Mario Party

Mario Party is a video game based on a board game, and the first of the expansive Mario Party series. Players choose one of six characters and move around the board. As they go around, they collect coins and various other items that can help them or hinder others in their quest to collect Stars.

What sets this game apart from others is the mini-games that follow each round. The players will be grouped together in groups of two, three against one, or everyone for themselves. They then compete in a game that tests their reflexes, puzzle solving skills, or plain luck. The winners will be awarded coins and the losers may lose coins.

However, being good at the game isn't enough to win. Luck is also important. It's possible to go from first to last in a single turn if another character is lucky.

Story
One day Mario and friends are sitting around arguing over who is the Super Star. Wario states that a Super Star must be strong, to which Donkey Kong agrees. Both get into an argument over who is stronger. Toad says that maybe Mario would make a good superstar, or Peach, or even the energetic Yoshi. The gang starts to close in on Toad,who shouts out that he has an idea of what they should do. He suggests that the crew take the Warp Pipe in Mushroom Village, and find out who is the Super Star of their adventures. He warns that the road will be dangerous and that being the super star requires not only strength, but courage, wisdom and kindness. Luigi bravely agrees first to this plan and steps off to find the warp pipe. Wario follows and the group agrees to the plan and also set off to find the warp pipe and become the next Super Star.

Game Modes
Game modes are selected from a "Map" screen that the player is led to once starting the game. Each building or feature represents a mode, and the player can select one to play a certain mode.

Listed below are the available areas for the player to access in Mario Party:

Party Mode
Party Mode is the heart of Mario Party. Four players will play on a board game, each getting a turn to roll the dice, which will determine how many spaces he/she will move across, just like a traditional board game. After everyone rolls, a roulette will appear which will randomly select a minigame to play. This process will repeat itself until the set amount of turns is up.

Mini-Game Mode
In this mode, the player can select up to seven minigames to play in a row after buying them, and customize the settings for these rounds however they want. There is also a pot in the corner of the room to play on a special board, along with a Shy Guy on the table that the player can wind up by rotating to see how far it can fly.

Shop
The shop is located on the left side of the river on the map, and resembles a brown mushroom on its side. In the shop, various items can be bought with Coins earned from mini-games and Party games. Here is a listing of every item, along with its price and in-game description.

Bank
Most of the items the player can buy will be stored at the bank's storage for use. Some of these items have an on/off switch, which will affect his/her experience in Party Mode. The bank will also calculate their status and total number of stars in the game.

Options
Options Mode is where the player can change the settings of the game, erase it, talk to a parrot, or just listen to music.

Mini-Game Island
Mini-Game Island is a special challenge in which the goal is to travel all around the island and beat every minigame one by one. After beating every minigame and reaching to the end, Toad will challenge the player once more to a race against him and two other CPUs in Slot Car Derby. This mode is for one player only.

Boards
The original Mario Party had eight game boards, more than any other game to date (not counting the Duel boards from Mario Party 3).


 * DK's Jungle Adventure
 * Peach's Birthday Cake
 * Yoshi's Tropical Island
 * Wario's Battle Canyon
 * Luigi's Engine Room
 * Mario's Rainbow Castle
 * Bowser's Magma Mountain - Bought for 980 coins
 * Eternal Star - Unlockable after 100 stars are gathered and all other boards are played once

Spaces
There is also a Star Space. When a player passes here, he/she can obtain a Star only if he/she has at least 20 Coins. The Star Space won't count towards the player's movements, unlike other spaces.

General

 * Nintendo gave away a free Mario Party glove for awhile after Mario Party's release. The reason being, albeit a silly one, was that many gamers got blisters and such on the palms of their hands.  This was on the count of the mini-games that involved spinning the Control Stick around as fast as possible. Nintendo suggested that the gamers should use the thumb to spin the Control Stick, but this method was a lot slower than rotating with the palm of the hand. The glove that Nintendo sent to the gamers had no logo, nor did it have any Nintendo characters on it. Receiving the glove required proof of purchase of the first game of the series. It is interesting to note that the glove was not available, and the glove give-away did not surface until after the release of Mario Party 2. It is also very interesting to note that the later Mario Party games replaced the Control Stick rotation minigames with button mashing minigames.
 * The Dice Block that Mario is hitting on the cover of the game shows a 3, leading many gamers to mistakenly believe that this game was Mario Party 3 after the third game was released.
 * Mario Kart Slot Cars, a promotion for Mario Kart DS, appears to be inspired by the Slot Car Derby mini-game.
 * In the end credits (which can also be viewed in the Mushroom Bank), part of the music is a harmony remix of the main theme song of the Mario Bros.
 * Due to the voice acting, Wario's English sounded like German when he says, "No, I missed...", which caused a wave of complaint by the German players when they found out that he actually spoke English.

4-Player minigames

 * Bumper Balls is based off bumper cars.
 * Hot Bob-omb is based off of "Hot Potato".
 * Key-pa-Way is a pun on "Keep Away".
 * Musical Mushroom is based off of "Musical Chairs"
 * Shy Guy Says is based off of "Simon Says"

2 vs. 2 minigames

 * Bombsketball is a pun on basketball.

1 vs. 3 minigames

 * Bowl Over is a pun on "roll over".

1 player minigames

 * Whack-a-plant is based on Whack-a-mole.