Those who know me personally will attest there are two things I’ve grown to lament over the years: tedious work and the Mario Party series. For me these two elements haven’t sat well since Nintendo’s trademark “board game" passed its prime in the GameCube days. The star-studded party game-of-choice for many more often left me frustrated than satisfied, where any roll of the dice can make, break, or simply cause calamity to all involved. I absolutely hated the fact that having the highest of mini-stars during a game should not only guarantee victory but ultimately serve as a sobering reminder of how your losses were due as much to random circumstance than a lack of skill.

Mario Party 9, the first new entry in the series in half a decade, not only manages to rectify many of my long-standing gripes, it somehow makes the experience - dare I say - enjoyable once again. That's not to say that Nintendo has completely abandoned their random roots and the series' staple of haphazardness (they haven't), but for all the ways this latest party seems to desperately cling to the rambunctious past, it does seem the five-year hiatus did pay off for Nintendo (and developer Nd Cube). It’s aggravating and yet somehow entertaining. It's Mario Party all over again.

This might sound a bit hypocritical, as on its happy, star-studded surface its still much the same game we've played before: the goal being to cruise around a game board to see who can nab the most stars by pure luck or competing in a number of mini-game challenges that range from action, puzzles, and other memorization-oriented varieties. Nintendo's familiar faces are here and ready to party hardy, and The Big N promises a whopping 80 all-new mini-games here (and I'm not about to argue with their math). Most require at least a basic understanding of how a Wii Remote works but much of glee and/or woe involves just by whatever happens when you and you’re buddies get into it.

The mechanics of traversing the colorful boards are much the same, but changed for the better. No longer are you repeatedly hopping around the same space with abandon; instead you and your opponent share the same transportation and travel together from point A to point B. This simple change effectively streamlines the process and pacing while keeping players on their toes strategically. Thinking ahead aggressively is more important than ever and provides some much-needed strategy (and balance) when taking an unknown chance - or orchestrating another player's future - at the critical toss of the dice.

More welcome additions are the inclusion of boss and event battles that manage to sprinkle in an uneasy level of cooperation. When triggered you’ll have to rely on your former rivals in order to advance with slightly less random reward or consequences involved. Sure, the occasional 'accident' will happen (whoops), but these moments feel more bearable this time around and maniacally fun in their own way.

Speaking of bizarre accidents, good luck blaming your misfortunes on the controls. Compared to Mario Party 8’s harmful embrace of unnecessary gestures, this entry wisely maps the whole experience to traditional (NES/horizontal) and pointer-based controls. The results are mini-games that are far easier to pick up and have fun playing, especially now that CPU-controlled characters don’t have to muck up the fun if you and another friend want to go it alone.

Presentation-wise, Mario Party 9 gets the standard updated treatment in visuals and audio to match Nintendo’s recent creative masterpieces, especially now that we're living in this post Mario Galaxy-world. Previous Mario Party titles always had an off-brand look that was hard to ignore but that's not the case here as everything from the characters to the themed locations get a nice visual bump in quality. Even the music fits within Nintendo's now-typical (and very welcome) requirements of mixing in orchestrated fare with choice MIDI cuts.

Like its predecessors, if you’re going to play Mario Party 9 to the fullest you’d better have a room of easygoing friends along for the ride (there’s no online play and the Solo mode is abysmally dull). True, its still fundamentally the same experience as those before it, but the intervening five years have brought significantly tightened gameplay, better presentation, and a more balanced experience that rewards smart (and malicious) strategy. Perhaps it’s all for the best as only two types will likely forgive its irksome nature: anybody under the age of 13 and casual gamers willing to knock back a few choice beverages and go along with inebriated abandon. Admittedly, the booze probably helped, but I suppose cheerfully embracing the unpredictable is the point of most parties anyway.