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> Results: Mario Party Advance
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Mario Party makes its way onto the Gameboy Advance in this new summer offering from Nintendo. The Mario Party line started off with a bang on the Nintendo 64. Rather than one huge game, the game plays like a board game broken into many short mini games. The title was an instant hit (enough to physically wear holes in gamers' hands) and there have been numerous sequels using a similar formula. The latest edition is portable and has a main story mode that turns the board game aspects into sort of a mini role-playing game. There are still many mini games to unlock and enjoy, and the Game Boy's spawning capabilities are used so that two players can play mini games against one another. A large paper map is included in the game box for those wishing to experience traditional Mario Party board game gameplay.
The heart of the game is the story mode. Starting as one of four characters (Mario, Luigi, Peach, or Yoshi) you move around a game map by rolling a die, which costs a mushroom. You start with just a few mushrooms available, but can play a mini game every three turns to earn three extra mushrooms. Thus, if you never lose a minigame, you can wander indefinitely. Anytime you pass a location, you may enter it. Locations will provide you with a short movie and give you a challenge. Challenges are either a fetch and return quest or an immediate mini game challenge against the occupant of that location. Win the challenge or finish the quest and you receive a gadget. As you win gadgets, you may use them in a separate game menu. Gadgets are fun little things that are either a very simple game like slot baseball or a little utility like an hourglass timer. There are over 30 gadgets to collect. Collect them all to finish the main story mode. In addition to the regular spots on the story board, some cause you to lose a turn, others let you re-roll the die to move further, and a third type challenges you to a mini game worth two extra mushrooms if you win. Not every quest is available at the start of the game, and more are revealed as you collect more gadgets. You may leave the world and return as another character (you lose any extra saved turns). It is actually a requirement since a few of the quests are only available to specific characters.  For those familiar with the Wario Ware games, those are comparable to some of the more game-oriented gadgets found in this game. Mario Party Advance mini games are more involved, typically taking 20 to 30 seconds to play, rather than the four or five seconds found in a Wario Ware micro game. Examples include a Dr. Mario-style puzzle game, various forms of obstacle course racing, a fishing game, or a flying game based around a giant slingshot. These mini games award success based on correct technique rather than focus on quick reaction times. There are many different modes available for multiplayer. Many of the mini games and several of the gadgets can be played as two or even four-player, cleverly designed so that they can be played on a single GBA. You can also download specific mini games or gadgets into another Game Boy using the link cable. For those with access to multiple cartridges and multiple Game Boys, there is a special penguin race for up to four players. Up to 100 players can compete in special battle and attack modes for the single-player mini games. The winner is whoever sets and keeps a high score or the player who wins the minigame the most times in a row. Finally, old-fashioned Mario Party game play is also available via a fold-out game map provided in the box. Up to four players cut out little playing pieces and place them on the game board. All the die rolling and minigames are managed by the videogame. It is a great feature to have, but it would have been even better to include the standard Mario Party game board right in the cartridge, so one doesn't have to carry around the special playing map just to play the game. As this is one of my favorite parts of the original games in the series, I find it annoying, since it shouldn't be too hard to add in a game board to recreate the style of the console games.  With a cartridge that is chock full of short game playing goodness, Mario Party Advance is a good buy for anyone looking for light, easy to play entertainment. It is an excellent choice for younger players, or those looking for easy multiplayer games. Unfortunately, the easy difficulty means more mature gamers will find the single player opportunities lacking. Other than the fairly easy story mode, there are only a few challenges available to play against the computer. This is a recommended purchase for families with fewer Game Boys than players, but recommended with reservations for those who don't think they can take advantage of the many multiplayer modes. 
Not much to fear here, as the game is full of short mini games playable with the Mario crew. There aren't even any of those mildly childish "nose-picking" type games found in the Wario Ware series. The only issue that might arise is the half a dozen games based around gambling. For some reason, the developers decided that players could earn coins to purchase special items through gambling. One or two are somewhat strategic puzzle things, but the others are similar to timing a slot machine or one of those arcade games where a light whizzes around a circle and you need to stop it at a certain point.
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