I remember playing Mario Party 1 with my some of my friends back sometime on March 2001. I was also playing as Luigi back then. This game was kind of hard for me to play back then, but I had fun with my friends nonetheless. I was only ten years old when I was still in fourth grade, when I started playing Mario Party 1. Mario Party 1 was released in North America on February 8, 1999, and it was developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo.
To tell you the truth, I haven't really played Mario Party 1 for a very long time, but I do remember some good and bad things about this game.
First, there's a character and board selection. There aren't that many characters to choose from, but you can play as Mario, Luigi, Wario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Peach. You can also select how many turns/rounds you want to play, and it has up to four players. Also, you can change the difficulty level of the computer player's skills. Some of the boards are Yoshi's Island, Peach's Birthday Cake, Luigi's Engine board, Mario's Rainbow board, and several more.
Since this was the first Mario Party to be released for the Nintendo 64, the graphics had more limitations back then. The characters and boards look kind of blocky and pixilated. Mario's head also appears to be slightly larger in this game that the newer Mario Parties. The resolutions seem to be lower, so the characters appear to be larger in certain body parts. However the music and sounds are slightly better than the graphics. The character voices are overly repetitive with Mario saying "Oh no" every time he loses a mini-game. The music in Mario Party 1 is cheerful and relaxing. I also enjoyed listening to some of the themed board music as well.
Also, there's no story mode and practice modes either. Story mode wasn't introduced until Mario Party 3 (2001) was released, and practice mode was released when Mario Party 2 was released (2000). Still the inability to use practice mode makes some mini-games more difficult to grasp. Therefore, you really shouldn't really play Mario Party 1 alone, and save it for the multiplayer. Also, there are no team modes either, so it's every man for themselves. Team modes were introduced on Mario Party 4 (2002) for the Game Cube.
The Good - decent selection of characters and boards, sound and music is passable overall, good multiplayer game, the first Mario Party in the series, comes up with a unique idea of having a combination of playing on a virtual board game and playing mini-games after every turn you play on a board game
The Bad - no practice mode (only in Mario Party 1), you lose coins when you lose mini-games (only in Mario Party 1), no teams (it's been that way on Mario Party 1, 2, and 3), graphics could of improved a bit, sounds can get repetitive
Presentation - Since this was the first Mario Party to be released, I give Nintendo and Hudson credit for making video game themed board games revolutionary.
Graphics - The resolutions are low, so the characters and boards appear to be larger and blocky. The boards are somewhat smooth, but it's kind of pixilated as well.
Sound - The music is cheerful and relaxing, but the character voices repeat way too much.
Gameplay - The controls are tight and responsive. Some minigames are based on luck, and not skill.
Lasting Appeal - Without team and practice modes, the lasting value has decreased somewhat. Mario Party 1 is good for playing with friends and family, not alone. Although there's no story mode in Mario Party 1, I'm not taking points off my review since story mode wasn't introduced until Mario Party 3 (2001). However, I took some points off for having no team modes in Mario Party 1 since I felt that it should have been included since Mario Party 1.
GameSpot Score 7 out of 10