Mario Party

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mario Party
Mario series characters, as they appear in Mario Party 8, from left to right: Waluigi, Fly Guys, Blooper, Birdo, Chain Chomp, Bob-omb, Dry Bones, Toadette, Hammer Bros., Donkey Kong, MC Ballyhoo, Big Top (hat), Bowser, Wario, Princess Peach, Boo, Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Toad, Luigi, and Mario
Genre(s)	Party game
Developer(s)	Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Original release	December 14, 1998 - present

Mario Party is a party video game series featuring Mario series 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 (though the arcade version was developed by Capcom).

Since the release of the first Mario Party in December 1998, the series had put out a sequel every year until 2007 for North America and Japan until 2006. The series is known for its party game elements,^{[citation needed]} including the often-unpredictable multiplayer modes that allow play with up to four (and sometimes eight) human players. The most recent game in the series is Mario Party DS, released in November 2007. The most recent game for a home console is Mario Party 8, also released in 2007.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Party Mode 1.2 Minigame Mode 2 Games 2.1 Main series 2.2 Mario Party-e 2.3 Mario Party Advance 2.4 Mario Party DS 3 Playable characters 4 Reception 5 Controversies 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Gameplay

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

[edit] 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 almost 110 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 1 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 are often more elaborate. 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 70% of the pot, the second place winner receives the other 30%, and a random player occasionally gets a coin left over from rounding.

Duel minigames also debuted in Mario Party 2, and were omitted in Mario Party 4 (though the Story minigames were all duels), but returned 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. In Mario party to Mario party 5 the bonus stars are Mini-game, coin, and happening star. Mario Party 6 awards the orb star instead of coin star in which you use the most orbs. Mario 7,8, and DS all have six possible bonus stars, but only three of them are awarded per game.

[edit] 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 on, there is one game in Minigame mode that you can play by yourself

[edit] Games

Entries in the series have been released for the Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, the e-Reader, Wii, and the Nintendo DS.

[edit] Main series

Game	Release Date	System	MGs	Notes
Mario Party	JP 1998-12-14	Nintendo 64	53	The Mario Party series kicks off.
Mario Party 2	JP 1999-12-17	Nintendo 64	65	Introduces items to the series.
Mario Party 3	JP 2000-12-07	Nintendo 64	71	Adds Daisy and Waluigi as playable characters.
Mario Party 4	NA 2002-10-21	GameCube	62
Mario Party 5	NA 2003-11-10	GameCube	75	Released in 2004 to Japanese arcades as Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party Super Mario: The Mysterious Rolling Party by Capcom.
Mario Party 6	JP 2004-11-18	GameCube	82	First game to make use of GameCube's microphone peripheral, which was packaged and sold with the game.
Mario Party 7	NA 2005-11-07	GameCube	88	Support for up to eight players with eight-player joystick only game; Continues use of microphone peripheral.
Mario Party 8	NA 2007-05-29	Wii	81	Minigames utilize Wii Remote's capabilities.

[edit] 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.^{[citation needed]} The Mario Party-e contains a Play Mat, an instruction book and a pre-constructed deck consisting of 64 cards. An extra card was included as a promotion in an issue of GamePro.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 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.

[edit] Mario Party DS

Mario Party DS was released on November 19th, 2007, for the Nintendo DS in North America. It is Mario Party's first game on the DS. 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.

[edit] Playable characters

Character	Mario Party	Mario Party 2	Mario Party 3	Mario Party 4	Mario Party 5	Mario Party 6	Mario Party Advance	Mario Party 7	Mario Party 8	Mario Party DS
Mario	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Luigi	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Peach	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Yoshi	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Wario	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y
Donkey Kong	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y1	N	N	N	N	N
Daisy	N	N	Y1	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y
Waluigi	N	N	Y1	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y
Toad	N	N	N	N	Y1	Y	N	Y	Y	Y
Boo	N	N	N	N	Y1	Y	N	Y	Y	N
Koopa Kid3	N	N	N	N	Y1	Y	N	N	N	N
Toadette	N	N	N	N	N	Y2	N	Y	Y	N
Birdo	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y2	Y	N
Dry Bones	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y2	Y	N
Blooper	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y2	N
Hammer Bros.	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y2	N
Mii	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y1	N	Notes: Only available in specific areas of the game Unlockable for free-play Known as "Mini-Bowser" in PAL territories

[edit] Reception

Aggregate Reviews

Game	GR[1]	MC[2]
Mario Party	77%	79/100
Mario Party 2	74%	76/100
Mario Party 3	76%	74/100
Mario Party 4	73%	70/100
Mario Party 5	70%	69/100
Mario Party 6	73%	71/100
Mario Party Advance	57%	54/100
Mario Party 7	65%	64/100
Mario Party 8	63%	62/100
Mario Party DS	72%	72/100

[edit] Controversies

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (February 2008)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)

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 got blisters and other hand injuries from rotating the analog stick using the palms of their hands instead of using their thumb^[3]. 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 see how far they can throw Bowser and did not need to use the palm of their hand to move the analog stick.

In July 2007, Mario Party 8 for the Wii was withdrawn from United Kingdom game stores shortly after its release date.^[4] This was allegedly caused by Kamek using the word "spastic." Complaints were raised from consumers because the term is used to refer to a mentally challenged person and is considered offensive in the United Kingdom. In August 2007, Nintendo eventually re-released the game, replacing "spastic" with the word "erratic".^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• MarioParty.com
• The Mario Party Wiki
• Mario Party 8 commercial

v • d • e Mario Party series Mario Party • Mario Party 2 • Mario Party 3 • Mario Party 4 • Mario Party 5 • Mario Party 6 • Mario Party Advance • Mario Party 7 • Mario Party 8' • Mario Party DS

v • d • e Mario series Games by year • Games by console • Games by genre Main series Donkey Kong • Mario Bros. • Super Mario Bros. • The Lost Levels • Super Mario Bros. 2 • Super Mario Bros. 3 • Super Mario Land • Super Mario World • Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins • Super Mario 64 • Super Mario Sunshine • New Super Mario Bros. • Super Mario Galaxy • New Super Mario Bros. Wii • Super Mario Galaxy 2 Other games Donkey Kong Junior • Wrecking Crew • Donkey Kong (Game Boy) • Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island • Mario Clash • Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 • Luigi's Mansion • Mario vs. Donkey Kong • Mario Pinball Land • Super Princess Peach • Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis • Yoshi's Island DS • Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again Genres & series Remakes • Educational games • LCD games • Role-playing games • Sports games • Puzzle games • Donkey Kong • Wario • Game & Watch Gallery • Mario Party • Mario Kart • Super Smash Bros. Other media TV series • Film • Comics (Super Mario Adventures) • Anime • Manga: Super Mario-kun, Pikkapika Comics • Gamebooks: Adventure Books Related Mario characters • Super Mario Bros. theme • Super Mario 128