Mario Party

This article is about the series. For information of the first game in the series, see Mario Party (video game).

Mario Party

Logo of Mario Party
Genres Party game
Developers Hudson Soft (1998–2007)
Capcom (arcade release)
Nd Cube (2012–present)
Publishers Nintendo
First release Mario Party
December 18, 1998 (December 18, 1998)
Latest release Mario Party: Star Rush
October 7, 2016 (October 7, 2016)
Spin-offs Wii Party

Mario Party (Japanese: マリオパーティ Hepburn: Mario Pāti) is a party video game series featuring Mario franchise characters in which four human- or computer-controlled characters compete in a board game interspersed with minigames. The series was developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo; the arcade version was developed by Capcom. The series is known for its party game elements, including the often-unpredictable multiplayer modes that allow play with up to four (and sometimes eight) human players.

After the development of Mario Party 8, several of Hudson Soft's key designers left to work for Nintendo subsidiary Nd Cube, developers of Wii Party.[1] Starting in 2012 with Mario Party 9, Nd Cube has taken over development of the series from Hudson Soft. The latest title in the series, Mario Party: Star Rush, was released in 2016 for the Nintendo 3DS.

The series currently holds the record for the longest-running minigame series.[2] As of December 2014, Nintendo reported cumulative worldwide sales of 39.6 million game copies in the Mario Party franchise.[3]

Gameplay

Over the course of the Mario Party series, gameplay has changed to suit the technology of the hardware. There are several modes available for play in each game, each of which provides its own rules and challenges.

Party Mode

Every game in the main series has a standard Party Mode in which up to four players play through a board, trying to collect as many stars as possible. In every turn, each player rolls a die and progresses on the board, which usually has branching paths. Coins are primarily earned by performing well in a minigame played at the end of each turn. On most boards, players earn stars by reaching a star space and purchasing a star for a certain amount of coins. The star space appears randomly on one of several pre-determined locations and moves every time a star is purchased, usually occupying a blue space.

Every Mario Party contains at least 50 to 90 minigames with a few different types. Four-player games are a free-for-all in which players compete individually. In 2-on-2 and 1-on-3 minigames, players compete as two groups, cooperating to win, even though they are still competing individually in the main game. Some minigames in Mario Party are 4-player co-op, even though it doesn't say it. In most situations, winners earn ten coins each.

Battle minigames first appeared in Mario Party 2. These games are like the 4-player games, but instead of winners earning ten coins each, each player contributes a randomly selected number of coins (or all coins if the player falls short of the pot amount). The winner of the minigame receives approximately 70% of the pot, the second-place winner receives the other 30%, and a random player occasionally gets coins left over from rounding.

Duel minigames debuted in Mario Party 2, and were omitted in Mario Party 4 (though the Story minigames are all duels), but return again in Mario Party 5. Duel games pit two players against each other. In Party Mode, one player initiates the duel, wagering coins or even a star against another player. The winner of the duel receives all coins or stars wagered. Starting with Mario Party 7, the player no longer chooses the wager in a duel, rather, the duel takes place and the prize to the winner, if any, is randomly determined.

Bowser minigames are introduced in Mario Party 4 in which players try to avoid being burned by Bowser's fire breath if they lose. When that happens, players must give up coins, stars or items. In Mario Party 7, a single-player version of the games were introduced and only one person can play.

Mario Party 9 introduced a new set of minigames entitled Bowser Jr. minigames. Here, Bowser Jr. challenges two players to compete in a minigame with him. If they successfully defeat him, both players will receive five Mini Stars. If not, then Bowser Jr. will take five from each player.

At the end of the game, bonus stars can be awarded to players. Three specific stars are awarded in Mario Party through Mario Party 6. All later games have six possible bonus stars, but only three of those stars are awarded per game. These stars add to the player's overall total.

Minigame Mode

In addition to Party mode, every Mario Party has a minigame mode in which minigames are played without the board game. Minigame modes vary from game to game, but later games have many different variations. In one such example from Mario Party 5, each player tries to fill a board with as many spaces as possible in his or her color by winning minigames. In Mario Party 6 and onward, there is one game in Minigame mode intended for single-player.

Games

Timeline of release years
1998Mario Party
1999Mario Party 2
2000Mario Party 3
2001
2002Mario Party 4
2003Mario Party-e
Mario Party 5
2004Mario Party 6
2005Mario Party Advance
Mario Party 7
2006
2007Mario Party 8
Mario Party DS
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012Mario Party 9
2013Mario Party: Island Tour
2014
2015Mario Party 10
2016Mario Party: Star Rush

Main series

Game Year System MGs Notes
Mario Party 1998 Nintendo 64 53 First entry in the series. Six characters are playable: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach (referred to as Peach), Donkey Kong (referred to as DK), Yoshi, and Wario.
Mario Party 2 1999 Nintendo 64, Wii Virtual Console[4] 65 Introduces items to the series.
Mario Party 3 2000 Nintendo 64 71 Adds Daisy and Waluigi as playable characters. The only game in the Mario Party series to contain duels where two characters can battle each other using main enemies, such as Goombas and Koopa Troopas.
Mario Party 4 2002 GameCube 62 Last game where Donkey Kong can be fully playable until Mario Party 10. Introduces the Team Battle feature to the series.
Mario Party 5 2003 GameCube 75 Released in 2004 to Japanese arcades as Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party (Super Mario: The Mysterious Rolling Party) by Capcom. Donkey Kong is restricted to having a special "DK Space". Koopa Kid, Toad, and Boo are now playable, bringing the total number of playable characters to ten.
Mario Party 6 2004 GameCube 82 First game to make use of GameCube's microphone peripheral, packaged with the game. Adds Toadette as an unlockable playable character, making this the first game in the series to have unlockable characters.
Mario Party 7 2005 GameCube 88 Support for up to eight players with eight-player joystick only game. Continues use of microphone peripheral. Adds Birdo and Dry Bones as unlockable playable characters.
Mario Party 8 2007 Wii 81 Minigames utilize Wii Remote's capabilities. Adds Blooper and Hammer Bro. as unlockable playable characters.
Mario Party 9 2012 Wii 82[5] Introduces two new types of stars called Mini Stars and Mini Ztars.[6] Players do not travel around the board individually but instead in one vehicle. Adds Koopa as a default playable character, and Shy Guy and Kamek (Magikoopa in NA regions) as unlockable playable characters.
Mario Party 10 2015 Wii U 73 Introduces two new modes of play: Bowser Party and Amiibo Party. Adds Rosalina as a default playable character, Spike as an unlockable playable character, Bowser as a playable character (only in Bowser Party and Amiibo Party), and Donkey Kong returns as a playable character for the first time since Mario Party 4.

Other games

Mario Party-e

Mario Party-e is a card game that makes optional use of the Nintendo e-Reader and was released on February 7, 2003. Many of these cards contain "dot-codes" that, when scanned into the e-Reader, allow players to play minigames similar to those found in the regular Mario Party series. The Mario Party-e contains a Play Mat, an instruction book and a pre-constructed deck consisting of sixty-four cards. An extra card was included as a promotion in an issue of GamePro.

Mario Party Advance

Main article: Mario Party Advance

Mario Party Advance was released for the Game Boy Advance on March 28, 2005. It is the first Mario Party game on a handheld gaming system.

Mario Party DS

Main article: Mario Party DS

Mario Party DS was released on November 19, 2007 for the Nintendo DS in North America. Many of the 74 minigames featured utilize the capabilities of the DS's touch screen and microphone, in addition to traditional minigames using the directional pad and control buttons.

Mario Party: Island Tour

Mario Party: Island Tour is an iteration of Mario Party for the Nintendo 3DS that was announced via a Nintendo Direct on April 17, 2013 and was released in North America on November 22, 2013.[7] In addition to traditional controls, many of the game's 82 minigames[8] utilize the touch screen and other unique features of the system. It adds Bowser Jr. as an unlockable playable character.

Mario Party: Star Rush

Mario Party: Star Rush is the second upcoming iteration of Mario Party for the Nintendo 3DS that was announced at Nintendo's Treehouse Live! during Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016.[9] The game will be the first to be Amiibo compatible,[9] and is scheduled for release in Japan, Europe, and Australia in October 2016, and in North America in November 2016.[10]

Characters

Character 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Advance DS Island Tour Star Rush
Birdo Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick1 Green tick Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X TBD
Blooper Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick1 Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X TBD
Boo Red X Red X Red X Green tick3 Green tick2 Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick TBD
Bowser Red X Red X Red X Green tick3 Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick6 Red X Red X Red X TBD
Bowser Jr. Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick1 TBD
Diddy Kong Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick (Cameo) Red X Red X Green tick (Cameo) Red X Green tick
Donkey Kong Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick4 Green tick (Cameo) Green tick (Cameo) Green tick (Cameo) Green tick (Cameo) Green tick Red X Green tick (Cameo) Red X Green tick
Dry Bones Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick1 Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X TBD
Hammer Bro. Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick1 Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X TBD
Kamek7 Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick12 Red X Red X Red X Red X TBD
Koopa Kid8 Red X Red X Red X Green tick3 Green tick2 Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X TBD
Koopa Troopa Red X Red X Red X Green tick3 Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X TBD
Luigi Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick
Mario Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick
Mii Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick5 Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X TBD
Princess Daisy Red X Red X Green tick2 Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X Green tick Green tick TBD
Princess Peach Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick
Rosalina Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Green tick
Shy Guy Red X Red X Red X Green tick3 Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick12 Red X Red X Red X Red X TBD
Spike Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick1 Red X Red X Red X TBD
Toad Red X Red X Red X Green tick3 Green tick2 Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X Green tick Green tick Green tick
Toadette Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick1 Green tick Green tick Red X Green tick1 Red X Red X Red X Green tick
Waluigi Red X Red X Green tick2 Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X Green tick Green tick Green tick
Wario Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X Green tick Green tick Green tick
Yoshi Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick

Notes

  1. ^ Is an unlockable character
  2. ^ Is only playable in Party Mode
  3. ^ Is only playable in the Beach Volley Folley minigame in 4
  4. ^ Is only playable in the Super Duel Mode in 5
  5. ^ Is only playable in the Extra mode in 8
  6. ^ Is only playable in the Bowser Party, Bowser Challenge, and amiibo Party modes in 10
  7. ^ In NA regions, Kamek is called "Magikoopa"
  8. ^ In PAL regions, Koopa Kid is called "Mini Bowser"

Reception

Aggregate review
Game Metacritic[11]
Mario Party 79/100
Mario Party 2 76/100
Mario Party 3 74/100
Mario Party 4 70/100
Mario Party 5 69/100
Mario Party 6 71/100
Mario Party Advance 54/100
Mario Party 7 64/100
Mario Party 8 62/100
Mario Party DS 72/100
Mario Party 9 74/100
Mario Party: Island Tour 60/100
Mario Party 10 67/100
Mario Party: Star Rush

Controversy

In Mario Party, certain minigames required players to rotate the controller's analog stick, including one in which the player is challenged to wind up Fly-Guy at the minigame house. Some players used the palms of their hands, rather than their thumbs, to rotate the analog stick. As a result, they would often endure blisters. In an act of contrition, Nintendo gave away free gaming gloves to the victims of these blisters.[12] Some wore away the stick because it was not very durable. The analog stick rotation has no longer been used since Mario Party 2. The exceptions are the mini-game in Mario Party 5 in which the player only needs to rotate it once and the mini-game in Mario Party 3 in which players throw Bowser in a manner similar to Super Mario 64 and do not need to use the palm of their hand to move the analog stick. Mario Party: Island Tour resumed using these types of minigames because players can spin the Nintendo 3DS' analog stick safely.

In July 2007, Mario Party 8 for the Wii was withdrawn from United Kingdom game stores shortly after its release date.[13] This was allegedly caused by Kamek using the word "spastic." Complaints were raised from consumers because the term is used to refer to an intellectually disabled person and is considered offensive in the United Kingdom. In August 2007, Nintendo re-released the game, replacing "spastic" with the word "erratic".[14]

References

  1. ↑ "What Wii Party And Mario Party Have In Common". Kotaku. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  2. ↑ Guinness World Records 2011 - Gamer's Edition. Guinness World Records Ltd. 2010. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-4053-6546-8.
  3. ↑ "Bring along your amiibo as your party plus-one from 20th March in Mario Party 10". Nintendo of Europe. February 19, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Nintendo". Nintendo. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "List of minigames in Mario Party 9 - Super Mario Wiki, the Mario encyclopedia". Mariowiki.com. 2013-06-02. Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  6. ↑ "– Mario Party 9 – Game Info". Nintendo.com. Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  7. ↑ "Mario Party Coming To Nintendo 3DS". Cinemablend.com. 2013-04-17. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  8. ↑ "Mario Party 3DS - Nintendo 3DS". IGN. 2013-04-18. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  9. 1 2 "Mario Party: Star Rush - Nintendo Treehouse: Live @ E3 2016". YouTube. 2016-06-15. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  10. ↑ "Nintendo Gives Players Unprecedented Freedom of Adventure in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild". GoNintendo.com. 2016-06-14. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  11. ↑ "Search Results". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  12. ↑ "Nintendo to hand out gaming gloves". BBC News. 2000-03-09. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  13. ↑ Richards, Jonathan (2007-07-17). "Nintendo withdraws game that taunts spastics". The Times. London. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  14. ↑ Sliwinski, Alexander (2007-07-27). "Non-'spastic' Mario Party 8 returns Aug. 8 to Europe". Weblogs, Inc. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
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