History VideoGame / MarioParty3

* EarnYourBadEnding: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed with the Star Ranks]] at the end of Story Mode, as you are named the universe's greatest Super Star regardless. However, there are five star ranks that can be given to the player. in ascending order, they are Sad Star, Lackluster Star, Great Star, Ultra Star, and Miracle Star. To earn the Sad Star rank, you must end the game with nothing but [[GameplayGrading C ranks]] on every board, plus the [[FinalBoss Stardust Battle]] game at the end. For context, on a Battle Royal board, you need to tie on both stars and coins, and win on the final Dice Block roll, while on a Duel board, you need to tie on remaining health and win on coins. The Stardust Battle isn't much better: you have to use at least 2 minutes and 40 seconds out of the maximum 3 minutes to get a C rank. Bottom line, you have to be really trying to get the Sad Star rank, and with the roll-off that's used to break a tie on the Battle Royal boards, it's one heck of a LuckBasedMission to boot.

** For the individual boards, you're given a rank of S, A, B, or C at the end of each board depending on your margin of victory.

* GameplayGrading: There are two layers of this - both the individual boards in Story Mode, and an overall Star Rank at the end of the campaign.In Story Mode

* EarnYourBadEnding: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed with the Star Ranks]] at the end of Story Mode. There are five star ranks that can be given to the player. in ascending order, they are Sad Star, Lackluster Star, Great Star, Ultra Star, and Miracle Star. To earn the Sad Star rank, you must end the game with nothing but [[GameplayGrading C ranks]] on every board, plus the [[FinalBoss Stardust Battle]] game at the end. For context, on a Battle Royal board, you need to tie on both stars and coins, and win on the final Dice Block roll, while on a Duel board, you need to tie on remaining health and win on coins. The Stardust Battle isn't much better: you have to use at least 2 minutes and 40 seconds out of the maximum 3 minutes to get a C rank. Bottom line, you have to be really trying to get the Sad Star rank, and with the roll-off that's used to break a tie on the Battle Royal boards, it's one heck of a LuckBasedMission to boot.

* GameplayGrading: In Story Mode, you're given a rank of S, A, B, or C at the end of each board depending on your margin of victory.
** Battle Royal boards require you to be two stars clear of second place to get an S rank. Being one star clear gives you an A rank. Winning on coin totals is worth a B rank, and if it has to go to a Dice Block tiebreaker, you're given a C rank.
** Duel Boards base it on how much health you and your opponent have left. Win by 3 HP and you get an S rank, going down to an A rank for a 2 HP difference and B for 1. Winning on coins is worth a C rank.
** The Stardust Battle gives you an S rank if you can win in two minutes or less. Once you go past two minutes, you drop to an A rank, going down another rank every 20 seconds.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Millennium Star starts growing more nervous as you gather the Star Stamps. [[spoiler:It hints that he's not the real Millennium Star and is getting worried about his cover being blown if someone actually makes it to the end.]]

* CelebrityImpersonator: The Millenium Star is a sentient, legendary star that only shines once every 1000 years. [[spoiler:But it's ''not'' the one who's guiding you in the game, that one is an impostor. When he confesses this and flees away, the ''real'' Millenium Star appears, having been within Tumble's body and observed the progress and achievements of the playable characters]].

* FloatingLimbs: Tumble, who serves as the guide in most modes, was originally brought to life by the Millenium Star, and lacks arms and legs connecting the hands and feet respectively. In fact, his central body is absent as well.

* ItWasWithYouAllAlong: [[spoiler:What you thought was the Millenium Star will reveal he's a fake after going through all those boards and even defeating him. The real Millennium Star was hiding in the head of your host all along.]]

** In the minigame M.P.I.Q.[[note]]Mario Party Intelligence Quotient[[/note]], the character participate in a quiz challenge. Toad will slowly pose a question while its three options appear on screen; a player can hit their dice block to answer the question by choosing one of the options (first option is chosen by pressing A, second option is chosen by pressing B, and third option is chosen by pressing Z). If the answer is correct, the player earns one point; if it's incorrect, the player will be penalized by not being able to answer the next question. The charater who answers three questions correctly before anybody else wins. If no character manages to get three points after the tenth question, the minigame ends and whoever got more points than the rest wins. If more than one player got the highest score, it all ends in a draw.

* TheReveal: At the end of Story Mode, after the player collects all Star Stamps and defeats [[spoiler:the Millenium Star to prove their worth, the latter reveals that he's ''not'' the real Millenium Star, and flies away]]. The player is disappointed upon learning this, but then [[spoiler:Tumble shows a bright white star who reveals to be the true Millenium Star, and then proceeds to grant the player their wish]].

** Spiny Desert is a board located in a sandy desert inhabited by Pokeys, Kleptos and a Chain Chomp. It's designed with a day/night dichotomy in mind, as the southwest half takes place during the hot day and the northeast half takes place during the cold night (you can even see the reflection of the moon in an oasis moat). There are two Millenium Stars in the board, but only one of them is real while the other is a mirage.

* TacticalSuicideBoss: During the FinalBoss battle, [[spoiler:the Millenium Star]] attempts to attack the player with star-shaped projectiles. This itself isn't a problem, but because the boss lowers its position shortly afterwards, the player can quickly grab one of the projectiles and throw it back at him.

* UnderTheSea: Deep Bloober Sea is a lush, lively underwater landscape inhabited by luminiscent flora, seahorses and jellyfish in the northern half; and by standard Cheep Cheeps and Bloopers in the southern half (the two halves of the board are partially divided by a rift in the middle ground). A very large anglerfish lies in the board's northwest corner; if a player lands on any of the nearby Event Spaces, the anglerfish will try to swallow them (which can be prevented by repeatedly tapping A); if the anglerfish succeeds, then the player will be launched to a direction pointed by a red arrow (placed where the anglerfish's alluring lamp would be).
* UndergroundLevel: Creepy Cavern is a board located in a deep, decrepit cavern (the night sky can still be seen in the horizon, so it's not completely underground). It is inhabited by Dorrie in a lake at the west, a group of red and blue Lava Bubbles in the south, several Whomps (which, funnily enough, are playing a tabletop version of ''Mario Party'') in the east, and an unsorted group of animals with glowing red eyes in the north. The cavern is illuminated thanks to the luminiscent fungi and ore in the east as well as a river of lava in the middle. There are two minecart tracks in the board, and a player can hop onto a moving minecart with good timing to take a shortcut to another side.

* DropTheHammer: If a player loses a Game Guy minigame, not only will they lose all their coins, but a big mallet will fall down to hit their head.

* RhymingNames: The minigames Treadmill Grill, Bounce 'n' Trounce, and Eatsa Pizza.

* AlliterativeName: Parasol Plummet, Messy Memory, Curtain Call, Cheep Cheep Chase, Snowball Summit, Toadstool Titan, Water Whirled, Rockin' Raceway, Coconut Conk, Spotlight Swim, Boulder Ball, Crazy Cogs, River Raiders, Tidal Toss, Ridiculous Relay, Baby Bowser Broadside, Cosmic Coaster, Puddle Paddle, Log Jam, Hyper Hydrants, Picking Panic, Slot Synch, Popgun Pick-off, Baby Bowser Bonkers, Silly Screws, Crowd Cover, Winner's Wheel, Bobbing Bow-loons, Dorrie Dip, and Dizzy Dinghies.
** One of the boards is called Woody Woods.

''Mario Party 3'' is a video game developed by Creator/HudsonSoft and published by Creator/{{Nintendo}} for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 in December 2000 in Japan, May 2001 in North America, September in Australia, and November in Europe. It's the third installment in the ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' series and has the distinction of being the last first-party game released for the Nintendo 64 in North America and the last game released on the system in Europe.

''Mario Party 3'' was a notable no-show on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole service, likely because of Game Guy's minigames being at odds with some countries' laws against simulated gambling in video games. However, after over two decades, this game finally saw its first ever re-release on October 27th, 2023 as a part of UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Online’s library of Nintendo 64 games.

** Players using the Magic Lamp on Spiny Desert will always teleport them to the real Millennium Star to prevent any frustration of a roulette between teleporting to a real one or a fake one.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: If the roulette ends on a gold-lettered event on a Bowser space, Bowser literally runs away into the background and gives you nothing. This is the best outcome from a Bowser event, or the worst, if you were planning to screw someone over with a Bowser space.

* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: The final battle in Story Mode, namely between the player and [[spoiler:the (fake) Millenium Star]], takes place in a battlefield that is transporting the two combatants across the stars in outer space. As the fight progresses, the battlefield's floor changes from having a checkerboard-based motif, to having the appearance of a metallic liquid, and later still becoming a transparent glass.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Players can now hold up to three items at a time and can discard them if need be.

* MythologyGag: Dorrie being referred to as a girl in the description of Dorrie Dip is similar to how she was called a girl by the ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' Nintendo and Prima strategy guides even though a sign in Hazy Maze cave explicitly called Dorrie a male.

''Mario Party 3'' was a notable no-show on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole service, likely because of Game Guy's minigames being at odds with some countries' laws against simulated gambling in video games. However, after over two decades, this game will finally see its first ever re-release on October 27th, 2023 as a part of UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Online’s library of Nintendo 64 games.

* MakeWayForTheNewVillains: Walauigi makes his big entrance in story mode by beating up Bowser, who in the cutscenes between boards had been a HarmlessVillain up to that point.

''Mario Party 3'' was a notable no-show on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole service, likely because of Game Guy's minigames being at odds with some countries' laws against simulated gambling in video games. However, after over two decades, this game will finally see its first ever re-release in 2023 as a part of UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Online’s library of Nintendo 64 games.

Unlike ''Mario Party 2'', ''Mario Party 3'' doesn't do any major formula shakeups and instead focuses on refining the preexisting board and minigame gameplay. It notably features 71 brand-new minigames instead of recycling some from its predecessors -- a trend that would largely continue into future installments -- and introduces Waluigi (who had recently debuted in ''VideoGame/MarioTennis'') and Princess Daisy as playable characters and series mainstays. Item capacity has also been expanded from one to three, with many new whacky and rare ones to create more chaos during games. Last, but not least, this is the first ''Mario Party'' game to feature a Story Mode, and (alongside the previous game, which featured a hidden WolfpackBoss battle at the end of one of its modes) one of the first to feature a BossBattle. This game's theme is "storybooks", and the game has a kind of pop-up book aesthetic to it. Hosting duties are shared between two OriginalGeneration characters: The Millennium Star, a star that only shines once a millennium, and Tumble, a magical die that was brought to life by the Millennium Star. Tumble would return later in ''VideoGame/MarioPartyAdvance''.