History YMMV / MarioParty

** The UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube installments, ''4-7'', are where the series started to pick up a FranchiseZombie status among most people. There doesn't seem to be any real consensus on the installments, with each of the games having just as many detractors as they do defenders. Of the four however, ''6'' seems to be the most universally beloved.

** "Gimme Equality!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]The ''Mario Party DS'' equivalent of Bowser Revolution. The phrase was adopted by the LGBT community.[[/labelnote]]

** "Bowser Revolution" is often referred to as "Bowser Communism" due to Bowser redistributing the coins equally amongst all the players.

** Luck-based minigames. While generally disliked in single-player modes, the reaction when playing with friends is a bit more split. Naturally, skillful players tend to hate them, but more casual or less skilled players tend to enjoy them a bit more since they raise tension and provide the opportunity for weaker players to have a chance to shine.

** Any minigames based entirely around luck — especially if they're Battle Minigames, are usually seen as extremely unfair and biased towards the CPU. You could potentially lose lots of coins just for being unlucky enough to pick the wrong thing.

** Fake ''Superstars'' stickers.[[labelnote:Explanation]]A new feature in ''Superstars'', replacing taunts, is a set of stickers for emoting during games. All of the in-game stickers are clean, but given ''Mario Party''[='=]s reputation, players quickly began editing them to much more colorful, sometimes vulgar reactions juxtaposed with the stock 2D artwork, and even hacking them into the game.[[/labelnote]]
** Out of all the ''Superstars'' stickers, Rosalina's "Whaaat?!" sticker in particular is popular due to her [[DullSurprise completely unfazed reaction]] compared to most of the characters' concerned or shocked expressions.

** ''Super Mario Party'' is considered a step in the right direction compared to [=NDCube=]’s previous titles due to returning the old formula for the boards though it’s still considered to be one of the weaker installments due its boards being few in number, small, and being grid-based.

** Starting from ''Mario Party 5'' and onwards, Donkey Kong [[DemotedToExtra no longer being a playable character]] has made fans upset. Thankfully for them, he finally returns as a playable character in ''Mario Party 10'' and ''Star Rush'', only to revert back to an NPC in ''The Top 100'' — and ''then'' coming back as an unlockable playable character in ''Super'', along with Diddy, as well as ''Superstars''.

* OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight: Many fans felt the series took a sharp decline in quality after [=NDCube=] took over from Hudson Soft. In particular fans disliked their emphasis on experimenting with the established formula (especially notable with the shift to everyone being in one car in ''9'' and ''10'') and their board design being lackluster. While ''Superstars'' did achieve reception on par with Hudson Soft’s games, it still received criticism for only having 5 boards and some feel calling it their best ''Mario Party'' is technically cheating due to it being a MegaMixGame that takes most of it’s minigames and all of its boards from Hudson Soft’s games.

** Due to its focus on single player-focused gameplay, ''Advance'' is seen as alright on its own merits, albeit nowhere near as good as the other games.

** [[http://youtu.be/m6PxRwgjzZw "Luigi wins by doing absolutely nothing"]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]A series of videos in which the player, using Luigi, sets the controller down and yet beats several minigames anyway, be it through ArtificialStupidity or the grace of the RandomNumberGod. Also available for ''[[http://youtu.be/Ke5upQDA7yE Mario Party 5]]'', ''[[http://youtu.be/l9eeX2Lx1pE Mario Party 9]]'', and ''[[http://youtu.be/Meq_DXruBkY Super Smash Bros.]]'' And here's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fVeBXXifdg the entire series]]. It even inspired [[WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing its own trope]]. A later strain of this was developed, called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i241voDInT8 Peach loses by doing absolutely everything]]", wherein [[ButtMonkey Peach]], well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin loses by doing absolutely everything]].[[/labelnote]]

* AccidentalInnuendo: Yoshi's ''Superstars'' "Whaaat?!" sticker earns a lot of snickering for its resemblance to an O-face. The 2D artwork originated from ''Star Rush'' (as do all of the playable characters minus Birdo's sticker artworks), which also made an innuendo in that game, especially when Yoshi gets inked by a Blooper in Coinathlon mode.

** "Leaf Leap" and "What Comes Up..." both returning for ''Superstars'' is a a decisive decision. Some feel that the two minigames are too similar to warrant both appearing (climb as high as you can in 30 seconds by jumping) while other feel the two test different enough skills (reaction time in the former, precision in the latter), and with 100 minigames, some overlap is expected.
* ContestedSequel: ''Super Mario Party'' is considered [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel a large improvement]] over [=NDCube=]’s other titles but is still very divisive compared to Hudson Soft’s games. Some fans praised the game for returning to the old formula, tweaks to the board gameplay, and the high quality/quantity of minigames. Other fans felt it paled in comparison to Hudson Soft’s games due to the boards being very small, grid-based, and only having four on top of feeling that changes such as Golden Pipes and Stars being 10 coins make the board gameplay much less balanced.

* CommonKnowledge:
** Due to images spreading out, a lot of people assumed that they replaced the penguin vehicles in Bobsled Run due to the x shapes on their hind areas. However, upon closer inspection, they based the minigame off the first installment's rendition, which were generic vehicles to begin with.
** In ''Mario Party Superstars'' a lot of people believe that there's a Bonus Star for who uses the most stickers. This is untrue (and would just encourage sticker spamming), but people believe it due to either incorrect word-of-mouth or the fact that sticker usage has a slot in the end results.

* ItsShortSoItSucks:
** While ''Super Mario Party'' is considered a step up from most post-2007 titles and the [=GameCube=] and N64 games, the small amount (and size) of boards and their shorter length (as well as a lack of an option for more than twenty turns) gets this response, as does the control scheme being restricted to detached Joy-Cons exclusively.
** ''Superstars'' gets this to a lesser extent. The boards are bigger and there's one more than the last game, but fans have complained that there should've been at least one more given the series' usual standard of six per game, especially since all of the boards are recycled from previous games.
** The lack of the official Bowser minigames introduced from ''Mario Party 4'' onward in ''Mario Party Superstars'' has become noticeable by fans. In a game celebrating the entire series with a plethora of returning minigames throughout its entire history, ''Superstars'' only has three official Bowser minigames: "Face Lift", "Pit Boss", and "Dark n Crispy", the latter two of which are from ''Mario Party 6''. Many fans are disappointed with this lack of variety, citing a missed opportunity to include some of the more notable Bowser minigames from the series to flesh out its library, like "Fruits of Doom" (''Mario Party 4''), "Rain of Fire" (''Mario Party 5''), and "Funstacle Course" (''Mario Party 7'').
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks:
** In ''Mario Party Superstars'', this is zigzagged with the inclusion of two specific minigames; "Leaf Leap" from ''Mario Party 5'' and "What Goes Up" from ''Mario Party 6''. A common criticism from fans is that both of these minigames play identically to each other since the goal of both is to climb higher than your opponents, and aesthetically, they don't differ much from the design front other than the main platforms being Beanstalks and Paratroopas respectively. Because of this, many feel that having both in the same game is redundant and things would've been better if either one of the two got in or the "Must Come Down" variant of the latter was featured instead. However, others countered that, gameplay-wise, both operate differently enough to be distinct, with the former focusing on reaction times and the latter focusing on precision platforming.
** One of the problems several people had with ''The Top 100'' was an uneven distribution of minigames between the 10 represented titles. With 100 slots total, you'd expect to see 10 minigames from each game, which ended up not being the case in the final game. [[labelnote:Just how poor is this distribution?]]''5'' has the biggest number with 17, with ''4'', ''2'', ''6'', ''3'', and ''7'' lagging slightly behind with 14, 13, 9, and 12 respectively. On another end of the stick, ''1'' has 6 minigames, ''10'' has 4, and ''8'' has 3, with ''9'' being the only game to have a solid 10.[[/labelnote]] While the collection of minigames in ''Superstars'' was far better received, it didn't improve upon the distribution between the games, and if anything made it even worse.[[note]]Without counting 5 additional item minigames from ''2'' and ''3'', the number of minigames from the N64 era takes over half of the minigames, with ''1'' having 12, ''2'' getting 19, and ''3'' being upped to a whopping '''24'''. The [=GameCube=] Parties have a total of 36 minigames, with ''5'' being the one to have 10 minigames this time, ''6'' getting a slightly better 12 (not to mention being the only non-N64 installment with better representation), and ''4'' and ''7'' being decreased to 8 and 6. The Wii and Wii U installments have it the worst with only 9 minigames combined. (''10'' has 3 and ''9'' was cut to just 4, which leaves ''8'' at the least of any title with only '''2''' minigames.) While they might be some of the worst-received games retrospectively, they still have their fans, who were obviously disappointed with the lack of minigames from said titles, and only further increased resentment towards the N64 games.[[/note]]
** While ''Superstars'' notably introduced new winning animations for each of the playable characters, it did not introduce any new losing animations and instead reused the losing animations from ''10'' and ''Super'', much to the chagrin of those who were hoping to see new losing animations.

* MemeticLoser:
** Wario, though less for his supposed poor luck and more for his line, "SO EIN MIST!" In Japanese we hear [[BigOMG "OH MY GOD!"]]
** To a lesser extent, Daisy was one in light of ''Superstars''' announcement, as it took until the September 23, 2021 Nintendo Direct for her to finally be confirmed as playable, prior to which many speculated she'd be left out of this installment entirely, similar to when Waluigi lacked a playable appearance in ''VideoGame/MarioKart7''.

** ''Super Mario Party'' has the minigame Don't Wake Wiggler. You and the other players each take turns petting a sleeping Wiggler to score points, each pet causing it to steadily awaken from its sleep. If you are the unfortunate soul that causes the awakening pet, the monster wakes up in a fit of rage, causing a JumpScare with the creature letting out a loud, ''horrendous'' noise and [[TurnsRed turning red]] right in front of your face — in stark contrast to the quiet music and sound effects of the rest of the minigame.

* ReplacementScrappy:
** Not many people like DK's removal as a playable character in ''5'' and Toad supposedly taking his place. Fans were alleviated however, when Donkey Kong returned for ''10'', ''Star Rush'', ''Super'', and ''Superstars'', only missing ''The Top 100'' since his reintroduction.
** While he's seen as a logical choice to fill in the spot and not outright disliked, Kamek hasn't gotten the same LoveToHate reaction as the now playable Bowser when he took over his role in ''Super''. A big reason why is that he's a PunchClockVillain who works with the hosts, in contrast to Bowser who was playing a purely antagonistic role, which allowed him to be a [[{{Jerkass}} real heel]]. It also doesn't help that he has much less to do than Bowser did, with no impact on the game extending past his Bad Luck Spaces, even on his own board where he actually loses two of his punishments. And in addition to less variety, his Bad Luck Spaces are less penalizing and thus less entertaining than the Bowser Spaces, even when they transform into Extra Bad Luck Spaces, which only last for the final three turns.

** ''Super Mario Party'' doesn't support any control scheme except for detached Joycons. As a result, the game can't be played with a pro controller or in portable mode, largely defeating the purpose of the game being on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. ''Superstars'' made sure to fix this.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''9'' and ''10'', developed by [=NDCube=] after they took over from Husdon Soft, are considered some of the worst games in the series due to controversial changes like the car ScrappyMechanic. ''Super Mario Party'' fixes a lot of the issues [=NDCube=] introduced by going back to the normal board gameplay, though the game is still seen as [[SoOkayItsAverage just okay]] compared to the Hudson-developed games. ''Superstars'' takes it a step further and is seen as one of the best entries developed by [=NDCube=], if not the entire series, for completely returning to the traditional gameplay without any of the problems that plagued ''9'' and ''10''.
* ThatOneAchievement: In ''Superstars'', the Top-Tier Gamer achievement requires you to earn at least 1,000th place in a single minigame. While this was already difficult when the game was first released, it's an achievement that is going to get harder over time as more and more players get high scores on each of the minigames, decreasing the margin of error and rewarding players who got the game early.

* UnexpectedCharacter:
** The trailer for ''Super Mario Party'' pulled no punches in revealing that '''Bowser''' was to be playable in regular gameplay (or at least multiplayer), after so many entries spent almost entirely as the series' prime board hazard or only playable in side modes. In fact, the trailer went to the extent of depicting a player explicitly playing as him, as well as Bowser competing in minigames and being affected by other board hazards the exact same way as a player character would.
** '''Goomba''' was revealed alongside Bowser in the ''Super Mario Party'' trailer. Goombas have been in the ''Mario Party'' franchise since its inception, but have never been playable because of their lack of arms. They even show Goomba winning a tricycle race against Mario, Peach, and Bowser!
** ''Super Mario Party'' also lets you play as Pom-Pom, the DistaffCounterpart of [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 Boom-Boom]] introduced in ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand''. Boom-Boom himself is nowhere to be seen except as a cameo in the Absent Minded minigame.
* UnderusedGameMechanic:
** Prior to returning in ''Super'', cooperative four-player minigames have been phased out after the very first game, which itself only had two (Running of the Bulb and Key-Pa-Way). Minigames where you steal coins from players (Grab Bag, Cash Bash, the 1v3 and 2v2 minigames as a whole), as well as just making a player lose coins outright (Bowser's Cash Bash), have also been removed, with the returning minigames that appeared in the second that were based off this changing so no coins change hands outside of the battle minigames, which themselves don't have you directly steal them.
** In ''Superstars'', picking the reverse fruit from Evil Woody will send you in reverse, much like what the Reverse Mushroom did in ''3''. This is the only time that you can go in reverse in ''Superstars''.

* WinBackTheCrowd:
** ''Super Mario Party'' was widely regarded as a step up compared to the previous two games, returning the series to its original gameplay after the widely-derided "car-style" of ''9'' and ''10'' and the middling reception to the 3DS games, in addition to featuring creative modes like Sound Stage (whose minigames are rhythm-based, not unlike ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven'') and River Survival (whose minigames operate under 4-player ''cooperation'' instead of competition). The only major criticisms were the lack of alternative control schemes and the low number of boards.
** ''Mario Party Superstars'' has been praised for going back to the series' roots, with fans hoping succeeding entries will be just like it. To wit, it has faithful recreations of boards from the [=N64=] games, 100 returning minigames, and the return of the original dice blocks, Star prices, and other game mechanics. All this then comes with the modern system's much more polished look. Oh, and Donkey Kong is still a playable character for those who enjoy using him, and Birdo has returned after being left out of all entries since ''9''!

** [[DirtyCommunists "Bowser Communism"]] for Bowser Revolution.

* ItsEasySoItSucks: ''The Top 100'' is very heavily stacked in the player’s favor. The AI is weaker than usual, with Medium being on par with 1-8’s memetically bad Easy (and is, in fact, the lowest difficulty option), with Hard not being much better. Even if by some miracle you do lose, second and third still count as a win. Unless you deliberately try, you’re practically guaranteed to “win” every minigame you play. ''Superstars'' would fix this by making the AI significantly harder than usual and an actual challenge in most minigames.

** One of the reasons for ''The Top 100''[='=]s mixed reviews happens to be a result of how short the game is: Minigame Island only lasts a couple of hours at most, Minigame Match only has one small board, and the other modes lack replayability without friends.

** Minigames that had a variation that came back in ''Mario Party: The Top 100'' now only have one version. The background music from a few minigames has been changed, too. The latter was rectified in ''Superstars'', as was the former to some extent.

*** However, ''Superstars'' makes it broken again, but for a completely new reason: while it doesn't let you steal more than one star at a time unless you land on a star swap, it is the first game in the series to have a Custom Dice Block while still having a Chance Time where the player can reliably time two of the reels at minimum. In short, if you have the fewest stars, you can guarantee landing on the space and swapping stars with another random player.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: PlayedWith in the case of ''Mario Party 4''[='s=] "[[FinalBoss The Final Battle]]". Upon being transferred to ''The Top 100'', several changes were made: the platforming sections no longer have a [[TimedMission time limit]], falling into the lava only costs one heart rather than [[OneHitKill killing the player instantly]], and the camera actually follows the player during the final battle against Bowser and is no longer subject to CameraScrew. However, the player now starts off with seven hearts as opposed to the original's ten, making it more important to avoid getting hurt.

** ''Super Mario Party'' was widely regarded as a step up compared to the previous two games, returning the series to its original gameplay after the widely-derided "car-style" of ''9'' and ''10'' and the middling reception to the 3DS games.
** ''Mario Party Superstars'' has been praised for going back to the series' roots, with fans hoping succeeding entries will be just like it. To wit, it has faithful recreations of boards from the N64 games, 100 returning minigames, and the return of the original dice blocks, Star prices, and other game mechanics. All this then comes with the modern system's much more polished look. Oh, and Donkey Kong is still a playable character for those who enjoy using him, and Birdo has returned after being left out of all entries since ''9''!

* WatchItStoned: The series’ penchant for chaos and wild swings of bad fortune make it a popular choice for drinking games and generally playing while drunk or high off one’s ass. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity is sure to ensue]].

** The Bowser Revolution, which averages out the coins/mini-stars of the players. This can be particularly vexing if it occurs late in the game, as it has the potential to nullify all progress made to date and [[DownToTheLastPlay make the last minigame the only one that matters]]. The issue was exacerbated when Creator/NDCube initially took over the series since, unlike when Stars determined the winner, Mini-Stars are the only deciding factor in the victory ''and'' Bowser spaces are more plentiful towards the end of the board, making a Bowser Revolution more likely to come up in the dying turns of the game. Later installments by them would greatly reduce the Bowser Revolution's potency.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''9'' and ''10'', developed by [=NDcube=] after they took over from Husdon Soft, are considered some of the worst games in the series due to controversial changes like the car ScrappyMechanic. ''Super Mario Party'' fixes a lot of the issues [=NDcube=] introduced by going back to the normal board gameplay, though the game is still seen as [[SoOkayItsAverage just okay]] compared to the Hudson-developed games. ''Superstars'' takes it a step further and is seen as one of the best entries developed by [=NDCube=], if not the entire series, for completely returning to the traditional gameplay without any of the problems that plagued ''9'' and ''10''.

** ''Super Mario Party'' is considered a step in the right direction compared to NDCube’s previous titles due to returning the old formula for the boards though it’s still considered to be one of the weaker installments due its boards being few in number, small, and being grid-based.

** The general consensus on ''Super Mario Party'' is that, barring a few shortcomings (the control scheme is locked to detached Joycons; the matches tend to skew a bit shorter in run-time, etc.), it's a triumphant aversion for the most part and a return to form for the franchise. Then came ''Superstars'' which, as a whole, is generally considered to have completely averted this, being hailed as comparable to the N64 titles in quality and a bigger return to the series' traditional formula. Overall, the move to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch proved to be very beneficial for the series.

** ''Superstars'' gets this to a lesser extent. The boards are bigger and there's one more than the last game, but fans have complained that there should've been at least one more given the series' usual standard of six per game.

* MagnificentBastard: In ''Island Tour'', Bowser pulls off one hell of a BatmanGambit. Irritated over not receiving a Party Islands invite, he creates a 30-story tower and a bubble machine to lock the fun of the Party Islands away. When the PlayerCharacter arrives to stop him, Bowser gloats that [[YouAreTooLate they're too late]] and employs many tricks to stop them from reaching him, including evil clones of player characters, bosses, and a roulette wheel. Bowser grows to respect the player's skills as they scale the tower, especially if his son, Bowser Jr., is chosen, and [[EvenEvilHasStandards has standards]] over the worst possible roulette results. When the player defeats him, Bowser reveals the FinalBoss battle was a decoy and knocks them off the tower, [[TheBadGuyWins ultimately winning]] while daring the player to try again.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The final boss in ''Mario Party 10'': [[spoiler:where Bowser turns into Dry Bowser at half health. In several other ''Mario'' spinoffs, Dry Bowser is a DecompositeCharacter of Bowser's, so it could be that Bowser disguised Dry Bowser as himself to fight the players for him, [[KarmaHoudini then he sneaks off undetected]] while his copy takes all the punishment.]]

** Whoever plays as Bowser in ''Mario Party 10's'' Bowser Party mode [[TheJuggernaut is virtually unstoppable]]. The rest of you [[YouWillNotEvadeMe really don't want to be caught]] by that player, as your crew desperately tries to put distance between each other. Bowser is giant, so all his minigames [[{{Kaiju}} hit like a ton of bricks]], especially if he becomes angry, and can potentially KO the lot of you in one round. [[GiantEqualsInvincible In most cases, you're all powerless to fight back.]] You have to be extremely lucky to survive, thus the core of the problem is exacerbated by how unbalanced it all is. Usually, Bowser only can roll after all non-KO'd party members roll, but Bowser gets ''4'' dice to work with (which can reach up to ''six'' with the random "Helper Jr." event and special spaces) to nearly always catch the party. And if he gets a bad roll, Bowser can ''reroll'', and if the reroll isn't enough to catch the car, Bowser gets angry, which changes the skill-based minigames into minigames that involve luck or incredibly painful attacks.
*** Chaos Castle is the culmination of the brokenness of Bowser Party. There are many, many places where the party can lose half of their hearts, usually from the traps Bowser can set. The worst part is the final stretch. Bowser only gets a single die, but can roll ''every time Team Mario rolls''. If Team Mario gets further than six spaces away, they are still not safe, because if Bowser rolls his emblem, he catches them regardless.

** ''Mario Party 10'' decides to up the ante by adding a ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-jtm3xoP8I Bowser]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5w3juLC6No Party]]'' mode, which is exactly what it says: Lets a player take control of '''''Bowser'''''. It's simple: Mario and his friends must get to the end of the board and claim the Power Star while being chased by Bowser. If Bowser catches you, he'll force you into a minigame. If he takes out all of your characters, you lose. At first, it seems like a delightful spin on the GoKartingWithBowser trope until you start to think about it from the perspective of Mario and his friends. Essentially, they are being relentlessly pursued by their ArchEnemy, and if he catches them, he gets to ''torture'' them in very sadistic minigames. [[note]]I.E. smashing them with a hammer, chasing them as they climb a tower, breathing fire on them while they run helplessly, crushing them underneath him, placing them on a moving platform while he tries to hit them with fire bars, placing them on a wheel with electric amps and stopping the wheel to make them run into the amps and electrocute themselves, placing them on a literal Pinball game, and more.[[/note]] Even in a light-hearted spinoff game, Bowser can still be a terrifying piece of work when he wants to be.
** Also, there's the fact that Bowser can throw up to five dice that stack up to let him move a lot of spaces and should he fail the first time, Bowser Jr. will grant him a reroll, meaning that unless you are extremely lucky enough to have put enough distance between him and you, [[YouWillNotEvadeMe more often than not, he will catch up to you and force you into a minigame]]. And worse, you may be extremely unlucky enough to land on a space that sends you a few spaces back, and most often right back into Bowser's clutches. Not to mention that the player controlling Bowser can manipulate parts of the board to trick Mario and Co., such as making them pick the wrong treasure chest or take the wrong path. All in all, when playing in Bowser Party, the odds are most decidedly stacked against you.
** Bowser's appearances in the Classical version of ''Mario Party 10'' are just as scary. Throughout the course of the board, rolling each side of a six-sided dice (1-6) will break a lock on Bowser's prison. Things get incredibly nerve-wracking when Bowser [[ParanoiaFuel only has one lock left]], and if you're the one who breaks that final lock, Bowser will '''''[[CameraAbuse claw the screen apart]]''''', revealing a hellish landscape and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHdFDcQebHY incredibly dark and ominous music]]. He will "thank" the person who freed him by [[KickTheDog taking half their mini-stars]], and then unleash a volley of fireballs ''that will turn into Bowser spaces.'' If Bowser gets freed, prepare for some serious pain.

** amiibo Party in ''10'' requires all players to have their own amiibo — simple enough. But you then have to touch the figures to the [[UsefulNotes/GeneralGamingGamepads Gamepad]] to perform ''any'' action that isn't selecting what dice to roll or playing a minigame. Equipping a token, actually making your dice roll, stopping a roulette, and other vital actions are all controlled with the amiibo rather than a press of a button.

** Bowser Party in ''10'' is horribly unbalanced (despite the developers insisting otherwise in an interview) to the point that Bowser losing is a very rare achievement. Among the problems that it has is the ability for Bowser to redo the dice roll if he is unable to catch the team of four, giving whoever is playing as him two chances, and the final stretch has several spaces that can aid Bowser. Perhaps the worst of them, though is that when the team of four gets to the end, they have to play a luck-based minigame which will fling them back along the board if they lose and most likely end up getting flung into Bowser if he is close enough.

** For ''Mario Party 10'', you can play as your favorite characters such as Mario, Luigi, Peach, and... Spike? (He's that green shelled enemy that produces spiky balls and throws them at you.)

** Whoever plays as Bowser in ''Mario Party 10's'' Bowser Party mode [[TheJuggernaut is virtually unstoppable]]. The rest of you [[YouWillNotEvadeMe really don't want to be caught]] by that player, as your crew desperately tries to put distance between each other. Bowser is giant, so all his minigames [[{{Kaiju}} hit like a ton of bricks]], especially if he becomes angry, and can potentially KO the lot of you in one round. [[GiantEqualsInvincible In most cases, you're all powerless to fight back.]] You have to be extremely lucky to survive, thus the core of the problem is exacerbated [[FakeBalance by how unbalanced it all is]]. Usually, Bowser only can roll after all non-KO'd party members roll, but Bowser gets ''4'' dice to work with (which can reach up to ''six'' with the random "Helper Jr." event and special spaces) to nearly always catch the party. And if he gets a bad roll, Bowser can ''reroll'', and if the reroll isn't enough to catch the car, Bowser gets angry, which changes the skill-based minigames into minigames that involve luck or incredibly painful attacks.

* CriticalDissonance: Though generally well received by reviewers, they've were criticized the series for being too luck-based and lacking in innovation. Fans, however, like the series for the same reasons.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** The final boss in ''Mario Party 10'': [[spoiler:where Bowser turns into Dry Bowser at half health. In several other ''Mario'' spinoffs, Dry Bowser is a DecompositeCharacter of Bowser's, so it could be that Bowser disguised Dry Bowser as himself to fight the players for him, [[KarmaHoudini then he sneaks off undetected]] while his copy takes all the punishment.]]
** Shy Guy and Kamek in the story mode for ''9'': Are they really working for Bowser to steal the Super Star for him as the game claims they are?, Or are they lying and just want the Super Star for themselves? Considering they join in beating up Bowser's minions, Bowser Jr. and even Bowser ''himself'', the latter seems more likely.
* [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames Awesome Bosses]]:
** For ''DS'', many fans consider Kamek to be the most interesting boss in the game. From the RefugeInAudacity of you riding a spellbook like a jet and wielding a pen to fire ink projectiles, to Kamek being a legitimately powerful DomainHolder who uses the entire environment to attack you.
** ''9'' has Lakitu, King Boo, and Blooper. For the first, you hit Lakitu with Bullet Bills while he throws Spinies at you, the second is so creepy it's great with ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}''-esque puzzles, and the last is like a pirate ship taking on the Kraken of all Bloopers.

* CriticalDissonance:
** Though generally well received by reviewers, they've criticized the series for being too luck-based and lacking in innovation. Fans, however, like the series for the same reasons.
** ''Mario Party 9'' was praised by critics for the innovation it brought to the series. The fans, on the other hand, [[BrokenBase are divided on whether it changed too much]].

* HarsherInHindsight: In ''Mario Party DS'', Bowser Jr.'s figurine description states that he's actually a pretty lonely kid, and that could be a powerful motivator for him. As ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam'' and ''VideoGame/MarioPlusRabbidsKingdomBattle'' proved, ''DS'' was [[JerkassWoobie spot on]].
* HilariousInHindsight:
** The many references to Bowser Revolution as "Bowser Communism" have finally made their mark on the series. ''Mario Party 9'' removed coins, but still has the revolution with Mini-Stars.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv78PUh9Qt4 Mario Party 9]] was a Website/YouTube video before the actual ''Mario Party 9'' was confirmed. The start of the video has the characters all mention how [[StrictlyFormula formulaic]] the series formula has gotten, which becomes even more hilarious with the highly-contested changes the actual ''Mario Party 9'' made to said formula.
** ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. for Wii U]]'' had Smash Tour, which is a "board game type" mode. Fans joked that Smash Tour is a Smash version of ''Mario Party''. The mode Toad Scramble in ''Star Rush'' plays much like Smash Tour, where players move around the board at the same time to collect items and recruit allies.

* OlderThanTheyThink: There was a real ''Super Mario'' board game where players shared the same moving piece long before ''Mario Party 9''.

** ''Mario Party DS'' has the minigame [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=350ryqaXkNE Dust Buddies]], which has the characters being chased by a vacuum. While this normally wouldn't be too bad, the fact that the players are tiny means the vacuum could very easily suck up and potentially kill one of the characters. This one is especially bad for those who had a fear of vacuums when they were little.
** In the final stage of ''Mario Party DS'', ''Bowser's Pinball Machine'', if you land on any of the Green Spaces at the bottom-right corner, you will be launched into the Bowser Zone, provided that you don't get launched into the Star Zone instead. In the Bowser Zone, if you roll a number less than 6 and landed on any of the five Green Spaces here, you will be hit with the Zero Flame, a flame that '''''[[{{Whammy}} removes all of your Coins and Stars]]'''''. It's not too bad if this happens during the first few turns of a longer game, but if it occurs within the last ten turns of the game, then you may start panicking.

** ''Mario Party 9'' and ''10'' having linear maps and all players traveling together in a vehicle is this to some fans, as they felt it was too far a deviation from the original series and being together in a vehicle robs a sense of control for players. Not helping is the suspicion the Dice Block and special events are rubberbanded, heavily skewing positive results for lower ranked players while harshly punishing higher ranks an unusually large amount of times for it to be a coincidence. Combine that with the lower reward yield from Minigames versus the possibility of losing half your Mini-Stars as well (or even worse, Bowser DOUBLING the Mini-Stars of whoever's in last) as not obtaining special Dice Blocks (also subject to rubberbanding) enough to change things, and the game is way too luck based.

* SerialNumbersFiledOff: "Castle Clearout" from ''9'' is basically Seibu Kaihatsu's ''Senkyu'' ([[MarketBasedTitle also known as]] ''Battle Balls'') but with a wider playfield and a different attack system.

* ThatOneBoss:
** Bowser Jr. Breakdown in ''9'' is hated for being a boss minigame that's [[LuckBasedMission purely luck-based.]] While Whomp Stomp and Bombard Big/King Bob-Bomb were also luck-based, they at least had an element of strategy to them.[[note]]When playing with human players, anyway.[[/note]] All Bowser Jr. Breakdown consists of is hitting a dice block, and hoping that you'll hit the right number.
** Piranha Plant in ''Mario Party DS''. For being the first boss in the game, it is often agreed that it is also the hardest. The main gimmick with this boss fight is that you have to ButtonMash to rapidly rise in the air and keep away from Piranha Plant's mouth. The kicker? He can ''inhale'' you and you have to press the button at a very fast rate in order to not get eaten. He'll suck in Bomb Seeds to ''exhale'' back at you. This is your chance to grab and throw it back in his mouth, but because you're mostly using your pointing finger to mash the A button, you'll probably forget that you have to press the B button when you get the chance. It's weird that this is the first boss, as the later bosses are very easy in comparison.

** ''Mario Party 9'' made drastic changes to the formula via the new car system, causing controversy among those who were used to the traditional formula.

* VindicatedByHistory:
** The [=GameCube=] ''Parties'' (4-7) initially caught a ton of fire for being very repetitive sequels that did little to spice or change up the formula. They have come to be more loved, however, when the series returned with ''9'', which drastically changed the formula from its frantic free-for-all style, which many fans did not like. With each new ''Mario Party'' released that drifts away from the classic formula, the more and more the [=GameCube=] ''Parties'' became vindicated, with some considering them now to be right up there with, or even superior to, the Nintendo 64 titles. The same thing can also be said for ''8'', the series' first Wii outing that was criticized even more than the [=GameCube=] titles at the time of its release, but eventually joined ''4-7'' in being vindicated. In fact, in a poll for ''Superstars'' where players could put their favorite entry in their player card, ''8'' got fourth place, behind only the N64 entries. Some fans were also upset that ''8'' has the lowest amount of minigame representation in ''Superstars'', with only "Winner or Dinner" and "Paint Misbehavin'" being included. Granted, this could be due to a lot of the minigames in ''8'' making use of the Wii's motion controls, but there are still a fair amount that could've worked in ''Superstars''.
** After being mostly ignored around the time of its launch, ''Mario Party DS'' received a surprise surge in popularity as a result of a series of videos showcasing fake anti-piracy measures for the game going viral. This in turn resulted in people re-examining the game and giving it praise, with the unique minigames and story being particularly well-liked. Another point of praise is how ''DS'' is an authentic ''Mario Party'' experience, especially when compared to the [[OddballInTheSeries other portable entries in the series]].

** Despite the fact that Chance Time has been given different names from the fourth game onward, most people continue to refer to it as Chance Time. It's not hard to see why though; it established itself as one of the most infamous parts of the first three games, and by that time calling it "Chance Time" had been completely drilled into everyone's minds. Averted when it returned in ''Superstars''.

** One of the problems several people had with ''The Top 100'' was an uneven distribution of minigames between the 10 represented titles. With 100 slots total, you'd expect to see 10 minigames from each game, which ended up not being the case in the final game. [[labelnote:Just how poor is this distribution?]]''5'' has the biggest number with 17, with ''4'', ''2'', ''3'', ''6'', and ''7'' lagging slightly behind with 14, 13, 9, and 12 respectively. On another end of the stick, ''1'' has 6 minigames, ''10'' has 4, and ''8'' has 3, with ''9'' being the only game to have a solid 10.[[/labelnote]] While the collection of minigames in ''Superstars'' was far better recieved, it didn't improve upon the distribution between the games, and if anything made it even worse.[[note]]Without counting 5 additional item minigames from ''2'' and ''3'', the number of minigames from the N64 era takes over half of the minigames, with ''1'' having 12, ''2'' getting 19, and ''3'' being upped to a whopping '''24'''. The [=GameCube=] Parties have a total of 36 minigames, with ''5'' being the one to have 10 minigames this time, ''6'' getting a slightly better 12 (not to mention being the only non-N64 installment with better representation), and ''4'' and ''7'' being decreased to 8 and 6. The Wii and Wii U installments have it the worst with only 9 minigames combined. (''10'' has 3 and ''9'' was cut to just 4, which leaves ''8'' at the least of any title with only '''2''' minigames.) While they might be some of the worst-received games retrospectively, they still have their fans, who were obviously disappointed with the lack of minigames from said titles, and only further increased resentment towards the N64 games.[[/note]]

** One of the problems several people had with ''The Top 100'' was an uneven distribution of minigames between the 10 represented titles. With 100 slots total, you'd expect to see 10 minigames from each game, which ended up not being the case in the final game. [[labelnote:Just how poor is this distribution?]]''5'' has the biggest number with 17, with ''4'', ''2'', ''3'', ''6'', and ''7'' lagging slightly behind with 14, 13, 9, and 12 respectively. On another end of the stick, ''1'' has 6 minigames, ''10'' has 4, and ''8'' has 3, with ''9'' being the only game to have a solid 10.[[/labelnote]] While the collection of minigames in ''Superstars'' was far better recieved, it didn't improve upon the distribution between the games, and if anything made it even worse.[[note]]Without counting 5 additional item minigames from ''2'' and ''3'', the number of minigames from the N64 era takes over half of the minigames, with ''1'' having 12, ''2'' getting 19, and ''3'' being upped to a whopping '''24'''. The [=GameCube=] Parties have a total of 36 minigames, with ''5'' being the one to have 10 minigames this time, ''6'' getting a slightly better 12 (not to mention being the only non-N64 instalment with better representation), and ''4'' and ''7'' being decreased to 8 and 6. The Wii and Wii U installments have it the worst with only 9 minigames combined. (''10'' has 3 and ''9'' was cut to just 4, which leaves ''8'' at the least of any title with only '''2''' minigames.) While they might be some of the worst-received games retrospectively, they still have their fans, who were obviously disappointed with the lack of minigames from said titles, and only further increased resentment towards the N64 games.[[/note]]

** There's a section of the fanbase that is only interested in the minigames. There is a good reason two games were eventually released containing 100 minigames from throughout the series' history.
** The playable character roster is apparently an extremely important factor in deciding which installment certain fans might pick up. Going along with this, Donkey Kong finally being playable again in the 10th installment after being reduced to an extra in the 5th installment was certainly well-received.
** For ''Mario Party 10'', they are just here for the chance to play as Bowser in Bowser Party mode and cause chaos. Plenty of players were happy to play as him in the normal game mode in ''Super'' as well.
* LoveToHate: Bowser's {{Jerkass}} side is on full display here. While players will dread him picking on them, you can't help but enjoy just how much of a [[EvilIsPetty petty]] {{troll}} he is. This is especially true in the original trilogy, which is arguably Bowser at his silliest, leading to some genuinely hilarious moments.
* MagnificentBastard: In ''Island Tour'', Bowser, irritated over not receiving a Party Islands invite, creates a 30-story tower and a bubble machine to lock the fun of the Party Islands away. When the PlayerCharacter arrives to stop him, Bowser gloats that [[YouAreTooLate they're too late]] and employs many tricks to stop them from reaching him, including evil clones of player characters, bosses, and a roulette wheel. Bowser grows to respect the player's skills as they scale the tower, especially if his son, Bowser Jr., is chosen, and [[EvenEvilHasStandards has standards]] over the worst possible roulette results. When the player defeats him, Bowser reveals the FinalBoss battle was a decoy and knocks them off the tower, [[TheBadGuyWins ultimately winning]] while daring the player to try again.

** Not many people like DK's removal as a playable character and Toad or (in ''The Top 100'') Rosalina taking his place. Fans were alleviated however, when Donkey Kong returned for ''10'', ''Star Rush'', ''Super'', and ''Superstars'', only missing ''The Top 100'' since his reintroduction.
** While he's seen as a logical choice to fill in and not actively disliked, Kamek hasn't gotten the same LoveToHate reaction as the now playable Bowser when he took over his role in ''Super''. A big reason why is that he's a PunchClockVillain who works with the hosts, in contrast to Bowser who was playing a purely antagonistic role, which allowed him to be a [[{{Jerkass}} real heel]]. It also doesn't help that he has much less to do than Bowser did, with no impact on the game extending past his Bad Luck Spaces, even on his own board where he actually loses two of his punishments. And in addition to less variety, his Bad Luck Spaces are less penalizing and thus less entertaining than the Bowser Spaces, even when they transform into Extra Bad Luck Spaces, which only last for the final three turns.

** '''Chance Time.''' Seeing your hard work getting flushed down because of pure luck is very, ''very'' frustrating to players. Got a lot of Coins or Stars? Chance Time (or an equivalent) could take it all away!

*** ''Superstars'' makes it broken again, but for a completely new reason: while it doesn't let you steal more than one star at a time unless you land on a star swap, it is the first game in the series to have a Custom Dice Block while still having a Chance Time where the player can reliably time two of the reels at minimum. In short, if you have the fewest stars, you can guarantee landing on the space and swapping stars with another random player.
** Bonus Stars. Every installment gives players additional stars after a game ends (though you have the option of turning bonus stars off in most games from ''Mario Party 2'' onwards). In the first few installments, one bonus star was for getting the most coins in minigames, while another was having the highest coin total at any point. A skilled player would easily win both of these stars, since winning a lot of minigames was the easiest way to make a lot of coins. ''Mario Party 7'' introduced more bonus stars to pick up the slack while also randomizing which Bonus Stars are given out. LetsPlay/{{Chuggaaconroy}} has shown a way to scrappy it despite the tweaks, by having the in-game lead by two Stars and leading in four of the six possible Bonus Star categories, which guarantees a win by the leader because they're getting at least one Bonus Star no matter what the combination is (unless the player in second gets both of their Bonus Stars, tied with the leader in the one category of the leader's that appears, and has more Coins than the leader).

** Any minigame based entirely around luck — especially if they're Battle Minigames. You could potentially lose lots of coins just for being unlucky enough to pick the wrong thing.
** amiibo Party in ''10'' requires all players to have their own amiibo — simple enough. But you then have to touch the figures to the [[UsefulNotes/GeneralGamingGamepads Gamepad]] to perform ''any'' action that isn't selecting what dice to roll or playing a minigame. Equipping a token, actually making your dice roll, stopping a roulette; all controlled with the amiibo rather than a press of a button.
** The Bowser Revolution, which averages out the coins/mini-stars of the players. This can be particularly vexing if it occurs late in the game, as it has the potential to nullify all progress made to date and [[DownToTheLastPlay make the last minigame the only one that matters]]. The issue has been exacerbated in the most recent titles, since — unlike when Stars determined the winner — mini-stars are the only deciding factor in the victory ''and'' Bowser spaces are more plentiful towards the end of the board, making a Bowser Revolution more likely to come up in the dying turns of the game.

** ''Super Mario Party'' doesn't support any control scheme except for detached Joycons. As a result, the game can't be played with a pro controller or in portable mode. ''Superstars'' made sure to fix this.
* SelfImposedChallenge: Some players would impose "race to 4th", which means purposely losing minigames and so on in order to finish last. Some custom rules would also be applied, such as requiring players to accept stars if they have enough coins.
* SequelDifficultyDrop: PlayedWith in the case of ''Mario Party 4''[='s=] "[[FinalBoss The Final Battle]]". Upon being transferred to ''The Top 100'', several changes were made: the platforming sections no longer have a [[TimedMission time limit]], falling into the lava only costs one heart rather than [[OneHitKill killing the player instantly]], and the camera actually follows the player during the final battle against Bowser and is no longer subject to CameraScrew. However, the player now starts off with seven hearts as opposed to the original's ten.