Page 39 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #7

modern
modern

Nintendo

plays

party

pooper

By Scott Alan Marriott
A
fter wowing many a classic gamer with his mad-
cap ménage of microgames, Wario and company
are back for more fast-paced, reflex-oriented
twitch tests. Or is he? Known best as a cranky
moneygrubber, Wario’s penny-pinching ways have
seemed to rub off on Nintendo for this GameCube tie-in, a
slapdash release that offers surprisingly little substance for
fans of the handheld game. As a multiplayer experience,
Mega Party Game$ never approaches the cooperative
craziness found in the Mario Party series, probably be-
cause the developers were not given enough time to cus-
tomize the gameplay. Instead, the team did the best they
could under the circumstances, shoehorning a multiplayer
element onto a game designed first and foremost as an
autonomous activity.
The first surprise is that none of the original’s games
have been retooled for the big screen. What you are get-
ting for your powerful GameCube is a shiny disc that func-
tions almost identically to the comparatively limited car-
tridge. There are even GBA-style borders around each mi-
crogame, so those who already own the handheld version
may feel slighted. The good news is that all 213 games are
intact and are just as playable as ever. The microgames,
so-named because they offer mere seconds of gameplay,
have you instantly reacting to new and different play styles
culled from years of classic gaming history, including Nin-
tendo’s own past, from the Game & Watch LCD games to
the ill-fated Virtual Boy.
The single-player game is nearly identical to the hand-
held version with a more direct approach, jettisoning the
smaller game’s cut-scenes in favor of cutting straight to the
chase. The number of games a player has to complete in
order to advance to the next theme (six in all, including
sports, sci-fi, nature, and more) has been upped to 25, so
players will get to experience more of the zaniness, which
is a good thing. One interesting addition is stat tracking,
which monitors how quick and successful you are at play-
ing the games, but alas none of the bonus titles featured
on the handheld, including the Dr. Mario variant, “Dr.
Wario” has made the cut. Is it because Nintendo plans on
releasing Dr. Mario separately as part of its “Classic NES”
lineup on Game Boy Advance? Somewhere, greedy Wario
is no doubt yelling “Ehhh-xcellent!”
Of course, this GameCube version is all about the multi-
player aspect. So perhaps we can cut Nintendo some
slack for taking a shortcut and dumping the handheld
game on disc. And we would — if the multiplayer games
didn’t feel so lame. The approach to multiplayer feels like
something you probably did as a bored kid: trying to create
a new game based on existing parts or pieces of already
existing games. Chances are, it didn’t work out that great,

Classic Gamer Magazine July 2004 39