MARIO PARTY SERIES
So, I won't lie, the Mario Party franchise has to be one of the most frustrating stretch of games I've covered here so far. Much like the sports games, all of the characters play the same, so nothing can really be tied directly to any of them. However, most of the minigames are heavily influenced by various aspects of the Mario series, so they can't . . . not. Obviously, the easy answer then would be a gimmick rep, like we have before, but the trouble is that we have four (actually five characters) that fit well. The Koopa Kid, Tumble, Brighton and Twila, and MC Ballyhoo and Big Top from Mario Party 8. We haven't gotten to them yet, but they still need to be part of my consideration here.
Now, much like all of the various styles of Kremling were easily divided up amongst Kritter, Krusha, and Klump, I suppose I could do the same here. Lord knows, there is plenty to work with, but there almost seems to be . . . too much. Like whatever I gave to any of them would be arbitrary at best, but at the same time, I'd hate to leave any of them out, since none are particularly more important than the others. After much deliberation, I think I've managed to parse out what to do, but I just want to give you all a bearing as to where I'm at with this one.
Anyway, on to the regularly appearing characters. The first six games in the Mario party series seemed to follow a pattern with their rosters. The first game featured Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Wario. The second game followed suit with no change. The third game added in Daisy and Waluigi but kept the roster the same. The fourth game, just like the second before it, featured no change. Then, just like the first and third, the fifth game added in new characters with Toad, Boo, and Koopa Kid all playable but changed Donkey Kong to a special space rather than a character. The sixth game almost followed the same pattern as the even numbers before it, keeping the roster basically the same, but adding Toadette as a secret unlockable player.
Outside of playability, several characters have constant recurring roles. Bowser almost always acts as a troublemaker on the boards, having a special space where he challenges a fighter to a special minigame or otherwise tries to upset your game. Toad, before playability, spent a lot of time as the game's host, when characters like Tumble or Brighton and Twila weren't doing it. Boo played a special role being able to steal items from one player and giving them to another, while Koopa Kid more often than not acted as a minion to Bowser, likewise causing trouble here and there. After being dropped from playability, Donkey Kong played a similar role to Bowser, but much more . . . benevolent, I guess.
Outside of that, the capsules, minigames, and shops all tend to feature a who's who of recognizable enemies. Basically every single one you could possibly think of: Koopas, Goombas, Bob-Ombs, Piranha Plants, Shy Guys, Cheep Cheeps, Bloopers, Whomps, Thwomps, Chain Chomps, Snifits, Mr Blizzards, Pokeys, Lakitus, Hammer Bros, Tweesters, Spinies, everything. Even Kamek pops up here and there. Most act pretty much as you would expect they would, but the series did prove pretty strong at finding creative ways to use those standard behaviors to make fun minigames. Finally, I should bring up the Star Spirits from Paper Mario, who acted as the hosts in Mario Party 5, marking possibly one of the only times in the entire series that RPG-original characters crossed over to another part of the series, at least in any kind of major role.
That's about it! Next up, let's cover the Koopa Kid!
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