Mario Party 6
Encyclopedia
is the sixth game in the Mario Party
series of board game
-style video games by Nintendo
and is the third title in the series made for Nintendo GameCube
and was released in Japan on November 18, 2004; North America on December 6, 2004; in Europe on March 18, 2005; and in Australia on September 15, 2005. It is the first GameCube game to make use of a microphone
add-on. Mario Party 6 is followed by Mario Party Advance
.
s to earn coins and stars. The object of the game is to amass the most coins and stars before completing a set number of turns. This is the first game to take out the coin bonus star, replacing it with the orb star, which is awarded to the player that used the most orbs. On multiplayer boards the sun will periodically set or rise (every three turns), producing different effects. Changes include spaces moving, different characters appearing, and changes to minigames. This is reflected in two new characters, Brighton and Twila.
All ten playable characters from Mario Party 5
return in this game (Mario
, Luigi
, Princess Peach
, Princess Daisy, Wario
, Waluigi
, Toad
, Yoshi
, Koopa Kid, Boo and the first secret character in the series, Toadette.
Brighton and Twila, the sun and moon who watch over the Mario Party world, argue over who is more popular. Mario suggests they collect as many Stars as they can to end this.
, these were called capsules. Unlike in Mario Party 5, the player does not have to pay orbs on his or her self and may find coins in Orbs. How Orbs are used is determined by the Orb's type. These are: Self, Space, Roadblock and Special. Roadblock type Orbs are one-use only on a space and trigger when passed while a Space type Orb transforms a space into a character space and only works if a rival lands on the space. Self type orbs add random buffs to the player that used them, where boo gets triple 10 if he used a golden mushroom. If a player stops on their own character space, they gain five Coins.
gave Mario Party 6 a 6.9/10, citing great family and multiplayer fun, but the same idea of older Mario Parties. IGN
gave it a 7/10. They also criticized originality and the microphone. 1UP
gave Mario Party 6 a C+ due to unoriginality and other factors.
Mario Party
is a party video game for the Nintendo 64 game console, developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on December 14, 1998, in North America on February 8, 1999, and in Europe on March 9, 1999...
series of board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
-style video games by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
and is the third title in the series made for Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
and was released in Japan on November 18, 2004; North America on December 6, 2004; in Europe on March 18, 2005; and in Australia on September 15, 2005. It is the first GameCube game to make use of a microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
add-on. Mario Party 6 is followed by Mario Party Advance
Mario Party Advance
Mario Party Advance had generally mixed reviews. While the game contains a large number of minigames and unlockables, reviewers decried the game's tendency to punish players based on random chance, rebuked the game for lack of innovation in the minigames, and expressed concerns about the game's...
.
Gameplay
In Mario Party 6, up to four players take turns moving on board game-style stages, often playing multiplayer minigameMinigame
A minigame is a short video game often contained within another video game. A minigame is always smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free to promote the main game...
s to earn coins and stars. The object of the game is to amass the most coins and stars before completing a set number of turns. This is the first game to take out the coin bonus star, replacing it with the orb star, which is awarded to the player that used the most orbs. On multiplayer boards the sun will periodically set or rise (every three turns), producing different effects. Changes include spaces moving, different characters appearing, and changes to minigames. This is reflected in two new characters, Brighton and Twila.
All ten playable characters from Mario Party 5
Mario Party 5
is a party video game published by Nintendo and developed by Hudson Soft. It is the second game in the Mario Party series for Nintendo Gamecube. It was released in North America on November 10, 2003, in Japan on November 23, 2003, and in Europe on December 5, 2003...
return in this game (Mario
Mario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
, Luigi
Luigi
is a fictional character, featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by prominent game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the slightly younger fraternal twin brother of Nintendo's mascot Mario, and appears in many games throughout the Mario series,...
, Princess Peach
Princess Peach
is a character in Nintendo's Mario series of video games. She is the Princess of the fictitious Mushroom Kingdom, and often plays the damsel in distress role within the adventure series. In 2007, Princess Peach landed on Forbes magazine's Wealthiest Fictional People list, with a fortune upwards of...
, Princess Daisy, Wario
Wario
is a fictional character in Nintendo's Mario series. The character was designed as another antagonist to Mario , and first appeared in the 1992 Game Boy title Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins as the main antagonist and final boss...
, Waluigi
Waluigi
is a fictional character in the Mario series of video games. He accompanies Wario in spin-offs from the main Mario series, oftentimes for the sake of causing mischief...
, Toad
Toad (Mario)
Toad, known in Japan as , is a fictional character belonging to an anthropomorphic mushroom-like species of the same name in the Mario series, created by Shigeru Miyamoto. A citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom, Toad is one of Princess Peach's most loyal attendants and is constantly working on her behalf...
, Yoshi
Yoshi
, is a fictional dragon-like character who appears in video games published by Nintendo. His debut was in Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick , and he later established his own series with several platform and puzzle games, including Super...
, Koopa Kid, Boo and the first secret character in the series, Toadette.
Brighton and Twila, the sun and moon who watch over the Mario Party world, argue over who is more popular. Mario suggests they collect as many Stars as they can to end this.
Orbs
Orbs are special items players can either collect on the board or buy with coins at the Orb Hut. They can be used in many ways to give a player an advantage, such as stealing coins from rivals, hampering a rival's progress, or quickly obtaining stars. In Mario Party 5Mario Party 5
is a party video game published by Nintendo and developed by Hudson Soft. It is the second game in the Mario Party series for Nintendo Gamecube. It was released in North America on November 10, 2003, in Japan on November 23, 2003, and in Europe on December 5, 2003...
, these were called capsules. Unlike in Mario Party 5, the player does not have to pay orbs on his or her self and may find coins in Orbs. How Orbs are used is determined by the Orb's type. These are: Self, Space, Roadblock and Special. Roadblock type Orbs are one-use only on a space and trigger when passed while a Space type Orb transforms a space into a character space and only works if a rival lands on the space. Self type orbs add random buffs to the player that used them, where boo gets triple 10 if he used a golden mushroom. If a player stops on their own character space, they gain five Coins.
Solo mode
Solo mode is where a single player embarks on a special single-row board with a set number of spaces to collect minigames. The player may also choose a teammate (for 2 vs 2 minigames). Also the player plays minigames with Red, Green, and Blue Koopa Kid. The dice block for Solo Mode only has the numbers 1-6 on it. At the end of the board, there is an exclusive rare minigame space, where the player gets a rare minigame without needing to play it. If the player goes past the rare minigame space, they fall off the board and lose all of the mini games they have acquired. To win, the player must land on the rare minigame space, or quit (without getting a rare minigame).Minigames
There are over eighty minigames in Mario Party 6. Once again, no minigames from previous versions return. The mini game controls range from pressing A repeatedly to using the control stick and A. New to this edition are mic and rare minigames. In mic games, players must say words into the mic to perform different actions. Rare games are usually obtained by stopping on the space at the end of Solo Mode, although one is purchased in the Star Bank. The minigames are divided into 4-player, 1-vs.-3, 2-vs.-2, Battle, Duel, DK, Bowser, Mic and Rare.Reception
GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
gave Mario Party 6 a 6.9/10, citing great family and multiplayer fun, but the same idea of older Mario Parties. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave it a 7/10. They also criticized originality and the microphone. 1UP
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
gave Mario Party 6 a C+ due to unoriginality and other factors.