Mario Party isn’t a game series that needs much innovation. The game hasn’t changed much over time, and what little mechanical innovation Nintendo has attempted hasn’t gone well. Mario Party 9 and 10 were widely panned for adding a car that carried all players around the same parts of the board, and its return to form in Super Mario Party earned more favorable reviews. Even the most recent game, Mario Party Superstars, only works because it brings back the best mini-games from the Nintendo 64 era title. If the trick to making a new, fresh Mario Party game is out there, Nintendo hasn’t found it.
Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, Nintendo should move the game to another market. While the company is notoriously protective of its first-party games, it has experimented with mobile games. Quite a few of them have been massive successes, with Mario Kart Tour, Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp continuing to serve as sizable revenue streams to this day. Not all Nintendo properties would be a good choice for adaptation, but Mario Party has a multitude of factors that make it a perfect fit.
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For one, Mario Party has controls that are easy to use. Controlling a character on the game’s board rarely requires more than choosing between multiple paths or picking options in menus. Plus, the primary method of movement is through dice-rolling, which a mobile game could make more immersive by allowing players to shake their phones. The series’ mini-games are also simple, usually consisting of a joystick or D-pad for input along with one or two buttons. Such a control scheme is easy enough to translate to a touchscreen, and the gameplay style of the mini-games — light, simple to learn and (above all else) fun — lines up well with games that typically do well on mobile.
A Mario Party mobile game would also be an easy fit for the kind of monetization that most successful mobile games employ. Super Mario Run was a well-designed game, but it lost a lot of players because it asked for a one-time payment to unlock the rest of the game after the first three levels. Most mobile gamers want to play the base game for free, only putting money in for special cosmetics or eventual DLC. Mario Party on mobile could come with a variety of free boards, but lock most characters behind in-game currency. This would mean especially invested players could unlock everything for free, but those wanting to pick up their favorite Mushroom Kingdom denizen could spend a little bit of real-world money.
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This would also allow Nintendo to release new boards and characters as seasonal promotions. Slowly increasing the game’s repertoire of boards over time could be an especially potent move, since each of Mario Party’s boards usually come with their own wacky gameplay mechanic. No one wants to obsess over how a game is going to charge them money, but some kind of route to monetization is important for a company like Nintendo, who invests a tremendous amount of resources into each of their projects.
Most importantly, Nintendo wouldn’t be giving up much by putting Mario Party on mobile. It’s fiercely protective of its intellectual properties, and for good reason. Nintendo consoles often aren’t as powerful as the PlayStation or Xbox; instead, systems like the Wii and the Switch get by on unique charm and excellent exclusive games. Tentpole franchises like Mario, Zelda or Super Smash Bros. are what keep the company alive. However, Mario Party would benefit most from being more accessible. Whether done as a mobile game that connects to a console title or an entirely separate entity, Mario Party is meant to be enjoyed with friends, so allowing more people to join the party is always a good thing.
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By: Alexander Sowa
Title: Mario Party’s Next Game Should Be on Mobile | CBR
Sourced From: www.cbr.com/mario-party-mobile-game/
Published Date: February 07, 2022
