Yet despite being quite dull to watch the AI characters play, there is no doubt that they somehow make worthy opponents. The visuals look incredibly dated and the title’s performance isn’t exactly that great either with the occasional frame-rate hiccup popping up during busier mini-games.
Not that it helps either that Mario Party 2 is showing its age. More so given the excellent ports that were added to the Virtual Console service on the Nintendo Wii. Although it doesn’t really impact the way that the title is played, it is rather confusing as to why only the title’s original resolution is supported. The port is only playable with black side bars like other recent Virtual Console titles. After all, it must have been popular given the various sequels released since then. It’s incredible to think how this sort of game design worked back when the title was originally released. The major set piece in the Pirates themed board-game for example consists of an annoying ship that fires cannon balls, when characters land on certain board tiles, that sends them back to the start. The board-games feel rather bare bones in terms of the content that is included in each of them. It’s so dull that it is likely that players will start doing something more interesting, such as making a cup of tea or checking whatever social network they are a part of, during the period of time that the AI opponents are playing. Playing with the AI is utterly dull since there isn’t much to do but wait during their turn. Each board-game has a different theme and that at least does make it slightly interesting to play. Perhaps not a good start to the party if most of your mini-games feel incredibly dated to the point that they are not even fun to play.ĭoesn’t help either that it seems to take forever to complete each turn in the board-game currently being played. The few mini-games that stand out in what is otherwise a lackluster collection are ruined by basic controls. However, the truth is that most of them are just uninspiring to the point that it almost feels like a chore to play them. There are many mini-games to play and that is always a good starting point. The bad news is that Mario Party 2 has definitely not aged well like a fine wine. Fortunately, Nintendo has decided to port Mario Party 2 to the Virtual Console on the Nintendo Wii U. It’s difficult to remember what Mario Party was like in the early days after all the sequels that were released over the years.