Ah, Mario Party – a series full of bright colours, charming characters and absolute, rage-inducing gameplay that can make even the strongest of friendships end in tatters.
Lots has been said about the series’ dice rolls in the past, with some players believing that you must have some control over the rolls you make, others thinking it’s probably random, and some going as far as to suggest it’s likely rigged. When you consider the importance of each roll – higher numbers tend to offer better opportunities for board progression – it’s quite surprising that we still know so little about how it all actually works.
That is, until now. The folks over at DidYouKnowGaming? have explored each and every Mario Party title to determine once and for all how the dice roll is calculated. In the video below, the team presents their results after testing the original game on N64 right through to Super Mario Party on Switch, looking ultra-closely at gameplay footage frame-by-frame and consulting speedrunning experts for their advice and thoughts on the matter.
As you can see, it appears that each and every game in the series, no matter how the dice rolls are presented on screen, does not allow the player to influence the dice roll in any way whatsoever. In some cases, the roll is already pre-determined before you even hit the thing, while in others you’re simply receiving a random number, no matter how well you try and time your hit.
It was perhaps to be expected, but next time you have a Mario Party dice rolling around above your character’s head, finding yourself trying to time a perfect strike to get a lovely ’10’, don’t waste your time.
