Mario Party 7

Ah yes, Mario Party 7. It was my first ever Mario Party, and happened to be the last Mario Party on the gamecube. I remember vividly that people strongly disliked it when it first came out, which makes a lot of sense in retrospect. It definitely lacked the number of mini games from its predecessor, Mario Party 6, which I believe has the most mini games of any Mario Party, and is widely considered the best Mario Party of all time. One could also argue that the boards were certainly not as diverse as even Mario Party 5 another Mario Party that is deemed to be the second or third best of all time. So next to those two giants, it was very difficult for MP7 to compete, and understandably so. But to make matters worse, you had MP1,2,3, the games that introduced the franchise, with 2 also arguably being top 1 or 2, and then 4, the first mario party with Gamecube graphics that became monumental in its own right. At the end the day, this game had it rough, and like i said, I understood the criticism then. However, in my personal opinion, and even during this time period, I'd still put Mario Party 7 above 1,2,3 and 4. Partly because I've never played 1,2, or 3, so I can't accurately judge them. With 4 though, I personally believe it has a lackluster gameboard and diversity of items, and that gameplay is sort of..slow. I can almost guarantee though that most people who played the first Mario Parties are definitely putting Mario Party 7 at bottom three, if not the worst game on their list, which is fair. I say FUCK EM. Because now that it's 2026, and we have had 11 additional Mario partys since its release, it's easy to see that Mario Party 7 is top tier comparatively to the literal dogshit garbage they have been releasing for the last decade plus, (The exception being Mario Party for DS in 2007). Sure, it made sense for this game to get lashings early but just like wine, or artists that finally get the respect after death, I genuinely believe this game has now most certainly landed in people's top 10 list and arguably top 5. I know it has for me. For one, the art style of the characters, music and feel of the game resembles that of 5 and 6 even if it isn't 5 or 6. It makes you feel like you did when you first discovered the franchise, and just seems, right. Can monty mole on the new Mario Party Jamboree on Switch make you feel this way? Didn't think so! And it's like, sure, there are less mini games but they are still super engaging and in my opinion some of the best and memorable of any MP to date. One that comes to mind is "fun run" where you have to reach the finish line as fast as possible as you dodge a bunch of obstacles, or pokey pummel, where you have to spam A to see who can kill a pokey the fastest, and of course the iconic Bubble Brawl, which was posted on the back of the physical game's original case, and a game that two people could win despite being a 1v4 minigame (you'd just need to camp in the bubble after and wait for the timer to run out after pushing out the two opposing teammates.) The idea of teams is also a super unique aspect that I think makes the experience of the board potentially more enjoyable than Mario Party 6 - the fact that you can go space to space as one unit, where one teammate will be following the other. This small yet significant element makes one feel like they are truly in a situation together rather than on the board alone. I will also add, Mario Party 7 was the first and only game to my knowledge, to have a gaming accessory of a literal mic come with it, as well as a subsequent space on the gameboard, called mic mode. I rarely if ever had this mic set up when playing back in the day - I remember actively skipping those spaces, causing Dr. toadsworth to come out automatically to make the famous "UMM" sound effect before despawning. Nonetheless though, the concept of having this mode in the game is yet another reason this game is goated. The only reason I'm deducting a few points is because this game is not Mario Party 6, the best of the franchise for multiple objective and psychological factors based on the covers art style (more on that later). But honestly, I could see myself putting it over 5 on a good day.