Summary
TheMario Partyseries has delivered distinct experiences over the course of its evolving entries. The series welcomed different innovations for a family-friendly party, including new modes and formulas. However, some extra features only made one appearance before being left out of future games, not given enough time to prosper.
Mario Party Jamboreeis the most recent entry bringing new features, including items exclusive to the new boards. It even brings back some familiar additions, like the buddy system and traps. This doesn’t return everything, leaving some features trapped in the previous entries for now. Whether the forgotten features will be reintroduced into a modernMario Partyis entirely up to chance.
Vehicles replaced the traditional formula inMP9. Instead of players moving separately, everyone drove together in a vehicle.Each vehicle changesfor each board, such as a Toad Mobile, King Bom-omb Bus, or a Magic Carpet.
It follows the same rotation cycle between four players, letting each drive the vehicle as a captain. This new method changes the original goal, making players collect mini-stars rather than power stars. They must strategically look ahead and set the way for other competitors to lose their mini-stars. The boards had more open crossroads designed with several bad events, like mini-ztars and Bowser Jr. spaces.
Candy was a main mechanic forMario Party 8for characters to use assortments of items. Using a candy wouldempower or transform the characterinto another form. There were four types of candies:
These transformations would range from 8-bit to bowling balls to even Bowser himself. Each character had their own unique forms when using candies, making them more expressive and distinct.
Costumes were a special addition inMP2that made the boards more engaging with their themes. The six playable characters had costumes for each board, including cowboys, explorers, wizards, astronauts, and pirates. The party automaticallywore the appropriate outfitrather than choosing the outfit for a different board.
After the final results, the chosen superstar will take the lead to settle the villainous Koopa King. The only board that doesn’t have a special costume is Bowser’s Land, which makes the characters wear their usual clothes.
Duel Boards were special boards that pit two characters against each other on unique boards. Rather than collect stars, the objective is to diminish every heart from the opponent. Each board is designed a bit smaller than normal boards, making it easier for competitors to loop around to target each other.
Players evenhave duel partners to assistthem with taking hearts. Each character starts with their assigned default partner, though they can find others on the board to replace them. Each partner has varied prices to pay, or else they leave the player. The game ends after 20 turns or when one player loses all their hearts.
Bowser Party was an exclusive mode forplayers to feel King Koopa’s envious rage. This mode makes four players team up against a larger, playable Bowser that chases for their lives. It’s also the onlyMario Partygame that allows up to five players to band together in one match.
The team has to maneuver across the board, dodging any harmful spaces that could hinder the team or buff Bowser’s movement. Several moments slow the team down like bosses or Bowser’s traps at multiple crossroads.
Mario Party 5changed the series' item management aspect with capsules. Players could get these for free from shops, capsule machines, and capsule spaces. Items were locked within capsules that could only be used after paying their fee. Another way to activate them is by throwing them at a space. From there, anyone could land on that spac for free to utilize its benefits or punishment.
The later entries would change the capsules to orbs with some notable changes. They could still be obtained for free at orb spaces, though they were priced at shops. They had no activation fee and introduced character spaces, which only activated for competitors rather than everyone.
Microphone minigames were introduced inMario Party 6toutilize the Gamecube microphone. There were seven minigames in total, but only five of them were for four players, while the remaining one was single player. Turning on the mic option made the party mic games playable during a normal party match.
The “Mic Space” was a unique space inMario Party 7that tried to implement an innovative approach during a party match. Landing on this space would make the player wager coins and open a simple mini-game that involved a microphone. After saying the names of the right fruit, the player is rewarded with double the wagered coins.
2Mario Party 5: DK Spaces
Going Bananas
In the games in which it appeared, finding a DK Space was one of the rarest occurrences in a match other than a hidden block. It could greatly influence the match advantage for anyone. In its introduction inMario Party 5,Donkey Kong hostedthree types of opportunities:
These options would slowly diminish to only DK minigames and certain event spaces within future entries. It wasn’t until afterMario Party 9that Donkey Kong would officially rejoin theMario Partyroster, leaving his special DK space behind.
1Mario Party 3: Game Guy
One Man Party
Game Guy was one of the rarer spaces, and was only included inMario Party 3. Landing on the space summoned Game Guy to host a one-player mini-game for the user. After he takes the user’s coins, he’ll start one of four minigames at random: Game Guy’s Lucky 7, Game Guy’s Magic Boxes, Game Guy’s Roulette, or Game Guy’s Sweet Surprise.
Some of these games can multiply the user’s coins by up to 32 times. It was a rare chance to get a great reward.
