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Mario Party 4
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 27 votes
Read user comments
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Game Info
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Hudson Soft
Genre(s): Party, Puzzle
Players: 4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Release Date: October 21, 2002
Summary
Mario Party 4 is the wildest multiplayer get-together Nintendo has ever thrown. Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and an all-star cast of Mushroom Kingdom regulars have been invited, and there's never a dull moment as one to four players compete in 50 all-new minigames. With varied styles of play including racing, target shooting and games of chance, Mario Party 4 gives partygoers more reasons -- and ways -- to celebrate. [Nintendo]
Also On Metacritic
GAMES: Mario Party Mario Party 3 Mario Party 6
Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central
Also On The Web: Official Website
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
TotalGames.net
Does exactly what it sets out to do, and as such it comes highly recommended to anyone with more than one controller to their name.
Read Full Review >Nintendo Power
The minigames are just as goofy as ever, with only one or two clunkers amid dozens of fun challenges. [Nov 2002, p.218]
Cinescape
A lot of fun, and definitely worthwhile if you have a lot of friends. For solitary gameplay though, you might want to pass this one up.
Read Full Review >Electronic Gaming Monthly
It's kind of a letdown that the only major difference in MP4 is the sharp GameCube visuals. [Jan 2003, p.187]
GameNow
As a single player game, it's kinda boring. [Jan 2003, p.59]
Play Magazine
Though the mini-games are all new, things haven't changed much from the previous entries. [Dec 2002, p.82]
Armchair Empire
If your house is party central, you can’t go wrong with Mario Party 4. It’s got everything the previous games had (plus more) to keep GROUPS of two or more happily playing.
Read Full Review >GameSpy
With four-players in tow, it's a total blast, but for those that are looking for some solid, non-anger-inducing solo play, you'd do well to swerve away from this one for sure.
Read Full Review >Game Over Online
The best game in the series yet. But that isn’t saying a whole lot when you consider that the sequels have always felt more like continuations than they did actual sequels.
Read Full Review >GameSpot
While more accomplished gamers may find some of the minigames too simplistic, this accessibility ensures that Mario's party is one that just about anyone can enjoy.
Read Full Review >netjak
The designers didn’t make the modifications to make this more than an N64 game with a different controller, and the changes that were made hurt the game rather than help it, for the most part.
Read Full Review >Total Video Games
There’s no doubt that this is an absolutely great game for multiplayer, but we’re upset that HAL didn’t really put their all in with the visuals or on making a more streamlined game.
Read Full Review >NintendoWorldReport
There are extra little features that make Mario Party 4 the best of the bunch, but nothing that makes it soar above the rest.
Read Full Review >Nintendojo
While some mistakes were made in the making of this game, not enough were made to make it bad.
Read Full Review >Yahoo! Games
It's worth noting if you've still got your N64 hooked up, there's not enough new and exciting here to make it worth the purchase.
Read Full Review >IGN
Outside of... basic upgrades, there's nothing new about Mario Party 4... An absolute must-rent if you have a few friends over for the weekend.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
The formula is getting just a little stale. [29 Nov 2002, p.114]
All Game Guide
The GameCube version is, not surprisingly, the best looking of the four games, but it’s not the huge leap in visual quality it could have been given the dramatic improvement in technology.
Read Full Review >G4 TV
Its strength is that it gives fans exactly what they expect. But the whole concept is getting a little long in the tooth.
Read Full Review >Game Revolution
Really meant for four players and is simply a game you either love or hate.
Read Full Review >Eurogamer
The mini-games have different faces but they play ostensibly the same, and even with the visuals buffed to a sparkle the overall effect is very much ‘more of the same’.
Read Full Review >Gaming Age
Another flaw with the game is it's lack of A.I. I'm not talking about the computer controlled characters, but rather the unfairness that occurs throughout any standard 4 player match.
Read Full Review >Ferrago
Mario Party though is not a particularly good game and it's up against much better titles like "Super Monkey Ball" that manages to bridge this age gap by having inspired game play and a quirky feel. Most Nintendo games have this quality but it is sadly missing here.
Read Full Review >Game Informer
If anything, the game did show me how much torment I can put up with before breaking down, sobbing, and pleading to make it stop. [Dec 2002, p.125]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this game is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 27 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jack H gave it an8:
Believe it or not (most probably do believe it), the Mario Party series gets progressively worse with each new game. Mario Party 4 was my first Mario Party game, and therefore my favorite. See how it works? If you played the first Mario Party, then you probably think this game sucks, and rightfully so. Personally, I think Mario Party 5 is alright, Mario Party 6 is bad, Mario Party 7 is awful, and Mario Party 8 (which I do not own, thank god) probably deserves the scrap heap. The final boss battle in MP4 is great (although it has nothing to do with the concept of the game), and it took me awhile to defeat Bowser on his big cube that's floating in who knows where.
Solomon R. gave it a6:
It's not a bad game but doing story mode with all the characters can take very very long, mario party 2 was maybe a better game than this.
Chrisyo V. gave it an8:
Good game... difficult sometimes, but best mario party of 4,5,6,7.
April B. gave it a3:
This game sucks! You can not change the board Its a flat boring board the other parties have much nicer boards. Do not buy this game buy 5 6 or 7 instead.
Brendan O. gave it a7:
It's not too bad..quite fun..but I'd definitely say that that Mario Party 2 on the N64 is by far the best!
Barbara B. gave it a 9:
I enjoy this single or multi player mode ... some of the mini-games are awful for the vision impaired but some are just a lot of fun.
Ni Jones gave it a 7:
It's a nice piece of gaming. Unfortunately some of the games are a little tedious. I've been given booksquirm TOO many times on single player games...*dies* The boards are really good fun though and the basement games are really silly and better than most of the N64 version games. People are too critical giving a game like this 0!
