Mario Party 8

Mario Party 8 is an upcoming video game for the Wii. It was announced during Nintendo's press conference on September 14, 2006. It will be the tenth game in the series (eleventh in Japan) and the first to be released on Nintendo's new console. The first videos and screenshots for the game were revealed during the Nintendo World event in Japan on November 3, 2006. According to a Recent Nintendo Press Update, the game will be released on May 29, 2007.

Features
With motion control players can row their way through a river race, punch a statue to pieces, steer race cars, mopeds and go-karts and handle a balancing pole while walking a tightrope. By using the pointer you can shoot at Boos in a haunted house, rag and drop toppings in a cake-decorating competition, select the correct answers in game show challenges. Using the Wiimote's buttons players jump and pummel their way through a football brawl, hop and run across a field of spinning platforms. Mario Party 8 also includes dozens of new minigames, six new party boards and many new game modes. You no longer look down on the board and all of the characters, instead you focus on just your character and what they're doing. Another new feature is that players can transform their character using candy power-ups.

Story
In Mario Party 8, a whimsical ringmaster named MC Ballyhoo, along with his talking hat Big Top, has invited Mario, and the rest of the crew to his carnival. It's a perfect setting for the dynamic spectacle of the Wii game play. Mario Party 8 keeps the surprises coming with minigames that draw upon the Wii Remote’s motion, pointing and button control in a variety of ways. Players always know how to jump into the action by watching an animated tutorial that shows how to use the Wii Remote.

Following tradition, Mario Party 8 takes the social, strategic game play of board games and adds breaks for quick, action-oriented minigames. In the main mode, players travel across six boards in search of Stars, landing on spaces that are helpful (example: giving coins) or a hindrance (example: sending Bowser in to mess with the player). Several variations for these boards tweak the main goals to enhance game play for solo sessions, two-player games and three- to four-player games.

Characters
Mario Party 8 has been confirmed to have 14 different playable characters in the game. Not dissimilar to Mario Party 7 where Dry Bones and Birdo first made their appearance in the series, two new characters will join the party.

The two new characters to first appear as playable characters in the Mario Party series have been confirmed to be:
 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Peach
 * Yoshi
 * Wario
 * Daisy
 * Waluigi
 * Toad
 * Boo
 * Toadette
 * Birdo
 * Dry Bones
 * Hammer Bro.
 * Blooper

It is noteworthy that these new characters both made cameo appearances in Mario Party 7. Currently, it is unknown which other characters from the Mario universe will appear as cameos in the game. It is also unknown whether or not the game will exceed 14 characters. Bowser returns as a space, it is confirmed that Donkey Kong has a space (he also has his own board). But it is unknown if Koopa Kid will also return as a space-character. Shy Guy also runs the "candy shops," but it is unknown if he runs them all. Only in Koopa's Tycoon Town is it known that an Koopa runs the shop.Mario Party 8 screenshots from Gamespot of the Netherlands

Boards
Little is known about the features of the boards and how they differentiate themselves from preceding Mario Party games, except the fact that the spaces are square instead of circular. Thus far, five boards have been revealed for the game, though there will be six in total when the game comes out. The confirmed boards are:


 * DK's Treetop Temple is a multi-leveled, jungle-themed board that features DK's Barrel Cannon. Apparently, if someone lands near the cannon, he or she will be fired sky-high, often within reach of a star. There is also a Star Space in front of DK's statue. He will sell you a star for 20 coins (similar to DK's board in Mario Party). There also seems to be some sort of barrel-shaped elevator that may be used as a transport between the different levels of the game board.
 * King Boo's Haunted Hideaway is a haunted mansion-themed board, similar to Horror Land in Mario Party 2. King Boo will be hiding somewhere on the game board, and when a player finds him twice, he will give the character who found him (twice) a star. He'll then hide again and the process will repeat itself. There also appears to be a Whomp on the game board that blocks the path of players passing through his area of the game board. In one screenshot, it looks like he's demanding that Toadette gives him some coins so that she can pass by him. A Pink Boo is also seen on the board, but it's behind the counter of what may be a Boo Shop from Mario Party 6.


 * Goomba's Booty Boardwalk appears to be a game board set on a peninsula or large island. It features a volcano, and some sort of dolphin that seems to carry players to an island that looks isolated from the rest of the board. This smaller island has four Goomba statues and a treasure chest on it. The "beach-town" portion of this board is based on Isle Delfino, as it features many Piantas selling pineapples, guavas, mangoes, and other delicacies at fruit shops scattered across the board. Players probably won't be able to buy the fruit thmselves, though. In one screenshot, it looks like a Pianta is throwing Mario a couple spaces back because he landed on a "?" Space. Another screenshot has a medium-sized boat with a Pianta on it in the background. Strangely, yet another screenshot depicts four seagulls flying through the air above the game board with lengths of string attached to their feet. The free ends of these lengths of string are attached to a wooden board with a bust of Wario's head on it!


 * Koopa's Tycoon Town is a game board in which there are several hotels, owned by wealthy Koopas, that players can invest in with the coins they have earned. The more money you invest into a hotel, the better its ratings become. All of the hotels start out as one-star joints, but if you invest enough money into one, it will eventually become a two-star hotel, then a three-star hotel, and finally, a four-star hotel. The number of stars you earn depends on the hotel's rating after you invest in it. Numerous players can invest in one hotel, so you must fight for the stars. If you're lucky, a Koopa may roll up in his car and drive you to an isolated hotel that others can't invest in. Numerous other Koopas and Goombas make cameos sitting on park benches throughout the game board.


 * Bowser's Warped Vortex is for now shrouded in mystery, but we do know that stealing stars from other players will be customary on this game board, and that it is the only game board that is not playable from the start of the game, and has to be unlocked somehow.

Candy Abilities

 * Bowlo Candy turns the character into a ball that bowls over other characters while stealing their coins.


 * Vampire Candy makes the character sprout wings and fly off to suck the coins from all other players.


 * Springo Candy morphs the character's legs into a metal spring, allowing them to bounce to the location of another player on the board. This is very useful in two-player challenges.


 * Airplane Candy lets the character become an airplane and fly over traps on the game board.


 * Bitsize Candy transforms the character into an 8-bit version of themselves and gives them coins for every space they pass.

It has been confirmed that there are several other candies that turn characters into creatures capable of stomping on or carrying away other players. There are also two candies that give the player more Dice Blocks to hit. It is not known if Airplane Candy and Vampire Candy are the actual names of those candies.

Trivia

 * This is the second Mario Party to not include Waluigi on the box-art even though he has been a playable character since Mario Party 3.
 * This is the only Mario Party game yet made by Nintendo and not Hudson.
 * There is speculation that the box art shown is going to be changed once the game has gone closer into being finished.
 * Many game sites have changed the release date to a Quarter 2 release although Nintendo stated it was coming in stores March 5th. As of now, game sites either have it stated for a June 1, 2007 release or a TBA release date. It is currently unknown when the game will be released.
 * Despite being confirmed by Nintendo, there are rumors going around as to whether or not Blooper will be appearing in the game. Out of all screenshots shown on websites, none show him, yet in character selection screens, there's one empty space and there's no other confirmed characters.

Links

 * Movie
 * Screenshots