Mario Party: Island Tour

Mario Party: Island Tour is a party game for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the thirteenth game (seventeenth in Japan) in the main Mario Party series and the third installment for a handheld console. It was released on November 22, 2013, in North America and will be released on January 17, 2014, in Europe and on March 20, 2014 in Japan.

Story
After a relaxing day around Peach's Castle, Mario and the gang noticed a strange letter in a bubble saying that they were happily invited to the Party Islands. The gang then cheers about it when the letter sends bubbles to carry every member of the gang though the sky to the Party Islands. While, Mario and the gang are partying and playing games, Bowser shows up, feeling jealous about why Mario and his friends are invited, so he built Bowser's Tower, saying that anyone can join him at his evil party. He began locking all the fun away from the Party Islands into all kinds of weird bubbles. He also puts evil magic in the bubbles made by the bubble machine to make bubble clones of the gang to guard the tower.

Play Modes
There are five different play modes in the game. They are:
 * Party (1-4 players) - Party your way to the finish across a wild variety of game boards! Play time: 10-60 mins
 * Minigames (1-4 players) - Battle for first place in a huge collection of minigames. Play time: 1-30 mins
 * StreetPass Minigames (1 player) - Take on the world in minigame battles, and unlock special items! Play time: 1-15 mins
 * Bowser's Tower (1 player) - Win your way to the top of a terrifying tower! Play time: 90 mins
 * Collectables - Purchase bubbles with Mario Party Points! Can you complete the entire collection? Play time: N/A

Gameplay
Mario Party: Island Tour uses the traditional independent four player gameplay as seen in previous Mario Party entries. Like Mario Party 9, players appear to move along a linear board, though in this game it appears to be a race to the end. Each board has its own play style, such as items and Mini Stars. The Spaces appear similar in function to those from Mario Party 9. During some specific game boards, players use special cards to progress and hinder their opponents, similar to Orbs from previous Mario Party installments. It also supports local multiplayer using Download Play. There is a single-player mode called Bowser's Tower, where the player plays against shadowy versions of the other playable characters in 30 minigames, with a boss minigame on every fifth floor. Also, whenever a minigame ends with a tie, there will be a Dice Block tiebreaker to determine the final results.

Boards
As the title suggests, the boards are split between various themed islands. Seven gameboards are included in the game. Of these boards, one is unlocked by playing through every other board (Bowser's Peculiar Peak), and the other six are available from the start of the game.

Spaces

 * Dash Space - If the player lands here, they will leap forward (2, 3, or 5) spaces.
 * Item Space - Landing on this space earns the player an item.
 * Green Space - A normal space. Nothing special happens when the player lands here.
 * Piranha Plant Space - If the player lands on this space, a Piranha Plant will throw them back a number of spaces.
 * Event Space - If the player lands here, something good will happen.
 * Duel Space - These trigger a minigame battle for items.
 * Bowser Space - A random act of fiendishness will happen if the player lands here.
 * Event Space - Something bad will happen if the player lands here.
 * Dead-End Space - The player will be forced to stop on this space for an event.
 * Goal Space - The final space on the board.
 * Safe Spaces (only on Banzai Bill's Mad Mountain) - A space where the player cannot get hit by a Banzai Bill.
 * Danger Spaces (only on Banzai Bill's Mad Mountain) - A space where the player might get hit by a Banzai Bill.
 * Switch Space - If the player lands here, Banzai Bill will launch from a new location.
 * Banzai Bill Space - This space launches Banzai Bill.
 * Card Space
 * Booster Spaces (appears only on Rocket Road)
 * Warp Spaces
 * Just-Right Spaces

Dice Blocks
Dice Blocks can be won from minigames in Perilous Palace Path and Bowser's Peculiar Peak.

Perilous Palace Path

 * Setback Shell - Sends an opponent back 2 spaces.
 * Backwards Bill - Sends an opponent back 5 spaces.
 * Blooper Chopper - Cuts an opponent's roll in half.
 * Lightning Score Striker - Subtracts 3 from an opponent's roll.
 * Lakitu Leech - Steals 1. item from an opponent.
 * Dash Mushroom - Adds 3 to your roll.
 * Golden Dash Mushroom - Adds 5 to your roll.
 * Super Star - Doubles the player's roll.
 * Crazy Kamek - Switches your place with an opponent.
 * Chaos Kamek - Switches everyone's places.

Star-Crossed Skyway

 * Mini Stars
 * Mini Ztars

Rocket Road

 * Boosters - Multiplies the Dice Block roll.

Kamek's Carpet Ride and Shy Guy's Shuffle City

 * Random Cards - Randomly decide how many spaces the player will move.
 * Precision Cards - Move the player the number of spaces written on the card.
 * Power Precision Cards - Move the user the number of spaces written on the card forwards, while moving all other characters backward the same amount.
 * Bowser Card - The player who holds this card after a certain number of turns will receive a penalty.

Reception
Mario Party: Island Tour has received mixed reviews. The game currently averages a 62.06% based on 17 reviews on GameRankings and a 59 based on 23 reviews on Metacritic. IGN gave Mario Party: Island Tour a 5.5, criticizing its motion control, "uninventive" minigames, and its "poor" single-player campaign, but praising its unique board rules and use of Download Play. Destructoid gave the game an even lower score of 4.0. On the other hand, GameXplain gave the single-player mode a 3 1/2 stars out of 5, and multiplayer a 4 1/2 out of 5.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros.: The main theme is remixed in the minigames Xylophone Home and Goomba Tower Takedown. In Amp My Style, a remix of the under ground them appears. In Perilous Palace Path, while in the Bowser Zone, a remix of the castle theme appears. Also, the Starman theme is used for the Perilous Palace Path board whenever a player uses a Super Star.
 * Yoshi's Safari: In Bowser's Sky Scuffle, the player must shoot Bowser the way Mario shoots Roy Koopa in this game.
 * Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS: The "Koopa's Road" theme is remixed for Bowser's Peculiar Peak and "Bowser's Battle" theme is remixed for the Bowser Path of Perilous Palace Path. King Bob-omb appears as a boss in this game as he did here, and Bowser makes a reference to his interest with his moustache from the remake saying, "My next guard has an even more formidable moustache than Mario!"
 * Mario Party/Mario Party 2: The concept of playing every available board to unlock the Bowser themed board was reused from these games.
 * New Super Mario Bros.: Dry Bowser returns with his ability to throw bones.
 * Super Mario Galaxy: Rocket Road is based on this game, and Rosalina appears as a cameo along with the Lumas and the Comet Observatory.
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Banzai Bill's Mad Mountain is based on World 6 from this game.
 * Super Mario 3D Land: The minigame Blown Hover features Flip Panels and the square mountains from World 4-5 from this game.
 * Mario Party 9: Most of the gameplay elements, including the voices from the characters, minigame announcer and minigame instruction screen theme are borrowed. Also, the main menu theme is a remix of the main theme of this game.

Trivia

 * For a time the Nintendo 3DS eShop mistakenly stated Mario Party: Island Tour to be a title on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
 * This is the second Mario Party game not to feature Donkey Kong; the first was Mario Party Advance.
 * It is also the second Mario Party not to include Bonus Stars; the first being Mario Party Advance.
 * This is the first Mario Party game to use dice blocks to break a tie in a mini game.