Mario Party 8 Retrospective: Shaking Things Up

Mario Party 7 was a good, albeit kind of strange, end to the GameCube era of Mario Party, and moving over to the Wii there was a lot of potential for Mario Party to thrive in this new generation. The Wii was a really successful console with a simple controller that would be perfect for a party game experience, so does Mario Party 8 deliver on this potential? Well, on today's Mario Party 8 retrospective, we're gonna find out together. Thanks so much for watching, I know this is another long video but I really hope that you enjoy it. Leave a comment below on what you think about Mario Party 8, and feel free to subscribe while you're down there if you enjoy the video. :) Mario Party DS is next up on our list, so I hope that you look forward to that video!
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
0:32 - Board Mechanic Changes
2:05 - Spaces
5:20 - Candy System
9:05 - Plain Space Density
12:05 - Tag Battle & Duel Mode
13:09 - Boards
30:23 - Minigames
40:27 - Minigame Modes
41:51 - Extras Zone
43:12 - Beginner Friendliness
44:10 - Conclusion (Mario Party Series Ranking)
MUSIC USED:
there's a whole lot lol just comment with a timestamp and I or somebody else will tell you
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[@marksrecroom]

Thanks so much for watching! What's your favorite Mario Party 8 minigame?

[@l3wismoreman9227]

Gun the Runner as well as the Water Ski Spree

[@l3wismoreman9227]

But that’s just some of the games I like

[@ivanzoneBR24]

Mosh-Pit Playroom from the ones you play on boards and Moped Mayhem my favorite overall.

[@bemiatto67]

King of the Thrill, I think it'd be better as a 4 player game than a 2 v 2

[@cbgplays1777]

Mosh-Pit Playroom

[@susiehaltmann3342]

Regardless whether you like 8 or not, you can’t deny that Koopa’s Tycoon Town is one of, if not the best boards in the series. This board is damn near perfect because you truly feel like you’re investing in hotels around a city, and the fun, energetic and cheery music is the cherry on top of this masterpiece of a board.

[@HmmmmmLemmeThinkNo]

I find this interesting because, at least as a ten year old (I haven't played board since), I _hated_ it, and so did the friend I played it with 😂

[@jdmathews312]

No because Windmillville already did the invest gimmick so much better, better theming and actually elevation and junctions, plus Duels can actually occur on Windmillville

[@MrBasilisk81]

@@jdmathews312 i was about to comment until I realised your that one guy from the koopas tycoon town video.

[@ChipFanXO]

I mean your not wrong

[@NickMario1]

True!

[@Leo-tf4ew]

I love when the characters pay attention to both sides of the road before moving in koopas tycoon town

[@Goatman_Gamer]

I grew up with Mario Party 8 so I love it with a massive bias, but I appreciate the thought put into this and giving it a chance. And I especially like that unlike most people, you didn't just blame it on motion controls which weren't the problem at all. And yes, Flip The Chimp sucks 100%.

[@creeperxox5384]

Same bro this was my. Childhood and will always be my favorite.

[@duebfofn]

Finally! Someone that hates Flip the Chimp! The controls are so laggy.

[@jessaminemanchester]

Mario Party 8 was my childhood and I still revisit it at least once a year, but that nostalgia also comes with a 17-year-long burning hatred for Flip the Chimp (I vividly remember it was the first or second minigame I ever played on this game and as soon as I heard that monkey screech I knew I'd made a lifelong enemy)

[@xrainings2664]

Man I HATED Flip the Chimp as a kid

[@seanchernov7178]

Flip the chimp has horrible response time for some reason. Mario party 8 still great though

[@h2owl205]

Lucky space: *is lucky* mark: *surprised pikachu face*

[@StaminaLoss]

The candy system is honestly what carries this game. Honestly think it's the best system because of how well it synergises with every board gimmick. (Although this is coming from people who have skipped gamecube era and haven't dived deep into those games. Though I personally didn't like the orbs, but I am not familiar with them so it won't be fair writing them off lmao) The board space density is the epitomy of why Movement candies are the best with the whole getting to the star first on top of it being the most versatile on every board, although every candy can really help win games. You can guarantee what to take/who to take away from with the Green Candies & you have the ability to hit multiple players using the Blue Candies. Those are all really useful as coins matter a lot. Mainly with shops since not only are they affected by placement, but 2nd is also hit the same as 1st, on top of gimmicks like Dolphins in Boardwalk to move past a ton of spaces (The most optimal movement is the 1st dolphin, then the 2nd, so you need quite a bit, although keep in mind you skip both shop opportunities), Tycoon's entire Gimmick is investing and breaking star ties. The duel candy is the only one that breaks this rule, although it isn't that bad to counter the scenario you put forth. It's only bad if it's 1-2 turns, otherwise you can easily just make rolls and put yourself in line with your target. You should have other items late into the game, you have items like the Twice, Thrice and Springo candies to get into position. You can even communicate with Wario (if it's multiplayer) to coordinate to make sure you can steal from Waluigi using their items. Waluigi also has counter play with their candies, but that's also great as you waste their items as well, so they can't use it to benefit either. Traveling is incredibly valuable, but it isn't the be all end all. Keep in mind either the game has other ways to cut distance eg boardwalk with dolphins, cannons in dk, the vents/block event in Perplex, etc or the win requirement is entirely different and isn't as potent eg Tycoon and Orbit. Even with Hideaway and Boardwalk, they're incredibly good, just Springo also exists. It's a fair critique, just never really felt as bad as you said it was, when you have options, it isn't just about getting to the end/wasn't as easy getting to the end and the candy mechanic really changes games. Not only do you have board gimmicks, but you have other candies and strategies that make every experience different.

[@williammartin9585]

Mario party 8 music has had untold impact on my childhood brain

[@seanchernov7178]

The boo board actually have strategy. You can guess where boo/pit will be because its always 3 on 4 or 4 on 3. You can also know from which direction you should get to boo in the first one. Also I don't think I even farmed a lucky space in this board, they don't appear a lot and you tend to pass them before you know

[@tropicalcoast02]

Guessing is not a strategy based move. And the room always being 3 on 4 or 4 on 3, that’s still luck based.

[@bronsonbronson5313]

This series is so good. Your deep examinations of these games brings me back to hours of playing Mario Party as a kid. Love these a ton.

[@monopolyrubix1875]

6 is my favorite, but Koopa's Tycoon Town may be the best board in the series. Mario Party Superstars 2 with orbs, a day-night cycle, and Koopa Tycoon Town would be a banger

[@bea_chan]

Oooooh, that sounds fucking lit

[@bea_chan]

Shy Guy's Jungle Jam + Pirate Dream + Faire Square + Tycoon Town + Enchanted Inferno as the Bowser board + higher Gamecube/Wii minigame density with less minigames that require hella dexterity + a few more interesting minigame side modes = my ideal Superstars 2 loadout.

[@HEARTMACHINEPLUSULTRA]

Bro refuses to drop anything other than bangers 🙏

[@shadowm2k7]

Facts!

[@greyrifterrellik5837]

No room for strategy on hideaway? Someone hasn't seen the zoomzike video, it seems. Short version: the board has specific rules for how it's allowed to place and arrange rooms. When you know these rules, you can actually use deduction to figure out the entire layout after only a handful of rooms.

[@christianfrost8660]

What do 90% of the people who don't like that board have in common? They don't know how it works.

[@zjzr08]

It's insane how big-brain the strategy could be in this board if you know the intricacies of it...although I kinda just liked it because I want some surprise navigating the board.

[@christianfrost8660]

@@zjzr08 What I like about KBHH is that you can do a 50 turn game and the map will never get boring because it keeps changing.

[@seant6762]

Sometimes there's strategy

[@dorkondemand]

Great video, I'm glad this came out today. I have a lot to say, if you're interested in reading. There's a lot I disagree with you on when it comes to the board gameplay, but in the end I think a lot of it comes down to personal taste. I will say that in 20 turn games I don't see the Lucky Spaces landed on nearly as much as you have experienced. But clearly you did experience that, so I guess I don't have any counter to this point other than that I personally haven't seen many games where people win because of it. Thank you SO MUCH though for defending MP8's minigames. I agree that they're far from the best selection in the series, but I feel that people often over-exaggerate the motion controls. On the whole they feel responsive, and the real issue is like you said, that the game could have done a lot more interesting stuff with them. As for Flip the Chimp, I wanna ask how you were controlling the Wii Remote. I used to hate that minigame too and felt it was unresponsive, but later on I realized that was only because I was swinging the Wii Remote hard instead of gently moving it back and forth like it shows on the minigame screen. Just wondering if that was what was causing any frustrations with the game. Mario Party 8 means a lot to me because it was the first Mario Party I ever played and by extension was the first Mario game I poured a lot of time into. I try my best to look at it objectively, and over the years I think I mostly have. I recognize that it isn't among the best Mario Parties, but I think it is still a very solid one. I'm glad you finally covered the game. You really deserve more views and subscribers than you have.

[@StaminaLoss]

Oh yeah the Lucky spaces aren't as prevalent as Mark made it. It seems bad on paper, until you realise that either the boards don't have slowgo or they can be countered with the right items

[@seant6762]

I was able to choose whatever I want on the throwing dart boards by using a strategy. I played this game for so long but that does not make me any more good or bad at it because some of it is all luck but I can turn some of that luck into skill

[@StaminaLoss]

What's funny is that in Bowser's warped orbit, the way you described Snowflake Lake (also the item system with the orbs x) is how you play this game. The board is incredibly risk based and the Slowgo candy is the king on this board. For one thing, the randomness actually helps this board when you realise that being inside a junction means it's a coin flip whether the bowser/bullet player passes you. It's an equal risk whether you get hit or not and vice versa if the person gets a star. Slowgo candy also comes in clutch triggering happening spaces (like in every other board it's on). Be it you risk the junction luck and take the pipe to escape that player (you'll still be in a junction regardless), you know you'll be going last so you can set up the condition of stealing stars off Everyone in one go by landig on the force everyone to square 1 (Keep in mind they also have candies that boost them) and if you are in a high position/going first, can flip the orientation of the board to instead protect yourself from anyone close steal your star and instead steal theirs (again they have candy so it's not guaranteed you steal their's, but you have prevented doom through smart play) Despite this, the movement candies are still powerful. You can easily travel half way around the board with a perfect 20 off a double, so you can still catch up if needs be and the board is centred around giving you a lot of Bullet + Bowser candies. You really have to decide when is a good idea to do anything. If you decided to risk not using anything and get punished, it was on you, you had multiple opportunities to do so. It's possible not everything can go your way, but you have ways to make winning more consistent. In Boardwalk, there's actually a lot more strategy than you initially think. Dolphins are super good since they cut so many spaces, but they skip shop opportunities. This is actually really bad as you skip opportunities like Twice/Thrice to cut travel distance even more, skip the end happening event + even counter Springo/Bloaway users from doing something incredibly bad to you or even use it after poor rng after the pianta has thrown you past a dolphin. You skip Springo candies to slingshot your way to another star, get a free star off the Lucky space area or even preserve coins by getting away from a pass by effect. Even stealing/sabotaging coins is useful as you can prevent players from taking as many dolphin opportunities / them getting a useful candy. The board doesn't have slowgo candy. Saying this since you are either forced to get super good rng and take a dolphin or get good rng after skipping the dolphin/ bad rng off a pianta. It's possible, but it's not as reliable as just taking the dolphin and booking it with item use. That and the springo exists so it's not always going to be a a blessing to spam it. Hideaway is funny. The main ways to play involve either chickening and rolling low or risking it for the biscuit. You can map out the board layout by rolling low, but that means players in front have an opportunity to get to it first. Even if you exclude the stairs trick that tells you where the orientation of the room is, you can at least map out where a pitfall room should be. This is also where items shine, Springo can be used to rubberband your way back to the correct path after a pitfall, but that means you won't have movement candies to rush if you need to. It's a very technical board that honestly rewards paying attention. Again, the board has no Slowgo candy on top of the lucky area being super vulnerable to Springo users. Also helps that you'll be kicked out if another player gets to the star room instead. It's not that bad of a lucky space area, but you are pretty vulnerable to counter play or if not you are forced to waste an item for a star, which at least is more consistent, but it is a space that could even set you back spaces since it can also be right next to the star room. Also, the happening events on this board are super trolly. You can't really farm them, but if you do reach a Pinball/Mirror section, you can pick who to screw over/ bring a lower risk threat using the mirror or guarantee a star steal/item steal on a board that really needs them. Nothing much to say for Treetop Temple. I play this game quite a bit with friends, all of us actually like Temple the least because the candy mechanic works best with any sort of gimmick. It has all the quirky candies to help, like Bloaway rewards people tracking the star cycle and weeglee can really suck when you have good items. That and Springo exists, but this board is still pretty alright. It's funny only now you bring smart item use, when there are so many examples of using items on every board, not just on Perplex & Tycoon. Also, this board is the best reason why it's best to NOT seperate the DK & Bowser space. Numbers wise, it's the same whether 1st place loses a star or you gaining a star, but it's actually even worse for 1st place as they're much further away to getting another star. In terms of the lucky space, agreed this is actually where the space can be abused most often, both it doesn't have the Springo + it has Slowgo, then you realise Bowser + DK space exists and it kind of counteracts the Lucky Space. There's more of those spaces than the Lucky Space so you or others are more likely to land on them, but DK giving a space actually makes the Lucky Space not always the best option. It's always great to get a free star, but in this scenario getting a DK star first, you can at least attempt the Lucky space next time. That and, this is where stocking a slowgo can be really good to stall, but that also means you can't get to the DK/regular star before Bowser comes. Slowgo is also useful for significantly cutting travel distance so the lucky space may not even be as useful when getting a 20 coin star on turn 19 is better than getting a free star on turn 21. The only thing to bring up for Tycoon is that stealing from investments is a lot more common than you think. You have bowser/thief spaces, Vampire/Thwomp/Cashzap candies and you can straight up take coins away to down grade your enemies investment. The cap happens a lot less if people know, but I do agree a 200 coin cap would be better/have it scale on higher games.

[@MCarlos15]

It was nice to read your comment. I feel like this video severily overestimates how easy it is to farm Lucky Spaces. I played this game a bunch and I never felt like they nullified the mechanics of the boards as he claims. If you wanted to succesfully use this strategy, you would need to have the money and dice rng to buy slow-gos, then get between 1 and 5 spaces away from one of those spaces, which is far for a guarantee. It's not a viable strategy to just go for them the whole time, at all.

[@StaminaLoss]

@@MCarlos15 Yeah, I will say that Mark himself isn't the only offender. It's basically just a lot of people don't know how the game works and just assume it can be farmed, without even realising all the boards have counterplay and would require unrealistic rolls to even achieve in the first place. It's just funny since even asking people who dislike this game, no one can even disprove the counters when shown how to counter lucky space abuse or even how boards like Warped Orbit work. It's just that people didn't get it the first time or weren't a fan of the design to begin with, which I can understand.

[@MCarlos15]

@@StaminaLoss Yep. Honestly, I have my issues with MP8 but the boards overall aren't one of them. In fact, I found the Lucky Spaces super cool because of, for lack of a better word, the vibes. Every board having a secret hardly accesible portion makes them feel more grand to me. The ambient music for the lucky area contributes to this.

[@StaminaLoss]

@@MCarlos15 Yeah, that's very much understandable. You can get 8 on things like minigames being hit and miss (especially since motion controls are a partially dead genre), unlocking Blooper and Hammer Bro can be a hassle, etc. Just not the design. The dream like state of being in a lucky area is fun. Just funny when the vibe can be ruined by another player jacking the lucky space off of you lmao

[@seant6762]

Victory is good and Doom is Bowser bad

[@impact2933]

Great Video man love these retrospectives. People who love these games just giving detailed opinions like this are always a threat.

[@ivanzoneBR24]

So, finally after so many months you made this retrospective, Mario Party 8 is for me very underrated, there is a lot to enjoy here, but I can see some of its shortcomings as well, specially those you pointed out (most of the minigames not being great, candies not being that good, boards with most generic spaces, motion controls). My biggest highlights are the presentation and the 2 best boards you ranked. You may not believe me that the presentation is good, after seeing the game not being as bright and cartoony than the Gamecube games, but thats exactly what I love about this game, the Star Carnival is awesome for a menu, so many tiny characters moving through the map feels like this place is real and the minigames feels more realistic as well, this is the main kicker that defines the game, it feels like the Mario Strikers series, it has more personality, its different and I love it, also the menu music is amazing. Shy Guy Perplex Express is my favorite board mainly because of the concept of the walking through and above cars of a Train board is more interesting to me than a city with hotels, but KTT is nonetheless great. Also I love the Extra Zone, specially only because of Moped Mayhem, which I think its a more than alright minigame, its my favorite overall for this game, it has 3 circuits and racing is quite as fun as a real Mario Kart game imo. Overall, I enjoyed Mario Party 8 a lot, more than MP 1, 2, 4 and Advance thats for sure, but it just don't live up to my favorite game MP7 that I praised last time.

[@wizardsmix7961]

The one gripe I have with this video is the “farming” of lucky spaces. I’m not sure what universe you’re in but farming ANY space in MP is pretty much not a conscious decision. Sure there are slow-go candy, but you talk about these spaces as if ever body has a grandma’s purse full of them. I played a good amount of mp8 with friends last weekend and the most any individual player hit a lucky space in a single game was twice. Additionally my opinion on them in tycoon town is the opposite. Since you rarely land on them the ability to gain 3 stars for as low as a single coin is broken. There is a good chance no player lands on them for the rest of the game, and if you did put a decent amount of coins into one there’s a solid chance if anyone does land on it they can’t challenge your ownership. We had to house rule the lucky space hotels to be worth only a single star to make them balanced, meanwhile the lucky space on the boards like shy guy’s express aren’t even remotely viewed as a problem.

[@HmmmmmLemmeThinkNo]

Yes!!! Thank you! You put it into words much more nicely than I did

[@StaminaLoss]

Will say this, Tycoon town's lucky space can be easily countered with a Springo candy. Saying this since you now have the option to either force them to waste more coins for future hotels that's more accessible or steal it from them. That and it's just another space honestly. If you have the coins and you're near the space, you have the ability to land on it and buy it outright even if someone has a Springo candy But yeah huge oversight by them

[@felixleidig8307]

thanks for making this long comment i didnt understand his complain at all

[@whispycake64]

him going on and on about those spaces really confused me. a big chunk of mario party's chaos is the randomness. players getting lucky doesnt seem at all out of place

[@Luceshoe13]

I just started watching, and I can’t wait to see what your thoughts on this game are! I grew up with this one and adore everything about it!!

[@giangeegibb]

Awesome video! I can't wait to check out more of this retrospective and the rest of your channel in general!

[@marksrecroom]

Thanks so much!!

[@sithlordmikeyp]

I'm only 10 minutes in (I've watched and commented on your groovy vids in the past, but it's been a little while) and, while I do plan on finishing it and giving more thoughts, I MUST tell you I freaking love your SNES sound effects that you use. Also the music. It took me a sec to realize it was Noki Bay from SMS and I just keep getting hit in my heart's sack with nostalgia. It's great.

[@johnnymind4151]

Love to see this series back and even more so with an episode about Mario Party 8! 22:08 Interestingly enough Bowser's effect is the same as the Lucky Lamp from Mario Party 3 so the perfect counterpart to DK's being the Magic Lamp. I mostly agree with what you said except for the insistence on Lucky Spaces breaking the board gameplay: while inherently flawed, usually people don't land on them often if they don't go for them and even doing that isn't as easy as you make it sound thanks to Slowgo Candies being only 1-5. Anyway, looking forward to your Mario Party DS retrospective whenever it comes out!

[@based980]

this guys making a retrospective on every mario party, respect.

[@spaceashes]

surprised this isn't a bigger channel. these mario party videos are some high-tier stuff

[@Darkside13190]

Watched all of your Mario Party retrospective videos and they are really complete and well explained ! Mario Party DS being the last Hudson Soft game and on a completely different console, I am really intrigued by what you will say about it.

[@KittyCourt]

Really great video!! I've enjoyed this whole series so much, you've done a lot of good work with them. Love to see that Costanza Mii!!

[@aidenkt]

Love the retrospectives! Binged 6-8, can’t wait to see 9-10, DS, and Superstars

[@superstorm393]

This series has been super fun to watch! Especially since recently I've been trying to brainstorm a Mario party style game with an n64 aesthetic

[@MatthewSmart]

Mario Party 8 is a weird one for me, as I don't tend to look back on it as fondly compared to any of the N64 and GameCube titles, with the obvious exception of the first one. I feel like it's only as beloved as it is because it was the only one on Wii for the longest time, and that childhood nostalgia will always make that generation's biases clear. I'm not one to throw shade. I'm absolutely guilty of this with Mario Party 4 as that was my first one and I still love it despite its obvious issues. That's not to say I don't appreciate Mario Party 8; far from it. I still played it a ton back in the day, and the motion controls helped make it feel fresh as a longtime fan. It's still Mario Party at its core and still a fun time, and yeah, Shy Guy's Perplex Express and Koopa's Tycoon Town are easily the best boards, arguably some of the best in the series. Mosh-Pit Playroom is definitely my favorite minigame both as a kid and now, especially with how colorful, childish, and chaotic it is. I can still have fun playing Mario Party 8, but if I want to play a party game on the Wii, I'd actually rather play Wii Party any day over this.

[@2nkf]

Another Mario Party video! Remember Oops Prank Party? That was the final party game that Hudson Soft made and it’s also for the Wii!

[@StaminaLoss]

Honestly with alot of the critiques to the game, they don't really seem accurate/there's counter play. It's a very well made video, just that you are missing a lot to what this game has to offer. Mainly in that Lucky Spaces can be countered + the Item system is incredibly deep. Could at least make life more fun is all X3 In terms of DK + Bowser Spaces, honestly prefer them to be the same space because they can be abused a lot less. Saying this because on certain boards like Temple, Perplex, Hideaway, Tycoon and even Orbit, the Bowser space can be used to your advantage and a lot of the time even more than the DK space can benefit. The star placement in Temple is a fixed cycle, as in if a star was in that space before, it won't happen again until it cycles through all the places. Landing on this means you can shut that played out of that star and even give yourself the star if you track it. Perplex can be abused to screw the person in front, on a board that doesn't have spring. This can actually be a reason to keep/stock up on a Slowgo/ another reason why movement candies are so important to counter those moments and maximise your chance of getting a star instead. Hideaway can be used to check where the star is since it shows a false room layout, but it also means anyone on that path to the bowser room is almost forced into either losing a star or wasting a Springo, which is a pretty good risk as you could try and screw the person close to a room that already has a star. This also goes in reverse, the DK space can accidentally give a star to someone else closer, but is useful in both checking the rooms and if you are close to the pitfall. Though it still shows a pitfall room, so it can be negated by other players rushing to the correct room. Tycoon can be abused by players who don't have as many hotels invested, meaning they can abuse it to both reduce the star count + make investing towards that hotel a lot easier. Orbit gets rid of a star. That doesn't sound useful initially, but keep in mind the only way to make stars is to steal them from others. Using the Bowser space is actually pretty valid since you can prevent players from gaining another lead or at least not give all the players behind you a chance.

[@elsannin14121]

My friends/cousins grew up with these games, starting with the original. We loved 8. That was before they tried to reinvent the wheel with the boards. We were also 19-21 and able to get alcohol easier, so it was our first MP with drunken nights lol. We loved the hotel one

[@CameronRoberts-jh9mr]

I think you place more care on strategy than needed. Its a board game so of course there is going to be luck and that luck can create funny moments so as a result i dont agree on gombas booty board walk.

[@britishguy54dx]

I see Mario Party 8 as the forgotten middle child of the series, between the classic games (1-7), and the modern games (9, 10, Super). It also feels like the start to an era that never materialised, due to Hudson Soft getting bought out. We probably would have seen another Mario Party around 2009-10, bringing in Bowser Jr as a full replacement for Koopa Kid earlier.

[@KesterStudios]

I feel like the lucky space farming is only an issue in the shy guy stage. I dont mind the space in any other board. But yeah, mario party 8 is really not all that good. Doesnt help that this game runs at 30 fps instead of 60 fps like the gamecube games and the game is in 4:3 for some reason. Like what happened here. The motion controls and boards all kinda suck except for koopas tycoon town.

[@StaminaLoss]

There's also the lucky space that sounds bad on paper, until you realise the Springo candy exists/ has counterplay anyway. You can time the wheel to land on the player inside the gold space area, so if you want to spam it, you have to consider whether getting this star is worth also giving the springo player(s) a free star as well, which the answer won't always be yes. On Tycoon, it puts pressure on that player since you have a choice to either waste money to buy the hotel or just get it another time. On Hideaway, if the star room has been purchased, it forcefully boots everyone out, including the person in the lucky space area. You basically try rushinv to the available rooms and hope you get lucky, which doesn't sound great until you realise that movement candies exist for everyone and the lucky space area requires a 10 to guarantee the star room, so either you have to get lucky/waste an item or risk the players getting the star instead. On top of the Springo candy user also having a shot of stealing the Lucky space outright. Even the Slowgo candy isn't as abuseable as people make it out to be. It's a game changing candy, but the most powerful candies are still the extra movement candies. Purchasing Slowgo means you miss out on opportunities such as getting to the star and you're no where near a Happening/Lucky space, maximising your chances of getting a star, countering Springo users on Treetop and Tycoon, have more opportunities by getting more free candies, screwing other players, etc. Although you also missed that Slowgo is still very useful on boards without Lucky space abuse. You can force board events like screwing first place from getting a star on Temple, escaping from other players in Warped orbit by either staying in the junctions/using the tubes, getting coins/candies from Cranes/Minigames in Tycoon, etc. The Candy is still one of the best candies through sheer versatility.

[@mrpro538]

I have insane nostalgia for this game. Still one of my favourite Mario Partys

[@TheOscar401]

Actually, in king boos haunted hideaway when the mansion reshuffles and sends everyone back to start, this includes the person in the lucky space area so it’s not that bad

[@YoseAtsumeMoshi]

Yo, I just wanted to say I really vibe with what you’ve been uploading. I thought you had waaayyyyyy more subs until I checked 😭. As someone who will start uploading soon, I just wanted to say your content has been a good inspiration for me to give this experience a go. Wishing you the best for 2024 and onward!! You’ll be at 10k subs in no time!!

[@susiehaltmann3342]

While you have a point with Goomba’s Booty Boardwalk, you’re also kind of wrong at the same time. If you ride the dolphins you go far ahead but miss out on the item shops, and you could possibly land on that happening space at the end which takes you ALL the way back to the beginning. So basically, do you go far ahead early but risk landing on the happening space, or do you move along the board slowly but guarantee you not landing on the happening space?

[@mrpiccionedivino5598]

I mean, i haven't played 7 but doesn't pagoda peak have that same space with kinda similar strategy with the orbs, without making it the whole gimmick of the board?

[@susiehaltmann3342]

@@mrpiccionedivino5598 i mean i guess you’re not completely wrong. Except there the rockets that either send you high up to to the start are a happening space, while the dolphins are a thing you run into when passing

[@mrpiccionedivino5598]

@@susiehaltmann3342 i was talking about the space that sends you back to the start lmao

[@susiehaltmann3342]

@@mrpiccionedivino5598 i mean i guess you’re not wrong

[@Venus_lake]

I find it so interesting to hear others opinions on this game. I grew up playing this, but what really threw me were your thoughts on the minigames. It’s interesting to see what games people think are balanced and which ones they struggle with especially when they are so different to my own.

[@bbqbestie]

Seated for the fine cinema I am about to watch today

[@whitemage34]

Can't wait to play this myself

[@ted_is_gaming]

This was my first Mario party and will forever be my favorite (mostly because of nostalgia). Also tag battle with friends is goated.

[@raprips]

man i can't wait to make my own mario party retrospective i hope it has the same quality as these ones😄

[@biggie_a6466]

I don’t understand why you are acting like the lucky space is a 100 percent guarantee every time you go around the board, the slow go candy is also pretty hard to come by so I think ur over reacting a bit

[@pikasoury]

Doesn't mean its still not a problem with the game

[@biggie_a6466]

@@pikasoury you’re acting like most Mario party games don’t have a slow go dice block or a lucky space that gives u something good

[@oregonz]

Tbh this party game was my first ever mario party I ever played and I loved Shy Guys Express, its was my fav map while the other maps I didnt care about like Koopas Tycoon. My fav minigame would prob be the King of the Thrill or maybe the scissors. I never played the previous Mario parties anyway so Ig thats why I have a whole different look on this game.

[@PhilMcCawk]

I absolutely despise KZbin for hiding this video for so long from me

[@ThePlushLuigiBros2018]

4:10 Has the same energy as that one joke in Scott The Woz's Mario Party 2 video.

[@koemon_exe]

My first mario party game! I think Superstars is now my fave, but mp8 still has my favorite boards in the series. So much variety between them

[@Imirui]

I find it absolutely hilarious that there’s more duel minigames than 4 player minigames. Even if you don’t count duel minigames that are repeated, it still has one more minigame than 4 player games. It also is even harder to get a duel minigame than the past games, (which had fewer duel games in comparison to 4 player games) but it’s still funny that you can’t get the most plentiful game category very often.

[@Ricendeans]

You continually talk about “farming” lucky spaces, but how effective is that really? In order to do that, you need to circumnavigate the board, have a slowgo candy, and land within 5 spaces of it. Which is not always guaranteed in the slightest. I feel like you are putting *way* too much stock into the competitive aspects that most players aren’t even going to think about. For most players, the Lucky Spaces are just that - nice bonuses if you happen to get a good roll or have the right item. Not once have I ever felt like they “break” the board in ways that you seem to claim they do.

[@mrpiccionedivino5598]

Then again, you can have situations like the latest video by the party crashers where they play on the train board and got like 7 lucky spaces in total

[@KingOfDeftness]

​​@@mrpiccionedivino5598 What's funny was that they basically proved why it was not based on luck/farming without even knowing how the candies worked. You had things like Vernias stealing the slowgo and leaving Sophist vulnerable, Nick dueling Sophist for 2 stars and even the bowser cart at the end, it would have been a different story if Brent rolled high instead.

[@irisplays8472]

i still play mario party 8 and its still fun and also a reminder: if a duelo candy is used and if 2 or more players are on the same space THEN you can pick your opponent since you pass both of them at the same time and not forcing you to duel one of them its one upside to counter the downside having to battle the first person you pass

[@StaminaLoss]

Again, the video is really good, just this video is basically in the perspective of everyone that didn't really play with the mechanics given. It's understandable if you still won't enjoy it, but at least know there's more.

[@zzzs]

Using the monkey target soundtrack in the background is such a w

[@tonymitsu]

38:30 Actually, the game ends after five minutes and whoever remains at the end wins. The time will set in after the first four minutes have passed

[@linexi]

nice video bro

[@sleeplessarcher]

This was an amazing retrospective! Quick question though - will you do a video on Mario Party DS? It’s similar enough to a main series game and has a lot of unique/interesting elements imo

[@Flare8295]

This game is NOT mediocre

[@cuddlebug9699]

One thing that i found annoying is that a lot of minigames like punch a bunch or Crank To Rank require you to rapidly or suddenly move your Wiimote. Which often times leads to a disconnect because it rattles the batteries inside. The game does not pause when you reconnect so it just completely throws off your rhythm and makes you lose minigames you were actually winning at.

[@Grand_Kaiserin_Elysium]

im gonna go out here and say it, i hate the “trap a tile” items from the previous games (and later game with DS), maybe DS has some big difference im missing compared to the others (i played DS the most so im talking mostly from DS) because the traps feel like pure luck if they get landed on, and dont do enough to make me want to use them over getting an extra dice block or something, so i like the candy system for not only being simple like mark said, but the effects are ALWAYS going to happen (besides when you use one of the “pass a player” candies and you roll a 1 or something) also you can rig the dart wheel by throwing when whatever you want is on the leftmost side of the wheel

[@officertom6751]

Also something I noticed about the Battle Minigames in Mario Party 8 is that every 10 turns only 1 Battle Minigame appears. No more and no less. And if an odd number of turns to be played was chosen then it seems random if a Battle Minigame appears in the last 5 turns or not.

[@HmmmmmLemmeThinkNo]

I think the intended audience is important to consider here. It isn't for hardcore gamers. It's for a family or friends who may never really play video games. It's for kids. Which isn't to say the problems you bring up aren't valid and legitimate, just that you're not the intended audience. I personally played this as a ten year old, and the point _was_ the luck, there was no farming, just a fun standard board game with fun games between each round. EDIT: The further I get into this video the more firm my belief here - you're looking at this game from the perspective of someone significantly more skilled than the target audience, older than half the target audience, and don't take into account that people play it casually for fun, and not to find exploits or be challenged. It's a fun, casual game, and I think you lost sight of that. I hope you're able to find joy in it, in the future :) EDIT2: I've finished, and I stand by what I said. It feels more like you only considered the intended audience after you'd already recorded the rest of the video. It felt to me like an afterthought, from you. Maybe this comes from being in the intended audience at the right time, and loving it. Or maybe it's my play style, or or or. Idk. What I do know is that I feel like you missed the mark here. I am def going to keep checking your videos out, but not the ones on mario party

[@mrpiccionedivino5598]

But if you think mario party as just luck then what stops you from playing these games and not monopoly, fortune street or any board game with a mario skin only without the minigames, also this ignores that some boards are more luck/skill based than others.

[@HmmmmmLemmeThinkNo]

@@mrpiccionedivino5598 1. Because I hate monopoly (remember that I said I hated the monopoly-like board) 2. The minigames were over half the fun!

[@StaminaLoss]

Funny enough this game feels like the best Mario party for hardcore players. There is so much strategy that went over their heads and I can't blame them. Every board in 8 has multiple strategies to abuse. In warped orbit, the slowgo is king. You can use it to land on the event that forces everyone to be in the same space, so you can set up a huge star steal, you can land on the event that flips the board's direction to defend any player behind you and possibly even steal their stars and even if either event happens, you have movement candies to defend yourself, but the person that chose to land on those event spaces hugely benefitted. This video is just a funny middle ground where people that know how this game works think this video is inaccurate, but people that don't know how this game works either like it for it's presentation/perceived accuracy or dislike it because of it's inaccuracy to other mechanics they still missed.

[@sageyuh1192]

Can you do a retrospective on super paper Mario? It’s so underappreciated I love it.

[@DiegoGonzalez-ic3si]

This is easily my favorite Mario Party, and it is not because of childhood nostalgia, i was a kid when the first one came out, 8 came out when i was an adult

[@based980]

33:44 this minigame worked fine for me, were you using wiimotion plus or an original wiimote?

[@HGmolotov]

Despite the fact that 8 is actually my favourite of the MP games, I do have to agree with everything you said, bar a couple of things: I'd swap boos haunted hideaway with DK jungle temple, and bowsers warped orbit with goombas booty boardwalk in the rankings, plus I gotta dock points for rating spectre inspector with a 2. Apart from that, pretty spot on

[@claytonrios1]

Lucky spaces really made every board with the exception of one easily exploitable. Some of the boards would have been fine without those spaces.

[@felixleidig8307]

youre being unfair with the lucky spaces i did play mario party 8 a ton of times and its hard very very hard to land on a lucky s^pace^and not board^brea^king...you actually cant farm that

[@BigShowGunnoe]

34:54 not necessarily. If you play this game well and are really good on the team of 3 it's really hard for the 1 to win. In practice with newbies at may favor the 1, but If you are on the 3 and have practiced this one you can win it I'd say 70% percent of the time by being a boss and staying in the front.

[@UniverseKeeper2]

4:20 I'm not sure about anyone else but this was DEFININETELY not how the majority of my mp8 game sessions went haha

[@BigShowGunnoe]

38:49 debatably the most interesting thing about all of your videos is that your minigame rankings are slightly skewed toward people who like button mashers as opposed to people who don't care for them. If you gave minigames with button mashers lower scores, the games with more button mashers would decrease in their overall minigame ranking a decent bit. It's interesting to consider this when you didn't give all the motion control minigames high scores, but you did for most of the button mashers. I think the gap for minigames between 8 and 5/6 is smaller than it looks based on how the minigames get scored. 4 and 7 would lead the group by a greater margin as well.

[@BigShowGunnoe]

34:29 I don't think so usually. When you are playing with people who haven't played before the three often screw it up if they are new.

[@shaynetaranto4349]

I swear the motion controls worked better when I was younger😂

[@namespelldwrong9779]

as someone who grew up with this as my childhood, it does sadden me a little to know im looking at it with rose tinted glasses. However, the analysis of this game was accurate and the content itself was amazing as a mario party enjoyer. cant wait to see the ds retrospective

[@StaminaLoss]

Nah, the video is well made, but the game is a lot more balanced than Mark made it out. In terms of Lucky spaces either can't be landed on boards with no Slowgo/it can be countered by Springo/Bowser space, etc. And even the boards are a lot better as they all require risks and paying attention like in Orbit and Hideaway that rewards players abusing the candy mechanic like setting up a 6 star steak in Orbit or Risking it all and guessing the correct room/spotting the stairs at the start/in a dk bowser event. It's fair people don't pick these things up, but the game is better than people say it is.

[@felixleidig8307]

He did miss out a lat of aspects

[@uminekoexpert]

can I argue that the maps and minigames are very family friendly and orientated? The Wii was def advertised as the family system and my mom who didn't understand the previous mario party's adored this one and played it with us. If the explanation went over her head the simpler board mechanics became obvious to her, and I think that might've been a part of the design philosophy and should be considered when rating at least the boards. It created an entry point for families who then could learn some of the more complex minigames with some practice

[@uminekoexpert]

Oh you mentioned this at around the 39 minutes mark for minigames but I do think that should be extended to the boards themselves!

[@goncosta01]

Are you gonna make a tier list of the boards of all Mario party boards?

[@bathilra5364]

Koopas tycoon town is peak board design

[@guavacadoII]

Lol no it isn't.

[@christianfrost8660]

When you disagree with everything in the video. I believe that King Boo's Haunted Hideaway is the best board in the series and if you think that it's random then you really don't understand how the board works.

[@corn1zgud4u42]

Koopas tycoon town is better

[@christianfrost8660]

@@corn1zgud4u42 Matter of opinion. Mine is that if I'm playing a 50 turn game on any board in the series, it's going to be KBHH. The constant changing layout means that board never gets boring and you have to think about the layout of the board so you can work out where everything is.

[@corn1zgud4u42]

@@christianfrost8660 Fair

[@corn1zgud4u42]

@@christianfrost8660 I love all the boards in mp8 but I like Koopas the best because the hotel concept is really cool

[@clairehislop5873]

goomba's booty boardwalk is my favourite (granted I'm a goomba fan lol)

[@murkywaters5502]

Cool video.

[@JalizJay]

Underrated 🫡

[@JalizJay]

:)

[@JalizJay]

:)

[@JalizJay]

:)

[@JalizJay]

:)

[@l3wismoreman9227]

This was the 1st Mario party game I played

[@phorchybug3286]

This was my first Mario Party.

[@Squydward]

I hope we can get some kinda mario party dlc with Koopa's Tycoon Town. I know we've got a new one coming in October, so Nintendo, we will gladly pay for DLC, especially if that means more boards and minigames (and hopefully a returning MP8 board or two)

[@Zastralord]

I found it really interesting to watch a detailed retrospective on MP8! It's a shame the game is so underbaked in different areas because some of the boards show how much potential the game had. One thing I think is worth mentioning for Koopa's Tycoon Town is the unfair advantage the last 5 turns coin event gives to whoever rolls first, it's such a lame event.

[@cloverfinderboygamer3573]

9.5/10 video

[@varietychan]

Thing is, the happening spaces can get rid of the 100 coin lockdown

[@mrpiccionedivino5598]

But then the strategy is just to farm slow go and double/triple dice to land on the happenings and race to whoever got robbed.

[@RickSatan]

i grew out of mario wen i was 7

[@XanderMatthews-nv9zf]

The last game before the horrors of 9 & 10

[@mrpiccionedivino5598]

Don't worry there's still DS.

[@zaccubitt]

35:34 "30 second splatoon type mini game but the last 5 seconds are the only ones that matter" oh so it's just Splatoon then

[@KraylebStudios]

I bought this game as of recently and mum and I adore it. I do wish there were more boards to play on (some with more standard Mario Party boards) and I don't like Bowser's Warped Orbit at all... And I feel like the game doesn't punish you enough with Bowser and if you lose in a 2v2 but your partner still wins... Honestly, I love the game, but I feel like there could be more added... Like Lucky Spaces should have had you play a singleplayer mini-game in order to win the star Maybe the game is a bit simple, but I still like it tbh

[@sebas3664]

My brother and i played nothing but Koopa tycoon town and ocasionally shy guy express, we never touched the other boards after the first try

[@elius1548]

The way I see it, mini games where you just have to waggle the most are the equivalent to mashing. It’s not incredibly exciting, but it’s a part of the Mario Party experience. I personally prefer waggling to mashing purely based off growing up with a Wii, and I suspect older folks’ preference is for similar reasons.

[@lightninja4795]

Also part of mario's party is luck and screwing your friends you seem to keep forgetting this and think that it's all about strategy which is not true. When you were talking about Windmillville.

[@StaminaLoss]

Not necessarily. A lot of Mario Party is more based on skill. Be it minigames earning more coins or having the foresight to flip the board in Bowser's Warped Orbit to defend your stats. Luck can be apart of it, but there should be something you can do. This video does not do justice as it misses a lot of things you can do to prevent luck only being a factor.

[@lightninja4795]

@@StaminaLoss I agree. Yes i do feel like he fails to mention on some of the boards that luck can be minimized. I agree there should be strategy but to act like mario party is only that is missing the point. Its very funny to screw over your friends and watch them suffer.

[@lightninja4795]

Yes, that is a great example of strategy he did not mention in Bowsers' Warped Orbit. If you're in front of someone and there is a board change-of-direction event, you can use a slow-go candy to switch directions and potentially get the other person instead.

[@StaminaLoss]

@@lightninja4795 Yeah, it's funny since one thing I keep forgetting to ask when people say board designs in this game are bad because of luck: You would hate to play every other mario party game then. But hilariously they get a pass because... it's not 8 :D Like I love even maps like Spiny desert just running into the cactus or hoarding keys in Space Land. They all seem kinda overpowered since you can potentially have more Boo access, but it's the same deal of getting there is already hard enough and you have counterplay eg you still need to roll high with the reverse shroom, not be switched/sucked into the quicksand path to get to the cactus on Spiny Desert & have no one pay for patrol in Space land.

[@based980]

in my opinion mario party ds is the best one so i cant wait for you to review it

[@19Szabolcs91]

Koopa’s Tycoon Town is a masterpiece, both in terms of the ideas, the actual board, and also its aesthetics and atmosphere. I agree that the Shy guy train stage is also quite good and the Bowser one is hot garbage. But I also don't hate the rest. Especially the Boo board was hilarious when playing with others, and its gimmick also mitigates the one of the game's biggest flaws where the double and triple roll candies are too OP with how many other candies they let you collect and how many bonus stars they result. Overall, I have many good memories of MP8, and while it's certainly not the best, it has plenty great about it.

[@MailboxtheGreat]

Only the DK map has changing star spaces on a normal board

[@brunolike8631]

Are you going to do MPDS or MP9 next?

[@tobekontinued7090]

JERRY! I’M IN MARIO PARTY JERRY!

[@the3dluxe53]

Thrash & Crash is easier for the 1? That’s a new take. I always thought it was basically a free win for the 3 since you can’t activate things fast enough for them to be mush of a threat.