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Mario Party is a popular party (multi-player) game featuring Mario series characters in which four human- and/or computer-controlled characters compete in a board game interspersed with minigames. Most of the Mario Party games have been developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo (though the arcade version was developed by Capcom).

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

Contents 1 Main series 1.1 Gameplay 1.1.1 Party Mode 1.1.2 Minigame Mode 1.2 Games 1.2.1 Mario Party 1.2.2 Mario Party 2 1.2.3 Mario Party 3 1.2.4 Mario Party 4 1.2.5 Mario Party 5 1.2.6 Mario Party 6 1.2.7 Mario Party 7 1.2.8 Mario Party 8 2 Spinoff games 2.1 Mario Party-e 2.2 Mario Party Advance 2.3 Mario Party DS 3 Playable characters 4 Controversies 5 References 6 External links

Since the release of the first Mario Party in 1999, the series had consistently put out a sequel every year for North America and Japan (much like the original Mega Man series), until 2006. The series has been praised for its party game elements, including the often-unpredictable multiplayer modes that allow play with up to four (and sometimes eight) human players.

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.

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 six-sided die (although the numbers change randomly from 1-10) 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 20 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. 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 addition to Party mode, every Mario Party has a minigame mode in which minigames are played with 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.

1. Mario Party - Nintendo 64 - (1998)
2. Mario Party 2 - Nintendo 64 - (1999)
3. Mario Party 3 - Nintendo 64 - (2000)
4. Mario Party 4 - Nintendo GameCube - (2002)
5. Mario Party 5 - Nintendo GameCube - (2003)
6. Mario Party 6 - Nintendo GameCube - (2004)
7. Mario Party 7 - Nintendo GameCube - (2005)
8. Mario Party 8 - Wii - (2007)

Main article: Mario Party

The first game in the series, originally released in Japan on the Nintendo 64 on December 18, 1998.

Number of Minigames: 52 including Chance Time and Bumper Balls Mazes.

Main article: Mario Party 2

Originally released in Japan for the Nintendo 64 on December 17, 1999, Mario Party 2 contains a precursor of Mario Party 6's day-and-night system was seen on the Horror Land board. This game also introduced the use of items—a feature that has since been perpetuated in every installment in the series.

Number of Minigames: At least 66 including Chance Time, Driver's Ed and a few games with multiple versions.

Main article: Mario Party 3

Mario Party 3 was originally released in Japan for the Nintendo 64 on December 7, 2000. Although Mario Party 3 was the last installment in the series to be released on the Nintendo 64, it was the first installment to introduce Story Mode, in which one player starts a campaign through every board, challenging computer-controlled opponents in a shortened version of Party Mode on each board. The player can play as either Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, or Donkey Kong, and collect stamps in order to prove themselves worthy of owning the Millennium Star and being the greatest Superstar in the Universe. Mario Party 3 also features duel maps, in which two players try to attack each other using non-playable characters, such as a Koopa Troopa or a Piranha Plant. This game also introduced Game Guy—which is infamous for being entirely reliant on luck—and ??? minigames (which would later be referred to as Rare minigames). Waluigi and Princess Daisy made their Mario Party debut in this installment, but they are only playable in Party Mode.

Number of Minigames: At least 71 including Chance Time and a few games with multiple versions.

Main article: Mario Party 4

Mario Party 4 was the first Mario Party to be released on the GameCube. It was originally released in North America (including Canada) on October 21, 2002.

Number of Minigames: 73 including the 9 in the extra room, 3 that don't really belong anywhere and 13 other minigames, 12 that can be played on various boards by mini characters and the one played by landing on a Fortune Space.

Main article: Mario Party 5

Mario Party 5 was originally released in North America (and Canada) for the GameCube on November 10, 2003. Donkey Kong is not playable in the regular version of the game, but in the absence of DK as a playable character, DK spaces were added, with a variety of bonuses available for characters who land on them. Donkey Kong IS playable in Super Duel Mode, but only if you beat him. Regular items are turned into capsules beginning in this installment; these can be obtained for free from capsule machines on each board, and can be thrown up to ten spaces ahead to turn a board space into a special board space. When a character lands on the space, certain events are triggered depending on the type of capsule thrown—some helpful, some harmful. In the single-player mode, the player now competes against three Koopa Kids, who move simultaneously and try to deplete the player's coins, while the player tries to do the same to them. Boo, Koopa Kid and Toad are no longer emceeing, but are made playable characters for the first time. Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party is an arcade version of this game released by Capcom in 2004, but with considerable differences.

Number of Minigames: 75 including the final minigame in Story Mode.

Main article: Mario Party 6

Mario Party 6 was originally released in Japan for the GameCube on November 18, 2004. It was the first game to make use of the GameCube's peripheral microphone, which was packaged and sold with the game. The game contains a day-and-night setup—the board and some of the minigames change with the sun and moon after every third turn (this is similar to the Horror Land board in Mario Party 2). Items are called orbs instead of capsules in this and and Mario Party 7. Each board also has a slightly different star-collecting method. In one level, players use coins to "rent" Chain Chomps, which can be ridden to trample other players and steal their stars. In the one-player mode, the player walks across a board marked with spaces that lets them play minigames for quick coins, which can then be spent at a shop. Toadette becomes a playable character in this installment.

Number of Minigames: 82 including mic, DK, Bowser, and Rare minigames.

Main article: Mario Party 7

Mario Party 7 was originally released in North America (and Canada) for the GameCube on November 7, 2005 and also makes use of the microphone sold with Mario Party 6. Toadsworth is the host of this game, which supports up to eight players at once (adding new 8-player minigames just for that purpose). Koopa Kid, however, is removed from the playable character list, and instead, he has a random space on the board. Birdo and Dry Bones are added to the list of playable characters. In Mario Party 7 every five turns in a game will make Bowser appear and change something around in gameplay, like putting up his own store or demolishing bridges. So far, this game currently holds the most minigames in a Mario Party game.

Number of Minigames: 87 including mic, 8-player, DK, Bowser, and Rare minigames.

Main article: Mario Party 8

Mario Party 8 for the Wii was first revealed on the Japanese Nintendo site.^[1] It should be noted that this is the first time since the series started that the release pattern is broken due to the fact that the Wii was under development; there was no time to make this game; it had a subsequent release date and released first in North America on the Wii on May 29, 2007. No Mario Party game was released in 2006 (save Mario Party 7 in Europe and Australia, but the two continents already broke the pattern earlier, by having Mario Party 5 in 2003 and 6 in 2005). All 12 characters from Mario Party 7 returned, with Hammer Bro and Blooper as newcomers to the roster; however, Koopa Kid is absent from the game. Candy now take the place of orbs or capsules.

Number of Minigames: 81 including the final game in Story Mode.

1. Mario Party Advance - Game Boy Advance - (2005)
2. Mario Party-e - e-Reader - (2003)
3. Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party - Arcade - (2004) (Japan only)
4. Mario Party DS - Nintendo DS - (2007)

Mario Party-e is a card game that makes optional use of the Nintendo e-Reader and was released on February 7, 2003. A significant departure from the series, Mario Party-e is a card game that involves trying to get three superstar clothes accessories, and getting a superstar to win. However, there are many cards that can stop the player from reaching this goal. 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.^[2]

The Mario Party-e contains a Play Mat, an instruction book and a pre-constructed deck consisting of 64 cards in the following assortment (cards marked with an asterisk ("*") are e-Reader compatible cards):

#01 Coin (x24)	#02 Superstar's Hat (x4)	#03 Superstar's Clothes (x4)	#04 Superstar's Shoes (x4)
#05 Superstar (x4)	#06 Mario	#07 Super Mario	#08 Luigi
#09 Super Luigi	#10 Donkey Kong	#11 Princess Peach*	#12 Graceful Princess Peach*
#13 Daisy*	#14 Lakitu*	#15 Toad	#16 Bob-omb
#17 Chain Chomp	#18 Shy Guy	#19 Goomba	#20 Bowser*
#21 Koopa Troopa	#22 Boo	#23 Two Boo	#24 Yoshi*
#25 Big Boo*	#26 Waluigi*	#27 Super Waluigi*	#28 Wario*
#29 Super Wario*

Also, included in the June 2003 issue (#177) of GamePro magazine was Card #30 called Coin (Special Bonus Card).
See Also e-Reader.

Main article: Mario Party Advance

Mario Party Advance was released for the Game Boy Advance on March 28, 2005. In this game, the player enters a large board map named "Shroom City" and is asked to solve mysteries and do favors for the locals. After completing a specified task, the player receives a "Gaddget" — a minigame, but even smaller. Mushrooms are used as dice; if the player runs out of mushrooms, the game ends. Four characters are playable: Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Princess Peach.

Main article: Mario Party DS

Mario Party DS was released on November 19th, 2007 for the Nintendo DS in North America. The eight playable characters are Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, Yoshi, and Toad. Many minigames need to be won by using the touch screen. There are also minigames where you must blow into the microphone. There is still minigames using the directional pad and control buttons. Instead of Orbs, there are Hexs and Blocks. There is a shop owned by a Monty Mole. There are a few new items and replacements. Like the mushroom that doubles movement are now called Double Dice Block and a Tripple Dice Block. There is a Half Dice Block, a Warp Block, and a Star Pipe.

Number of Minigames: 105 minigames from all categories.

Character	Mario Party	Mario Party 2	Mario Party 3	Mario Party 4	Mario Party 5	Mario Party 6	Mario Party 7	Mario Party 8	Mario Party Advance	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	Y	Y	N	Y
Donkey Kong	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y1	N	N	N	N	N
Daisy	N	N	Y2	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y
Waluigi	N	N	Y2	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y
Toad	N	N	N	Y1	Y 2	Y	Y	Y	N	Y
Boo	N	N	N	Y 1	Y 2	Y	Y	Y	N	N
Koopa Kid4	N	N	N	Y 1	Y 2	Y	N	N	N	N
Toadette	N	N	N	N	N	Y 3	Y	Y	N	N
Birdo	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y 3	Y	N	N
Dry Bones	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y 3	Y	N	N
Blooper	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y 3	N	N
Hammer Bro.	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y 3	N	N
Mii	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y 1	N	N
Shy Guy	N	N	N	Y 1	N	N	N	N	N	N
Koopa Troopa	N	N	N	Y 1	N	N	N	N	N	N
Bowser	N	N	N	Y 1	N	N	N	N	N	N
Notes: Only available in a specific part of the game (may need to unlock) Not available in all areas of the game Unlock for free-play through various means Known as "Mini Bowser" in PAL territories

In Mario Party, certain minigames challenge the player to wind up Fly-Guy at the minigame house . This requires players to rotate the Analog Stick which caused some players to get blisters and other hand injuries because of the fact that they could rotate the analog stick much faster with the palms of the hands than with only their thumb. The Analog Stick rotation is no longer used starting with Mario Party 2. Instead, players have to rapidly press the A and/or B Buttons (for Mario Party 2 and Mario Party 3), or the X and/or Y Buttons (for Mario Party 4 through Mario Party 7).

The gambling type of minigame was introduced in Mario Party 3, causing concern that children are too young to be introduced to betting money. The player has to pay all of his coins to play. If he wins, he gets double his original number of coins back. If he loses, he ends up with no coins.

In July 2007, Mario Party 8 for Wii was withdrawn from United Kingdom game stores shortly after its release date. This was due to a non-playable character using the word "spastic." Complaints were raised from consumers as the term is considered offensive and politically incorrect or inept in the United Kingdom. In the UK, spastic means a mentally challenged person. The word, "Spastic", has also been used by another Nintendo game, a brain training game, "Mindquiz: Your Brain Coach", for the Nintendo DS, and was developed by SEGA of Japan and was published by Ubisoft (Nintendo in Australia). The Game was pulled in 2006 and there are no plans for re-release. This game has been pulled from every English - speaking video game shelf in every PAL format country except Australia and New Zealand due to the relaxed nature of language and violence over in those countries.

• MarioParty.com
• marioparty.de
• Mario Party series at MobyGames

v • d • e Mario Party series
Main series	Mario Party • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Spinoffs	Advance • DS • Mario Party-e • Korokoro Party

v • d • e Super Mario series
Early Mario games	Donkey Kong · Mario Bros.
Main series	Super Mario Bros. · The Lost Levels · Super Mario Bros. 2 · Super Mario Bros. 3 · Super Mario Land · Super Mario World · Super Mario Land 2 · Super Mario 64 · Super Mario Sunshine · New Super Mario Bros. · Super Mario Galaxy
Related articles	Characters · Mushroom Kingdom · Games by year / platform / genre