Introduction
Why don’t we take a break from the shooting in Halo and get started on another Mario Party? This time we will be looking at Mario Party 6! This game adds new features like a day and night cycle that changes the board, as well as add new characters. You should also not forget about the microphone function! Since the story is the same as always, get to know who the superstar is, I will not feature a story section in this review.
What did I think before playing Mario Party 6?
Alot of the aspects in Mario Party 5 got improved upon but the last Mario Party we reviewed was 4, no worries, Mario Party 5 will be reviewed in the future! What I was looking forward to in Mario Party 6 was the mic mode, along with the solo mode! These are some great elements for having fun together and playing alone to test yourself in mini-games! This is also the last Mario Party that features the Koopa Kid character. As well as adding Toadette to the roster, but she has to be unlocked. For more information, we went to the wiki page of Mario Party 6!
The Wiki page
https://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Party_6
The page gives a lot more information than you would expect, the boards and characters look fun. The new solo mode looks great, it is a means to challenge yourself while earning stars for new unlocks! The new day and night cycle changes a lot in the gameplay mechanics, but this can notice the most in the clockwork level, which is a quite annoying level.
Rating
I rate Mario Party 6 with an 8.8 before playing.
It is time to party with some new mechanics!
Gameplay
If you like Mario Party, this is one of the best games of the Gamecube era, along with Mario Party 7! This time around, you will have orbs which replace the capsules from the previous game. Do not worry, that review will come in the future! Using these orbs are usually your key to victory as you can stagger the opponents in grabbing more stars, do not think that is all that you need to win!
To buy stars on the map, you will need coins! The best way to earn coins is to win mini-games. This means that you will need to show off your skills against the non-playable characters. If you win the mini-games you will win coins to get stars, you can also use coins to buy orbs in the orb shops! Beware, though, someone might land on the wheel of chance spot, and you will lose those sixteen stars in the last turn.
Each map has a day and night cycle which will change what happens on the board, during night there is a big chance that Bowser will appear. Avoid him at all costs, otherwise you will lose a star! However, the night cycle can also help you as Boo will appear, if you have enough coins you can steal stars from your opponents!
There is also a mic mode where you need to yell at the game to do stuff, this rarely goes well! If you enjoy playing alone, there is a solo mode which has three different levels, but it is a good way to earn stars for buying items in the star bank! In this mode, you will need to play a lot of different mini-games!
Rating
I rate the gameplay of Mario Party 6 with a 9.2.
This Mario Party has a lot of new mechanics, which were awesome in the Gamecube era!
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics of Mario Party 6 is quite amazing as it introduces the day and night cycle. The new character Toadette looks fun, as we like the Toads, we used Toadette in multiple matches! Sadly, this is also the last Mario Party where Koopa Kid is playable, while his character does look fun! A lot of the mini-games have great graphics that have aged well since the Gamecube era!
Sound
The soundtracks in Mario Party 6 are plentiful, and sound effects are bountiful in the mini-games and boards. The sound effects for most of the characters are off course rehashed, but there is nothing wrong with that. The day and night characters do not talk like in the Japanese version.
Did you know that in German, the sun and moon characters have their genders swapped? This is because in Germany the names for the sun and moon are also inverted.
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Mario Party with an 8.6.
The graphics have aged very well and the soundtracks/sound effects are still great!
What did I think after playing Mario Party 6?
My wife and I played a lot of Mario Party 6, unlocking the new level was a mistake though since we absolutely did not like the level. Bowser was running over us again and again while stealing all our stars! Luckily, the opponents also had a lot of their stars stolen! The mic mode was also fun to play as we yelled at the game to let the character move!
We used the solo mode to farm some stars to buy items from the star bank, the best idea is to get the items that you like first instead of the miracle book pages. We went for the new character first, then for a higher difficulty! The new board might have been a mistake, but it did cost us a whopping hundred stars!
Rating
I rate Mario Party 6 with a 9.3 after playing.
If you use team mode, you will not fight each other and lose relationships or friends! Team mode is recommended!
What are my personal thoughts about Mario Party 6?
I had an amazing time with this game as I teamed up with my wife to down a lot of pesky non-playable characters. We also engaged a lot in the solo mode to get a lot of stars! If you are looking for a fun party game, Mario Party 6 might be the best of the Gamecube era, but to make sure we need to review Mario Party 5 and 7!
Rating
My personal Rating of Mario Party 6 is a 9.3.
This is one of the best Mario Party games, fun boards with a lot of characters to choose from, fun mini-games, a mic to shout in and a lot more!
Last Words
Pros
- Play in team mode on all new boards that change from day to night!
- Play in solo mode to earn a lot of stars to make new purchases
- There are a lot of new mini-games to try out!
- Select new characters to walk on the board with!
- Use the mic to try out new games where you yell at the game!
- There is a day and night cycle which alters the gameplay!
Cons
- The Clockwork Castle is a nasty level!
- There is not really a story in Mario Party 6
If you are looking for a fun party game. This is the perfect game! It is better to team up though!
Final Rating
9
Let me know what you think of Mario Party 6 in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends!
I really liked hearing your experience with playing this game, especially the anecdotes about your wife’s enjoyment of the game. It helped the review feel more unique and personalized, and put an emphasis on co-op and family play, which is especially important to consider for a game like this! It’s a shame that GameCube games aren’t on the Switch’s emulated consoles, as GameCubes and their games can be quite expensive, and may not work the greatest because of age and wear and tear. Have you ever seen the cult classic on the GameCube, Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door? Just search that name up on eBay and similar sites…I guarantee you your jaw will drop at the prices. Still, if you can ever get your hands on a copy, I highly recommend that particular game! Also, I am curious to see your other reviews on the Mario Party games. I believe a common criticism with the franchise, alongside other Nintendo franchises, is that most games are too similar to their predecessors. Perhaps after you review more Mario Party games, you could do a retrospective on the series as a whole, comparing games with one another and seeing how they changed from console to console?
It would be amazing if they added a virtual console where you can cheaply buy GC or N64 items on the Switch!
We actually have a review on Paper and the Thousand-Year Door, but it is the ROM hacked version with decent upgrades!
While they do use the same assets for a lot of Mario Parties, the mini-games are often fairly new!
another Mario Party? count me in 🙂
Best Mario Party ever!
nice old game
Great entry in the series.
Indeed!
Fun saga with many different minigames
One of the best ones.
Let us review more to find out!
How many parts?
It goes all the way up to 10, but there are a lot of spin-offs! I am unsure if Super Mario Party is counted canon or not.
canon? i thought, based on the few mario party’s i’ve played, that as such they had no story, just like this xp
Well, there is no story, but the order is 1 to 10, and then they suddenly stopped the numbering!
Nothing like yelling at the game and this time it actually does some good xD
great article. unfortunately i never played a mario party game. maybe one day, it really looks like a lot of fun.
My son said that this is the best one!
Still love this game.