Disney’s Party

Welcome to Disney’s Party! Let’s all get along & have fun!

JP release: 1st August 2002
NA release: 16th September 2003
EU release: 17th October 2003
Developer: Neverland Co.
Publisher: Hudson Soft (JP), EA (NA/EU)
NGC Magazine Score: 56%
Mods Used: Widescreen Hack

Disney’s fascination with Mickey Mouse games on GameCube wasn’t with a single publisher. While Konami handled the sports games, Disney teamed up with Japanese developer Neverland with Hudson Soft to produce a Mario Party clone starring Mickey Mouse, which was then brought west by Electronic Arts. That said, Disney’s Party does deviate from Mario Party, and entirely in negative ways. I can only guess is that the developers were specifically told to do “Mario Party but different”.

The objective of the game is to collect items and place them on a grid to make a full line of items (vertically, horizontally or diagonal). Most items can only be placed on a single colour, but the main item you’ll get is stars, which you win in minigames. There are also special items which can affect other player’s boards by shifting squares, but if you attack someone else, you can’t advance yourself. For what is supposed to be Mario Party made for younger audiences, it’s also a oddly complex mechanic that is poorly explained in-game.

Everyone’s favourite Mickey Mouse characters are here: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Billy. If you’re struggling to remember a Mickey Mouse character called Billy, don’t worry, he’s a character made specifically for the game. He had a rather neat design of being some kind of clockwork robot ghost, although it really doesn’t fit with the main cast. It’s such a random inclusion, as is having Tinkerbell pop up with extra tutorials.

At the start of the game, you’re whisked off to a random board. The board are tiny and you’re only shown a few spaced at the time. The movement is also convoluted. While I appreciate not going for the basic dice roll and move method, it makes movement feel detached from the board itself. You get the option for what space you want to land on next and a spinner decided. If two people want the same spot, they have a higher chance of succeeding. Then, all characters move to that space as one unit. While linking characters together feels odd (Mario Party would certainly never do something like that), it does at least make the game smoother as everyone takes their turn at the same time.

Some of these spaces are minigame spaces (and, from what I can gather, you have to land on each minigame space). The minigames vary in quality from long and tedious to OK, but there’s one big flaw with them: each minigame occupies a specific space on the board. As the boards are tiny circles, you’ll be playing the same few over and over in the same match, unless you’re lucky enough to land on a harbour to change spaces.

Once someone triggers the end of the game by getting the set amount of lines, you play a final minigame and a long awards ceremony begins, dishing out awards like “best minigame player” or “best item collector”. However, none of these have any bearing at the end result, nor does the minigame itself have any reason behind it. Everyone already knows who won. Oh, and you can’t skip the credits, either, so you have to sit through this ordeal or reset your GameCube.

Disney’s Party at least attempts to do things differently, but the end result is that it would have been better if it was more of a straight Mario Party clone.

Poor

As you’d imagine, though, Disney’s Party only really becomes bearable when you’ve dragged in a few mates. On its own, it’s mildly diverting for a wet Saturday afternoon, but the games (apart from a couple of exceptions, like the one where you have a cannon to blow ships out of the water) aren’t addictive enough to keep you coming back. If you can tempt back a few friends, though, Disney’s Party is a mildly enjoyable waste of time.
Dean Mortlock, NGC Magazine #86

Remake or remaster?

Only as part of a giant Mickey Mouse game collection.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Disney’s Party.