Saucer Swarm

Saucer Swarm is a Battle and Duel minigame in Mario Party 8.

Introduction
A large flying saucer is seen overhead, and it releases many smaller flying saucers from underneath it. As the camera zooms down, the first player is shown standing on a small podium with a laser blaster positioned on a meteor-like area, presumably the Moon, as the smaller flying saucers touch down on the ground in front of them. The screen then splits to reveal all players, each standing on their own laser blasting podium, and the minigame begins.

Gameplay
The many small flying saucer-like aliens are trying to home in on the players' podiums and attack, so the player must use their laser blasters to keep the aliens at bay. Whichever player shoots the most flying saucers within the time limit wins (it is possible for there to be more than one winner). There is an additional golden flying saucer alien who simply floats around in the background. Shooting this flying saucer is worth two points.

Ending
The player(s) who won perform(s) a victory dance, and the other player(s) soon find themselves abducted by the alien spaceship that apparently sent the saucer aliens. The winner(s) then watches the spaceship fly off. It is possible that no one loses, where no one will be abducted. In case of no one scoring or both players tying in the Duel variant, all the players are abducted by the alien spaceship.

Note: If both players get the same score in the Duel variant that breaks the current record, it counts as a New Record even though no one won as it will say Tie after the New Record fanfare, as well as both players being abducted by the alien spaceship. This also applies to the other Duel minigames with a record system, such as Swing Kings.

Test for the Best
This minigame appears in Test for the Best. The player plays alone in this minigame and his or her objective is to shoot as much flying saucers as possible within 30 seconds.

The scores required to earn a certain point total are as follows:

In-game text

 * Rules – "Shoot more of the incoming invaders than your rivals!"
 * Hint – "An invader will stun you for a few seconds if it hits your base. Keep pivoting to survey the whole field!"