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Mario Party 64 is not actually Mario Party (1); I know strange and confusing to all, even Youtube’s SEO’s are still trying to decide on this one. Super Mario Party 64, I’m changing the name here sorry MrComit (the creator), is a Super Mario 64 ROM hack based on my favorite and arguably the best Mario Party in the series, Mario Party 1. This is a full-scale 3D imagining of every single board, with additional areas made full like the main hub menu, Mini-game island, and even some bonus areas! Other fun things about the ROM hack, before we jump into the game and the review is, that the game has mini games to complement its title. While it is not all 50 minigames (I can imagine some just don’t work out in 3D), it’s still amazing for MrComit to implement Mario Party’s core element and turn them into makeshift levels.
The game jumps you right into the menu world of Mario Party and invites you to start off on Mario’s board, the Rainbow Castle. Each world contains seven stars, included in the seven stars are the one mini-game star per level and an 80-coin star, as well as a new item in every world: The Token. A quick fact about Mario Party is that the game contains two sprites for the coins and in Super Mario Party 64, the creator uses both as well for different purposes. He uses the mini-game map coins (the ones you see animated from spaces on boards) for regular coins to be collected and he uses the other model as this giant “Token” to be collected. Each world contains two “Tokens” and they are used to buy mini games in the overworld in order to collect more stars, in addition, they are worth 10 coins total. Besides those model changes, nothing else is different from this game compared to other Super Mario 64 ROM hacks or the original itself. It’s default Mario, no special abilities, no model changes, and all enemies are the same as well.
After journeying through Rainbow Castle, you’ll find yourself traveling to Donkey Kong’s Jungle adventure, Yoshi’s Tropical Island, Peach’s Birthday Cake, Wario’s Battle Canyon, Luigi’s Engine Room, and even the later unlocked stages of Bowser’s Magma Mountain and the Eternal Star! The difficulty definitely ramps up in the final world for some of the missions, but overall, it’s a pretty fair game that does not require the player to get all 70 stars! I seemed to have forgotten to mention that the ROM Hack is a 70 star adventure that can be completed at 35 stars, so if some of those minigames are too frustrating, or other levels don’t float your boat, you can challenge Bowser at the end without completing every level. But, you will miss the one difference from beating the game with all 70 Power Stars versus not doing so.
Overall, I think this is one of the more unique ROM Hacks out there and is something fans of not only Super Mario 64 should play, but anyone who was a fan of the N64-era. Be it a Mario Party fan, Banjo-Kazooie fan, etc. the game and its idea of a crossover of staple titles on the console is amazing. While some of the stars may be a bit excessive for a casual fan, the choice to skip them / not be required is a great design choice from the creator. I honestly cannot compliment this game more than enough for just recreating the entire Mario Party game and making it a fully explorable and playable Super Mario 64 game.
Score: 9.5/10
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