Mario Party 2

Mario Party 2 is the second main installment in the Mario Party series for the Nintendo 64. Mario and the gang are fighting for the rights for a new amusement park. The objective is simple and similar to the previous Mario Party: obtain stars and defeat Bowser. This game introduces the first use of collectible items in Mario Party's history; the first game had items, but they simply added optional rules or game modes to the game. Each board has its own tricks and turns, and the playable characters, as well as Bowser, wear different outfits based on the theme of the board.

Battle, Item, and Duel minigames are introduced in Mario Party 2. Battle Minigames give every player a chance to win 70% of the stocked jackpot taken from players (usually a set amount). The top two get a 70/30 share, while the bottom two get nothing; a leftover coin is given randomly. Additionally, players can no longer lose coins in normal minigames. Also, the players now have the option to practice minigames, which would later be featured in all the future installments.

The game was later rereleased on the Wii's Virtual Console in Japan in November 2010 and in North America, Europe, and Australia in December 2010, and the Wii U's Virtual Console in Japan in March 2016, in Europe and Australia in April 2016, and in North America in December 2016, making Mario Party 2 the first Mario Party game to be released on the Virtual Console. It is currently the only home console Mario Party game to be available through the Virtual Console. It is also the first of the three Mario Party games to be rereleased for the Wii U's Virtual Console; the others being Mario Party Advance and Mario Party DS.

Story
The game opens on a stage where Toad comes out to welcome guests and introduce the story of the play.

The story, from the instruction booklet:

Story: The Legend of Mario Land Mario™ and Luigi, Wario™ and Peach, DK and Yoshi® all gathered in speech. Sharing their wishes for all they had seen, saying "Let's make a world built on all of our dreams!" Combining their talents, they sweated and strained, completing that world, Mario Land by name...

Alas, but Wario stepped forth and said, "This world should be named for a Super Star, instead. Wario Land is a far better name!" And so they all argued the depth of their fame, "Peach Land is better!" And "My name is best!" Toad could not believe the words of the rest!

But as they debated who was more grand Bowser invaded that Mario Land!!! "There's no time to argue and no time to fight! "The task is before us," Toad said with a fright, "This land shall be named for the Super Star who defeats evil Bowser and saves us all, too!"

So Mario and friends took on this new quest, to defeat the King Koopa and prove who's the best! They went deep into space, met ghosts and pirates, but always on Bowser their keen sights were set. No adventure more trying, no reward more grand... So speaks the legend of Mario Land!

One day Mario and friends (save for Wario) decide to create a new world. They name this new world Mario Land. But Wario is unhappy with that name, and introduces his own name; Wario Land. Thanks to Wario, an argument breaks out on what to call this new world. Peach suddenly interrupts the group claiming she has a name they can all agree on. She reveals her name to be Peach Land and the characters double over in irony. As the group continues to argue, a sinister event is taking place on the other side of the unnamed world.

Bowser has set his sights on this new land, and quickly begins invading it for himself because the group is still arguing. A lone Koopa Troopa sees his invasion and then arrives to warn the group about Bowser's plans. However, since they are fighting they do not hear him. Toad then gets everyone's attention by saying whoever can beat Bowser will have the new land named after them. The cast quickly runs off to defeat Bowser and claim their prize.

The story then takes the characters across six lands ending in Bowser Land. Bowser meets the group in a showdown showing his Metal Bowser power up and claims he is invincible. The character (depending on who won the board) then fights Bowser and with the power of the stars, is able to throw him into orbit.

The game then resumes to the stage format with Mario and friends triumphantly standing over a defeated Bowser. Toad exclaims that they live in peace in the new Mario Land (which does not change depending on the character). The curtain falls and each character comes out for one final bow, followed by the whole cast.

Playable characters
Mario Party 2 features six playable characters, the same amount as its predecessor. This is the only Mario Party game where characters dress according to the theme of the board.

Items
Items can be bought at item shops. The offer of the shop varies with the number of turns played and the current rank of the player. Items are also procured by playing item minigames.

A player can only hold one item at a time here. In the future installments, more items can be held, usually 3. In Bowser Land, there is a shop run by Koopa Kid, who will force the player who passed in front of it to buy an item on his choice at a higher price. It can be Mushroom for 12 coins, Skeleton Key for 12 coins, Warp Block for 17 coins, or Bowser Suit and Bowser Bomb (which are usually unobtainable via shopping) for 12 coins each.

Boards
Some of Mario Party 2's boards reference the original game's boards; for example, Mystery Land uses the gimmick that Wario's Battle Canyon has, and Horror Land uses the gimmick first seen in DK's Jungle Adventure. Also, Horror Land's main gimmick, the day-and-night system, would later become the foundation of Mario Party 6.

Mini-Game Land
Here players can buy minigames from Woody to play them. They can play freely or in the Mini-Game Stadium. The player can also participate in the Mini-Game Coaster, which can unlock Item and Battle minigames in the Free Play mode.

Japanese vs. international
The Japanese ending of Western Land includes the winner and Bowser battling with revolvers while there is an orange streak of light in the background. In the international version, the revolvers are replaced with toy guns instead while the orange streak of light is changed to purple, and the guns make a toy-like sound when fired rather than the realistic gunshot sounds from the Japanese version.

Reception
Mario Party 2 received mostly positive reviews from critics. It was praised for its additions to the original game's foundation and generally considered a moderate improvement. This praise, however was somewhat offset by the unchanged formula from the first game - in particular, the somewhat important factor of luck and lack of enjoyment playing alone.

GameSpot gave the game a 7.8/10, stating that it has much more replay value than the previous game, and that the minigames are much less annoying. IGN rated the game 7.9/10 (the same score they gave the first game), saying that while the game had more content, and it "sticks with the same winning formula...there really isn't enough new here to warrant another purchase."

Nintendo of America sent the gaming magazine a sarcastic certificate over the publication's negative review of Mario Party 2 and its predecessor.

Sales
Mario Party 2 is the 20th best selling game for the Nintendo 64, having sold 2.5 million copies worldwide: 1.27 million in North America, 1.07 million in Japan, and 160,000 elsewhere, as of December 31, 2009.

Game Director

 * Kenji Kikuchi

Programmers: Mini-Games

 * Isao Kobayashi
 * Hiroyuki Makabe
 * Satoshi Ezaki
 * Atsuko Koike
 * Yoshikazu Kita
 * Yukio Ohde
 * Akira Matsumoto
 * Norifumi Hira
 * Kazuhiko Hagihara
 * Tetsuma Yoshida
 * Hidekazu Matsunouchi
 * Norio Suzuki
 * Tomohiko Shiraishi

Music

 * Hironao Yamamoto
 * Syohei Bando
 * Kazuhiko Sawaguchi
 * Yasunori Mitsuda

NTSC vs. PAL
Exclusive to the PAL version is a language select, which allows the game to be played in English, European French, German, Italian, or Castilian Spanish. The screen first appears when turning on the game for the first time. can be held down before turning on the console to force the screen to appear after the first time.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros.: The endgame riddle for Mystery Land and both of its answers referenced Bowser's development process in the making of the game.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3: The jingle that plays when a single player completes a minigame is an arrangement of this game's Stage Clear theme. In addition, similar to that game, the premise of the plot is implied to be a stage production.
 * Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins: Wario attempting to name Mario Land "Wario Land", and the ensuing fight, may have been an indirect reference to Wario capturing another Mario Land in that game.
 * Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 / Virtual Boy Wario Land: In Mystery Land, Wario wears a pith helmet just like he does in those games.
 * Mario's Picross: In Mystery Land, Mario wears an archaeologist outfit just like he does in this game.
 * Super Mario 64: Part of the track "The Blue Skies Yonder" uses the first few notes of "Slider" from this game. Also, in the ending scene for the Bowser Land map, Bowser becomes metallic as if he obtained a Metal Cap and Mario and his friends, after being powered up by the Power Stars, defeat Bowser the same way as when Mario himself fights him in this game.
 * Mario Kart 64: The voice clips for Luigi, Peach, Toad, and Wario are reused from the Japanese version of this game.
 * Mario Party: Many aspects of this game are re-used, such as certain minigames and the characters' voice clips. Additionally, a lot of the songs are remixes of music from this game.
 * Super Smash Bros.: In some mini-games, if Luigi loses, he performs a pose similar to his taunt.

References in later games

 * Mario Party 3: The character mugshots of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, and Donkey Kong were reused for this game.
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Yoshi in his Pirate Land costume appears as a collectible sticker.
 * Mario Party: The Top 100: Thirteen minigames from Mario Party 2 return in this game, along with four others in their original Mario Party format.

Trivia

 * Despite this piece of official artwork showing all the characters wearing an outfit for a specific board during minigames, characters only wear their regular outfits in all mini-games, except Duel mini-games.
 * When choosing Bowser Land, when selecting 2 players, it will say "3 Computer Characters" instead of 2.
 * Mario Party 2 is the first Mario game to be officially translated to Spanish and Italian.
 * Luigi and Yoshi, usually green and blue respectively, often switch colors, such as in Bumper Balls. In later games, Luigi was assigned blue and Yoshi green, until character-specific color coding was dropped entirely in Mario Party 7.