Mario Party series
Encyclopedia
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 minigame
s. 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
.
The series currently hold the record for the longest-running mini game series.
At E3 2011, Mario Party 9
was announced for the Wii. It is currently under development.
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 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 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. At the end of the game, bonus stars can be awarded to players. Three specific stars are awarded in Mario Party thru Mario Party 6. All later games have six possible bonus stars, but only three of those stars are awarded per 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
.
on March 28, 2005. It is the first Mario Party game on a handheld gaming system.
in North America. Many of the seventy-four 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.
, 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. 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. 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 re-released the game, replacing "spastic" with the word "erratic".
Party game
Party games are games that some people play as forms of entertainment at social gatherings. Party games usually involve more than one player. There are a large number and styles of party games available and the one selected will depend on the atmosphere that is sought to be generated...
video game series featuring Mario series
Mario (series)
The video game series, alternatively called the series or simply the series, is a series of highly popular and critically acclaimed video games by Nintendo, featuring Nintendo's mascot Mario and, in many games, his brother Luigi. Gameplay in the series often centers around jumping on and...
characters in which four human- or computer-controlled characters compete in a board game interspersed with minigame
Minigame
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. The series was developed by Hudson Soft
Hudson Soft
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...
and published 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....
; the arcade
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
version was developed by Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
. 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
Mario Party 8
is a party video game, the eighth installment in the Mario Party series, and is the first title in the series to be released for the Nintendo Wii. It is also the first Mario Party title to have the ability to use Mii characters. It was released in North America on May 29, 2007, in Europe on June...
, several of Hudson Soft's key designers left to work for Nintendo subsidiary Nd Cube, developers of Wii Party
Wii Party
is a party video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The game heavily borrows game play elements from the Mario Party series, another Nintendo franchise. It is also the first game in the Wii series that Shigeru Miyamoto did not produce...
.
The series currently hold the record for the longest-running mini game series.
At E3 2011, Mario Party 9
Mario Party 9
Mario Party 9 is an upcoming party video game for the Nintendo Wii. It was officially announced at E3 2011 and is currently under development....
was announced for the Wii. It is currently under development.
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.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 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 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. At the end of the game, bonus stars can be awarded to players. Three specific stars are awarded in Mario Party thru Mario Party 6. All later games have six possible bonus stars, but only three of those stars are awarded per game.
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.Main series
| Game | Release Date | System | MGs | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mario Party | Nintendo 64 Nintendo 64 The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil... |
53 | The Mario Party series kicks off. | |
| Mario Party 2 Mario Party 2 is the second in a series of board game style video games for Nintendo platforms, featuring popular Nintendo characters. It was released on the Nintendo 64 in Japan on December 17, 1999, followed by a North American release on January 24, 2000 and an European release on October 12, 2000. It was... |
Nintendo 64 | 65 | Introduces items to the series. | |
| Mario Party 3 Mario Party 3 is the third in a series of board game style video games for Nintendo platforms, featuring popular Nintendo characters. It was released for the Nintendo 64 in Japan on December 7, 2000, following a North American release on May 7, 2001. It was released in Australia on September 3, 2001 and in... |
Nintendo 64 | 71 | Adds Daisy and Waluigi as playable characters. | |
| Mario Party 4 Mario Party 4 is the fourth installment in a series of board game style and is the first game in the series to be released for Nintendo Gamecube, featuring popular Nintendo characters. Mario Party 4 was released in North America on October 21, 2002, in Japan on November 8, 2002, and in Europe and Australia on... |
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... |
62 | Last game where Donkey Kong can be fully playable | |
| 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... |
GameCube | 75 | Released in 2004 to Japanese arcades as Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party (Super Mario: The Mysterious Rolling Party) by Capcom Capcom is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its... . |
|
| Mario Party 6 Mario Party 6 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,... |
GameCube | 82 | First game to make use of GameCube's microphone peripheral, which was packaged and sold with the game. | |
| Mario Party 7 Mario Party 7 is the seventh in a series of board game style video games for Nintendo platforms and is the fourth and final title in the Mario Party series for Nintendo Gamecube. Mario Party 7 features popular Nintendo characters. It was released on the Nintendo GameCube in North America on November 7, 2005, in... |
GameCube | 88 | Support for up to eight players with eight-player joystick only game; Continues use of microphone peripheral. | |
| Mario Party 8 Mario Party 8 is a party video game, the eighth installment in the Mario Party series, and is the first title in the series to be released for the Nintendo Wii. It is also the first Mario Party title to have the ability to use Mii characters. It was released in North America on May 29, 2007, in Europe on June... |
Wii Wii The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others... |
81 | Minigames utilize Wii Remote Wii Remote The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and... 's capabilities. |
|
| Mario Party 9 Mario Party 9 Mario Party 9 is an upcoming party video game for the Nintendo Wii. It was officially announced at E3 2011 and is currently under development.... |
Wii Wii The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others... |
TBA | TBA |
Mario Party-e
Mario Party-e is a card gameCard game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
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
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
.
Mario Party Advance
Mario Party Advance was released for the Game Boy AdvanceGame Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
on March 28, 2005. It is the first Mario Party game on a handheld gaming system.
Mario Party DS
Mario Party DS was released on November 19, 2007 for the Nintendo DSNintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
in North America. Many of the seventy-four 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.
Reception
| Game | GR | MC |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Party 9 | |
|
Controversies
In Mario Party, certain minigames required players to rotate the controller's analog stickAnalog stick
An analog stick, sometimes called a control stick or thumbstick, is an input device for a controller that is used for two-dimensional input. An analog stick is a variation of a joystick, consisting of a protrusion from the controller; input is based on the position of this protrusion in relation...
, 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. 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
Mario Party 8
is a party video game, the eighth installment in the Mario Party series, and is the first title in the series to be released for the Nintendo Wii. It is also the first Mario Party title to have the ability to use Mii characters. It was released in North America on May 29, 2007, in Europe on June...
for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
was withdrawn from United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
game stores shortly after its release date. This was allegedly caused by Kamek using the word "spastic
Spastic
The word spastic is used differently depending on location which has led to some controversy and misunderstanding. Derived via Latin from the Greek spastikos , the word originally referred to a change in muscles affected by the medical condition spasticity, which is seen in spastic diplegia and...
." Complaints were raised from consumers because the term is used to refer to a mentally challenged
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
person and is considered offensive in the United Kingdom.
In August 2007, Nintendo re-released the game, replacing "spastic" with the word "erratic".