Mario Party 6

Mario Party 6 is the sixth title in the Mario Party series made for the Nintendo GameCube and the third installment for that console. As the series's namesake, the game is a party game that features various Mario characters navigating through a digital boards using Dice Blocks. This game is developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo. The game is the first in the series that features an installment of voice controlled mini-games using a packaged microphone, where an all new Mic Mode is designed specifically for microphone use; the microphone would later be reused in the next console installment, Mario Party 7. Additionally, Mario Party 6 supports the Nintendo GameCube's progressive scan mode.

The main focus of this game is collecting Stars to stop the conflict going on with the sun and the moon to fill the Star Bank; as a result, a day and night system as been implemented for the boards and most mini-games, a concept first introduced in Horror Land in Mario Party 2. As other Mario Party games, up to four players can participate in board gameplay and mini-games, where they can battle free-for-all or team up against each other. Mario Party 6 requires 5 blocks on the Memory Card to save the game, and up to three games can be saved on the Memory Card.

Story
Story from Instruction Booklet Brighton and Twila – the sun and the moon – watch over Mario Party World from the sky and host the best parties. The two celestial party animals have always been good friends. That is, until the day Brighton asked Twila, "Who's more impressive, you or me?" Brighton and Twila argued furiously over who was more popular and impressive. The sky thundered with the fury of their cataclysmic squabble! Mario and his party-hearty friends tried to get them to make up, but nothing they said could settle their spat in the sky. That's when Mario came up with a brilliant plan to harness the power of the Stars to end the feud! They decided to throw a massive Mario Party to collect Stars and fill the great Star Bank! Determined to end Brighton and Twila's feud, they started partying right away. ...But will the power of the Stars be enough to end the furious feud?

Brighton and Twila, the hosts of Mario Party 6, have watched over Mario Party World from the sky. Despite their close friendship, one day, Brighton asks Twila which of the duo is better. An argument then breaks out between him and Twila, and because it causes major disruption, Mario and friends attempt to calm them down. When they are unable to do so, Mario decides to throw a Mario Party to collect and harness the power of the Stars to fill the Star Bank.

By collecting Stars, Mario and friends are able to obtain pages to the Miracle Book. After the Miracle Book is filled out, Brighton and Twila see the Star Bank, filled with Stars. Noting how hard Mario and friends had worked to obtain the Stars, Brighton and Twila apologize to them for the hassle their quarrel had caused, and make up. To show their appreciation for the effort, the hosts send the Stars flying into the sky. The ending goes on to state that Brighton and Twila "watched over Mario Party world until the end of time," and that "everyone got back to partying as usual." The words "Party On!" then appear on the screen.

Gameplay
Mario Party 6, as with previous installments of the Mario Party series, plays as an interactive board game, where up to four players take turns rolling Dice Blocks with numbers 1-10, the number indicating how far they can travel. The goal of the game is to earn coins to buy the Stars, which are dependent on the board's rules. In the beginning of every game, players are introduced to the board, where they are asked to hear about the board and any unique quirks it may have. The game then determines the order the players go, by hitting Dice Blocks, where higher numbers mean players go sooner. At the beginning of every game, players receive 10 coins to start with. During board gameplay, players can obtain various items called Orbs, very alike to Mario Party 5's capsules, from either purchasing them from Orb Huts, passing Orb Spaces, or winning them by landing on Green Spaces to help themselves and/or hurt the other players. At the end of every turn, a mini-game is played, where the type of mini-game is determined by what color the space the players have landed on. All mini-games have their own controls and objectives, which are outlined prior to playing them. Winning players receive 10 coins from mini-games; however, certain types of mini-games such as coin mini-games offer different prizes. After the mini-game is completed, players return to the board to once again move around in. When the last five turns has reached, a Last Five Turns Event commences, hosted with either Brighton or Twila depending on the time of the day. The current standings are tallied up, and the host brings in the fourth place player to spin the bonus wheel, which has many various effects, some greatly helping the last player. Another consequence is that players automatically duel each other if they land in the same space. After the last turn, the stats are tallied up once more, and Brighton and Twila give out bonus stars which are rewarded when players complete certain tasks. The player who has the most Stars wins the game, with coins serving as a tiebreaker; if the coin amount is also a tie, the winner is determined by a Dice Block.

One new mechanic introduced to the Mario Party series is the time of the day. In multiplayer boards, the game always starts out at daylight, hosted by Brighton. Indicated by a meter by the beginning of every turn and by the pause menu, players can see how many turns the day time has left. After the third time, day changes to night, which also lasts three turns. During the change, the board alters to reflect the setting of the day, while also introducing various gameplay changes depending on the board, indicated by small cutscenes. In this time period, Twila becomes the host. When three turns pass, the night changes to day once again, and the cycle repeats.

After every session of either winning games or playing mini-games, Stars are rewarded, which are stored in the Star Bank. These stars can be used to buy various items of interest. Players can complete the overall game when they buy the Miracle Book and all individual pages.

Modes
At the main menu screen, players can select different modes, represented by the objects placed on the screen. Modes on the left side are hosted by Brighton, modes on the right are hosted by Twila, and modes in the center are hosted by both. When players have a microphone attached, with the microphone settings enabled, players can say names of characters to make them react depending on what the player has said.

Party Mode
Represented by a house, Party Mode is the main mode of Mario Party 6, and it is hosted by both Brighton and Twila. Up to four players can play in this mode. The mode uses the regular Mario Party rules while playing; players win by collecting the most Stars in the game.

When players are taken inside the house, Brighton and Twila ask players for a tutorial on how to play the mode. Then, players can adjust several settings before choosing their character. The settings are as follows:


 * Battle Royale or Team Battle: Players can either pit against each other or form teams of two against each other. When players are teamed up, team one is represented by the sun while team two is represented by the moon. Teammates share Orbs, coins, Stars, and cannot be affected by each others traps; however, Chain Chomps in Snowflake Lake can still use up a teammate's Snack Orb, despite being on the same team. 1-Vs-3 mini-games do not appear in this mode.
 * Number of Turns: Players can set the number of turns in a game ranging from ten to fifty in five-turn increments.
 * Bonus Stars: Players can toggle Bonus Stars on and off. If they are on, Bonus Stars are rewarded at the end of the match. If not, players do not receive Bonus Stars.
 * Mini-game sets: Players can decide if they can play with all mini-games or with pre-determined set to play with in accordance to their categories. The following options are all, easy, action, hard, or weird mini-games.

After players select from the available boards, choose their characters (computer characters can have their difficulty adjusted, from weak, normal, hard, and the unlockable brutal difficulties) and select a team, if Team Battle mode is enabled, players can set a handicap of giving players up to nine Stars to start with to give them an advantage. Once that is finished, players begin the game.

Solo Mode
Represented by a boat, Solo Mode is a game mode hosted by Brighton. It is for one player only, and it has the character playing minigames against the Koopa Kids. The turn limit on these boards are set to 50 turns, although it is impossible to check this when playing the mode. There is also a change in the game's Solo Mode: the player can only roll a Dice Block that shows numbers from 1-6.

The spaces on Solo Mode are different than those in normal modes of play. There are spaces for 4-player, 2-vs-2 (these are played teamed up with a CPU partner of the player's choice; but it can't be the same character as the player's.), 1-vs-3 (the human is always the 1 player against 3), Battle, and Duel Minigames. There are also Bowser spaces, which feature (normally 1-vs-3) games played against the Koopa Kids where all the player's coins are lost if they lose; ? spaces, which cause an event to happen; and the goals which are Rare spaces.

Landing on one of these Rare spaces concludes the game and grant the player one of the Rare Minigames: Dunk Bros., Lab Brats, or Block Star. Seer Terror must be bought from the Star Bank. If the player goes past the Rare space, then they lose everything collected, and the game ends. Players can avert this by selecting to "Call it Quits" and keep everything they have earned so far; however, this ends the mode.

Only two of the game's Orbs appear in this mode. One is the Sluggish 'Shroom Orb, which slows down the Dice Block so players can easily hit the number they want. The other is the Cursed Mushroom Orb, which makes the Dice Block only roll one through three. This can prevent players from walking past the Rare space.

At the end of the mode, players receives any minigames that are played during the mode if they are not unlocked previously. In addition, they receive bonuses at the end of the game for meeting certain criteria, such as playing ten minigames during the game, rolling only even Dice Block numbers, or landing on every space on the board, which are paid out in Coins. The Coins are converted into Stars (one Star for every 20 Coins), which are transferred to the Star Bank.

Mic Mode
Represented by a castle and hosted by Brighton, this mode features the new microphone hardware. In order to play this mode, players need to have the microphone enabled, either through using the microphone itself or using the GameCube controller to emulate commands. Players can adjust settings by accessing the Option Mode. The following three modes are available through the Mic Mode:


 * Speak Up: A quiz show-styled game where players can use the microphone to answer various questions. At least two players are required to play this game.
 * Star Sprint: A single-player game where players use microphone commands to carry a Star to the goal while they avoid obstacles.
 * Mic Mini-Games: Players can play five special mic mini-games. All mini-games are 1-vs-3 mini-games where one player players with the mic while other players play with controllers. If the mic is turned on in options mode, these mini-games appear in Party Mode and Solo Mode.

Mini-Game Mode
Represented by an apple tree, Mini-Game Mode is hosted by Twila and stores all mini-games that are unlocked in Party Mode and Solo Mode. Focusing on the mini-games, this mode features six different ways to play them.


 * Mini-game Tour: The Free-Play mode of this game, players hop on the Mini-game Tour Bus (while being driven by Twila) and can play any mini-game they unlocked. Players need to unlock at least one mini-game to play this mode.
 * Battle Bridge: Players play a random assortment of a mini-game set to cross a bridge. The players can play with 4 player, 1-Vs-3, or 2-Vs-2 mini-games. Players can set a three, five, or seven mini-game match. Every time a player wins a mini-game, the player crosses the bridge; whichever player or team crosses the other side of the bridge wins the game. To play Battle Bridge, players need to collect at least one 4 Player, one 1-Vs-3, and one 2-Vs-2 mini-game, excluding Mic and Bonus mini-games.
 * Treetop Bingo: The players' goal in this game is to win mini-games to complete rows of spaces on their corresponding Bingo board. Before playing, players need to set the amount of rows required to win the game. Every time a mini-game is won, players can claim a space on the board, which uncovers the other players' spaces on their Bingo boards. Players need to unlock at least one 4 Player mini-game to play this game.
 * Mount Duel: Four players play Duel mini-games in a tournament-style grid to climb and ascend onto a mountain. Players need to unlock at least one Duel mini-game to play this game.
 * Decathlon Park: Players play 10, set number of mini-games to compete with overall points. Whoever has the most points at the end wins the game. Decathlon Park high scores are recorded in the Option Mode. To play in Decathlon Park, players need to unlock the following mini-games: Smashdance, What Goes Up..., Circuit Maximus, Snow Whirled, Note to Self, Pokey Punch-out, Sunday Drivers, Throw Me a Bone, Hyper Sniper, and Stamp By Me.
 * Endurance Alley: A solo game where players play a set of 100 consecutive mini-games in a row for a high score; losing one mini-game ends the game. Players need to unlock it first in the Star Bank, and also have unlocked at least one 4 Player, one 1-Vs-3, one 2-Vs-2, and one Duel mini-game, excluding Mic and Bonus mini-games.

Star Bank
Represented by a windmill, the Star Bank stores all Stars players have collected during their play-through of Mario Party 6. Here, they can exchange Stars for various goods, such as playable characters, boards, difficulty settings, secrets, and much more. Both Brighton and Twila host the mode, though Twila is the hostess who gives out descriptions.

Option Mode
Represented by pink and blue flowers, Option Mode is hosted by Twila, who guides players into setting preferences and viewing records. The following settings and records can be toggled and viewed:


 * Mic Settings: Players can toggle the microphone on, off, or by using the controller. When the microphone is toggled on or with the controller, Mic mini-games appear in Party and Solo Modes.
 * Rumble Feature: Players can turn controller rumbling on or off.
 * Sound Settings: Players can set the sound setting to stereo, mono, or surround.
 * Mini-games: Players can view which mini-games fall under each category of mini-games.
 * Records: Board records, mini-game records, Solo Mode bonuses, Decathlon Park records, and Endurance Alley records are all stored here.
 * Sounds: Players can listen to the various character sounds and background music of Mario Party 6. Additional sound sets can be bought at the Star Bank.
 * Mic Test: This checks if the Mic is working properly.

Playable characters
Mario Party 6 has eleven playable characters, all which are usable with no restrictions unlike its predecessor, Mario Party 5. Mario Party 6 is Toadette's overall debut in the Mario Party franchise, though in order to use her, she has to be unlocked by buying her for thirty Stars in the Star Bank first.

Team names
In addition to returning all playable characters, Mario Party 6 returns team battle from Mario Party 5, as well as the accompanying team names. The following is a table of all possible combinations and team names.

Party Mode boards
There are 6 boards in Party Mode. Some of the boards in Mario Party 6 have different objectives and goals to earn stars.

Solo Mode boards
These are the three Solo Mode boards. They differ mostly in length, but they all have the same objective, which is to land on the Rare space located at the end of the board.

Orbs
Orbs are special items players can either collect on the board or buy. They can be used in many ways to give a player an advantage, such as setting traps on spaces to steal coins from rivals, to hamper a rival's progress, or to quickly obtain stars. Players can toss Orbs to Blue, Red, or Character Spaces (though not roadblock Character Spaces) only, and if a Star Space appears on a trap, the trap will be removed.

Green Orbs
All of these orbs affect the player or the Dice Block when the player uses them.

Red Orbs
These Orbs take effect when either the opponent passes or lands on it. The player who lands on it still have the effects of a Blue or Red space. The orb disappears once it has been activated.

Yellow Orbs
These orbs have an effect on a player who lands on the space. If the owner lands on the space, they receive five coins. During the Last Five Turn Events, the owner may receive 15 coins if the coin's ×3 roulette was chosen. The orb also stays on the board as long as no one replaces the orb or if a Star Space does not appear on it.

Blue Orbs
These orbs protect the player from attacks such as Boo and Chain Chomp. They can only be found in specific boards such as Snowflake Lake. They cannot be thrown on a space or used. Instead, they are used automatically. They can be disposed at any time if the players chooses to, though.

Mini-games
Mario Party 6 has a total of 82 mini-games, including the Mic mini-games that cannot be accessed in the Mini-Game Mode (instead it is accessible through the Mic Mode). It has more mini-games in total than its previous installments, and it has the second most overall mini-games in the Mario Party series, being tied by Mario Party: Island Tour and beaten by Mario Party 7. As all installments of the Mario Party series, the mini-games have various puns and wordplays as their names. A feature exclusive to Mario Party 6 is that thirty-six mini-games can be played in either day or night. Only a few mini-games have their rules changed depending on the time of the day; most of these changes are simply aesthetic.

Regional differences

 * Brighton, and Twila have voices in the Japanese version of the game.
 * In the German version of the game, the genders of Brighton and Twila are inversed. Brighton is called "Sonnja", which is derived from a female given name and Twila is called "Raimond", which derives from a male given name. This is most likely because on German, the genders for the words sun and moon are inversed, too. The sun has a feminine article while the moon has a masculine article.
 * The mini-game announcer voice is female from the previous two Mario Party installments in the Japanese version of the game.
 * In the Japanese version of the game, the minigame Garden Grab features turnips. It was changed to a carrot in the Western version.
 * Same Is Lame, Trap Ease Artist, Pitifall, and Trick or Tree are not available in the Endurance Alley in the European and Australian versions of the game.
 * The time limit for Fruit Talktail is 72 seconds instead of 60 in the European and Australian versions of the game.
 * In the European and Australian versions of the game, the Battle Spaces have a lightning bolt instead of an upper-case B, somewhat resembling Mario Party 2s incarnation of the Battle Space.

Staff
Mario Party 6 is developed by Hudson Soft, who is the primary developer for all Mario Party series installments until Mario Party 9, and is published by Nintendo. Shuichiro Nishiya directed the game, who directed the succeeding Mario Party games aside from the handheld Mario Party installments. Hironobu Yahata and Shinya Outouge were responsible for the game's soundtrack, who would both later compose Mario Party 7's soundtrack.

Critical reception
Mario Party 6 received generally positive to mixed reviews from reviewers, receiving a 71 based on 33 reviews in Metacritic and a 73.41% based on 36 reviews on GameRankings. Much criticism is directed at the sheer similarity the game has to the previous Mario Party games, the lackluster single player mode, and the microphone voice recognition functionality. However, reviewers note that the game is fun with multiple players and that Mario Party 6 attempts to shake up the formula by including the microphone and other small new features.

Peer Schneider of IGN has given the game a 7 out of 10. He notes how Mario Party 6 recycles many assets from the previous Mario Party games but has stated, "Mario Party 6 is a really fun multiplayer game when three friends are invited to the party." On a similar note, Ryan Davis of GameSpot has given the game a 6.9 out of 10,, also noting that the game is very similar to the rest of the series, but has also said that Mario Party 6 is an accessible multiplayer game to anyone and have a good time. He ended with: "Whether you've worn out your last copy of Mario Party or are just looking for a light, accessible multiplayer experience, number six is a fine pick. Alternately, if you have yet to be charmed by previous Mario Party games, this one isn't likely to change your opinion of the series."

On the slightly higher end, Chris Kohler of 1UP gave Mario Party 6 a 7.5 out of 10 who writes that Mario Party 6 is generally fun, despite the reused formula, and ends by saying that Mario Party 6 is a polished upgrade with solid improvements. At the other end, Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson gave the game a score of 4/10, the lowest of the reviewers for Mario Party 6. She has complained about the game's dialogue, the mini-game titles, the microphone functionality, and the overall tedium of the game. She compared by saying, "All in all, if Mario Party 6 was a real party, it'd be one of those parties where there's nothing to drink but warm Heineken and no one to talk to but people who are having trouble with their boiler and students who've just spent three months in Thailand and want to tell you all about how they got dysentery in Chiang Mai, while a Savage Garden fan hangs round the stereo all night glaring at anyone who tries to suggest an alternative."

Sales
Mario Party 6 is the 17th best selling game for the Nintendo GameCube, selling about 1.6 million copies worldwide as of December 31, 2009.

Quotes

 * "Gwahaha! It's BOWSER TIME! I love bringing awfulness to the party! I think this time it'll be..." -Bowser
 * "The Star is over here! Get there fast to buy it for 20 coins!" -Brighton
 * "I've-a got it! The Stars will help us end their fight! We'll throw a Mario Party to fill the Star Bank!" -Mario
 * "Step into my Orb hut. If it's Orbs you're after, you've come to the right place!" -Koopa Troopa
 * "There are only a few turns left. Let's see how everyone is faring..." -Twila
 * "It'll cost ya 10 coins if yous wants to pass." -Whomp

Pre-release and unused content
The Solo Mode originally used colored spaces, as opposed to special 2VS2, 1VS3, and 4VS spaces seen in the final game.

References to other games

 * Mario Bros.: Freezies appear when the board turns into night.
 * Super Mario Bros.: An 8-bit Mario appears in Snowflake Lake.
 * Super Mario World: ! Switches appear in the Orb Hut.
 * Mario Party 2: Woody reappears in Towering Treetop.
 * Paper Mario: Snow Bunny-like creatures and Whackas appear in Snowflake Lake. The Buzzy Beetle design in Slot Trot is designed after the Buzzy Beetle's portrayal in this game. Yellow Block-like blocks appear in Orb Huts.
 * Mario Party 4: Animations have been reused from this game.
 * Mario Party 5: Animations have been reused from this game.

References to later games

 * Mario Party DS: Block Star returns as one of the puzzle mini-games. Parts of the mini-game's tune can be heard in Mario Party DS's background music, "Think it Out" when playing any puzzle mini-game.

Trivia

 * This is the one of the two "Mario Party" games since Mario Party 2 to not have a boss battle. The other is Mario Party Advance.