Mario Party 5

Mario Party 5 is the fifth installment in the Mario Party series. The most notable change in this game is that the shopping system was replaced with the new Orb system.

In Story Mode, a playable character has to face Bowser and the Koopa Kids throughout every stage. Eventually, the character will face Bowser one-on-one.

Playable Characters
Returning Playable Characters:
 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Peach
 * Yoshi
 * Wario
 * Daisy
 * Waluigi

New Playable Characters:
 * Boo
 * Koopa Kid
 * Toad

New features
Mario Party 5 has a few new features. First off, in single player, all the Koopa Kids move at the same time, quickening game play. The point of single player mode is to deplete all of the Koopa Kids' coins by beating them in mini-games.

It also features a whole new mode, Super Duel Mode. In this mode, one buys vehicle parts using points received by playing mini-games and build a battle vehicle to use in different tournaments or against friends. To unlock all the different parts, one must play all the tournaments and beat certain opponents.

As usual, this new installment to the Mario Party series comes with new mini-games, characters, and maps. Toad, Boo, and even Koopa Kid are the new playable characters. In this game, Donkey Kong is only a playable character in Super Duel Mode once one unlocks him. In party mode, he now shows up on new Donkey Kong spaces and either gives the players coins/stars or starts a Donkey Kong mini-game which involve collecting bananas for a predetermined amount of coins. (It is unknown why they removed him from the series.)

The game was also significant for being the second in the series to introduce 3D game boards. Previous titles, all except for Mario Party 4, utilized pre-rendered backgrounds, which were static and limited in their presentation. As a result all subsequent Mario Party titles, with the exception of "Mario Party Advance" on the Game Boy Advance, have employed 3D backgrounds allowing for much more dynamic fields of play.

Mini-Games
See Mario Party 5 (mini-games).

Boards

 * Toy Dream
 * Rainbow Dream
 * Pirate Dream
 * Undersea Dream
 * Future Dream
 * Sweet Dream: This board is inspired by dreams of cake and candy. There are 2 shortbread bridges, when one person crosses it, the bridge changes direction, making the path shorter or closer to the star. This is the smallest board, with just over 50 spaces.
 * Bowser Nightmare (last board)

Trivia

 * The capsule depicting a Toady is incorrectly labeled as "Magikoopa Capsule". Later Mario Party games correctly labeled it as "Toady Orb".
 * Chain Chomp replaces Boo on stealing coins and stars.
 * The mini-game "Cage-in-cooking" plays off of "cajun cooking".
 * The mini-game Merry Poppings may be a pun on Mary Poppins, a famous series of books.
 * Mazed & Confused is a pun on Dazed and Confused, a song from the Led Zeppelin.