So my mom recently said she has more time off from work so she wants to play some games like we used to in the old days on the SNES/N64.

I know she really likes mario party, we played 1-2-3 alot on the N64. My question is, shall i look for one of the older titles or shall i just buy MP8? I know people said mp8 doesn't live up to the classics (7-6-5 also didn't) but is it that bad? 

it have sold more than Zelda, that must be a good sign

 no it actually doesn't give any signal really.. =P

MP8 is all right. Some games have good motion control/pointing, whereas others aren't good. Oh, and you have to push the wiimote up to hit the duce every time. I had non-gamers play it with me, and they enjoyed it very much. For me, it was all right. I think she would probably like it better then the gamecube ones. If you can find it for $30 or less, I'd say go for it.

MP8 is much better than MP5,6 and 7 but still much worse than MP4.

But it's far from bad, it's (IMO) the best mini-game collection on the Wii.. too bad it doesn't support 16:9 and 480p.

MP8 was criticized not for being worse than its predecessors, but for not being enough of an improvement over them.

MP8 rates in the top 3 of the series. Only the wonky presentation bugs me.

I love how they boards aren't all just "buy a star for 20 coins". They have various objectives and strategy (especially Koopa’s Tycoon Town...I love that stage) while maintaining the casual accessibility to please just about anyone willing to give a real chance.

I say wait for MP9, which will hopefuly be a much improved version of 8, in the meantime pick up one of the gamecube ones. I enjoyed 5, 6, and 7, 4 was only so-so IMO.

Mario Party 2 was and probably always will be the best.

if she really wants it the old way, get the first ones