Genre: Party
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Publisher: Nintendo

Let's just say that it's very cartoonish. If you turned on Pokemon and started watching it, it'd look much like the game. You wouldn't want to see a very detailed Pikachu, you wouldn't even recognize him, and none of Nintendo's games are ever very detailed, so this is normal. The backgrounds are just as cartoonish as the characters, which is still not that bad considering that it fits the Nintendo cartoonish theme. Still, Nintendo did not use the technology available to make the game the best it could be.

The sound definitely fits the game. Although the game isn't really a fighter, the music is more fighter-ish. If you were to put it into Dead or Alive 3, it may actually fit. The sound effects are typical, if you kick someone, there's a thud, or if you get hit, there's a grunting noise. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The gameplay is kind of pathetic. I got my button-masher's wish come true, but I almost wish it hadn't. First of all, let me say that this isn't a fighter, although it tries to be one. There are no combos or counters, you just run around the board trying to hit everyone. Not to mention the final boss- what's with the hand? I outgrew Disney about a decade ago. I never played the original, so I didn't know this until now, but the gameplay is directed towards kids under 10 to get ready for real fighting games. This is not something a mature teen or adult would want to play, not in their right mind at least. I was nice with the score.

The game is fun for only one purpose- beating the people who are good at real fighting games, since they're probably not good at this game because of it. Playing against anyone else or the CPU, this game isn't fun. It's meant for the people who actually watch Pokemon, or who played the Mario games. It's a lot more sparkly and bright, to keep the kids attention, especially the special moves. People with really short attention spans would like this game. This whole game, the graphics, sound, gameplay, was all created for a child or diehard Nintendo fan. Rent it before you buy it.

Genre: Party
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Publisher: Nintendo

Whether intentionally or not, this game really lacks texture and any sort of tactile feel. The player models are nothing special either, and game could sorely use some polish and a few special effects, as this title looks like a higher-resolution version of the original N64 title.

For each character there's at least one song pertaining to that him or her, and the music is also orchestrated at the highest quality, making this game worth it to an avid video game music collector just for the sound track. The sound effects are pretty ho-hum, average quality, and generally take a back seat to the music, which isn't a bad thing at all.

Essentially, the gameplay feels like total anarchy and randomness, with characters bouncing all over the screen wildly flailing their attacks about. The controls are very simple, and each character only has a couple moves that can be performed, making this more of a match in luck and reflexes than anything else. You collect trophies for beating the game with the different characters and accomplishing objectives, and as you progress, you unlock a number of other classic Nintendo protagonists and antagonists. The levels are well-designed, and dynamically change as you play. There's a lot to do here, but like the original, the gameplay mechanics are sorely lacking depth.

This game is a lot like Marvel vs. Capcom, except not as deep: each character can only do a small handful of moves, and the pace is so fast that each match inherently ends up in a "let's jump around the board and mash buttons" affair, because that's exactly what the gameplay is. There are a lot of play modes, and most if not all of Nintendo's old characters are present. By the same token however, were it not for all the classic Nintendo content, and this game was made up of new characters that people were unfamiliar with, it would hardly warrant a second look. All in all, this is the best party game I've ever played, but given how fond I am of that genre, this isn't really a compliment.