History VideoGame / MarioParty

* FunnyPhotoPhrase: In ''7'', when Bowser takes a photo of the players, he instructs them to say "chumps".

* ''Mario Party: Star Rush'' (Nintendo [=3DS=], 2016): Places the spotlight on the Toads, with each player moving simultaneously and less emphasis on minigames and the other characters. The gameplay is vaguely similar to that of the Hudson Soft-produced titles, with the main focus being collecting the most Stars and Coins while recruiting "allies" on the boards, albeit on a much smaller scale. Yet again, the hosts are Toads.

** The final Board Feature reward in ''Mario Party DS'' is a Toad Statue. It shares the "This is a secret item. No hints! Do your best to find it!" message with the other hintless items, but according to Super Mario Wiki, you earn it by "Play[ing] as Toad in many different minigames". What exactly this entails is unknown; some players say you need to win every minigame with Toad, some say every mode in Minigame Mode needs to be beaten with him multiple times, and others report getting it by playing Party Mode with Toad for a decently long period of time. This is additionally the only character-tied collectible that isn't awarded for beating Story Mode with that character, and it's the only Board Feature to require a specific character.

* ''Mario Party 10'' (UsefulNotes/WiiU, 2015): The first game with Bowser as a playable character in his own AsymmetricMultiplayer mode where the other players have to survive against him, and the second to have more than 4 players playing at once. Once again, various Toads serve as the hosts (except for Bowser Party, where they share the role of host with Bowser Jr.).

* ''Mario Party: Island Tour'' (UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, 2013): ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, this game takes place on the floating islands known as the Party Islands, with various play modes. Instead of trying to collect Stars, the boards are focused on racing to the end of a one-way track. Blue Toad and Yellow Toad once again host.

* FakeBalance: This is a frequent occurrence with 1 vs. 3 minigames, which usually skew at least slightly towards favoring one side over the other. Generally, the lone player has an advantage in execution-based games, while the team of three fares better when the goal is to survive or to gang up against the single player, though there are exceptions across the series. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the first ''Mario Party'', where some 1 vs. 3 mini-games are almost punishments for whoever ends up on the wrong side (such as the one in Bash 'n' Cash, or the three in Bowl Over and Crane Game), being able to gain nothing from it and being likely to lose many coins.

* ''Mario Party 9'' (Wii, 2012): This game introduces the "car" mechanic, having all players move together on the board rather than separately. The game is hosted by Blue Toad and Yellow Toad.

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender:
** This is possibly the most slapstick heavy ''Mario'' spinoff series, and the playable females aren't spared from any of it. Not even ''[[PhysicalGoddess Rosalina]]'' gets off the hook when it comes to suffering huge amounts of abuse here. Ramped up to the next level in ''Superstars'' with the combination of the beautiful graphics and overall high level of slapstick from the original games.

** ''4'': [Character's] [Adjective] [Noun], the adjective and noun being alliterative (except on Bowser's board). The character it's named after is the NPC who hosts the board (except on Bowser's board again, where it's instead Koopa Kid).

** Curiously, Peach and Daisy exclusively have two butt pain animations in ''DS'', instead of just one universal one, as is usual for every character in the series.

* EndOfAnAge: ''3'' was the final Mario game released on the Nintendo 64 in Japan, North America, and Europe (in Australia, that honor goes to ''VideoGame/PaperMario64''). It was also the last game that used Daisy's classic design (barring her trophy in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'').

* CoOpMultiplayer: ''Super Mario Party'''s River Survival mode. It's more about mending friendships than breaking them!

* ''Mario Party DS'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, 2007): This game's theme is "IncredibleShrinkingMan", incorporating boards and minigames being made out of normal objects. Like ''Mario Party 4'', each board has its own host. There's also a narrator for general purposes who never appears in person.

* ''Super Mario Party'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, 2018): A complete reboot of the series. [[RevisitingTheRoots Returns to the board game mechanic]] prior to ''Mario Party 9'' mixing with a few elements from later games (such as the "ally" recruiting mechanic from ''Mario Party: Star Rush''). It also features a mode which takes emphasis on "dual screen" gameplay across two Nintendo Switch systems. Toad and Toadette return as hosts, while Kamek also serves as a host when characters land on a bad luck space.

* YankTheDogsChain: The first Mario Party's Bowser Space version of Bash n' Cash. If the unlucky solo player manages to escape without losing a single coin to the other three players Bowser is greatly disappointed and takes fifteen coins anyway. Also, if there is a Bowser minigame where everyone wins via a four-way tie (i.e. Bowser's Face Lift), he'll still take away coins from everyone anyway.

* StyrofoamRocks: The rocks in Rocky Road from ''6'' are less than convincing. They shake like they are attached to springs, get a dent as you punch them and have sounds more fitting papier-mache.

* ''Mario Party 8'' (UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, 2007): This game has a "carnival" theme, and is the first to incorporate motion controls into its gameplay. The game is hosted by MC Ballyhoo, a big-mouthed circus ringleader with a talking hat.

The series combines a digital {{board game|s}} with various competitive mini-games. Besides Mario, Luigi, and their friends, some of the enemies from ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' are playable characters in the ''Mario Party'' series. About a dozen ''Mario Party'' games have been released so far: eleven on home consoles, one on the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, one for the e-Reader (actually a non-collectible card game with included minigames), one on the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, two in arcades, and three on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. 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.

* ''Mario Party Advance'' (UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, 2005): This game focuses more on single-player, though there are multiplayer modes as well. Its story mode features one big main board that the player can explore to complete quests. The game also features small interactive toys called "Gaddgets", similar to the souvenirs from the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series. Tumble returns as the host for this game.

** The final Board Feature reward in ''Mario Party DS'' is a Toad Statue. It shares the "This is a secret item. No hints! Do your best to find it!" message with the other hintless items, but according to Wiki/SuperMarioWiki, you earn it by "Play[ing] as Toad in many different minigames". What exactly this entails is unknown; some players say you need to win every minigame with Toad, some say every mode in Minigame Mode needs to be beaten with him multiple times, and others report getting it by playing Party Mode with Toad for a decently long period of time. This is additionally the only character-tied collectible that isn't awarded for beating Story Mode with that character, and it's the only Board Feature to require a specific character.

** The boards in ''10'''s amiibo Party use themes that correspond to the board's owner. For example, Luigi's board getting an upbeat remix of ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'''s main theme or Rosalina's board getting the Comet Observatory from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''.

* TwoGirlsToATeam: With the introduction of Daisy in ''Mario Party 3'', Peach is no longer the only female playable character. However, this means that there were only two female playable characters until Toadette and Birdo were made playable in ''Mario Party 6'' and ''7'' respectively, and even then there are games like ''DS'' and ''Island Tour'' in which only Peach and Daisy are playable (with ''Advance'' being the only game since ''3'' where Peach was the only playable character). Rosalina never missing a single installment ever since being made playable in ''10'' means that this is no longer the case, and Pom-Pom was also playable in ''Super'' as well.

* ''Mario Party 7'' ([=GameCube=], 2005): This game is centered around an international world tour, where the boards are TheThemeParkVersion of real countries like the USA, Egypt, and China. Toadsworth serves as the host. This game is also exclusively compatible with 8 players, both in Party mode and Minigame mode.