Mario Party: The Top 100
Most Disappointing Games of Q4 2017
Mario Party: The Top 100 actually sounds like a perfect multiplayer experience. Mario Party has long fueled late-night, intense multiplayer sessions among friends to finally decide who was king or queen of the mini-game realm. Why, then, Nintendo opted to put this greatest hits of the Mario Party franchise on the 3DS over the hybrid, multiplayer-centric, brand-new Switch is completely beyond us.
It makes so much more sense. With the additional power of the Switch, Nintendo could have crammed more than just one small game board into the experience. It could have highlighted all of the fun little gimmicks of the Switch with this all-star compilation of mini-games. And most importantly, absolutely nobody would have turned down another first-party Switch exclusive, especially one that is literally a match made in heaven for the system.
Aside from the unforgivable choice to put Mario Party: The Top 100 on the 3DS and not the Switch, it just wasn’t all that great. Its one game board offers little in terms of replayability, and that dwindles even further if you’re playing it on your own. You’ll play some mini-games on one of four linear paths, earn stars, unlock more mini-games, and watch the credits roll after two hours.
Mario Party used to be a beloved multiplayer series that Nintendo had up its sleeve, but The Top 100 feels more like a cheap cash-in than a true celebration of the best the series has had to offer so far. Now, let’s just get this ported over to the Switch with some more game boards and we can put all of this behind us.
