Each turn in Mario Party 2 is followed by a minigame, which is competed to earn coins for the character, used to buy items and stars.

The skill level of the computer-controlled characters can be individually adjusted between "Easy", "Medium", or "Hard".

Stars must be purchased from Toad with coins, which can be earned through a selection from one of 65 mini-games that is played once at the end of each turn.

[9] Some blue spaces have hidden blocks that reward extra coins or even a star to the player who lands on them.

[10] Items can be purchased from shops on the board or won from special single-player mini-games initiated by landing on green spaces marked with a treasure chest.

When this occurs, Bowser will hit three dice blocks and move the total number of spaces shown.

Players that have landed on a green space will be randomly assigned to "blue" or "red" status before the mini-game is selected.

[8] During the final five turns of a game, a one-on-one Duel mini-game is initiated when a player lands on the same space as another.

If two or more characters have acquired the same amount of coins and Stars, the winner will be determined with a roll of the dice block.

Coins can be used to purchase mini-games from the tree Woody, which can then be played at any time outside of normal board games.

In the Mini-Game Stadium, four players compete on a special board map consisting only of blue and red spaces.

The winner of Mini-Game Stadium is determined by whoever accumulates the highest number of coins by the completion of the allotted turns.

[13] Development was underway as of July 1999, several months after the release of the original Mario Party game.

[23][24] Shortly before its U.S. release, Nintendo donated copies of the game to the Latin American Youth Center.

[25] In Japan, Mario Party 2 was re-released in November 2010, as a downloadable Virtual Console game for the Wii.

[26][27][28] In North America, Mario Party 2 was re-released as a Virtual Console game for the Wii U on December 22, 2016.

[37][41] Scott Alan Marriott of AllGame wrote that Mario Party 2 "does what a sequel is supposed to do: address the original's shortcomings while offering enough enhancements to make even the jaded among us take a second look."

"[38] Peyton Gaudiosi of Gamecenter wrote that playing alone "is as subpar as that in the first game thanks to its repetitive turn-based nature.

"[39] Matt Casamassina of IGN said that while the game had more content, and it "sticks with the same winning formula... there really isn't enough new here to warrant another purchase".

"[20] Corbie Dillard of Nintendo Life stated, "There's just something about the simple fun of Mario Party 2 that makes it so difficult to put down at times", but wrote, "It's definitely a game you'll want to have extra players on hand for, as the game can be a bit tedious sometimes as a solo experience.

[49][50][51][52][53] Nintendo Life listed it as the best Mario Party game, also noting how it is a fan favorite.