Mario Party 4 | DJcube

Mario Party is back, with Mini-Games and Mega-Fun

NA release: 21st October 2002
JP release: 8th November 2002
EU release: 29th November 2002
Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Nintendo
NGC Magazine Score: 68%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

I’m not the biggest fan of the Mario Party franchise, and Mario Party 4 seems to focus a lot on the particular aspects I hate, mainly the sheer randomness. A lot of this is due to the board design, as each board has areas that you can’t reach without reaching a junction that randomly decides which route you’re taking. This means just aimlessly going round in circles until the game decides to let you go the way you need.

Making this even worse is the mini and mega mushroom mechanic. When you land on a mushroom spot, you randomly get one or the other. The mega mushroom makes you grow, lets you roll two dice and steal coins from anyone you pass. The mini mushroom let you go through pipes to take shortcuts or specific routes. The last issue I have with the bords is that they’re all just grey platforms hovering in the air, so much that you don’t really notice the theme that much.

One neat thing about the minigames is that the story mode has some unique ones, including a final boss fight against bowser that is a platformer taking place on a cube of lava. For the regular minigames, there’s a bunch of good ones such as a 2-vs-2 platform challenge where you and your partner have to hit switches to move obstacles for your teammate, another fun puzzle game where you can interfere with the playing area of other players and a bunch more. There are some modes that let you play just minigames, with various rules for different setups.

However, these minigames don’t save the game. The main mode doubles down on the worst aspects of the boards, made even worse by how lifeless the boards are. There’s no fun theming, it’s just another Mario Party.

Fine

Let’s face it: Hudson have had four attempts to refine the franchise, so by now you’d think they’d have nailed it. And while this is a pretty decent version, with some clever touches and entertaining minigames, there’s still plenty of room for the defining Mario Party. One where the board lets you form proper strategies to mess up the other players. One where pure chance is replace by tactical skill. And one where there’s more than just a measly 40 minigames to play in Party Mode.
Steve Jarratt, NGC Magazine #75

Remake or remaster?

There’s some minigames that deserve to be in later games (and some of them have done).

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Mario Party 4.