12th Feb: A new policy is being put in place for TRS threads: If there is no evidence provided in the Opening Post that the page is broken, the thread will be nuked immediately. See Everything You Wanted To Know About Changing Names for what constitutes evidence.
5th Feb: Echo Chamber Season 1 blooper reel on Youtube here
This long-running series of multiplayer games for Nintendo 64, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Wii, and DS, developed by Hudson Soft but published by Nintendo, combines a board-game motif with various competitive mini-games. Besides Mario, Luigi and their friends, some of the enemies from Super Mario Bros.. are playable characters in the Mario Party series. About a dozen Mario Party games have been released so far: eight on home consoles (with a new one just recently announced), one on the Game Boy Advance, one for the e-Reader (actually a non-collectible card game with included minigames), one on the Nintendo DS, and two in arcades.The basic format of the game has mostly remained the same. Four players (Computers filling in if there aren't enough human players) take turns rolling dice to move across one of several themed boards, with the ultimate goal of obtaining Stars, which are classically obtained by a player who reaches a Star Space and buys a star for 20 Coins, after which the Star Space is moved to a random location on the board. The spaces that have appeared in every game are as follows:
Blue Space: The most common space, gives the player three coins and marks him blue.
Red Space: Less common than the Blue Spaces, takes three coins from the player and marks him red.
Happening/? Space: Something random (good or bad) will happen to the player (or several players). Exactly what happens depends on where on the board the space is located. Marks the player green.
Bowser Space: The Whammy Space of the game, which summons Bowser to do something that is typically bad for one or more players. The exact mechanics of the Bowser space vary depending on the game or board. Marks the player red.
After all players have had their turn, a mini-game begins. The players are placed on Blue or Red teams based on what spaces they had landed on (Green players are randomly marked Blue or Red) and a roulette begins to pick a game from one of the following:
4-Player Game: The most common type of game, that pits all the players against each other. There is typically only one winner, but it can sometimes be that several players win, or in fact no players win.
2-vs-2 Game: The players are pit against each other in teams of two. Typically focus on teamwork between the two players in order to achieve a goal before the other team.
1-vs-3 Game: A pretty rare type of game, where 1 player is pit against the other 3. Typically one side is trying to eliminate the other, but there is room for variance. In the case where the one player is trying to eliminate the other three, the entire team is considered to have won even if there is only one person on that team remaining at the end of the game. Games of this type are generally one-sided, but which side is favored more varies based on the game.
The winner(s) of these games are typically awarded with 10 coins (in the first Mario Party the loser(s) may lose coins), although there are special games where the goal is to collect coins, in which case everyone gets to take however many coins they collected in the game with them.After this, the process is then repeated until a set number of turns. During the last 5 turns, the game shows the current standings, and typically does something to pick up the pace of the remaining turns, which can be as simple as doubling the amount of coins won or lost from the Blue/Red Spaces. Some games will also do something nice for the player in fourth place to give him or her a chance at winning.At the end of the game, the current standings are summed up, and Bonus Stars are then awarded based on certain achievements. The standard three are:
Mini-Game Star: Awarded to the player(s) that won the most coins in the mini-games.
Coin Star: Awarded to the player(s) that had the greatest number of coins overall (compared to the highest number of coins ever held by the other players throughout the game).
Happening Star: Awarded to the player(s) that landed on the most Happening Spaces.
Later games added more types of bonus stars, but there are typically only three types awarded per game.After the Bonus Stars are handed out, the Winner is then revealed, based on which player has the most stars (if two or more players have the same number of stars, then the player with the most coins is the winner. If at least two players also have the same amount of coins then the winner is decided by a dice roll).As the series progresses, new types of mechanics and games are added, such as items the players can collect or purchase to use before their turns, new types of minigames, such as Duel Minigames where two players play head-to-head with each other's coins/stars at stake and new types of spaces, like the Donkey Kong Space, which acts as the antithesis to the Bowser Spaces, giving the player something nice.All of the games include some form of Single-Player campaign, which typically involves playing against computers on the game boards, but the mechanics may be slightly different.
This game provides examples of:
Abandon Ship: In Mario Party 2, this is played straight in a mini-game of the same name.
The All-Seeing A.I.: Torpedo Targets in Mario Party 2 has you looking for targets and shooting them. The computer always knows where they are, even though there is no map or radar.
The same goes for Ground Pound in the original Mario Party, but thankfully the AI is kind enough to always get one wrong for every one that it gets right.
Always Night: Boo's Haunted Bash and King Boo's Haunted Hideaway.
Koopa: This Star was broken up by Bowser, and he even wrote graffiti all over it! This cannot be permitted!
Art Evolution: The first three games had simple, flat boards with simple 3D-ish models. The fourth game had a 3D background, but all the paths took place on the same metal walkway. The latest games now have the paths incorporated into the boards themselves.
Art Shift: The 3rd game uses more flat, 2D imagery, since it takes place inside a toy box.
In the minigame Ground Pound in the first game, the computer always ground pounds an incorrect pole after each one they get correct, no matter what difficulty they are set on.
Ascended Extra: Over the course of the games, Koopa, Boo, Toad, and now Shy Guy have all gone from helpers to hosting the game to being playable characters.
Aside Glance: In Mario Party 1, when getting a completely pointless black star that costs 40 coins from Bowser in Mario's Rainbow Castle, getting a free coin from Bowser's machine in Luigi's Engine Room (at the cost of 20 coins), having a Goomba plant a Piranha Plant trap for you on Peach's Birthday Cake, or getting some free coins from Bowser if you run into him without any coins or stars, the character turns around and, despite the graphics in those days, you can clearly see his/her expression of What.
Betting Mini-Game: The Battle mini-games. All the players has to forcibly bet a set number of money (if they have less, they lose it all) and have to play a minigame. The first place winner gets 70% of the jackpot, the second gets 30%, and a random player gets any coins that were lost in rounding.
Big OMG: Luigi and Wario in the first game say "Oh my God!" when something really bad happens to them in the Japanese version. This was Bowdlerised to "Owowowow!" for Luigi, while Wario gets "Doh I missed!" (sounds a bit like "So ein Mist!", German for "What a mess!") in the English version.
Bonus Space: Some of the Happening Spaces might be this, but the Donkey Kong spaces are more likely to have a nice payoff. Then there's the Lucky Spaces in Mario Party 8.
Boss Battle: Aside from Mario Party 1, 2, 6, and Advance, there is at least one boss in each game, usually as the final minigame of the game:
Mario Party 3: "Stardust Battle".
Mario Party 4: "The Final Battle!"
Mario Party 5: "Frightmare".
Mario Party 7: "Bowser's Lovely Lift!"
Mario Party 8: "Superstar Showdown".
Mario Party DS: "Feed and Seed", "Hammer Chime", "Hexoskeleton", "Book Bash", and "Bowser's Block Party".
Mario Party 9: Each board is set to end in a showdown with a boss, with all players working together to defeat it..
Bragging Rights Reward: In-universe, this is the plot of the first game. With all the characters competing to simply prove who is the best among them.
Button Mashing: Most games require pressing the button as much as possible. Some other games in the original Mario Party required spinning the control stick. It also damaged the controller, and from reports in Nintendo Power, some gamers' hands (usually the palms, as some took to spinning the stick with the palm of their hand).
By Wall That Is Holey: A minigame in Mario Party 4 requires you to do this with a giant book by running to the holes in the pages when they turn.
Canon Discontinuity: Based on title numbering, Mario Party DS is not considered to be part of the main series. (8 and the upcoming 9 are both console games, while both handheld versions (DS and Advance) have been left out of the numbering scheme.)
Casino Park: Mario Party 7's Neon Heights board is a combination of this and Broadway.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Koopa Kid hasn't made an appearance in either of the two recent games: Mario Party 8 and Mario Party DS.
Climax Boss: Daisy and Waluigi in the Story Mode of Mario Party 3.
Comeback Mechanic: Bowser will normally take Coins or Stars from players. If a player reaches Bowser with no Coins or Stars, however, Bowser will give the player 40 Coins.
Most Mario Party titles also present an event when there are 5 turns remaining where the player in last is invited to spin a roulette wheel (actually a spinning item box), of which most of the results are in that player's favor.
Commuting On A Bus: Donkey Kong, who was a fully playable character in the first four games. Koopa Kid hasn't fared much better as a playable character himself, having only been playable for the next two games before falling on the wayside.
The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: It depends. In certain minigames, they have extreme skill that no human could possibly surpass. A good example is in Mario's Puzzle Party in the third game.
In the earlier games, whether or not you'll win a race to the finish such as Skateboard Scamper or Abandon Ship depends entirely on whether the computer wants you to. It always comes down to the very last button press, and 9 times out of 10, the computer player will dance in victory and you'll be screaming that you had it. Thankfully, in later installments, tie victories are possible and you'll get the money as long as you survive at all.
The one character that most people have frustration with when they're controlled by the AI in any game is Princess Peach. Ask anyone if they think she's a bitch and they'll say "YES". Especially one notable person. It doesn't help that her lines are the most aggravating things to hear when you're agitated by your cheated loss ("OOOHHHHH, DID I WIIIN? *GIGGLE*").
Basically any mini-game where you have to pick a random "something" (card, button press, rope, etc.) It's supposed to be completely fair since the winning "something" is random but the Cpus (of any difficulty) are physic and will know exactly that to pick. To make matters worse,in Mario party games with single player modes where you have to win the mini-game to keep it (Mario Party 6 for example) you can lose a lot of mini-games at no fault of your own.
Conservation of Ninjutsu: If there's only one computer player, even on Easy, it will suddenly become much more competent at mini-games.
Did Not Do The Bloody Research: In Mario Party 8, the line "Magikoopa magic! Turn the train spastic!" in the Shy Guy's Perplex Express board game initially caused the game to be recalled in the UK, where "spastic" is seen as an insulting term for the disabled. It was changed to "erratic" in later releases.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: A mini-game in Mario Party 8 has you shake the Wii remote up and down to build up pressure in a soda can to make a geyser taller than everyone else's. Anyone who played this mini-game for the first time probably made the obvious dirty jokes after seeing how the game was played.
That's not everything. It's probably unintentional, but in Mario Party 3, if you land on a Bowser Space, the screen will cut to Bowser doing his trademark merry dance. Most of the time. Some other times, you'll catch him lying on his side, his head on one hand, his other hand on his hip, with one leg stretched and the other raised. Think about that. It's a familiar position, and it's somehow both extremely uncomfortable and hilarious beyond description.
Demoted to Extra: Starting in Mario Party 5, Donkey Kong went from being a playable character to a cameo that appears if you land on his spot.
Koopa Kid went from being playable in the fifth and sixth games to being an extra in the seventh, and then disappearing entirely.
Dry Bones seems to be headed this way, from being playable to being a mere obstacle, but it's too early to tell.
Dungeon Bypass: There are some items that take you directly to the Star.
Early Installment Weirdness: This series definitely took a while to find its feet. Go back to the N64 games (especially the first one) and marvel at how much has changed.
Some of the weirdness in the first game: Rotate-the-control-stick minigames (which were entirely eliminated after due to complaints that people hurt themselves, plus all the broken analog sticks). The first game was also the only one where you could lose coins in the end-of-turn minigames. Your coin total never went below 0, however.
Egocentric Team Naming: In 2 the Mario characters create a new world that is initially named Mario Land, but each one wants to name the world after themselves, so they have a contest to determine who gets to name it.
Enemy Mine: The 1v3 and 2v2 games, in which you team up with other players and everyone on the winning team gets coins. There are rare situations late in the game where throwing such a minigame is the best option.
Toad and Bowser in the first game. Mario's and Yoshi's stages revolve around making sure you hit the right one.
Starting in Mario Party 5, Donkey Kong became the Good Counterpart to Bowser. This is especially evident in 6, where DK's out at day and Bowser's out at night (literally in the case of the final board), and 8, where the two alternate spaces depending on which one everyone most recently met.
Excuse Plot: In all of the games, the "plot" will always be "We have a problem in X place with Y thing, help us collect stars to solve it!". The plot is hardly developed, but then again, no one plays these games for the plot.
Go Karting with Bowser: Wario is playable; Bowser himself shows up only as a board effect to mess with the players.
Also, other enemy characters that have been playable include Waluigi, Koopa Kid, Boo, Dry Bones, Hammer Bro and Blooper.
Bowser was playable in Mario Party 5's Beach Volley Folley mode.
Golden Snitch: Although the first game's Mini-Game star was probably going to go to someone already in the lead, the randomization of the types of Bonus Stars in the later games makes it more likely that the person in last could win all three of them and take the lead. Especially in Mario Party 8, if the person had been falling behind because they were spending all their coins on Thrice Candy (Roll 3 Dice). Three of the possible Bonus Stars that can be awarded are for spending the most on candy (and Thrice is pretty expensive), using the most candy, and moving the most spaces...
Chance Time can change the fate of the game in a hurry. Try switching stars with the player in first place if you're behind.
Handcar Pursuit: A recurring team mini-game is a race between two handcars, where you have to coordinate with your partner to speed up, slow down, and bank around sharp corners.
Harder Than Hard: Very Hard or Super Hard, depending on the game, and usually needs to be unlocked. The AI is clearly better at some minigames than others.
Historical In-Joke: The Bowser Revolution, which evens out everyone's coins (ie money), parallel to many Communist (etc) revolutions. Of course, which players are happy about it depends solely on how many coins they have relative to the others.
The same group also has a capsule-related House Rule for Mario Party 5, where every capsule has to be used or tossed as soon as it's aquired, in order to eventually wind up with a board where every single space has some manner of effect.
I Got Better: Whenever someone is defeated in a minigame by something lethal (heck, one minigame in Mario Party 6 has the loser sucked into a black hole), they emerge completely unharmed on the beginning of the next turn (although their finances and self esteem suffers).
I Have Many Names: Prior to Mario Party 4, Koopa Kid went by the name of Baby Bowser, and he's called Mini-Bowser in PAL territories.
Lethal Lava Land: Appears in most games, where it is usually a Bowser-themed board, which means it's also likely to be a harder board than the others in some way.
Loads and Loads of Characters: As the series went on, it started with just six major Mario characters, to having 14, including a few various recurring enemies as characters.
Luck-Based Mission: The entire game to much of an extent, but Game Guy's mini games in Mario Party 3, various luck based mini-games in every single entry in the series, and a good deal of the board events certainly fall under this.
MacGuffin: The Stars, which is basically the main point in the series.
Obvious Rule Patch: For a while, the bonus star awards were given to people who A) collected the most coins in mini games played, B) most coins held at the end of the game, and C) landed on the most ? spaces. A skilled player could always get the bonus star mentioned in example A, which would usually lead to them getting a star from example B. Additional bonus categories were added, such as "most spaces traveled" or "spent the most coins on items", in addition to "most coins won in mini games" being removed. This was made so that there would be more diversity in playing styles and give other people a chance in winning bonus stars.
Chance Time was also removed after some point so that players would have a more fair chance of winning or catching up instead of just winning at the very last possible moment because of a luck based event.
Quip to Black: "Seer Terror", an unlockable Mario Party 6 minigame, consists almost entirely of Bowser making bad things happen to you and making witty remarks in the guise of fortunes. "You'll feel crushed by stress!" he'll say after you're crushed by a Thwomp.
Rule of Fun: The mini games don't give much explanation to their existence other than to let you have fun.
Sequential Boss: The battle with Bowser at the end of Story mode often is this.
The Smurfette Principle: In Mario Party 1 and 2, Peach is the only female playable character. Averted with the rest of the series when they added Daisy as a playable character in 3.
It should also be noted that this series itself is somewhat of a Spiritual Successor to the little-known Japanese game Getter Love!!. Both are board games in video game format, have mini-games, have items with which you can get ahead or slow down your opponents, and were developed by Hudson Soft (though Nintendo still publishes Mario Party).
Variable Player Goals: 1 vs. 3 minigames would always end in a massacre against the solo player if most of them didn't require a different objective between the 1 and the 3.
Videogame Cruelty Potential: Some of the minigames are incredibly cruel and violent to the losers, who will end up electrocuted, spirited away, chased and then trampled over by a bunch of Thwomps, frozen, mauled, burnt, drowned and even swallowed by a black hole. Likewise, the fourth-place player that didn't get enough stars or coins also meets a similar fate.
Wasted Song: The track "Not Gonna Lose" in Mario Party 2 was only used in the 2 vs 2 mini-game "Balloon Burst", the battle mini-game "Bumper Balloon Cars", and the bonus one-player mini-game "Driver's Ed". The problem with the former two was that those mini-games were almost always over in less than 15 seconds, while the problem with the latter is that not many people know that the mini-game even exists *
In order to even get it, you need to complete all the Mini-Game Coaster difficulties (good luck on the Hard difficulty), then buy all the special one-player Item and four-player battle mini-games from Woody, and then return to Woody and say yes to whether you want to go inside Woody's mouth and play the bonus mini-game or not
. Therefore, the latter half of the song was never heard by many players.
Whammy: The Bowser Spaces typically play this role.
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