Mario Party: Star Rush

Mario Party: Star Rush
Developer(s)	Nd Cube CAProduction
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo 3DS
Release date	October 7, 2016 October 8, 2016 October 20, 2016 October 20, 2016 October 20, 2016 November 4, 2016 April 27, 2017
Genre	Party
Rating(s)	ESRB: - Everyone PEGI: - Three years and older CERO: - All ages ACB: - General USK: - All ages
Mode(s)	Single player, Local multiplayer
Media	Nintendo 3DS: Cartridge Digital download
Input	Nintendo 3DS: Control pad

Mario Party: Star Rush is a game for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the second Mario Party game released for the system after Mario Party: Island Tour, and the fifteenth game overall. The game, as with most entries of the Mario Party series, is a multiplayer-oriented party game, where up to four players compete in an interactive, digital board for the most stars. What sets this game apart from its precedents in the Mario Party series is its main mode, Toad Scramble, where, instead of players using designated Mario characters from the start, take control of a color-coded member of the Toad species and collect Mario characters around the board. Also unlike other Mario Party games, all players move at one turn, streamlining the gameplay. The board designs are non-linear as well, also unlike previous boards in the Mario Party series, where players travel in a straight line around the boards. This concept is retained in Mario Party: The Top 100, in the Minigame Match mode. The game is compatible with amiibo, which have various different uses depending on the mode that is played on. The game requires 3018 blocks for a digital download from the Nintendo eShop.

Mario Party: Star Rush also has a version of the game called Mario Party: Star Rush - Party Guest. This app can be downloaded off the Nintendo eShop for free. While it can be played alone with very restricted minigames, the primary focus of the app is to play full multiplayer with other players with only one game cartridge. If players buy an official copy of Mario Party: Star Rush, players can transfer saved data from Mario Party: Star Rush - Party Guest to their copy of the game.

Gameplay

Gameplay of Toad Scramble, the main mode.

Mario Party: Star Rush's board gameplay is the main focus of the game. Players traverse around a board, using a Dice Block numbered from 1-6. Due to the nature of the boards, most spaces landed on the boards in Mario Party: Star Rush do not trigger a special effect, while there are very few spaces that do: for example, specifically landing on a ? Block space grants the player a random item for use. Minigames can be collected from playing Toad Scramble and Coinathlon, with both modes having different ways play a minigame; in Toad Scramble, for example, players need to pass a Coin Balloon to trigger a minigame.

Toad Scramble is the only mode where players cannot choose a designated Mario character, instead, starting out with a colored member of the Toad species, corresponding to a player; said Mario characters can be used only when collected in the board, set as the leader, or with a use of an amiibo. In all other modes, however, players can choose and play as a specific Mario character, including Toad himself as an option if players wish to play as a Toad in other modes.

Game modes

The main hub of the game.

Ten game modes appear in Mario Party: Star Rush. At the beginning, the Toad Scramble mode is the only mode players can play, however, players unlock other modes as they play the game.

The game features a hub for a main menu, where players can visit areas by either using touchscreen controls or moving around. Toad is the default character, but players can change their hub character by visiting the Character Museum. When players reach Level Star, a giant gold Mario statue can be seen over the Character Museum.

Toad Scramble

“Compete to win the most Stars! Nab Stars by getting 1st place in boss battles and by trading your coins at the end of the game.”

—Toad Scramble pause screen description

A player acquiring Yoshi in Toad Scramble.

Up to four players can enjoy Toad Scramble, the central mode of Mario Party: Star Rush. Each player in the beginning starts out with a member of the Toad species, where their colors correspond to each player: red being Player 1, blue being Player 2, green being Player 3, and yellow being Player 4. Players are then notified of the appearance of a boss character in the map, as well as potential ally characters that the Toads can recruit. The goal of the game is to amass the most Stars, where players can retrieve Stars by placing first in boss minigames. Players can face off against bosses by landing on the space in front of them. Every time a boss minigame is completed, a new boss appears on the board on a different spot. Up to five bosses can appear on a board. When a player plays against a boss, other players need to tap to travel to the boss space to participate as well.

An Ally Duel taking place between Donkey Kong and Yellow Toad

When players recruit ally characters, the ally characters help out by increasing dice roll amounts with their own special Dice Blocks and helping the players earn points simultaneously in Boss Battle minigames. Ally characters have certain field abilities unique to them as well; for example, Mario can stomp on Goombas in grass while Princess Peach can make flowers bloom. Whenever a player recruits an ally character, they can switch characters before the start of any turn in order to directly use them. Up to four ally characters can be recruited for each team, having five characters in total at play. Players can duel each others' ally characters by participating in an Ally Duel, either by landing on the same space as another player or by using a Duel Glove. When an Ally Duel is triggered, one of the several events happen. One event is a Dice Block roll: the two players roll a die; whoever rolls higher wins. Another event has players choose cards with numbers facing upside-down; whoever picks a higher numbered card wins. The last event is stopping a displayed, then hidden timer for 5 seconds: whoever stops closer to 5 seconds wins. When players win the Ally Duel, they can select and steal an ally from the losing player. If the losing player does not have an ally character, the winning player earns coins instead.

Dotted throughout the board are coins that can be collected by running through them. Players can land on special spaces as well, such as a ? Block, which gives players an item that can help players and hinder their opponents. Players can land on a Lakitu space, where at a fee of one coin, players can travel to another player's space, where an Ally Duel occurs if this happens. Cannons can blast players to marked locations elsewhere on the board. Some boards come with unique features, such as World 2-2 featuring Peepas impersonating as allies and punishing players that pick them up or rising lava in World 4-1 that burns players who are too low in elevation to other areas of the board as well as taking away some coins.

When a player passes through a Coin Balloon, the player earns coins, as well as starting a minigame. Similar to the Battle minigame of previous Mario Party installments, the player who landed on the space can choose a minigame out of four randomly selected, rather than traditionally letting a roulette decide which minigame to play. Duel Balloons function in a similar manner, except the player who wins first place in the minigame can select and steal other rivals if other players have rivals; if the minigame ends in a tie, a card duel similar to the one in an Ally Duel is played to determine who can steal rivals.

In final boards of each World, Bowser always appears as the final boss. When a Boss Battle is about to be started with him, he punishes the player furthest from him in a variety of ways, decided by a roulette similar to events from Bowser Spaces from previous entries. If a player does not have the items Bowser demands, Bowser either does nothing or rewards them instead depending on the penalty.

At the end of the game, the game rewards bonus coins (if the game is not played on any World 0 boards) for the following criteria being met. Three of each are chosen at random:

• Wanderer Bonus: Awarded to players who started the least Boss Battles.
• Loner Bonus: Awarded to players who have spent the least amount of time with any allies.
• Slowpoke Bonus: Awarded to players who moved the least in the board.
• Sightseer Bonus: Awarded to players who have moved the most in the board.
• Item Bonus: Awarded to players who have collected the most items, including items collected by characters' abilities.
• Balloon Bonus: Awarded to players who have popped the most balloons, including Coin Balloons and Duel Balloons.
• Duel Bonus: Awarded to players who have won the most Ally Duels.
• Champion Bonus: Awarded to players who have won the most minigames.

After these have been rewarded, players are awarded with a Lucky Ally bonus for coins, which can be any ally partner, including amiibo characters. Coins are then converted to Stars, with every 10 coins equalling one Star. Whichever player has the most Stars at the end of the game is the winner. Depending on how much Stars earned, players can earn a Star Rush or, with many Stars earned, a Super Star Rush, where the game then marks maps that have these accolades won in.

Coinathlon

“Play minigames to earn coins as you race around a track! Each coin moves you forward one space. Use items to help you reach the finish line first!”

—Coinathlon pause screen description

Toadette participating in Coinathlon with three other players.

In a mode that up to four players can play, players must collect as many coins as they can in a set of three 60-second designated coin minigames, labeled under "Coin Chaos" to progress a set number of laps around a map. As players collect coins in minigames, they proceed through the map as the minigames happen. Players can earn a variety of items via collecting coins; when characters collect enough coins, a transparent box containing an item shows up. Players can retrieve the item by touching the box, and when players press , they can momentarily use that item to either stun their opponents or help them gain an advantage in collecting coins. The items available are Coin Trio, Blooper, Lava Bubble, Lightning Bolt, Kamek, Double Medal, and Coin Bag, and the frequency of these items change depending on the placement of the players. Initially, the three minigames start out as Level 1 minigames, but after one cycle of all three minigames, a Level 2 variation of the three minigames are played, where there are more hazards and coins to collect, and it goes up to Level 3, the most challenging variation of the minigames. Whichever player crosses the finish line first wins the game. Records are kept for the time spent on a course; when players complete a course faster, the high score will be overwritten by a new one.

In longer games, Bowser can show up to force players to play Bowser's Gauntlet minigames; players first receive a warning when a Bowser's Gauntlet minigame will occur, which occurs before the next minigame. Players need to survive the minigames; when players get eliminated, they get sent back a number of spaces, depending on how early they got eliminated. If players survive the minigame, they receive no penalty.

Coinathlon comes in two modes. One mode is Free Play Mode, where players can choose the number of players, laps, and minigames available. The other mode, Rival Race, players can take on a series of challenges to try to earn 10 consecutive wins. The further the player gets on, the harder the challenges get.

In multiplayer versions of this mode, players cannot play against computer opponents.

Mario Shuffle

Mario Shuffle in play.

“Be first to get your character pieces to the other side of the board! Move strategically, and don't let rivals land on your spaces!”

—Mario Shuffle pause screen description

Mario Shuffle is a two-player oriented game mode that focuses on amiibo functionality. Players race across a linear, one-way board to a goal with amiibo. The red team tries to make it to the very right of the board, while the blue team tries to make to the left side of the board. Players roll two dice, and allow the outcome of the dice to affect two figurines. When a player crosses an opposing piece, the player jumps over the piece, making that piece unable to move for one turn. If a player lands on an opposing piece, the player knocks the piece back to the start of the board. Players can land on spaces that either make the piece continue further or moving back, depending on the directions on the space. If players do not have amiibo, a cardboard cut-out of a player character is used instead. A total amount of six characters can be used, each split into two teams of three. The first team who makes it across the board to their goal wins the game.

Unlike other modes, CPU opponents are decided randomly and cannot be manually changed.

Balloon Bash

This section is about the game mode in Mario Party: Star Rush. For the minigame in Mario Party 10, see Balloon Blast Bash.

“Compete to collect the most Stars! Grab coins from Coin Balloons, and battle it out in minigames. Exchange your coins for Stars by grabbing Star Balloons.”

—Balloon Bash pause screen description

Gameplay of Balloon Bash.

Up to four players must collect coins and stars on a mini board with 10, 20, or 30 turns and minigames after a player touches a coin balloon. The gameplay is very similar to Toad Scramble, except players navigate through smaller boards and are able to use designated Mario characters rather than a player Toad, and the main goal of the game is to collect the most Stars from Star Balloons that can appear in parts of the board. Players can earn Stars if they spend 10 coins on arrival with a Star Balloon. Star Balloons can come in twos or threes, and players can purchase multiple of them at once if they have the funds. When a Coin Duel is initiated, just as an Ally Duel for Toad Scramble, whichever player wins the Coin Duel earns coins.

Similar to Toad Scramble, in the last parts of the game, the game rewards the players in last place with an item, such as a Duel Glove or extra coins. At the end, results are tallied up, with Bonus Stars given depending on the players' performances. Most of these bonuses are the same from Toad Scramble, barring some features exclusive to Toad Scramble. Also similar to Toad Scramble, players can earn Star Rushes and Super Star Rushes if they have enough Stars.

Rhythm Recital

Players in Rhythm Recital.

Up to four players can cooperate and play classic Mario tunes using the touchscreen or by tapping with correct timing. Players can initially choose an instrument from the orchestra instrumental set, which each has a different set of notes while the percussion set is unlocked when the players achieve an A rank on 5 different songs. After every song, the player is graded due to their performance: attaining a lot of "Perfects" grades players higher while missing some notes degrades the score. Players can select CPU players to fill in player slots, however, they have no effect on the performance and are therefore props. There are ten songs in total:

• Overworld Theme from Super Mario World
• Main Theme from Super Mario 3D Land
• Overworld Theme from Super Mario Bros.
• Super Bell Hill from Super Mario 3D World
• Overworld Theme from New Super Mario Bros.
• Slide from Super Mario 64
• Castle Theme from New Super Mario Bros. Wii
• Underwater Theme from New Super Mario Bros. U
• Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy
• Chill from Dr. Mario

In-game text

• ♪Perform to the beat of the music notes!

Controls

• / – Perform

Challenge Tower

“Climb to the top while avoiding hidden Amps! Yellow, red, and purple spaces mean there are Amps nearby, so climb with caution!”

—Challenge Tower pause screen description

Luigi in Challenge Tower.

A single player game where a player climbs a tower with LED spaces on it. Players need to pay attention to the color of the spaces as they ascend, while also avoiding Amps on their way up the tower. Blue spaces are safe to proceed in any direction, yellow means that there is an Amp in one direction, red means there are two Amps in two directions, and purple spaces mean that the space is surrounded by Amps. Black spaces are spaces not climbed on at the moment. X spaces means that space cannot be climbed on. Players can mark spaces with a checkmark using ,, , and to help mark locations with Amps in them. Finally, Amps cannot be adjacent to each other. At first, players have the options to climb the following towers: Beginner, which has 30 floors, Intermediate which has 50 floors, and Expert, which has 70 floors. If all are played, players can unlock the 500-floor Master Tower. In the Master Tower, players can save their game for every 100th floor reached. When players clear the Master Tower, they unlock the Tower Cup.

Boo's Block Party

“Rotate the blocks, and line up three or more of the same number. Clear a shiny block to clear all other blocks of that same color.”

—Boo's Block Party pause screen description

Boo's Block Party.

A puzzle game that involves spinning sides of a number block numbered 1-4 to earn points. Points are earned when 3 or more sets of numbers match. When players break enough blocks, they can choose to either send the blocks to the opponent's screen or shuffle the blocks around randomly. The game ends when the blocks reach the top of the screen and stay past the top for three seconds. In single-player mode, a player can go for a high score for as long as they can without letting their blocks go past the top of the screen.

Character Museum

Main article: Character Museum

Viewing Princess Peach in the Character Museum.

The character museum allows players to view characters collected in the game. The playable characters can be chosen as the hub character. amiibo options are also found here: when players use amiibo, they unlock stamps. The quality of the stamp is dependent on how long players touch the touch screen. Players can choose to reapply stamps if the outcome is not desired. When players unlock stamps, they earn an extra set of points to increase their Party Level. If players have unlocked the Staff Credits, it can be viewed in here. Players can also play minigames from here, by viewing the minigame appearances tab for respective enemies.

Minigames

Players can play Free-For-All, Boss Battle, Bowser's Gauntlet, and Coin Chaos minigames they have unlocked in this mode. Additionally, Coin Chaos minigames function differently than they do in Coinathlon: these minigames are a single player minigame where players attempt to earn a high score by playing through all three levels of the minigame, and the only items that appear are those that are directly beneficial to the player.

Multiplayer

Players can use the Nintendo 3DS's Download and Local Play features to play with their friends. The following table illustrates which features are available in each mode, leaving out Challenge Tower, as Challenge Tower is a single-player only game.

Play modes
Mode	Local Play	Download Play
Toad Scramble
Coinathlon
Balloon Bash
Mario Shuffle
Rhythm Recital
Boo's Block Party

However, new to the Mario Party handheld titles is the Mario Party: Star Rush - Party Guest feature. Similar to Download Play, it enables up to four players to play the game with only one game cartridge, but it gives players who do not have a copy of Mario Party: Star Rush to play with modes that only Local Play users have access to. Players need to download the Mario Party: Star Rush - Party Guest app off the Nintendo eShop into an available SD card slot and then hook up with systems that have a copy of Mario Party: Star Rush to enjoy. Additionally, progress such as unlocked characters and minigames are saved, and if players buy a full Mario Party: Star Rush copy, they can transfer the data into the copy.

amiibo features

amiibo can be used in Mario Party: Star Rush for the benefit and bonuses of the player, with each game mode supporting the Super Mario line-up of amiibo figures as well as the Mario characters in the Super Smash Bros. line up of amiibo. amiibo can be used to unlock locked characters as well. However, each mode has different effects for each amiibo when used on, as described in the following table.

On a side note, every amiibo can be used in the hub world. The feature is accessed by pressing . If used, fireworks can explode, stars can come raining downward, balloons can float up or confetti can rain down.

amiibo effects
Image	Mode	Effect
	Toad Scramble	The character on the figure becomes an ally on the first turn. They are more powerful than characters encountered regularly during play. The amiibo character cannot be snatched from other players via Ally Duel, nor can they abandoned if the character roster gets full. They are the leader by default, but players can switch to Toads if they wish. The character also brings a special Dice Block with them. If Mario Party 10 data is saved on it, players receive a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Dice Block depending what is saved on the amiibo. If not, then players receive a Double Dice Block.
	Coinathlon	Players can use the character on the figure as well as the ability to use the same item twice in a row.
	Balloon Bash	Players can use the character on the figure. The amiibo grants a special Dice Block at the start of the game. If Mario Party 10 data is saved on it, players receive a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Dice Block depending what is saved on the amiibo.
	Mario Shuffle	The character joins the game as part of the player's team, giving the player a special Dice Block. Players cannot use more than one of the same character, however. If Mario Party 10 data is saved on it, players receive a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Dice Block depending what is saved on the amiibo. Tapping the Boo, Bowser, and Bowser Jr. amiibo allows players to use them.
	Rhythm Recital	Tapping the Dr. Mario amiibo unlocks the "CHILL" music track from Dr. Mario.
	Challenge Tower	The character on the amiibo continues at the exact space the player has failed. Players can use the same amiibo only once per day, however; if players own multiple duplicate characters, they can use duplicate characters.
	Boo's Block Party	Tapping the Boo amiibo unlocks a background that features Boos in the background.
	Character Museum	Players can unlock stamps. Each character comes with a different stamp design.

Compatible amiibo

• 

  Mario

• 

  Luigi

• 

  Princess Peach

• 

  Princess Daisy

• 

  Rosalina

• 

  Yoshi

• 

  Toad

• 

  Bowser

• 

  Wario

• 

  Waluigi

• 

  Donkey Kong

• 

  Diddy Kong

• 

  Boo

• 

  Bowser Jr.

• 

  Dr. Mario

• 

  Gold Mario

• 

  Silver Mario

• 

  8-Bit Classic Mario

• 

  8-Bit Modern Mario

Level up system

As players spend more time playing the game, and accomplish various objectives, they gain party points, and if they get enough party points, they level up. Players start at level 1, and each level up unlocks more gameplay options.

Level	Option
1	Toad Scramble
2	Coinathlon
3	Balloon Bash
4	Toadette
5	Rhythm Recital
6	Rosalina
7	Mario Shuffle
8	Donkey Kong
9	Boo's Block Party
10	Challenge Tower
11	Diddy Kong & Dr. Mario Music
12	Master Difficulty
Star	Staff Credits

Characters

Character select screen, with Mario Party 10 data being detected within an amiibo and thus rewarding the player.

Mario Party: Star Rush has a total of 19 controllable characters in the entire game. Four playable characters, the colored Toads, are controlled only in the Toad Scramble mode while three characters are exclusive to the Mario Shuffle mode.

Playable (Toad Scramble)

• 

  Red Toad

• 

  Blue Toad

• 

  Green Toad

• 

  Yellow Toad

Other playable characters

These characters, with the exception of Toad, can be collected in Toad Scramble, but are the main playable characters in other modes. The four unlockable characters, Toadette, Rosalina, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong are unlocked by playing through the game. However, if players have an amiibo of the character, they can unlock the character by tapping them in.

• 

  Mario

• 

  Luigi

• 

  Princess Peach

• 

  Princess Daisy

• 

  Wario

• 

  Waluigi

• 

  Yoshi

• 

  Toad

• 

  Toadette (unlockable)

• 

  Rosalina (unlockable)

• 

  Donkey Kong (unlockable)

• 

  Diddy Kong (new) (unlockable)

Unlocking criteria

Unlockable playable characters can be unlocked by reaching respective party levels or scanning respective amiibo.

Character	Party Level	amiibo
Toadette	4
Rosalina	6
Donkey Kong	8
Diddy Kong	11

Mario Shuffle playable characters

In addition to the above playable characters, these characters are exclusively playable in the Mario Shuffle mode when players tap their amiibo in.

• Bowser
• Bowser Jr.
• Boo

Abilities and Dice Blocks

In Toad Scramble mode, each character has a unique ability and Dice Block. Characters who stomp Goombas in grass, make flower buds bloom, or crush glowing rocks can simply pass by these board features to earn coins while characters who smash rocks, eat fruit, or break barrels need to stop adjacent to the board feature (includes diagonals) to earn coins from them. Allies not in play can also roll their ally Dice Blocks with numbers 1-2.

Character	Ability	Dice Block	Numbers
Toads	A friend to all.	Standard Dice Block	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Mario	Stomps on Goombas in grass.	Super Dice Block	0, 1, 2, 5, 6, 7
Luigi	Stomps on Goombas in grass.	Jumpy Dice Block	1, 1, 1, 5, 6, 7
Princess Peach	Causes flower buds to bloom.	Speedy Dice Block	0, 2, 4, 4, 4, 6
Princess Daisy	Causes flower buds to bloom.	Friendly Dice Block	3, 4, 5, ?, ?, ? (? = characters in party)
Wario	Smashes rocks that have hidden coins.	Greedy Dice Block	- 1 coin, - 1 coin, 4, 5, 6, 7
Waluigi	Smashes rocks that have hidden coins.	Risky Dice Block	- 2 coins, - 2 coins, 6, 6, 6, 6
Yoshi	Loves fruit!	Flutter Dice Block	0, 1, 3, 5, 5, 7
Toadette	Causes flower buds to bloom.	Cutie Dice Block	3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4
Rosalina	Mysteriously crushes glowing rocks.	Wondrous Dice Block	5, 6, ?, ?, ?, ? (? = current rank)
Donkey Kong	Breaks barrels.	Brawny Dice Block	0, 0, 0, 0, 10, 10
Diddy Kong	Breaks barrels.	Triple 7 Dice Block	0, 0, 0, 7, 7, 7

In addition, players can get a Peepa disguised as another character if they play on World 2-2 and World 2-3. When this occurs, players cannot choose to use the Peepa, and the Peepa goes away after a set period of time.

Character	Ability	Dice Block	Numbers
Peepa	Makes mischief by rolling a Dice Block with negative numbers.	Cursed Dice Block	0, 0, -1, -1, -1, -1

Bosses

In Toad Scramble, a set number of bosses occupy a set space on a board. Players can battle them in their specific minigame for a Star when players land on the space in front of them. In Balloon Bash, a Boss Battle starts when two Coin Balloons are popped at the same time. In this instance, the 1st and 4th players and 2nd and 3rd players are put on a team to fight the boss, which is chosen at random, except for Bowser.

Bosses and minigames
Mega Goomba	King Bob-omb	King Boo	Petey Piranha	Mega Blooper
Mega Goomba's Bad Dream	King Bob-omb's Boom D'état	King Boo's Light Smite	Petey Piranha's Shell Smackdown	Mega Blooper's Bayside Bop
Bosses and minigames
Mega Dry Bones	Mega Monty Mole	Kamek	Bowser Jr.	Bowser
Mega Dry Bones's Femur Fever	Mega Monty Mole's in the Hole	Kamek's Card Tricks	Bowser Jr.'s Pound for Pound	Bowser's Space Race Bowser's Shocking Slipup Bowser's Hit-or-Missile Mania

Other

These characters primarily act as obstacles or part of the background scenery in various minigames.

Amps Bloopers Bob-ombs Boo Bullet Bills Chain Chomps

Cheep Cheeps Conkdors Fuzzies Galoombas Gold Bullet Bills Gold Cheep Cheeps

Gold Piranha Plants Goombas Goombrats Hammer Bro Huckit Crabs Koopa Troopas

Lakitu Lava Bubbles Magmaarghs Monty Moles Peepas Piranha Creepers

Piranha Plants Shy Guys Spikes Spinies Swoops Urchins

Wigglers

Boards

Boards can be played in three modes: Toad Scramble, Balloon Bash, Mario Shuffle, and Coinathlon. Out of the four modes, Toad Scramble and Balloon Bash have differing selectable boards, each with their own layouts and gimmicks.

Toad Scramble boards

Mario Party: Star Rush features 15 boards in the main mode, Toad Scramble, the most boards out of any Mario Party game in the series. The names of the boards are based off levels in various Mario platformers. Each of the worlds feature a specific theme: World 0 features a grassland theme, World 1 features a tropical island theme, World 2 features a ghost house theme, World 3 features a birthday cake theme, and World 4 features a Bowser theme. The latter three worlds are unlocked by finishing a game on a map from the previous world.

Level	Preview	Description	Bosses
World 0
World 0-1		"A simple plain that's perfect for practice."	2
World 0-2		"A walkway of ? Blocks and items galore!"	3
World 0-3		"Beaucoup balloons amid grass and flowers."	4
World 1
World 1-1		"Three islands connected by a bridge. Luxurious!"	3
World 1-2		"Star Island is shaped...well, like a star."	4
World 1-3		"A beachside boardwalk for some fun in the sun."	5
World 2
World 2-1		"A spooky manor full of spikes and switches."	3
World 2-2		"This is Peepa's house! All is not as it seems..."	4
World 2-3		"A battleground of Peepa pranks and spike traps."	5
World 3
World 3-1		"This three-layer cake is garnished with coins!"	3
World 3-2		"On this tasty confection, Gold Bullet Bills abound."	4
World 3-3		"Tons of sweet toppings and tasty coins. Yum!"	5
World 4
World 4-1		"That magma's too hot to handle! Watch yourself!"	3
World 4-2		"Beware the ballistic Bullet Bill barrage!"	4
World 4-3		"Bowser's magma maze...BEWARE!!"	5

Balloon Bash boards

Balloon Bash features 3 boards, unlocked by playing them in succession.

Level	Preview	Description
Map 1		"A fish-shaped map."
Map 2		"A pipe-filled map."
Map 3		"A zigzagging map."

Board features

Space	Function
? Block	Landing on it gives an item out at random.
Coin Balloon	Passing it gives players 2 coins in Toad Scramble and starts a minigame. In Balloon Bash mode, Coin Balloons holding 5 and 10 coins can be popped. If two Coin Balloons are popped in Balloon Bash, a Boss Battle starts.
Boss Battle	When players land on it, it activates a Boss Battle minigame.
Duel Balloon	Passing it gives players 2 coins and starts a minigame. Whoever places first in the minigame can select and steal another player's ally. If the opponents do not have allies, the player wins coins instead.
Shy Guy Shop	If landed on, players can buy various items.
Lakitu	If landed on, Lakitu can take players to another player for a small fee.
Cannon Space	When landed on, players can get launched by a cannon to a marked area elsewhere on the board.
Star Balloon (Balloon Bash only)	Players can buy Stars for 10 coins when they pass by it. If the Star Balloons come in multiple bundles of two or three, players can buy more at a time if they have the right amount of Coins. Holding a Double Star Card after picking up a Star Balloon can increase the amount of Stars for twice the amount normally paid.

Items

In Toad Scramble and Balloon Bash, players can acquire items by landing on ? Blocks, buying them from Shy Guy Shops, or acquiring an item when they are last place when the last boss arrives. Players have the option to use them at the start of any turn. Most items directly benefit the player, though some, such as the Poison Mushroom, hurt rivals. There are only two trap-like items in the game: the Fling Spring and the Coinado.

Coinathlon items work differently. Players can acquire those items from touching an appearing item box when players receive enough coins. Players can then use the item by pressing . More than one item cannot be acquired, and players need to use up their item before they can make another item box appear. Items have different rarities. Players in first are more likely to acquire Coin Trios and Bloopers while players in lower positions can obtain Coin Bags and Double Medals.

Additionally, amiibo characters always start out with a double set of a particular item. For example, Mario always starts out with Coin Bags while Toad always starts out with Bloopers.

Toad Scramble/Balloon Bash items

Item	Function
Dash Mushroom	Adds +3 to your roll, which lets you move an extra three spaces.
Golden Dash Mushroom	Adds +5 to your roll, which lets you move an extra five spaces.
Poison Mushroom	Subtracts -2 from a rival's Dice Block roll.
Warp Box*	Warps you to the location of a rival.
Duel Glove*	Lets you select a rival to challenge to an Ally Duel.
Double Dice Block	Lets you roll two Dice Blocks instead of one.
Coinado	Steals 5 coins from the first rival to land on the space where it's hidden.
Fling Spring*	Send the first rival to land on it flying to another space.
Double Card*	Doubles the Coins and Stars received from a boss battle.
Double Star Card**	This item doubles the number of Stars you can get when exchanging coins.

* - Exclusive to Toad Scramble
** - Exclusive to Balloon Bash

Coinathlon items

Item	Image	Function	amiibo Character
Blooper		Bloopers slightly stop players with an ink splat on the screen that obscures their vision.	Luigi, Yoshi, Toad
Coin Bag		These drop five Red Coins on the screen, which players can collect to earn more coins.	Mario
Coin Trio		This gives players three coins.	N/A
Double Medal		Doubles each Coin collected for a short time.	Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong
Kamek		Kamek traps players in chains. Players need to tap their character repeatedly to break from the chains quicker.	Waluigi, Rosalina
Lava Bubble		The Lava Bubble stuns players and burns up coins and floating item boxes on the screen.	Wario
Lightning Bolt		Lightning Bolts stun players, which in turn slow their gameplay down.	Princess Peach, Princess Daisy

Minigames

Main article: List of Mario Party: Star Rush minigames

Dodge Fuzzy, Get Dizzy, one of the minigames being played.

Mario Party: Star Rush has a total of 53 minigames, a considerably lower amount than its predecessors (in comparison, Mario Party: Island Tour has 81 minigames and Mario Party 10 has 75 minigames). As in all Mario Party games, minigames are unlocked for the Minigames collection simply by playing them. In Toad Scramble and Balloon Bash mode, players select and play 4 out of a total of 26 Free-For-All minigames when they pass a Coin Balloon, whereas in Coinathlon, players play three minigames from a pool of 12 minigames under the label "Coin Chaos". In the Minigames collection, Coin Chaos minigames function as single player minigames, where players try to get a high score from all three variations of the minigame, and the only items that appear are those that are beneficial to the player rather than offensive items.

Boss Battle minigames are triggered when players land in a Boss Battle space in front of the eponymous boss in Toad Scramble. In Balloon Bash, they are triggered when two Coin Balloons are popped. The 1st place and 4th place player are put on a team and the 2nd and 3rd place players are put on another team to fight the boss, which is chosen at random except for any of Bowser's three Boss Battles. However, unlike Toad Scramble and Minigames, the first phase of each fight is fought instead of two phases. This variation of the Boss Battle cannot be selected and played in the Minigames mode, however.

One of the three Bowser's Gauntlet minigames are triggered in Coinathlon at random during a five lap or seven lap race, usually after the player has run half of the laps.

This is the second Mario Party game to not feature 1-vs-3 minigames, the first being Mario Party: Island Tour. This game is also the third Mario Party game to not have a category of 2-vs-2 minigames, although the team Boss Battles featured in Balloon Bash function similarly to 2-vs-2 minigames.

Staff

Main article: List of Mario Party: Star Rush staff

Mario Party: Star Rush is developed by Nd Cube, who has been handling development of the Mario Party series ever since Mario Party 9, though most of the members at Nd Cube are former Hudson Soft employees, the company that handled the Mario Party series until Mario Party DS. Shuichiro Nishiya is the director of this game, who has been directing Mario Party installments since Mario Party 6 barring Mario Party Advance, Mario Party DS, and Mario Party: Island Tour. Many of the directors from Mario Party 10 returned to work with this game.

Reception

Critical reception

Mario Party: Star Rush has currently received generally mixed to positive reviews, receiving a 68 from Metacritic based on 40 reviews and a 64.97% from GameRankings based on 20 reviews. The game has generally been praised for the new direction in the overall Mario Party series as well as its multiplayer functionality with friends, though its weaker points is that the game is not meant for single players and the low amount of minigames has been cited. Thomas Whitehead of Nintendo Life gave Mario Party: Star Rush a 7/10, praising the new direction of the series and the Party Guest feature while saying that it is not particularly spectacular and players shouldn't rush out to buy it. In his conclusion, he stated that "Mario Party: Star Rush achieves its goals. It's entertaining, charming and offers some easy-going minigame fun." Daan Koopman of Nintendo World Report gave the game a 7.5 out of 10, also praising the new direction of the main mode, saying that "Toad Scramble does a good job of changing up other Mario Party elements as well, which helps makes games competitive but still tests of skill." However, he criticized the low variety of minigames, the Rhythm Recital mode, and that some modes need more content.

On the lower end, Nick Gillham of God is a Geek gave Mario Party: Star Rush a 5 out of 10. He notes that while the game is initially fun, especially with other people, it wears out and the game does not have much staying power. He also criticized how the maps have too much empty space in them and that the extra modes are superfluous and not as good as Toad Scramble.

Reviews
Release	Reviewer, Publication	Score	Comment
Nintendo 3DS	Jose Otero, IGN	5.2/10	"Mario Party Star Rush's modes range from OK to uninteresting, and even the fun mini-game challenges can't make up for the boring overall package. The sheer repetition of events is a major problem that saps the excitement out of this party. After a few trips through Mario Party Star Rush's modes, you'll have seen nearly everything it has to offer."
Nintendo 3DS	Daan Koopman, Nintendo World Report	7.5/10	"Mario Party: Star Rush is a strong package overall. It has a lot of smart ideas that will hopefully be used in future games, and there's a good variety of modes to play with. Some of the modes are light on content but this is still the kind of game to have when you can trash-talk players in person – and there’s even a Nintendo 3DS eShop app that will let people who don't dive in see for themselves. There's some good single player modes, but to really see Star Rush’s full potential you'll probably need to throw a party of your own."
Nintendo 3DS	Thomas Whitehead, Nintendo Life	7.5/10	"Mario Party: Star Rush may not excel in many ways, but it addresses some complaints from past entries and delivers some harmless entertainment. We're not sure you should rush out to buy it, but it still shows that Mario and company can be stars of a party."
Nintendo 3DS	Nick Gillham, God is a Geek	5/10	"If a group of buddies all chip in Star Rush can be a cheap night or two of fun, but it's not much more than that."
Nintendo 3DS	Dave Irwin, TheSixthAxis	6/10	"Much like the console Mario Party on the Wii U, getting the most out of the game means you probably should have a compatible Amiibo on hand. For some modes this can mean that you gain a perk, such as an extra power up collected every time in Coinatholon or an extra try in the Challenge Tower. This could be used as an unfair advantage against human players in a game where luck is the main concept, which may not sit well with some players."
Aggregators
Compiler		Platform / Score
Metacritic		68
GameRankings		64.97%

Sales

During the opening week of October 17 - October 23, 2016, Mario Party: Star Rush sold 26,473 units in Japan. During the second week, it sold 40,650 copies in Japan.

Nintendo eShop description

Think fast and have a blast with a variety of ways to party with Mario™, Toad™, and more, on-the-go or on the couch! It's always your turn as you and up to three friends roll the dice, roam the board, and recruit fan-favorite allies. The bigger your party, the faster you'll earn stars and coins in frantic minigames. It's instant fun for everyone!

Break free of turn order and choose your path to victory in Toad Scramble, a mode with five wild worlds filled with bite-sized, open maps to play on. Blast across them in cannons, creep around haunted houses, or get a lift from Lakitu. You may get a chance to take down Bowser's mech! Team up with Yoshi™, Daisy™, Waluigi™, and other allies along the way.

Pit your skills against friends by racing along in a gauntlet of rapid-fire minigames in Coinathlon. Cannon down Goombas, take out Shy Guys pinball-style, and even surf on a leafboard...but watch out for Wigglers! You may even find yourself wandering a labyrinth of Boos. Partying is tough business!

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Mario Party: Star Rush.

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  Mario

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  Green Toad

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  Group artwork

Media

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References to other games

• Super Mario Bros.: The overworld theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Super Mario World: The overworld theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Dr. Mario: Chill is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: The minigame Dodge Fuzzy, Get Dizzy is a reference to the level, Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy.
• Super Mario 64: The slide theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• WarioWare series: Wario's Character Museum bio mentions Wario being the president of the WarioWare, Inc.
• New Super Mario Bros.: The overworld theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Super Mario Galaxy: Gusty Garden Galaxy's background music is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii: The castle theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Super Mario 3D Land: Players enter the game modes in a similar fashion players enter levels in this game. The main theme of this game is also playable in Rhythm Recital. Various sound effects have been reused from this game as well.
• New Super Mario Bros. U: The underwater theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon: Poltergust 5000 sound effects are used in the minigame Jewel Janitors.
• Super Mario 3D World: Samurai Smackdown is themed after Hands-On Hall. Super Bell Hill is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks. Light Boxes make a return in King Boo's Light Smite.
• Mario Party 10: Artwork and character animations have been reused from this game.
• Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash: Bowser Jr.'s artwork has been reused from this game minus the tennis racket.

References in later games

• Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle: A poster depicting the boxart of this game can be seen in Genius Girl's laboratory in the opening cutscene.
• Mario Party: The Top 100: Minigame Match draws heavy inspiration from Balloon Bash, having the same movement style, small boards, and objective to collect Star Balloons. Yoichi Kotabe's 2D art style, used for the HUD, is reused for this game.
• Mario Tennis Aces: Luigi, Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, and King Boo's artworks are reused for their character select screen icons (in the case of King Boo, his artwork, minus the crown, is used for Boo's icon).
• Super Mario Party: The ally recruiting mechanic from this game returns as part of Party Mode, and the main menu hub world is similar to the one from this game. Diddy Kong's winning and losing animations are reused from his 1st and 4th place animations in this game.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	マリオパーティ スターラッシュ Mario Pāti Sutā Rasshu	Mario Party: Star Rush
Korean	마리오 파티 스타 러시 Mario Pati Seuta Reosi	Mario Party: Star Rush

External links

• Official Japanese Website
• Official American Website
• Official European Website