Mario Party, what can I say, its one of my favorite games from back in the day. Having 2 younger brothers plus my crew (all of which are still gaming in their 30's) have fond memories of sitting in my parents NJ basement button mashing, star stealing and treaty signing as this hybrid virtual board game became one of our favorite video games; so much so it became a staple of our AM gaming ritual. I have been an avid Mario Party player when it debuted back in 98 on the N64, not by choice mind you, but I quickly grew to love the game. We were suckers for this series, anticipating our favorite mini games, dreading being paired up with inept partners, and making fun of anyone who won any of the button mashing contests; all of these were contributing factors that had our collective of playing/following the series onto the Gamecube and eventually the Wii. Something happened to our Utopian gaming sessions, I moved to California.
So now that I am in killer Cali online gaming has kept my relationships with my brothers and other brothers supremely strong. Between Boston, California, NJ and NYC my core constituents still get down, and our recent collective purchase of Twisted Metal has proven to keep my East Coast counterparts up way past their bed times.
Which brings me to the sadness which is Mario Party 9. Despite my Wii collecting dust I would purchase this game in a heartbeat IF IT WAS ONLINE. But its not, which makes my head hurt. Nintendo is focused on their handheld connectivity but when it comes to Wii its non-existent. Don't get me wrong, their are plenty of Wii games that are online, just not any that I am going to put down Twisted Metal for. Mario Party 9 looks amazing, but why is it not online Nintendo? Doesn't it make sense to be able to play this party game online? Wouldn't that be a selling point to consider when marketing this game? Was it too expensive to support the online functionality of this game? This is a huge fumble on Nintendo's part by not supporting online capabilities when it comes to the Mario Party series.
You might be saying, "Haaris, why not play locally the way the game was meant to played?" Simple really, my friends in southern California don't really game. The rare and I mean RARE time my girlfriend games with me its always Tetris (which is awesome cause she is DAMN good at making mad lines yo). I would have better luck of creating lead into cupcakes then to initiate a new game into the mix. Mario Party is not one of those "5 minute games" that you can play before you go out for the night to actually "Party" it takes time, like a monopoly board game time.
This opens the doors surprisingly to the ps3 and the new Vita. With the Vita being able to do remote play and connect to your friends I don't see myself purchasing Mario Party 9, which is a shame really cause the game looks so DAMN good. I would rather invest in a $250/$300 Vita then buy another Wii game that will stay closed most of its life.
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