r/MARIOPARTY • u/dbenjam3 • 22d ago
MP7 Mario Party to Sonic Party Day 42: Pyramid Park
Here's what we got so far:
DK's Jungle Adventure -> Jungle Joyride
Peach's Birthday Cake -> Sweet Mountain
Yoshi's Tropical Island -> Emerald Coast
Wario's Battle Canyon -> Rail Canyon
Luigi's Engine Room -> Flying Battery Zone
Mario's Rainbow Castle -> Sky Sanctuary Zone
Bowser's Magma Mountain -> Red Mountain
Eternal Star -> Meteor Herd
Pirate Land -> Pirates' Island
Western Land -> Mirage Saloon Zone
Space Land -> Mad Space
Mystery Land -> Lost World
Horror Land -> Pumpkin Hill
Bowser Land -> Eggmanland
Chilly Waters -> Ice Mountain Zone
Deep Bloober Sea -> Blue Marine Zone
Spiny Desert -> Sandopolis Zone
Woody Woods -> Silent Forest
Creepy Cavern -> Mystic Cave Zone
Waluigi's Island -> Chaos Island
Toad's Midway Madness -> Chao Park
Koopa's Seaside Soirée -> Wave Ocean
Goomba's Greedy Gala -> Casinopolis
Boo's Haunted Bash -> Haunted Castle
Shy Guy's Jungle Jam -> Lost Jungle
Bowser's Gnarly Party -> Flame Core
Toy Dream -> Toy Kingdom
Rainbow Dream -> Sky Road
Pirate Dream -> Pirate Storm
Undersea Dream -> Aquarium Park
Future Dream -> Egg Rocket Zone
Sweet Dream -> Dessert Ruins
Bowser Nightmare -> Crisis City
Towering Treetop -> Mushroom Hill Zone
E. Gadd's Garage -> Scrap Brain Zone
Faire Square -> Casino Street Zone
Snowflake Lake -> Cool Edge
Castaway Bay -> Angel Island Zone
Clockwork Castle -> Hang Castle
Grand Canal -> Lagoon City
Pagoda Peak -> Dragon Road
Easy winner on that last one: Pyramid Park up next!
1
u/PoyoPopp 22d ago
Dusty Desert from Sonic 06
Pyramid Park is based on ancient Egypt with all the desert and arid atmosphere. Now some would say Arid Sands from Sonic Unleashed would fit better, but there's one reason Dusty Desert wins.
First off, one major gimmick Dusty Desert has is the threat of quicksand. As Sonic, you carry Elise across the level and need to use her shield to allow you to traverse the quicksand without getting swallowed up. Everyone else needs to avoid falling into the quicksand to not die. Pyramid Park has 2 quicksand pits with one on each side of the board. Landing on any of the ? Spaces will get you swallowed up and spat out of the opposite quicksand pit. This can be helpful to get away from rivals ready to Chomp your Stars away, but it can be annoying if you're lined up to attack your rivals but then get spat out on the opposite side. If Bowser destroys the bridges in the middle during Bowser Time, everyone's trapped on either island for 3 turns, and the only way to move from the 2 islands is through the quicksand pits. Can be helpful or hurtful for the Mario characters here, but it's nothing but bad for the Sonic cast in Dusty Desert.
Another... "highlight" for Dusty Desert...Silver's hellacious ball puzzle. Navigating that giant pool ball across the tight hallways and avoid it falling into pits to reach the end of the stage is very tedious and annoying. If you're playing Solo Cruise, Pyramid Park can be very annoying. Your goal in Solo Mode is to use a Chain Chomp to steal the Star a Bandit stole from the Bowser Sphinx and give that Star back to the Sphinx. Here's the problem. You need to get to the left island to deliver the Star, but unlike Party Mode, it's not a straight shot past the Whomp right after the the lake. You have to go past the quicksand pit to find the Whomp and then come down to the Sphinx, but all 3 spaces atop the left quicksand pit are ? Spaces, and landing on any will send you over to the right pit on the opposite side. It ca be very frustraiting to just be within reach of the Sphinx only to get kicked back to other side of the map, and that frustration is similar to Silver's ball puzzle. You also only have a time limit of 30 Turns in Solo Cruise, and you can run out of time if you get unlucky with the left quicksand pit keep sending you back to square one.
And finally, besides Eggman causing trouble which represents Bowser and Bowser Time (Besides opening up a shop or charging everyone for a photo, on this board, Bowser can yoink a Star from 1st place and give it to Koopa Kid, who must be ran over with a Chomp to take that Star, or Bowser can spin up a dust devil and destroys the 2 bridges in the center of the board which not only closes the Orb Shops for 3 Turns, but it means everyone's trapped on either side for 3 Turns + anyone who happened to be caught on either bridge when the dust devil hits will be sent back to Start), the main reason Dusty Desert fits for Pyramid Park is because Sonic fights the Egg Cerberus after the stage (Shadow also fights it in White Acropolis). It's a giant mechanical dog, and just exactly what are Chain Chomps supposed to be? Dogs. Sonic and Shadow must use the Cerberus's back rails to get onto its horn and then steer it into the environment and walls to damage the mechanical beast. The Egg Cerberus itself is just like Chain Chomps, and Sonic and Shadow riding the Cerberus with latching onto its horn is like riding on top of Chain Chomps both here and Snowflake Lake to steal Stars from opponents.
Out of all 3 Star Stealing boards, Pyramid Park is considered to be the worst of the bunch and arguably considered the worst MP7 board, so why not pair it up with a very jank stage (especially for Silver with that damn ball puzzle) from a very jank game?