new mini-games, more expanded roles for toad, boo, goomba, koopa troopa, and bowser kid, and new boards). Just a few days ago, i read all the reviews for the Mario Party series and found that many people complained about the one-player mode claiming that's weak. I'D LIKE TO TAKE THE TIME AND SAY THAT ALL THE PEOPLE WHO SAY THAT ARE CRAZY. THE ONE-PLAYER MODE IS OK. I MEAN SOMETIMES TWISTS AND TURNS TAKE PLACE AND I (AN EXPERT) GET BEATEN. THE COMPUTER IS MOST OF THE TIME COMPETITIVE AND GREAT. HOWEVER I HAVE ONE SISTER AND SHE DOESN'T PLAY VIDEO GAMES THAT MUCH SO THE ONE-PLAYER MODE I FOUND IS BETTER THAN MULTI-PLAYER MODE, ESPEACIALLY BEACH VOLLEYBALL. SO MY POINT IS THOSE WHO SAY THAT THE ONE-PLAYER MODE IS WEAK SHOULD GO TO A MENTAL HOSPITAL AND GET THEMSELVES RE-EVALUATED.

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mario party is back... more great multiplayer fun!
Generally speaking, a good party consists of loud music, obnoxious people you don't really know, copious amounts of cheap vodka, and a few loose women. While Nintendo's Mario Party 4 doesn't rely on any of the above, it does provide a digital alternative to raging hangovers and vague memories of the previous night's activities. Although it's the fourth title in the series, it's the first Mario Party game on the GameCube, and it packs a decent four-player punch.

Mario Party 4 goes a little above and beyond its previous incarnations, and thanks to some skillful development from Hudson Soft, eight of your favorite Nintendo characters are ready to do battle through over 50 nutty mini-games in order to win a juicy prize. Lending itself to a very simple gameplay premise, Mario Party 4 is best enjoyed with four human players -- the idea is to be guy that collects the most hidden stars and gold coins at the end of a party. Each party is played over a selectable number of turns (from between ten and 50 -- ten turns takes around 30 minutes to play) on one of five themed game boards.

Some familiar faces are on hand to meet and greet the party-players. Toad, Shy Guy, Koopa, Boo, and Goomba all offer a game board with themes such as the "Seaside Soiree," the "Haunted Bash," and the "Jungle Jam." There are eight Nintendo-friendly guys and gals to choose from at the player select screen: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, Daisy, and Waluigi. There are essentially two main modes of play in Mario Party 4.

Party mode is where the most fun occurs and involves between one to four human players getting jiggy on any of the game boards. Story mode is the single-player component of the game and pits you against three randomly selected CPU-controlled guys. If you win the game, you'll be awarded a prize, and depending on which character you were playing as, it'll be different each time (e.g. Playing as Waluigi, I won Waluigi's Shelf, which is one of many unique pieces of furniture that can be found for his mini-apartment -- viewable in the prize room).

One new feature to the series is the mini-mega system -- which manifests itself in the form of two different mushroom-based items. These items can be taken before you roll the die at the beginning of turn. A mini-mushroom will shrink you down, allowing you to access other areas of the board, but it'll limit your maximum die roll to five instead of six. Being mini will allow you to tackle some special "mini" mini-games too.

Going the other route and taking a mega-mushroom, will in contrast increase the size of your guy, and it'll give you a combined roll of two dice, increasing your ability to travel further around the board. You'll also squish any players that you travel past, causing them to hemorrhage value gold coins. Being large also means you'll be immune to any event spaces on the board. The mini-mega system is cool in theory, but in actuality, it doesn't really add that much to the gameplay.

There are a ton of new items, events, traps, and bonuses that are scattered through the game -- such as the Genie Lamp which costs 30 coins to buy -- but it'll warp you straight to the current star on the board. All these factors throw more uncertainty into the mix, with the final game experience getting more and more random compared to the first three games in the series. Is this a bad thing? It depends on your point of view, but it can be pretty frustrating to be on top for most of the game and then have it all snatched away at the last minute. There are a few constants; these arrive at the very end of the game in the form of stars awarded to the player that collected the most coins, won the most mini-games, and triggered the most event features.

There's no doubt that Mario Party 4 sports classic multiplayer fun and all of the mini-games are a blast in their own right, but there's one hugely annoying factor -- the CPU controlled characters. In the single-player mode, you'll be forced to watch the CPU guys take their individual turns.

This happens at a mind-numbingly slow pace, and after a few games you'll be begging to have bamboo shoots inserted under your fingernails to alleviate the tedium. Essentially, the single-player game exists to let you win the prizes -- something that becomes very unimportant all too quickly.

Huge Mario gets ready to squash the others. Putting those issues aside, Mario Party 4 as an actual party game, works really well. Teamwork, smack talk, and cajoling come heavily into play, and it's certainly the best in the series to date. The GameCube provides the graphical grunt to take Mario Party 4 to the next level and all of the characters, boards, and mini-games display slick animation, special effects, and a sweet bouncy-cartoony look and feel. Controls for the most part are extremely simplistic, but this really only adds to the pick-up-and-play nature of the game as a whole. There's a myriad of nice Nintendo-tastic tunes, voices, and sound effects, which wrap the game up into a well-presented, good-looking game.

For those that enjoy Nintendo's rich characters and imagination, Mario Party 4 is a great game to have. With four-players in tow, it's a total blast, but for those that are looking for some solid, non-anger-inducing solo play, you'd do well to swerve away from this one for sure.

The Lowdown: More of the same great Mario Party multiplayer action.

Pros: It looks great; the mini-games are a hoot; really good fun with four players.

Cons: More features aren't necessarily a good thing; there's little fun when flying solo.

BIG DAN's OVERALL RATING - 7.5/10