Video Game / Mario Party 8

"Welcome to the Star Carnival!"

Mario Party 8 is a video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the Wii in 2007. It's the eighth installment in the Mario Party series and the first for the Wii. Among the home console installments, it is the last installment to use the original Mario Party game structure until Super Mario Party, released 11 years later (the handheld Mario Party DS, released the same year as 8, was the last traditional game overall for roughly the same period).

Being developed for the Wii, the game applies motion controls to many of its minigames, and only uses the Wii Remote (the Nunchuk is used for one minigame, all other controllers are incompatible) for this purpose. Like other first-party games released for the system, the game also incorporated player-created Miis for certain minigames and can show up as part of an audience. The game replaces the Orbs from the previous three Mario Party games with Candies, which have unique properties and purposes, to go along with its Central Theme. Outside these changes, the game has no specialized gimmicks like the day/light mechanic from the sixth game or Bowser Time from the seventh, nor does it make use of the Mic (despite the Wii's compatibility with Nintendo GameCube accessories); however, it does retain the idea of boards with unique Star obtainment methods as seen in those two games.

The game is hosted by MC Ballyhoo, a big-mouthed circus ringleader with a talking hat called Big Top. It teems with a "carnival" theme, and the story starts when MC Ballyhoo and Big Top invite Mario and his friends to the Star Carnival, whose main attraction is the Star Battle Arena. A chosen contestant has to win five party duels across, respectively, five standard boards. The reward is a year-long supply of candy and the privilege to use the Star Rod, which has magical properties. However, Bowser steals the latter object and takes it to his own board, so it's the winner's mission to take it back by winning in the aforementioned board and defeating Bowser in battle.

A noticeable aesthetic change seen in some boards is that they don't use circular or squircle-like tiles to identify the walkable spaces; instead, the spaces themselves are wholly color-coded and also weight-sensitive (they glow when a character stands on, or walks by, them). Regarding new characters, Hammer Bro. and Blooper appear as playable characters in this game (it's also possible to use Miis, but only in the Extras Zone), and per tradition for newcomers in the series they have to be unlocked first.

The game's ratio display is 4:3 for boards and minigames, but switches to 16:9 for menus. The game holds the distinction for being released in North America, Europe and Australia first, and then in Japan (the exception is the United Kingdom, where it was released later still due to production issues... and that was before having to be recalled for a later re-release due to a content controversy).

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This game provides examples of:

• Always Night: King Boo's Haunted Hideaway. Not only is it set permanently at night, but it's also so dark that players can only see a few spaces ahead of them, even when looking at the board's map.
• Alliterative Name: The minigames Mario Matrix, Alpine Assault, Treacherous Tightrope, Grabbin' Gold, Swervin' Skies, Picture Perfect, Grabby Gridion, Bumper Balloons, Saucer Swarm, Lava Lobbers, Breakneck Building, Canyon Cruisers, Puzzle Pillars, and Moped Mayham. There's also the boards (DK's) Treetop Temple, (Goomba's) Booty Boardwalk, (King Boo's) Haunted Hideaway, and (Koopa's) Tycoon Town.
• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The Final Boss battle against Bowser takes place in a starry, colorful region of outer space where the Koopa King is piloting a well-armed Koopa Clown Car while the player's character is maneuvering a star-shaped platform and has the Star Rod as their weapon.
• Announcer Chatter: The game has a talking hat host who makes lots of nonsensical noises in lieu of actually matching the text. He talks so much though, that the hat even comments on how much is being said.
• Artificial Stupidity:
  • Happens often in Koopa's Tycoon Town. Most of the time, CPU-controlled characters will invest every single coin they have, even if it's not necessary or if they can't actually become the top investor, doing nothing but helping the other players. It makes it impossible for computers to invest on the building that is right next to it, unless they keep getting low rolls and winning minigames.
  • King Boo's Haunted Hideaway is a randomly-generated map that changes each time you play it. The AI seems to not plan ahead at path forks, and it will choose a path even if it knows the next fork on that side has one path leading to a dead end and a Whomp blocking the other, and that it doesn't have enough coins to pay the Whomp's toll.
• Aspect Ratio Switch: The menus are in 16:9 HD, but the boards and minigames are matted to 4:3 fullscreen with borders.
• Be the Ball: When a player uses a Bowlo Candy, the player transforms into a ball and bowls around the board, bowling over players that get in the way and taking 10 coins from them.
• Big Boo's Haunt: King Boo's Haunted Hideaway is a board that takes place inside a haunted mansion. The overarching gimmick is twofold: It is a randomly-generated mansion where the goal is to find King Boo's location and buy a Star from him (10 Coins), which then kicks everyone out and reshuffles the mansion. Also, due to the limited visibility, each character can only see a few tiles ahead of them, even when looking at the board's map.
• Blow You Away: The Bloway Candy turns any players that eat it into a tornado. In this form, any players they pass during their turn will be blown back to the start space.
• Bonus Space: The golden "Lucky Space", which takes you to a special place separate from the regular board where all the spaces have bonus coins on them, and you're guaranteed to get a star (three on one board) at the end of it.
• Border-Occupying Decorations: Since the game was designed for 4:3 televisions, with only a small amount of game modes supporting 16:9 displays, the original release features decorative borders with a blue tartan pattern if the Wii's display mode is set to 16:9. The borders were removed on later copies after players complained that the patterns caused screen burn-in.
• Bowdlerise: The original English releases had the word "spastic" in one of Kamek's lines of dialogue (a word considered offensive in the UK because it's used as a derogatory term for someone who has epilepsy) because someone on the localisation team Did Not Do the Bloody Research. All copies in the UK had to be recalled and then Nintendo released a new print that edited the word to "erratic" in the British version. A later revision in North America changed the whole line.
• By Wall That Is Holey: The minigame Wing And A Scare has two dueling characters drive airplaces to fly across a floating city in the skies. Along the way, they have to go through walls that have uniquely-shaped holes, which can only be tackled when the airplanes are tilted accordingly (some walls are fully closed at first, but will open shortly afterwards and the characters have to react quick enough by tilting their vehicles). Near the end is a tunnel across a wall that will begin to rotate once a characters enters it, requiring a smooth tilting to avoid clashing against the walls. If a clash happens, the character's airplane will rebound and make them waste time. Whoever reaches the goal first wins; however, if both get there at the same time or neither does so after five minutes, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Card Battle Game: The basis of the minigame Cardiators. Two dueling characters arrive to an olympic stadium, and take turns to choose and unveil cards with attack attributes. When a character shows a card, the enemies portrayed in it will come to hurt the other character (the amount of HP lost for that character is also shown in the chosen card); the other character then chooses a card on their own to summon an enemy or group of enemies and attack their rival, and so on. Whoever loses all their HP first loses and will render the other character victorious.
• Cash Gate: To complete Goomba's Booty Boardwalk in Star Battle Arena mode, the player must collect 50 coins before they reach Captain Goomba. If they don't have enough, he will send them back to start to try again.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Starting with this game, Koopa Kids vanished from the series completely without an explanation. Instead, Bowser shows up alone for the first time in the Mario Party series. The Nintendo DS installment has Bowser Jr. accompanying Bowser, and he takes the role of Koopa Kids in following games, likely indicating that the Koopa Kids were dropped in favour of Bowser Jr..
• Circus Episode: The game as a whole is this for the Mario Party series. It takes place at the Star Carnival, a massive Amusement Park, and is hosted by MC Ballyhoo, an eccentric circus ringmaster, and his talking hat, Big Top.
• Claiming Via Flag: The minigame Crank To Rank has all four characters gradually raise their respective flags to the top, and whoever does so first wins the challenge (if no one manages to do so after five minutes, the minigame ends in a tie).
• Climbing Climax: The minigame Gun The Runner features a solo character trying to climb to the top of a skyscraper in construction, while the other three characters (boarding a helicopter shaped like a Bullet Bill) have to shoot at them to hinder their progress. If the solo players makes it to the top, they win; if 30 seconds pass, then the rival trio wins.
• Coconut Meets Cranium: In the minigame Flip the Chimp, four Ukikis (each representing a player) have to climb thin, yet tall trees planted within an amusement park. While they do so, they have to move sideways to avoid being hit by coconuts that fall down (being hit will briefly stun them and make them waste time). The Ukiki that reaches the goal line at the top first will render their represented player victorious, though it's possible to have more than one character win should two or more Ukikis reach the goal at the same time. Conversely, in Duel mode, only two Ukikis are competing (in defense of their respective playable characters), and if both make it to the goal at the same time a tie is declared and neither player wins.
• Cyber Green: The Mario Matrix minigame centers around the players being transported into cyberspace, represented as a dark green vortex covered in light green vector lines.
• Death Course: An Invoked Trope with the minigame Thrash 'n' Crash. Three characters are riding skateboards across a skating course, while the fourth player is riding a large hovercraft and commanding the trigger of several obstacles in an attempt to make them crash against them and be disqualified: Making a pile of oil pipes fall, make a Warp Pipe shoot a Bullet Bill, make a large wooden wheel roll, or make a Whomp pound itself onto the ground. The characters riding the skateboards must not only avoid those hazards but also avoid clashing against the walls holding the ladders used by people to leave the course. The solo character wins if they manage to make all three rivals clash against something to disqualify them; but if at least one member of the escaping trio manages to survive the antics for 30 seconds, then the trio wins.
• Developer's Foresight: The Challenge minigame "Fruit Picker" requires the player to memorize five fruit symbols on a wheel, which then turns, and pick the out one to three of the symbols. If the player pauses or presses the Wii's Home Menu button, the symbols disappear until they unpause to prevent players from cheating by writing down or photographing the symbols.
• Did Not Do the Bloody Research: This game had to be recalled in the UK early in its release after outrage over the use of the word "spastic" — a highly offensive term for someone with mental disabilities.
• Dodgeball Is Hell: The minigame Scooter Pursuit takes place within a large stadium field with a circular wall in the center, and has all characters drive scooters that shoot large striped balls. Hitting a character with a ball nets one point, while being hit by a ball leaves the player briefly incapacitated. Whoever scores the most points after 30 seconds wins.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • When you pair Birdo and Dry Bones together, their team is called the "Bone Chokers".
  • There's a minigame where you must shake the Wii Remote up and down to shake up a soda can in order to make it build up enough pressure and shoot out like a geyser. No-one can say nothing dirty came to their minds the first time they played that at all.
• Door-Closes Ending: The minigame "In the Nick of Time", which starts with a door opening to find Player 1 in a room full of clocks. The winner, however, will be shown for the minigame end scene, where all of the clocks start ticking. After a while on the results screen in Party Mode, the door is then shown to be closing.
• Dub-Induced Plot Hole: The Italian version called Buzzy Beetles "Ronzibei" (a kinda-direct translation of the English name, since is a portmanteau of "ronzare" and "scarabeo", respectively "buzz" and "beetle"), when in every other Mario game the name is translated as "Nella".
• Evil Living Flames: During the minigame Lava Or Leave 'Em, Lava Bubbles begin hopping onto the safe rock platform where the characters reach after fleeing from an eruption's incoming flow of lava. Some of the Lava Bubbles merely move around, but other split into smaller specimens to further reduce the safe space; being touched by them or accidentally falling into the lava river spells an instant disqualification. The last character remaining character survives the ambush wins, though more than one can win if they survive after 30 seconds; conversely, if all remaining characters are disqualified at the same time, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Foul Ball Pit: The minigame Mosh-Pit Playroom has all characters shrunken and encased within a miniature ball pit that is initially empty, until a Fly Guy appears to drop 200 color-coded bouncy balls: 50 red, 50 blue, 50 yellow and 50 green. Each character has to pick all 50 balls of their corresponding color (which is tied to their player order, not the character's features) to win the minigame. This being Mario Party, each player can sabotage the others by stomping on them. If five minutes pass and no one managed to get all their balls yet, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Friendly, Playful Dolphin: The dolphins in Goomba's Booty Boardwalk are all friendly, and help a character get closer to Captain Goomba's treasure when they land on certain Event Spaces. There's also one dolphin who can take a character landing on a special bonus space to a mystical island with another treasure chest.
• Gimmick Level: The game features boards with unique obtainment methods for Stars. The only board that uses the classic format seen in the older games is DK's Treetop Jungle:
  • Goomba's Booty Boardwalk and Shy Guy's Perplex Express share the concept of having a linear path to the Star, whose location is always the same. Whereas in the former the Star is granted by a Goomba pirate and for free (the Coins are usually invested on the dolphins who place a player closer to the goal), in the latter it's sold by the Shy Guy who is driving the train for 20 Coins. The other main difference is that Kamek sometimes shuffles the arrangement of the wagons in the latter board.
  • King Boo's Haunting Hideaway is a randomly-generated mansion whose rooms and passageways are arranged in a specific order every time a character gets to King Boo to purchase a Star. It's also possible to get a Star from DK, but it's reliant on a difficult strategy (landing on a DK space and finding the gorilla before someone gets King Boo's Star or someone lands on a Bowser space).
  • Koopa's Tycoon Town employs a more advanced version of the gimmick seen in the seventh game's Windmillville. There are several hotels across the city, and investing Coins in them will make the player its owner. The number of Stars that metaphorically indicate the hotel's tier is also literally added to the player's Star count; the more Coins a player invests in a hotel, the higher its tier will be and thus the more Stars it'll be granted to the player, though another character can invest more money on that hotel to steal ownership.
  • In Bowser's Warped Orbit, each player begins with five Stars (or more if there's a handicap feature enabled), and the objective is to steal other characters' Stars by using Bowser or Bullet Candies that allow a player to rob anyone passed by.
• Gratuitous Spanish: The Duelo Candy, which is used to potentially challenge a player to a duel.
• Hard Light: The minigame Picture Perfect has two Shy Guys turn each one projector, whose images are segmented into rotating panels Rubik-style. The image at the left is divided into four parts, and one player has to use a remote gun to solidify them, causing them to stop and make it so all parts assemble a holographic image shown at the center. The three rival players have to do the same thing with the projected image at the right, only it's divided into nine parts, so they need good coordination so they can stop them and efficiently assemble the desired solid image. Both the solo player and the rival trio have 20 seconds to assemble the current image, and if time runs out another image will be requested. The solo player wins if they manage to form three full images before the rival trio does, and vice versa; but if five rounds pass and neither side manages to assemble three images, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Have a Gay Old Time: The game infamously had to be recalled in the United Kingdom on the first week of its release there, due to a case of this and Separated by a Common Language. During the Perplex Express level, Kamek utters the line "Magikoopa magic! Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!" The issue starts with the word 'spastic'; in North America, this word is often used as a synonym for 'stupid' or 'uncoordinated', but in the United Kingdom means 'afflicted by muscle spasms', particularly in reference to physical disabilities or conditions that cause muscle weakness such as cerebral palsy. Following the recall, the word was changed to 'erratic' for the British release, a much more acceptable word, and also one that matches the meaning the North American English iteration was going for.
• High-Tech Hexagons: The minigame Mario Matrix is a glowing hexagon clicking game Inside a Computer System.
• Hold the Line: In the minigame Saucer Swarm, each player (a total of 4 in Battle mode, and only 2 in Duel mode), has to shoot as many incoming UFO-like aliens as possible to both prevent any of them from reaching the player's position (if that happened, the alien would electrocute the player and leave them stunned, wasting time), and shooting at more than the rival(s). Whoever scores the highest after 30 seconds wins (while abduction from a larger UFO awaits for the loser(s)), but it's possible to have more than one winner if two or more players share the highest score. However, if that happens in Duel mode, both players are abducted by the aliens and the minigame ends in a zero-reward tie.
• It's All Upstairs From Here: The minigame Rotation Station takes place inside a tall, ominous tower where two dueling characters have to jump across platforms (some of which are moving) to see who reaches the top first. Whoever does so first wins, but the minigame ends in a tie if neither character makes it to the top in five minutes.
• Jump Rope Blunders: The minigame Chump Rope has a lone player try to trip up the other three in a jump rope. Any players hit by the rope are launched off to the side, regardless of the rope's speed.
• Jungle Japes: The board DK's Treetop Temple takes place within the dephts of a dense treetop jungle. The board's paths are built upon wooden trunks, except for the path at the top which is instead built upon a stone bar held by a huge statue modeled after Donkey Kong; there's a spiral water slide surrounding a dark tree as well (landing onto an Event Space at the top will allow a character to slide through it and gather several coins). Other features include barrels used as elevators, a vine to cross a pit, and a chainlink for the same purpose. The method to earn stars is the classic way: Simply head to the star and pay 20 Coins to get it.
• Kill Enemies to Open: The minigame Boo-ting Gallery has two pairs of characters approach a large mansion during a cloudy night, and from the front yard they have to shoot at all the Pink Boos that appear and disappear at random. Afterwards, the characters enter the foyer and have to dispatch all the Pink Boos located there, and then fall onto the basement to defeat a large Pink Boo whose size reduces with each projectile received until it's defeated. Whoever manages to kill all Pink Boos (including the large Boo at the end) first wins.
• Levels Take Flight: The minigame Swervin' Skies has all characters pilot jet airplanes in the high skies. One player is piloting an armed plane, and their objective is to shoot down the other three in 30 seconds or less. If at least one of the escaping players survives after time runs out, then the trio wins.
• Lightning Gun: The minigame Power Trip has a character drive a hovercraft with electrified borders to zap the other three characters. Tha latter not only have to watch out for that, but also avoid falling into the chainlink floor's pitfalls, as there are electric wires below. The solo player wins if they manage to zap all their rivals with the hovercraft, while the trio wins if at least one of them manages to survive during 30 seconds.
• Lily-Pad Platform: The minigame Rudder Madness has all characters ride water lilies across a muddy river in a swamp. They have to avoid obstacles like rocks and the trunks holding up a decayed bridge. Interestingly, the "rudders" used to steer the lilies happen to be the latter's tails. Whoever reaches the goal first wins; however, if all four players reach the goal at the same time or neither of them manages to do so after five minutes, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Locomotive Level: The board Shy Guy's Perplex Express takes place inside a long train with five standard wagons, and whose goal for the characters is to navigate from the mini-wagon at the very end to the front part where the driver awaits to sell a Star for 20 Coins. Besides the linear path and star obtainment methos, the main gimmick is that a Magikoopa sometimes comes by and scrambles the order of the cars, shifting the board and everyone's positions.
• Luck-Based Mission: Cut from the Team is a completely luck-based Battle minigame. Players take turns cutting ropes from a selection of ten ropes, three of which are rigged to launch the player if they are cut. There is no way to know whether the rope you cut will be safe until you cut it.
• Lucky Seven: If the player eats a Twice or Thrice candy and rolls two/three of the same number, they will receive bonus coins. If they are lucky enough to roll double/triple sevens, the prize will be much greater. Twice Candy gives 10 coins for matching numbers and 30 coins for matching sevens, while Thrice Candy gives 30 coins for matching numbers and 100 coins for triple sevens.
• Mad Bomber: The minigame Bob-ombs Away takes place within a Bob-omb factory, and has three characters frequently toss Bob-ombs at the fourth character, who is in a lower ground. As the Bob-ombs fall, they're obstructed by bars reminiscent of those placed in pinball machines, so their falling trajectory isn't readily apparent. If the solo character manages to dodge all explosions during 30 characters, then they win. If not (namely, if they're caught by a Bob-omb's explosion), then the rival trio wins.
• Man on Fire: When eaten, the Duelo Candy engulfs its consumer into flames, albeit harmlessly. Then the character moves across the board and, if they reach another character, then they can challenge them to a Duel minigame.
• Metropolis Level: The board Koopa's Tycoon Town takes place inside a fairly-developed urban location, in which characters have to invest money to increase the Star tier of the local hotels. It works similarly to the windmills of Windmillville from Mario Party 7, only here the number of Stars a character gets will increase as the tier of their hotels does (for example, with 20 Coins the hotel will have a 2-Star tier, while investing 50 Coins will raise its tier to 3 Stars). Being a city-themed board, its Event Spaces are tied to the setting; some of them will allow a character hop on a Koopa's taxi to be taken to one of the hotels, while others will make a Bandit appear to steal coins from a hotel (potentially lowering its star tier and making its current owner lose a star as a result).
• Minecart Madness:
  • The minigame Pumper Cars has two dueling characters use steam-powered handcars to navigate through the rails of a dark, partially volcanic mine. They move their vehicles by pumping the levers (which is done by tilting up and down the Wiimote while also pressing A and B at the same time, so it's easier said than done). Whoever reaches the cave's exit first wins. If neither characters gets there after five minutes, the minigame ends in a tie.
  • The minigame Lava Lobbers has two dueling characters shoot cannonballs at each other while driving minecarts in a lava-filled cavern. Each character can move sideways through the rails to dodge the other's attacks. Whoever gets shot three times will lose and render the other player victorious. If both receive the last hit at the same time or neither manages to triumph after 30 seconds, the minigame ends in a tie.
• New Work, Recycled Graphics: Despite being a Wii game, the game still reuses the same character models, animations, sound effects, and other graphics like coins and spaces, from the Nintendo GameCube installments. Some of the less positive reviews on the game had critics theorize that the game was originally planned for the GCN (which would explain why there was no installment in 2006), but this was never verified. Mario Party 9 modernized the assets, finally averting the trope.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: MC Ballyhoo is a rare non-evil example. His signature laugh is a boisterous "HA HA HAAA!" This is meant not to make him look sinister, but to show how grandiose and over-the-top he is, which is fitting because he's modelled after a circus ringmaster.
• Obstacle Ski Course: The minigame Alpine Assault has all characters use snowboards to descend through a snowy slope. Along the way, there are ramps the characters can use to perform jumps and increase their speed; however, there are also snowmen they have to avoid as clashing against them will make them waste time. Whoever reaches the bottom goal first wins; but if two or more characters reach there at the same time or nobody manages to do so after five minutes, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Oculothorax: The minigame Eyebrawl features two Mr. I looking respectively at two dueling characters. Like in Super Mario 64, each character has to disorient a Mr. I to make it shrink and disappear (though here they do so by making the big eye look at the rapidly-moving pointer of the Wiimote instead of running around). When a Mr. I dies, a bigger one appears in its place and has to be disoriented as well. Finally, a Big Mr. I appears and is the hardest to disorient. Whoever manages to disorient three eyes first wins; in the event both players defeat the Big Mr. I at the same time, or five minutes pass and neither has managed to dispatch them all, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Paintball Episode: The minigame Paint Misbehavin' has two pairs of characters (or, alternatively, only two individual characters) operate train-like paint cannons across rails to shoot paintballs at Goombas. One pair or solo character shoots pink paintballs while the other shoots blue ones. If a Goomba is painted with either color, it's still possible to change its color by shooting painting from the other. If a pair or character gets hit by a rival paintball, they'll be stunned for a short while. After 30 seconds, whichever pair or character has more Goombas painted with their color wins; but if the number of painted Goombas is the same for both colors, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Palmtree Panic: Goomba's Booty Boardwalk is a linear board that starts within a grassy island with several houses, goes across a sandy island with some palm trees, then across a slender island with concrete floor and some assorted features like bushy areas and a cave, and finally reaches a volcanic island with a treasure chest where Captain Goomba gives whoever gets there a Star for free. Once a character finishes the stroll, they're taken back to the start to begin a new one. During the stroll, a character can pay a fee to dolphins to these take them to a spot closer to the volcanic island; the catch is that the exact fee will depend on the character's current position, with the first-placed one paying the most and the last-placed one paying the least. The islands are chained one after another thanks to wooden bridges, which are also part of the board's playable path.
• Paranormal Investigation: Spoofed in the minigame Specter Inspector. Two dueling characters have to enter a deep-dark mansion similar to the eponimous building of Luigi's Mansion. The hall they explore is played in first-person with flashlights, and the characters have to check objects and furniture to find mooks (Fly Guy, Flutter, Piranha Plant, etc.) hidden there. If a character unveils a ghost instead, they'll be startled and briefly incapacitated. Whoever manages to find three mooks first wins; if five minutes pass and neither character managed to find three mooks, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Power-Up Food: The game has candies that, when eaten, gives the player different abilities, such as zapping opponents with lightning or stealing other players' items.
• Promoted to Playable: Hammer Bro. and Blooper make their playable Mario Party debut after having appeared as items and non-playable characters in previous games.
• Racing Minigame:
  • The minigame Rowed To Victory is a special case that doesn't involve a traditional racetrack. Two pairs of characters are placed within a wide circular lake in the forest whose goal lies at the very center. Each pair is driving a rowboat, and have to synchronize their oar swings to move forward to the center whule avoiding debris like stray tree branches and rocks. The team to reach the center first wins.
  • The minigame Kartastrophe has all players drive go-karts to race across a simply circuit similar to those of Mario Kart. Whoever completes two laps first wins.
  • Moped Mayhem is an unlockable minigame that can only be played in the Extras Zone. Players drive mopeds around a track for three laps alongside 29 other racers, with the objective of placing as high as possible.
  • The minigame Cosmic Slalom has two dueling characters drive hovercrafts to race across a large tube installed in a space station. There are electric fences along the way that have to be avoided, as they temporarily incapacitate whoever touches them, wasting time. Whoever reaches the goal first wins.
• Randomly Generated Levels: The main trait of King Boo's Haunted Hideaway. The paths and inner arrangement of the whole mansion shuffle every time a player purchases a Star from King Boo. As a result, all four players are sent back to the start to begin the search for the next Star from scratch.
• Rhyming Names: The minigames Specter Inspector and Rotation Station.
• Ring Out:
  • The minigame Glacial Meltdown has all characters fight against each other in an iceberg in the midst of an arctic lake. The objective for each character is to kick out all the others, and melee attacks are used for this purpose. The last player standing wins, though more than one player can win if they survive for five minutes. If all players end up falling down, the last one to touch the water will be the winner (as a result, no tie is possible in this minigame).
  • The minigame King of the Thrill has two teams of characters placed in rocky pillars right under a bigger one. In one lower pillar, one player from a team is facing someone from the other, while on the other pillar the other two characters face each other. When the minigame begins, the two paired characters fight until one in each side is thrown away, and as time passes the pillars will gradually crumble piece by piece to make someone falling more likely. If both players from a team win, they'll climb nearby ladders to reach the bigger pillar and celebrate their victory. If the two players who win are from opposite teams, then they'll duke it out in the bigger pillar until someone falls down (and that pillar will gradually begin to crumble as well); the winner will also share victory with their fallen buddy. In the event both/all players fall down at the same time, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Secret Character: Blooper and Hammer Bro. Either of them can be unlocked by completing Star Battle Arena once, and completing that same mode with the unlocked character will in turn unlock the other (simply completing it twice with a different character won't work).
• Self-Duplication: The Weeglee Candy turns the character who eats it into three smaller duplicates of themselves. After they hit the Dice Block, they can steal one Candy from every character they pass by.
• Separated by a Common Language: Copies of the game had to be recalled in the UK due to the character Kamek using the word "spastic" (as in "Magikoopa magic! Turn this train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!") on the Shy Guy Express level. In the UK, "spastic" is an offensive derogatory slang term to refer to disabled or mentally handicapped people. The word was changed to "erratic" in re-releases, and in a later North American revision, the whole line was changed.
• Sequential Boss: Bowser, fought at the end of the Star Battle Arena campaign, has three phases. In the first, Bowser is throwing fireballs at the player's character, who has to dodge them and then shake the Star Rod to charge it and land a hit onto the enemy. In the second phase, Bowser activates some extra cannons from his Koopa Clown Car, and these begin to shoot Bullet Bills that home at the character (their homing effect makes evasion more difficult). In the third and final phase, Bowser opens the Clown Car's mouth so it shoots laser beams like there's no tomorrow, requiring good reflexes to dodge them. The character has to retaliate the same way in all phases, however, by shaking the Star Rod to prepare a shot that aims straight at the Koopa King. The player has 5 HP, while Bowser had 10, so the battle is quite difficult (luckily, the game asks the player if they want to retry in case the character has all their Life Meter depleted).
• Shock and Awe: The Cashzap candy allows its user to attack one of their rivals with a bolt of lightning. The unlucky victim will lose half of their coins.
• Shooting Gallery:
  • The minigame Snipe for the Picking has each character enter a room with some cogs being cranked by an Ukiki. When the minigame starts, apple-shaped target boards begin passing by, and each has their sections marked with numbers that indicate their worth in points; the characters have to shoot at the targets and make sure they aim at their most valuable zones to score lots of points. Each target will only be shown for one second, so the players have to react quickly. After 30 seconds, whoever scores the highest wins.
  • In the minigame Aim of the Game, all characters have to shoot at five cards from a deck that begain to fall down after being expelled from a hat. Most cards indicate their worth in points, though some serve as multipliers which double the player's current score (the ones with a x0 multiplier must be avoided at all costs, as they nullify all points earned so far). Whoever has the most points by the time all cards fall down or all characters shot at five cards each wins.
  • Boo-ting Gallery has two teams of two navigate through a haunted mansion while shooting balls at pink Boos using the Wii Remote pointer. The final room has the players shoot at a giant pink Boo, and the first team to defeat it wins.
  • The minigame Lob to Rob has two dueling characters approach a wooden target showcase installed in a large tree in the woods, and have to shoot at the Mushroom targets that are shown in the showcase while avoiding the Goomba targets. A Super Mushroom is worth 10 points, while a 1-Up Mushroom is worth 30. Hitting a Goomba target will penalize the player by substracting 10 points. After 30 seconds, whoever scores the highest wins; if both players achieve the same score, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Shout-Out:
  • MC Ballyhoo's name is one to Bally Manufacturing, a company that made pinball and slot machines.
  • Dry Bones & Hammer Bro's team name is What-The-Deuce.
  • In the cutscene before the first round of Star Battle Arena, MC Ballyhoo asks the chosen player character if they are "Risin' up to the challenge of your rivals", referencing a line from the song "Eye of the Tiger".
  • In Bowser's Warped Orbit, any time Bowser changes the direction the players are moving, he says "Let's do the crime warp again!", a reference to a lyric from the song "Time Warp" from The Rocky Horror Show.
• Snowball Fight: The minigame Snow Way Out has three characters climbing and chimney to reach the top of a wooden house in a snowy village, while the fourth character arrives the house's whereabouts with a truck that can shoot snowballs. The characters in the house's ceiling have to dodge the snowballs to avoid getting frozen and sliding down, as that would result in their elimination. The solo player wins if all three rivals are knocked down, but the trio wins if at least one of them can survive for 30 seconds.
• Soda Can Shakeup: The minigame "Shake It Up" has the players shake soda cans for a set amount of time, and whoever's can produces the highest geyser when it's opened is deemed the winner.
• Something about a Rose: When Waluigi wins a minigame, he pulls a rose out of Hammerspace and poses with it, holding the tip of his hat.
• Space Zone: Bowser's Warped Orbit is a space station parked above a star, with paths and directions controlled by Bowser. It serves as the Star-stealing board of the game, with players using special candy to attack other players as they pass by.
• Sphere Factor: The minigame Balancing Act has two dueling characters maneuver a large circus ball while navigating through a perilous obstacle course in a circus tent; there are platforms that take them to higher spots, as well as Thwomps that have to be avoided to avoid getting crushed. Whoever reaches the end first wins.
• Spinning Clock Hands: In the Nick of Time minigame, players have to manually spin the clocks to match the time shown in the center clock.
• Spring Coil: Upon being eaten, the Springo Candy turns a character's lower body into a spring that allows them to bounce in one huge leap onto another character's location.
• Stalactite Spite: The minigame Frozen Assets has a large Freezie stomp the snowy floor to make a number of icicles fall down, which two dueling characters have to break with punches and kicks to see which one holds a pink crystal to collect it. After a while, the Freezie will stomp the floor again to make the next icicles fall down, and the characters have to repeat the process. The first character to gather five crystals wins. If both manage to get their fifth crystal at the same time, or neither manages to do so after five minutes, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Taken for Granite: The Thwomp Candy, when eaten, turns its consumer into a stone head, making each player they pass by lose half their coins.
• Temporary Platform: The minigame Sick and Twisted has all characters race through a series of rotating round platforms (and some static square ones) placed a few meters above the grassy ground. They have to move fast because the platforms will begin retracting downward one by one, and failing to outrun them will result in a disqualification (getting hit by incoming Bullet Bills is bad for the same reason). Whoever makes it to the end wins, though more than one player can win if they all make it to the aforementioned goal. Conversely, if all players end up falling down or hit by the Bullet Bills, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Tightrope Walking: The minigame Treacherous Tightrope has all characters walk over color-coded tightropes while wearing balancing poles whose colors match respectively those of the tightropes. The player has to keep their character in balance by tilting the Wiimote accordingly, especially when wind begins to blow. Whoever reaches the other end first wins, but if all four characters end up falling down the minigame ends in a tie.
• Token Evil Teammate: Blooper and Hammer Bro are the only playable characters that explicitly work for Bowser here.
• Train Problem: The minigame Loco Motives has two dueling characters watch respecively for three color-coded trains (red for one player, blue for the other) that are driving in an encased rail diorama. The objective for each player is to prevent their trains from bursting their colored ballons, for which a train approaching one has to be tapped with the Wiimote's pointer to reverse its direction. A train that bursts a balloon will stoo for a long time, but will be able to resume motion afterwards (and the popped ballons will return, though the strike marked for the burst holds up). The first team of trains to burst three balloons will make their player lose the duel, and render the other victorious.
• Video Arcade: The Free Play Arcade is set in an arcade and allows players to compete in minigames that they have currently unlocked. It is basically a Free Play Mode.
• Water-Geyser Volley: Played with. The minigame Lean, Mean Ravine has two teams of players use motorboats to race across a mildly-flooded mountainous ravine with geysers that, instead of making them rise, knock them aside considerably. The key is to avoid these geysers and instead use the boosting ramps to gain speed and reach the goal first. The losing team is trapped upward by a geyser during the celebration of the winning team, however.
• Whack-a-Monster: The minigame Crops 'n' Robbers has two teams of players hunt Monty Moles that pop up from molehills. However, the twist is that only one of the players in each team holds the mallet that is used to hit them, since the other is focusing on scooping the carrots that obstruct the way (and are taken to delivery trucks driven by Shy Guys). The first team to complete the two halves of the job and thus have their designated field fully cleared up wins.
• Wire Dilemma: The minigame Cut From The Team has a non-explosive example. All four characters are placed near the top of a rock pillar in the desert, and each of them has to use a pair of scissors to cut one of the ropes that are tied to the platform the current character is standing on. Seven ropes are safe to cut, so if a character is lucky they can then leave the platform and let the next player arrive to cut another rope. However, the remaining three ropes must not be cut, as doing so will make the platform trigger its trampoline below and send the current character upward into the skies, disqualifying them. Which ropes are safe and which ones aren't is always a random arrangement, so it's ultimately a game of luck. The last player left wins.

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