Mario Party 3 is the third installment of the Mario Party series. It was developed by Hudson Soft and Published by Nintendo. It is also the third and last Mario Party game for the N64.
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 "That's right! They could play "this game" to see who's the biggest Superstar was!" - Narrator.
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Why It's a Good Choice
- It expanded upon nearly everything from the previous two games and improved them by a long mile, such as introducing a story mode and having the most amount of minigames out of the Mario Party games released for the Nintendo 64, and also having new types of minigames in Duel Minigames where you have to face off one opponent in 10 minigames where you have to finish off an objective before they finish first and you don't, making these a great addition to the series. It was also the first game in the series to introduce more modes than just the regular Party and Minigame modes, and it was the first to have save files as well as expanding the character roster and making the boards more varied and interesting with new spaces and improving the item system from 2. This makes Mario Party 3 the most creative and innovative game in the series and gives the game it's own identity that would influence later titles and would be the foundation for the later instalments to adapt the same design philosophies as this title while adding a new spin onto it, making this easily the best game in the series overall.
- The game introduced duel mode, which was an interesting, yet fun mode to add.
- The game has twelve boards; six from battle royal, and six from duel mode, which beats out Mario Party 1's eight number of boards; each of these boards have their own functions and battle royal's boards introduced Action Time, which was very fun, it also includes Waluigi's Island, which was the first ever character themed board since Mario Party 1.
- Speaking of Action Time, an example of this is on the board Spiny Desert, when players take the path that has the two cacti on it, players have to jump over both of the cacti to get to the other side, if the player hits either of the cacti, they bounce in pain into the sign with the cactus picture on it; If they hit the first cacti, they will end up on the right side of the board, if they hit the second cacti (the one with flowers on its head), they will end up on the left side of the board.
- There are 71 minigames, which is a decent improvement over Mario Party 2's 65 minigames.
- It also introduced some new minigames, such as Vine with Me, Storm Chasers, Eatsa Pizza, and Toadstool Titan (which was later renamed to Mush Pit in Mario Party: The Top 100, and Mario Party Superstars).
- It also introduced the first boss fight minigame, called Stardust Battle, being vs the Millennial Star, which was awesome.
- Daisy and Waluigi make their debut as playable characters, it is also the first Mario Party game to expand the roster of playable characters.
- The graphics are still good, even for 2000s and N64 standards.
- It introduced story mode, which was amazing.
- The soundtrack is good, especially in the mini-games; it also has memorable songs such as the Chilly Waters, Deep Bloober Sea, Creepy Cavern, and Spiny Desert.
- Although Game Guy was not a fun mode, winning the minigames is extremely helpful, as it can double your coins and even help one win Battle Royale or Duel modes, which was amazing; it's especially worth having on the battle royal boards since it can really help on getting the Coin Star.
- It's also worth noting that you can double your coins even more rather than just having it multiplied by two; for example, on Game Guy's Lucky 7, if you win by landing on the 7, your coins are increased by tenfold.
- Tumble was a favorably cute character, as he was the first of the unique Mario Party hosts of each game, especially when he's revealed to have the true Millennium Star, who is super adorable, at the end of the story mode.
- The item spaces are more interesting, as not only does it have item minigames, just like in Mario Party 2, it also has item questions, you can also get a rare item from Toad's questions with the most honest answer.
- All of the items from Mario Party 2 return (except for the Bowser Bomb):
- Mushroom - It allows you to the dice block twice; matching the same number will get you ten coins while getting double 7s will get you twenty coins.
- Skeleton Key - It can open the door on the board and pass through it. You can also throw it away to make room in your inventory.
- Plunder Chest - You can now pick an opponent you want to steal from, despite the item that you steal from is random.
- Dueling Glove - Pick an opponent to duel in a duel minigame to bet a number of coins, whoever wins the duel minigame gets all of the coins
- Warp Block - It changes the position between you and a random opponent on the board.
- Golden Mushroom - It allows you to roll the dice block three times; matching the same number results in twenty coins, while triple 7s are worth fifty coins.
- Bowser Suit - It allows you to become Bowser and steal twenty coins from any opponents you pass on the board.
- Boo Bell - It allows you to call Boo to steal coins, or a star from an opponent.
- Magic Lamp - It allows you to call the Genie of the lamp that will take you directly to the star, it's even more helpful on the board Spiny Desert because it can always tell where the real star is located at.
- It added new items and bringing a total number of nineteen items, which is an improvement from Mario Party 2's ten items:
- Boo Repellent - When Boo tries to steal coins or a star, it is automatically used to spray gas at him, causing him to flee away, making the opponent unable to steal coins, or a star; therefore, it is very helpful for protecting your coins, and especially a star. You can also throw it away, like the Skeleton Key, to make room for your inventory. The Gaddlight from Mario Party 4, Bone Capsule from Mario Party 5, and Boo-Away Orb from Mario Party 6 would have the same purpose as this item.
- Bowser Phone - It allows you to call Bowser on yourself, or on an opponent, it is incredibly helpful if you do not have any coins, as you can call Bowser on yourself to make him give you coins.
- Cellular Shopper - It allows you to call either Toad or Baby Bowser's shop to buy an item.
- Lucky Lamp - When used, it will summon the Mushroom Jeanie, who will move the star to a different location, which is insanely helpful to move the star away from an opponent that is trying to get it.
- Poison Mushroom - When used on yourself or an opponent, it causes the affected player to only roll from 1-3.
- Reverse Mushroom - When used on yourself or an opponent, it causes the affected player to move backwards, which is arguably one of the most overpowered items in the Mario Party franchise.
- It also added four rare items, which can only be found via Toad's Item Shop's Item Bags, the best answer to Toad’s Item's Questions on Item Spaces, and Hidden Blocks:
- Barter Box - When used, you will swap items with a chosen opponent.
- Koopa Kard - If you pass by the bank, you can use it to get all of the coins that are stored up in it instead of having to pay five coins. If you land on the bank space, you can say no to keep your kard and save it for later, because landing on the bank space gives you all of the stored coins anyway.
- Lucky Charm - It allows you to call Game Guy on yourself, or an opponent to play a Game Guy minigame, which is again, helpful for doubling your coins, or making an opponent lose all of theirs. However, the opposite can happen, as you can either lose all of your coins, or you could end up causing an opponent to increase theirs.
- Wacky Watch - When used, it will cause the game to be at the last five turns; for example, the shortest game is seven turns (if you get the Wacky Watch on the first turn, and then use it on the second turn).
- Unlike Mario Party 2 where you can only hold one item, you can hold up to three items, which is yet another improvement from the item system.
- The new voices are a nice improvement for the last two games, especially Luigi's new voice which would appear in both Mario Party 4 & 5 respectively.
- Good color system, since each character has their own respective colors to match their designs and all of them are used to make the game look more appealing and make the character more easier to see and control, such as Yoshi being Green and Mario being Red as always, and Wario actually being Purple instead of Yellow like most Mario spin-offs portray him like.
- One of the most iconic Nintendo 64 games of all time, and a true classic for the console in general, along with Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Goldeneye 007, Doom 64 and Super Smash Bros.
Bad Qualities
- As aforementioned, Game Guy was not a fun mode, as the minigames were hard (though to be fair, they are luck-based, meaning you have to get lucky to win them otherwise), and if you lose the minigames, you lose all of your coins. Thankfully, this is the only Mario Party game to have this, as it never returned.
- Aside from the aforementioned Game Guy minigames, there were some bad minigames, such as Bowser Toss, Coconut Conk, and The Beat Goes On (that minigame can literally go on for minutes, just for it to end in a draw).
Reception
Mario Party 3 on Metacritic received mixed to positive reception from critics, and positive reception from gamers. It has a score of 74/100 from critics, and 8.1/10 from gamers.
Trivia
- This is the final Mario game that was released on the Nintendo 64.
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