No longer content with saving the princess, Nintendo’s Mario has branched out into a multi-genre franchise. Each new addition to the brand name brings incredibly solid and entertaining game play. The two most recent games, Mario Tennis and Mario Party 6 capitalize on Mario’s name recognition and offer a failsafe way to waste time during the cold and snowy winter months. Both games provide hours of entertainment on days and nights when the weather keeps you indoors.

Graphically, both games are highlighted by their excellent visuals and animations. Featuring a colorful palette, the two Gamecube games have an overall bright and cheery atmosphere. Obviously, a Mario game is going to be on the upbeat side and these two certainly deliver on this motif. However, while remaining decidedly light, both Mario Party 6 and Mario Tennis retain a significant degree of amusement for all ages. The fact that this is such a recognizable set of characters broadens the game’s audience to almost anyone.

Mario Party 6 continues and improves upon the long-standing series first debuting on the Nintendo 64 and brings another top-notch multi-player game to the market. The premise is rather simple; four players guide characters pulled from the entire Super Mario Brothers series (Mario, Princess Toadstool, Toad, Yoshi, Wario, etc.) across a game board. Each person competes against other players in a variety of mini games to win coins. In turn, coins can be used to buy stars. At the end of a set number of turns ranging anywhere from ten to fifty, the player with the most stars wins that game. While the game’s premise is admittedly basic, the multi-player aspect along with the plethora of mini games keeps each game unique and highly entertaining.

The core of Mario Party 6 lies in the multitude of mini games present for the players to compete in. Mario Party 6 contains over eighty unique mini games for all four competitors to face off against each other in the battle for coins. Players face off against each other in events ranging from free for all, to two on two teams and finally in three against one situations depending on where their characters are on the game board. While the free for all events are the most exciting, the other combinations remain fun in their own right as well. The games themselves are simple; all of them involve a low degree of complexity in controls, usually needing either a rapid mashing of one button or one action button being used in conjunction with a control stick. Mario Party 6 held to the core elements which made previous incarnations so much fun while improving upon the earlier versions.

The Mario Party series has remained pretty much unchanged through its six incarnations; however, the sixth entry in the series makes a number of significant changes and tweaks to make this a much more interesting and refined game. Nintendo’s biggest change to the series is the addition of day and night segments of each game. Time of day on the board changes every three turns and with this change comes changes in the game as well. Games available during the night are not available during the day and vice versa. Also, obstacles on the board either appear or disappear depending on whether it is day or night. The second change lies in the gameboards themselves. No longer following the simple premise of going around the board until you land on a star space, each board differs in exactly how you can earn those stars. Whether it is a casino level where you must gamble for stars or try and take the stars from your opponent, it has become more difficult and particularized to obtain stars. Both additions add a great new dimension to what may have become a stale series. Mario Party 6, like Mario Tennis offers a great accessible gameplay experience.

Mario Tennis is the Gamecube follow up to the Nintendo 64 game bearing the same name. Camelot Entertainment, developers of Mario Golf also handled this game for Nintendo. Once again, Mario Tennis incorporates a simple premise with tried and true characters to form a game that is both fun and easy to learn.

The core of Mario Tennis is a more graphically complex version of pong; however Mario Tennis offers players much more to keep them entertained. To play, the characters must volley a tennis ball back and forth using a variety of shots (i.e. slams, lobs, etc). Camelot adds to this premise by making use of two types of special “power” shots/attacks. The first shot involves hitting the ball back in such a way as to make it nearly impossible for the player to return it while the second shot allows the player to reach the ball regardless of their proximity to it on the court. Each power shot is unique to the character in terms of effect and corresponding animation and part of the game’s fun lies in seeing all of these shots and finding the right character for each player.

Also added to the basic premise are a variety of different courts and mini games. Each special court has specific and unique challenges, For instance one court involves the absence of random sections of ground. Tennis becomes much more interesting with the worry of the ground falling from beneath you. The mini games are also entertaining and involve events such as hitting different colored tennis balls to paint a picture of Mario or Luigi. All in all, the unique courts and mini games make Mario Tennis an incredibly enjoyable game.

One can never go wrong with a Mario game. Over the years, Nintendo and its subsidiary developers have proven that they know how to make an excellent game. Mario Tennis and Mario Party 6 are worthy additions to the series. With bright visuals, great gameplay and instant accessibility these games are the perfect way to waste time.