Mario Party 9: Is Mario Partying too Hard?

Nintendo announced the newest game in Mario’s partying franchise at E3 2011. Being able to sell 8 games on main consoles (and two others on handheld consoles) is quite a feat, but can Nintendo pull off another Mario Party?

The Mario Party franchise started at the end of 1998 on the Nintendo 64 and was a big hit among families with young children. This game deserved a sequel and even a third game after that, but is it going too far?

Now, do not get me wrong. I have always loved the Mario Party series since it first came out when I was a kid. In fact, I still force my brother and my friends to play them all the time. I have games 1-5. However, it occurred to me that the games started to get worse after 3. They just did not seem to have the same charm that they used to hold. I remember trying out Mario Party 6 when it first came out but did not understand how to work it, especially with the microphone system that Nintendo tried out. Therefore, I must ask if Mario is partying too hard or is Nintendo going to make this game like the original. Here is the E3 trailer of Mario Party 9.

Maybe it is just because the game is in Japanese, but I am a bit confused about this game. In the trailer, it shows the four players in a car together (what is this, Mario Party 9: Road Trip Edition?). Does this imply that the players must work together in order to achieve victory? It just does not seem right since the first game seemed to separate friends and make them fight each other just to get enough coins for a star.

It has been four years since the last Mario Party, so perhaps this game has had more thought to it than the more recently released games. Do you think this series is just being dragged out or will this game be worth more than the money you pay for? We will find out whenever this game comes out on Wii.