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Mario Party 3 is a video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 in December 2000 in Japan, May 2001 in North America, September in Australia, and November in Europe. It's the third installment in the Mario Party 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.

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 Mario Tennis) 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 Wolfpack Boss battle at the end of one of its modes) one of the first to feature a Boss Battle. This game's theme is "storybooks", and the game has a kind of pop-up book aesthetic to it, and to a lesser extent "nature", due to the first five boards taking place across different natural environments, as well as the boards being accessed by a warp through space. Hosting duties are shared between two Original Generation 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 Mario Party Advance.

Mario Party 3 was a notable no-show on the Virtual Console 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 Nintendo Switch Online’s library of Nintendo 64 games.


This game provides examples of:

  • Advancing Wall of Doom: The minigame Cheep Cheep Chase has four players compete to outswim a giant Cheep Cheep.
  • All for Nothing: Subverted. After EVERY challenge the player asks, they beg the Millennium Star to make them the greatest superstar in the universe, only for him to confess he's a fraud and flies away, and your character completely sulks dumbfoundedly thinking the whole journey was a wasted effort. Then the real Millennium Star appears and reveals it was watching the player the whole time, returns everything to normal, and promises them they are the greatest superstar in the universe.
  • All or Nothing: The Game Guy minigames forces players to hand over all their coins and wager them in Luck Based game that could triple their coins or lose them all instantly.
  • Alliterative Name: The minigames 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. There's also the board Woody Woods.
  • Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The final battle in Story Mode, namely between the player and the (fake) Millennium 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.
  • Animate Inanimate Object: In the Arrowhead duel board, there are two sentient cones with eyes and large arrows adjacent to them (hence their name, the Arrowheads) which indicate a player that the nearby junctions in the board's paths can be used as shortcuts to either the opponent or the Start Spaces. The Arrowheads move their arrows to a beat, being probably excited.
  • Anti-Frustration Features:
    • Players can now hold up to three items at a time and can discard them if need be.
    • Players using the Magic Lamp on Spiny Desert will always be teleported to the real Millennium Star to prevent any frustration of a roulette between teleporting to a real one or a fake one.
  • Artistic License – Physics: In Tick Tock Hop, jumping off a rotating clock hand would send you flying outwards in real life, as once you go airborne, you travel according to you linear speed, not your rotational speed. That being said, realistic physics would make the minigame unplayable.
  • At Least I Admit It: Baby Bowser (along with Toad) will occasionally hand out items to players who land on the item space. He asks you a personal question about your habits (like "Do you keep your room clean?"), and he rewards someone who admits to being rather undisciplined and childish ("You're honest, I like that.") If the player answers that he keeps his room clean, Baby Bowser will accuse the player of just saying whatever sounds good in order to get a prize, and the reward is more stingy than what he gives to someone who admits to letting his room get messy.
  • Balloonacy: In the minigame Bobbing Bow-loons, a solo character is hovering in the skies with a balloon, and there are five other balloons with one item each encased inside them. The player's objective is to use a bow to shoot an arrow at one of the balloons to burst it and claim the item it has inside. All balloons lower and rise at different speeds, so timing is key. Missing all balloons will make the arrow bounce off the nearby stone tower and ricochet at the player's balloon, making them fall down and lose the minigame.
  • Betting Mini-Game: The Game Guy's minigames, which are run by a Shy Guy. When a player lands on a Game Guy space, they'll automatically wager all their coins in one of four possible minigames. Each one has its own rules (Sweet Surprise has the player guess which Chain Chomp will eat its cake faster, Roulette has the player guess in which area of a roulette the spinning red shell will stop, Lucky 7 has the player hit one or two dice blocks to try to land at a higher stair than Game Guy without overshooting the allowed number of steps, and Magic Boxes has the player guess which treasure chest contains a Toad instead of Baby Bowser), but in all of them the goal is to not only get back the number of coins used, but also get a valuable multiple of that number in case the player is lucky enough.
  • Big Ball of Violence: Waluigi and Bowser get into one of these during Story Mode.
  • Big Eater: The minigame Eatsa Pizza features two teams of two players eating a giant pizza, much larger than themselves. The players crawl around to eat as much of their side of the pizza as possible, and whichever team manages to put away more before time runs out is the winner.
  • Book Ends: For the Nintendo 64 as a whole. The credits end with a short scene of all the characters hanging out in front of Peach's castle, meaning the final Mario title for the system (and the final first-party Nintendo release in most regions note ) ends right where the first one began.
  • Born as an Adult: The Millennium Star, which is born once every 1,000 years, falls out of the sky because it's a newborn; the one that Mario and the gang find however, looks elderly and old. This is a clue that this is not the true star.
  • Butt-Dialing Mordor: You can buy a Bowser Phone from Koopa Kid's item shops that instantly calls him to deliver misery. When you dial him, he asks who is calling. You can lie and say whoever you want. You can also be honest. The final option is "Who do you think?", which yields a random result. Woe unto you if you choose the last option and Bowser guesses correctly. Unless you have zero coins, in which case Bowser will give you money instead. It would still be a better move to just specify yourself in that case though.
  • Buy or Get Lost: Baby Bowser doesn't take kindly if you visit the Item Shop and decide not to make a purchase.
  • Celebrity Impersonator: The Millennium Star is a sentient, legendary star that only shines once every 1000 years. 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 Millennium Star appears, having been within Tumble's body and observed the progress and achievements of the playable characters.
  • Coconut Meets Cranium: In the minigame Coconut Conk, one player is inside a barrel rolling in the sands of a deserted island, while the other three players are on the tops of six palm trees. The objective of the trio is to Ground Pound the trees' tops to make coconuts falls in order to hit the player on the barrel, while the latter has to roll left and right to evade the coconuts. If the solo player is hit once, then the trio wins; but if the solo player manages to resist 30 seconds without being hit, then he or she wins.
  • Continuity Nod: The Tick Tock Hop minigame occurs on the clock from Super Mario 64.
  • Conveyor Belt o' Doom: In the minigame Treadmill Grill, the four players are placed in an area made of four conveyor belts, each moving at a different rate and direction, and all surrounded by blue Hot Feet which move around them; the players have to hit each other to make them fall down into the flames. As the minigame progresses, some of the Hot Feet will turn orange and creep into the conveyor belts, and eventually the conveyor belts themselves will shrink, making things more difficult for the surviving characters. The last player remaining wins.
  • Cosmic Motifs: Stars. We have the Millennium Star, the select files are chests with a starry pattern, the three game modes look like stars, the character select screen is essentially a large star elevator, and in Story Mode, the player needs to get seven star-shaped stamps.
  • Cursed with Awesome: The Reverse Mushroom. When used, it makes the target go backwards instead of forwards with their dice roll. While this could be used to hurt a player's progress, it is mostly game-breaking in practice. For one, the most common reason it is used is to move backwards to a Star Space that a player had either just missed, or because it reappears right behind them when someone else bought a Star. Also, a player under the effects of a Reverse Mushroom can pick which direction they want to go if they reach any junction, even if that route could normally not be accessed without a Skeleton Key or a special event. Even the developers realized how broken the Reverse Mushroom was, since it never reappeared after this game.
  • Danger — Thin Ice: The first board, Chilly Waters, has a frozen lake in the middle. If two players walk across it, the thin layer of ice cracks, forcing them to run to the southeast part of the board to safety.
  • Dark Reprise: "Defeat..." is a melancholy version of "Castle Grounds", playing whenever the player has failed a board in Story Mode.
  • Defensive "What?": This is Daisy's excuse for laying the Bitchslap from Hell on Bowser.
    Daisy: What? He was in my way...
  • Demiurge Archetype: The Millennium Star who controls the game turns out to be a fake, and promptly runs away upon your character completing all the challenges and asking for their reward. Appropriately, he has the face of an old bearded man resembling typical portrayals of God. The true Millennium Star turns out to be in Tumble's head.
  • Down the Drain:
    • In the minigame Spotlight Swim, all characters are in a dark basement where a small cistern surrounded by pipes lies. One of the four characters is swimming in the water, while the other three use color-coded searchlights. If the solo player avoids being spotted by all three searchlights at once during 30 seconds, they win. If the three players manage to illuminate them at the same time, then they win. The solo player can evade the lights by diving underwater temporarily.
    • In the minigame Cheep Cheep Chase, the characters are swimming in the waters of a dungeon's underground sewer, and do so because they have to flee from a big Cheep Cheep that wants to eat them. They must also avoid the floating mines, which the Cheep Cheep can eat just fine.
  • Evil Living Flames: In the minigame All Fired Up, all four characters are in an octogonal area, and a group of Lava Bubbles will fall from above. The Lava Bubbles start moving around in various patterns (wave-like, circular and cross-shaped; between phases, they move randomly), and the players' objective is to dodge them. The last player remaining wins.
  • Excuse Plot: You would be amazed at the cosmic significance of Super Stardom. The Millennium Star (a superpowerful cosmic being born once every thousand years) arrives in the Mushroom Kingdom to determine just who, exactly, is the best at life-size board games.
  • Falling Blocks: Mario's Puzzle Party is a puzzle minigame where colored blocks fall from the top of the playing field, and players score points by connecting two blocks of the same color to remove them. If multiple groups of blocks are removed in a row with a single move, players will earn large point multipliers. The first player to reach 100 points wins the minigame. Occasionally, the players will receive a Thwomp that squishes all blocks below it to half their height, potentially allowing for greater combos. If a player fills their field completely, they are eliminated from the game. There is also an ulockable single player version called Mario's Puzzle Party Pro, where one player tries to score as many points as they can in three minutes.
  • Fishing Minigame: Hand, Line and Sinker. Three characters are disguised as fish swimming in a round moat, while the remaining solo character uses a fishing rod with a glove used as a lure. The solo player has to capture the other three characters by using this special rod. If they succeed, then they win; if 60 seconds pass and at least one of the fish characters manages to survive by evading the lure, then the team of three wins.
  • Floating Limbs: Tumble, who serves as the guide in most modes, was originally brought to life by the Millennium Star, and lacks arms and legs connecting the hands and feet respectively. In fact, his central body is absent as well.
  • Foreshadowing: The Millennium Star starts growing more nervous as you gather the Star Stamps. 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.
  • Gusty Glade: The Blowhard duel board has a large, sentient ventilation fan in the central junction. When a character passes by it, the fan will blow them upward, switching the position of their partner(s) if there are any. Afterwards, the character can choose to move onto any direction that isn't the one they came from.
  • Hailfire Peaks: Waluigi's Island combines Palmtree Panic with Eternal Engine. This combination of settings derives from the island having an industrial motif: Several Piranha Plants can be seen working on the making of an amusement park in the northeast, as well as Mario Party board spaces in the northwest and an artificial island made of ribbons tied with large screws in the west and southwest. The mini-island in the south has a large pile of orange dynamite sticks controlled by a countdown poster; when a player lands on a surrounding Event Space, the countdown (which starts at 5) will go down by 1. When it reaches zero (namely when these Event Spaces have been landed on a combined total of five times), the island will explode and all surrounding players will lose all their coins. At the center of the board is an advanced gear that serves as a randomly-operating junction; when a player is in front of it, they must time carefully when to jump onto it as the arrow lights are spinning clockwise, and the direction the player will take will be determined by the lit arrow when they land onto the gear. Lastly, the northwest mini-island is connected to the ones bordering it with two metallic drawbridges, one of which lies down and the other is erected; when a player lands onto an Event Space next to either of them, they'll switch states: The open drawbridge will rise up and the other one will lower.
  • Harder Than Hard: The game makes Super Hard mode an unlockable through playing through Story mode on Hard (you can also play Story mode on Super Hard). Following games have a similar difficulty for AI, almost always an unlockable.
  • Hollywood Mirage: Happens in Spiny Desert, somehow. There's a 'mirage' form of the Millennium Star, which only vanishes when someone tries to buy a star from it (and beforehand, makes it appear like there's two of the character on the map). It's probably more accurate to call it a hallucination.
  • Home Stage: Waluigi gets an unlockable "Home Board" with Waluigi's Island.
  • Inconveniently-Placed Conveyor Belt: In the Mr. Mover duel board, there's a large conveyor belt connecting the duelists' starter spots. Stepping on it takes the player to one of the spots, and the board's rules forbid them from trying to override it. Its direction is indicated by its current color (it will take players to the left if it's colored blue, or to the right if it's colored red), and at the start of every turn the belt will swap from one color to the other, thus also changing its direction.
  • Instant Home Delivery: There's an item called Cellular Shopper, which calls a store and lets you buy one item. There's no turn wait, you get it immediately.
  • It Was with You All Along: What you thought was the Millennium 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.
  • Jack of All Stats: Snifit in the duel maps has 2 in Attack and Defense.
  • Levels Take Flight: The minigame Aces High has all the characters perform aerial combat in the skies. Each player's airplane has a Life Meter of two hearts, and their goal is to shoot the other players to tear them down. A shot is performed by pressing Z, but if the button is held for a few seconds, they can load a Bullet Bill and then release it so it homes at the nearest player (in this case, the next Bullet Bill cannot be loaded until the previous one either hits a target or goes off-course). The last player remaining, or the one with the most health after 60 seconds in case more than one remains when time expires, wins. If the last players are downed at the same time, or all surviving characters have the same amount of HP when time expires, then the minigame ends in a draw and nobody will win.
  • Live Item: Unlike in the second game, Skeleton Keys are sentient. They take pleasure in opening the doors that get in their masters' way, and sorrowfully accept when a player is throwing them away.
  • Locked Door: In addition to the locked doors found in the boards (and which can be opened with the Skeleton Keys), the minigame Locked Out has the characters grab the keys that open the doors in the front side (only the keys with the same marks as the doors' designs will work); each door can only be unlocked and entered by one player at a time. There's always one door fewer (and, as a result, one correct key fewer) than the current number of players, so it's guaranteed that at least one player will fail to get past the current room in each round, which ends in their elimination. When only one player remains, or if that player is the only one who manages to enter a door when time expires, they're declared the winner.
  • The Lost Woods: Woody Woods is a board set in the depths of a forest with a rich, varied flora. Much of the forest has a friendly, lively atmosphere; however, the northern quadrant has a darker, more sinister vibe, as many trees found there have withered and died (the only living tree in that part is Evil Woody, who will give a fruit with adverse effects to a player who lands onto one of the nearby Event Spaces). In contrast, Woody (who can be found in the west side of the forest's lively part) will give a fruit with beneficial effects to a player who lands on one of the nearby Event Spaces. A notable feature is the junctions located in the central paths, as they're controlled by arrow signs next to suspicious-looking molehills. At the end of every turn, Monty Moles come out of these molehills to change the arrow signs' directions; but if a player approaches one of their huts, they can pay a fee to ask the Moles to flip the arrow directions during a turn (a specific arrow sign can also be changed by landing on an Event Space placed in front of it, right before the junction).
  • Luck-Based Mission: The minigame Merry-Go-Chomp operates in a similar way to a gambling roulette. The four players are in a circus where they approach a spinning circular platform divided into five colored segments. Each player has to select one of the segments and stand there, meaning that four areas will be filled and the fifth one will be empty. The platform then starts spinning, and when it stops a Chain Chomp will grab the player that stands in front of it, disqualifying them from the minigame.note  The remaining players form a row once again to choose their next spot in the platform (which will now be divided into one area fewer than before) so they're in position and the platform spins again, and the cycle continues until only one player remains. There's no way to predict the moment when the circle stops spinning, so only luck will make the winner prevail.
  • Make Way for the New Villains: Waluigi makes his big entrance in story mode by beating up Bowser, who in the cutscenes between boards had been a Harmless Villain up to that point.
  • Minecart Madness:
    • The minigame Cosmic Coaster is a futuristic variant. Two teams race through a magnetic rail in outer space by using each a vehicle (shaped like Bowser's shell) whose seats can move left or right without derailing. The players have to move their seats sideways in order to evade the obstacles (namely cardboards showing Bowser's face), as clashing will make them lose speed. The first team to reach the goal wins.
    • In the minigame End of the Line, two dueling characters are driving each a train in the desert. Each character has the goal of guiding their train to the nearest station. In each segment of the railway, there are two tunnels to choose from, and only one of them leads to the next segment; if a player chooses the wrong tunnel, they'll fall onto a chasm (hence the minigame's name), forcing them to restart and waste time. There's a total of three segments, and the correct paths are the same for both players. Whoever reaches the train station first wins, but if both characters arrive there at the same time or five minutes pass before anyone can complete the trip, the minigame ends in a draw.
  • Mon: There's a Duel Map Mode where each character essentially has one of the various iconic Mario enemies as their mon.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Dorrie being referred to as a girl in the description of Dorrie Dip is similar to how she was called a girl by the Super Mario 64 Nintendo and Prima strategy guides even though a sign in Hazy Maze cave explicitly called Dorrie a male.
    • Donkey Kong swings his club with one arm in Chip Shot Challenge, just like he does in Mario Golf.
  • Parasol Parachute: There is a mini-game called Parasol Plummet, where all players have to avoid hammers while descending with a parasol and catching the coins and coin bags thrown by some of the Hammer Bros. that hang on the beanstalks. Closing the parasol makes a player fall down faster, while opening it will allow them to steer sideways to grab the loot.
  • People Puppets: Landing on a Bowser Space may result in the Koopa King using a special curse to force your character to move forwards or backwards.
  • Pipe Maze: In the Pipesqueak duel board, there are four pipes located respectively next to the four corners; their corresponding colors are yellow, orange, purple and pink. When a player reaches a corner, they can choose to enter the nearby pipe and exit randomly through one of the other three pipes. Depending on the current course of the mode's playthrough, it will be important for the player to decide whether to simply continue walking through the board's standard path or take the risk to enter a pipe to appear in either a beneficial corner or a detrimental one.
  • Plot Coupon: Story Mode has the Star Stamps, which the characters strive to collect so one of them becomes the next Superstar. There are seven Stamps in total.
  • Poison Mushroom: The game has both the classic Poison Mushroom (which retains the Mario Party property of reducing the maximum number of steps for one turn) and the brand-new Reverse Mushroom, a green mushroom with a red U-turn symbol drawn on it. With the latter item, a character can inflict a Reverse status on another, forcing them to move backwards in their next turn.
  • Pop Quiz:
    • In the minigame M.P.I.Q.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 character 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.
    • In the minigame Curtain Call, some mooks appear on a theatrical stage to perform a brief dance. When the curtain falls, Toad appears to asks the players a question about the mooks (i.e. who was the second in the row), and whoever answers incorrectly will be eliminated; the next group of mooks the show up. As the minigame progresses, the number of mooks involved increases. All of the players who answer all three questions correctly win this minigame.
  • Press X to Not Die: The game has a mild version of this: Losing the Action Time microgame will just put you at a predetermined space. It does give you some warning in advance so you know it's not just a cinematic, plus intentionally failing Action Time to get yourself moved is actually a viable strategy.
  • Quicksand Sucks: In Spiny Desert, there are two quicksand pits connected from the underground and surrounded by Event Spaces. If a player lands into one of those spaces, the quicksand pit will transport them to the other.
  • Racing Minigame:
    • The minigame Water Whirled has the characters drive motorboats to race across an enclosed water racetrack. Each player has to keep an eye on their speed as well as their coordination, as going either too slow or too fast will mess with their control. It's required for a player to complete five laps to win.
    • The minigame Ridiculous Relay has one player flying across the skies while dodging Bullet Bills and flying Galoombas (they can steer their glider with the Control Stick). The other three characters traverse a river in relay form, as each of them sails a third of the river's length: The first player rows a boat shaped like a Koopa Shell, the second operates a Skeeter-shaped legged tank, and the third drives a motorboat shaped like a Bullet Bill (the control scheme varies in all three cases). If the solo player reaches their goal first, they win; if the third player of the opposing trio reaches first, then the whole trio wins.
    • The minigame Thwomp Pull has one player race against the other three in a snowy racetrack. The solo player is using a sled that is being moved by three Thwomps, and has to press the correct button in each step to make one of the Thwomps move forward (each Thwomp moves with a specific button, but only the button shown on screen can be pressed, so only one Thwomp can move at a time). The other three characters are using a much wider sled that also moves with the help of three Thwomps, but each player is responsible for pressing their designated button when the moment requires it to make their Thwomp move forward, so the trio has to employ good coordination and reflexes to avoid falling behind the solo player.
    • The minigame Rockin' Raceway takes place in a wooden hippodrome. Characters are riding rocking horses whose speed can be increased with orange carrot panels, but will slow down with blue ones (the panels' color will swap periodically). The first player to complete half a lap wins.
    • The minigame Motor Rooter has two dueling characters race against each other in the interior of a pipe. They're driving hovercrafts shaped like Koopa Shells, and along the way they can find dash panels that increase their speed, but also Amps whose electric barriers briefly stun them (thus slowing them down). The first character to reach the goal wins; but if nobody reaches there after 60 seconds, then it will end in a draw.
  • The Reveal: At the end of Story Mode, after the player collects all Star Stamps and defeats the Millennium Star to prove their worth, the latter reveals that he's not the real Millennium Star, and flies away. The player is disappointed upon learning this, but then Tumble shows a bright white star who reveals to be the true Millennium Star, and then proceeds to grant the player their wish.
  • Rhyming Names: The minigames Treadmill Grill and Eatsa Pizza.
  • Road-Sign Reversal:
    • In Woody Woods, Monty Mole pops out of his hole every turn to switch the directions the players move. He also does this whenever a player comes to his army-like hut to pay him five coins, or lands on the nearby Happening Spaces.
    • In the Backtrack duel board, there are five special tiles in the pointers of the path's star-shaped layout. Each of these tiles has an arrow sign close to it. If a player lands on one, then the arrow sign will point at the opposite direction, forcing the player to move backwards in their next turn.
  • Rule of Seven: Story Mode revolves around collecting the legendary seven Star Stamps to become the next Superstar. The Stamps represent, respectively: Wit, Kindness, Strength, Love, Courage, Beauty and Mischief.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: One of the attributes of the Seven Star Stamps in the story mode of the game is "Beauty", and the player must duel Princess Daisy for it. To quote: "There is no denying that Daisy is fairest of all! There's no need to fight." She almost succeeds in charming the two game hosts for it.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If the roulette ends on a gold-lettered event on the 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 the Bowser space.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: With decent players, an average game of "The Beat Goes On" consists of over three minutes of pressing the same buttons as the previous players and no one receiving anything for it.
  • Shifting Sand Land:
    • 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 Millennium Stars in the board, but only one of them is real while the other is a mirage.
    • In the minigame Boulder Ball, one player stands atop a sandy slope and uses a machine to drop boulders onto it, while the other three have to scale the slope to reach the solo player. If a player is hit by a boulder, they'll be stunned and will slide down. If the solo player manages to keep away all three characters for 30 seconds, they win; but if one of the climbing characters manages to reach the goal, then the trio wins.
    • In the minigame Storm Chasers, the players are in a corral located in a desert surrounded by cacti, while holding a potted Piranha Plant. Above the area of the corral is a raining cloud, and the players' objective is to chase the cloud so its water can feed the Piranha Plant. After 30 seconds, whichever Plant received the most water will grow taller than the rest, and its player will win the minigame.
  • Shockwave Stomp: The minigame Tidal Toss takes place in a moat located in a summit. One of the characters is in a rowboat, while the other three are swimming in the moat. The solo player's objective is to jump onto the rowboat to create waves that push away the other three players into the moat's borders, making them fall down; if the solo player performs a Ground Pound, they'll create a much taller tidal wave that is harder to dodge for the swimming characters. If the solo player manages to knock all three swimming characters, they win; but if at least one of the swimmers survives during 30 seconds, then the trio wins.
  • Shooting Gallery: In the minigame Popgun Pick-Off, two dueling characters have to shoot at the Baby Bowsers who are looking out the wooden windows of a building to earn points. If a player accidentally shoots at a Toad who is looking out the window, they'll lose ten points. The player who achieves the highest score after 30 seconds wins.
  • Shout-Out: The minigame Aces High is named after a song by Iron Maiden.
  • Signature Mon: The game's Duel Mode has many of Mario's enemies acting like Mons, with each playable character having a specific Mook that they start the duel with. Mario has a Koopa Troopa, Luigi has a Goomba, Yoshi has a Boo, and so on.
  • "Simon Says" Mini-Game: The Beat Goes On is a rare variation where each character acts as the "Simon" to the next in line. All four characters are atop large lily pads that float in a jungle lake and come with a set of three drums. In the center, a Shy Guy plays four drum beats, each being associated to a controller button. The first player must repeat those same beats (matching not only the correct button but also the right timing) and then play an extra one with a button of their choice. The second player must then repeat those five drum beats and, at the end, play a sixth one with any button. The third player must then replicate those six beats and then add a seventh, and so on. And at all times, save for the Shy Guy's initial drum beats, the button marks will be covered out of sight, making it increasingly difficult to memorize the sequence as it grows larger. If a player presses the wrong button during a beat or their timing is off, they'll be disqualified. When only one player remains, the minigame ends and that player wins; but if more than one player remains by the time the sequence reaches 16 drum beats, it ends in a draw and nobody will win.
  • Skeleton Key: This item returns from the second game, serving the same function (to open Locked Doors in the boards). Should a player realize that there's no need to use it, it can be discarded, something that couldn't be done in the previous game (as items there must be used at some point after being collected).
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World:
    • Chilly Waters is a large, beautiful snowy landscape filled with pine trees (some of which are decorated with Christmas lights), snowmen, snow-showered houses and giant snowflakes. It is inhabited predominantly by penguins. A giant Mr. Blizzard sometimes throws snowballs at the players, forcing them to run if they fail to jump over it. There is also thin ice in the middle of the board that cracks if two players land on it at the same time, an event whose likelihood is increased by the fact that players have a chance of slipping on the ice and ending their turn early there.
    • The minigame Ice Rink Risk takes place in a circular ice rink in the midst of a snowy landscape. The characters have to dodge the incoming Spinies while also dealing with the slippery ground.
  • Snowball Fight: In the minigame Snowball Summit, the characters have to create snowballs to try to knock each other off a frozen summit. Though throwing the snowballs is an option, it's also possible to make them bigger by making them roll across the floor, thus making them more likely to knock the targeted players (and the knockdown itself will also be longer). If two or more snowballs clash, they'll be destroyed, thus forcing the players to create more. The last player remaining wins; but if more than one player survives after 60 seconds, the minigame ends in a draw.
  • Snowy Sleigh Bells: The theme that plays on the "Chilly Waters" board has sleigh bells ringing throughout the entire song.
  • Sphere Factor: The minigame Bounce 'n' Trounce takes place in a 3x3 platform suspended in a starry sky, and the players stand on it while riding bouncy balls as they try to push each other onto the pit. As time passes, some of the tiles of the platform begin falling down one by one. The last player standing wins, but if 30 seconds pass and more than one remains, the minigame ends in a draw.
  • Spinning Clock Hands: In the Tick Tock Hop minigame, the clock's minute hand spins around while the players remain on the hour hand, avoiding the moving hand as it spins faster.
  • Static Role, Exchangeable Character: Each character has a predetermined stamp aligned with them, except for Luigi, who will fill in the hole in the cast if you choose one of the other characters. Mario's proper stamp is Courage, of course, but if you're playing as Mario, Luigi fills in his spot in the lineup instead. If you'd like, you can interpret this as Luigi qualifying for each stamp (Wit, Strength, Courage, Kindness, and Love) while the rest of the cast only qualifies for one each.
  • Stone Wall: Whomp from the Mario Party 3 duel maps. He has the highest amount of health but cannot attack. Koopa and Mr. Blizzard also count as this to a lesser extent.
  • Super Move Portrait Attack: The game does this on the duel boards when one player's partner attacks the opposition.
  • Tactical Suicide Boss: During the Final Boss battle, the Millennium 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.
  • Temporary Platform: In the minigame Bounce 'n' Trounce, all four players are riding pogos tied to bouncing balls in a large platform in s night sky whose tiles begin to crumble and fall one by one; the players can also perform spin attacks in midair to mess with each other. The last player remaining on top wins, but if either more than one character survives after 30 seconds or the last ones fall down at the same time, the minigame ends in a draw.
  • Toll Booth Antics: In the Gate Guy duel board, there are two sentient road gates (the Gate Guys) who are guarding the extremes of the central pathway. If a player wishes to pass from either side (be it to use it as a shortcut to the other character or to reach their Start Space more quickly), they'll have to pay five coins to the Gate Guy guarding it. The good news is that, when the character reaches the other end, its Gate Guy won't charge them and will simply let them pass.
  • Toy Time: This game takes place within a magical toy box, and the scenery looks like what you might find in a pop-up book. This is reflected in the aesthetics of the boards and the majority of minigames.
  • Triumphant Reprise: "Victory!" is a more successful and triumphant version of "Castle Grounds" played whenever a board has been won in Story Mode. It gets an even more celebratory and majestic rendition in the track "The End", played at the very end of the story when the true Millennium Star dubs the player the greatest superstar in the entire universe.
  • A Twinkle in the Sky: In Story Mode, there's a scene where Bowser sneaks up and startles Princess Daisy. She slaps him so hard that she sends him flying. That's probably the reason why Bowser only kidnaps Peach.
  • Two Girls to a Team: The inclusion of Daisy finally averts The Smurfette Principle, but hightlights the fact that she and Peach are the only female playable characters.
  • Under the Sea: Deep Bloober Sea is a lush, lively underwater landscape inhabited by luminescent 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).
  • Underground Level: 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 luminescent 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.
  • Unexpectedly Obscure Answer: The mini-game "M.P.I.Q." will sometimes ask questions based on on-cartridge data, like what the current record time or distance on some other mini-game is or how many times a certain board has been played. Likely invoked, as the Mario Party series is a Luck-Based Mission anyway.
  • Vine Swing:
    • In the minigame Picking Panic, two teams compete to see who can deposit more cherries into their baskets, and use swinging ropes hanging from trees to this end. In each team, a player grabs a cherry offered by an Ukiki, and passes it to their partner to put it into the basket. The size of each cherry determines its weight, and thus how far it'll move after being thrown. The team that deposits the most cherries wins; but if both teams end up depositing the same amount, the minigame ends in a draw.
    • The minigame Vine With Me pits two dueling characters in a race in the jungle where they have to move across moving swings to reach the goal (a tree's robust branch). The vines come in different lengths and speeds, so timing is key to avoid falling down (though that outcome wouldn't disqualify a character anyway, they just waste time getting back to the last vine they were hanging on). The first character to reach the goal wins.
  • Violation of Common Sense: The Waluigi Island board has a loop area in one of the corners where every space is the same and the effect of that space (Game Guy, Item game, Chance Time etc.) changes every turn. As demonstrated by Brainscratch Commentaries, with a decent bit of luck it is possible to win by looping constantly around this area and using effects like Bowser, Chance Time and Duels to constantly screw with other players (although it helps if you have the Bonus Stars turned on).
  • Whack-a-Monster:
    • In the minigame Pipe Cleaners, the players have to knock the Baby Bowsers that pop out of the underground pipes with a hammer. Two pipes are placed in the ceiling, while the other two are placed in the ground; each pipe has to be aimed at with a specific combination in the player's controller (respectively: Up + B, Down + B, Up + A, Down + A). The player that knocks the most Baby Bowsers after 30 seconds wins.
    • In the minigame Baby Bowser Bonkers, two dueling characters have to stomp the Baby Bowsers that pop out of the rocky ground's holes. It's possible to stomp several Baby Bowsers in succession with good timing, but this does not yield any additional points. Whoever stomps more Baby Bowsers after 30 seconds wins.
  • Wingding Eyes: The Millennium Star gets heart eyes when Daisy tries to charm him.
  • Wintry Auroral Sky: The Snowball Summit minigame takes place on a snowy mountaintop, underneath an aurora-laden night sky. The auroras change color during the course of the minigame.
  • The Worf Effect: The game provides not one but two examples, with both Daisy and Waluigi (newly introduced to the series) giving Bowser a Worfing when they make their appearances in Story Mode. Of the two, Daisy's is by far the more humiliating; whereas Waluigi beats Bowser in an actual scuffle, Daisy merely reacts to turning around and finding Bowser standing right behind her by immediately punching him, out of surprise... which somehow is enough to launch him into the background, Team Rocket style. When asked why she hit Bowser, Daisy casually responds, "He was in my way!"

 
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Waluigi Vs. Bowser

Waluigi and Bowser get into a physical fight after Bowser accuses Waluigi of copying his style with Waluigi managing to win the fight.

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