Mario Party 7

Mario Party 7 is a party game from the Mario Party series, released for the Nintendo GameCube console. It is the seventh Mario Party home console installment, the fourth and final Mario Party installment for the Nintendo GameCube, and the eighth installment in the Mario Party series. It was first released in North America and Japan in late 2005, before being released in Europe, Australia, and the United Kingdom in early to mid-2006. This was the last Mario game released for the Nintendo GameCube in Europe and Australia. In Japan and North America, Super Mario Strikers holds this distinction. As previous Mario Party installments, the game is laid out as an interactive board game, where players use Dice Blocks to advance in the board, while also playing various minigames. In this game, Mario and the gang, using the MSS Sea Star, go vacationing to locations based on landmarks on Earth. However, Bowser is not invited on the cruise and decides to cause trouble for Mario and his friends.

Up to four players can enjoy the most of the game's modes; however, a special mode that this game introduces to the Mario Party series allows up to eight players to participate in a party. Players are required to share their controllers, and thus, controls are simplified in such modes. The microphone, first introduced in this game's predecessor, Mario Party 6, makes a return in this game.

Story
From the Mario Party 7 Instruction booklet: TOADSWORTH: Oh, I say! Hello there! It's me, Toadsworth! Yes, yes, let me tell you about what happened recently. You see, Mario and his friends are always busy fighting evil and saving the world and so forth, so I offered him a chance to come on a cruise around the world! Oh ho! Splendid! But in doing so, I apparently made that rogue Bowser somewhat angry. Let me tell you what he said...

BOWSER: "This makes me MAAAAD!! GRRRAAAA!! They're going on a vacation... AND NOT TAKING ME! They want a fun vacation? I'll give them a fun vacation! And by that, I mean NO FUN AT ALL! I'll find those chumps and wreck their good times! Bwa ha ha ha!"

TOADSWORTH: Great Kippers! That King Koopa has never been that angry! Who knows what he'll do? But chin up, old bean! We won't let him ruin our good times, right? Right!

Toadsworth has invited Mario and all his friends to go on a luxury cruise around the world. However, Toadsworth invited everyone except for one person, Bowser. Furious at being omitted, the Koopa King vows revenge. When the cruise ship MSS Sea Star arrives at its first destination, the passengers discover that Bowser has turned their vacation paradise into a stress-filled madhouse.

After conquering the boards, the player enters Bowser's Castle for their final showdown against Bowser, in which they eventually are able to use the power of the Stars they gathered to send Bowser and the Koopa Kid crashing down. The epilogue sees the duo landing on a tiny island with a tree and feeling dizzy afterwards until they catch sight of the player, who is waving at the duo from aboard the MSS Sea Star as Bowser says that he won't forget this.

Gameplay
Mario Party 7 features game boards on which players and CPU characters move around on spaces similar to a board game. Players roll the Dice Block with numbers from one to ten to advance on the board. At the beginning of the game, players can hear an explanation of the board's objective, as well as various other quirks the board may have. The turn order is then determined by a Dice Block roll, with the higher numbers going sooner. Each player starts off with ten coins, and the number of coins is affected by the spaces that the player lands on after their turn, as well as multiple other factors. For example, landing on a Blue Space gives a player three coins, while landing on a Red Space takes three coins away. The boards feature a variety of spaces that have different effects, and players can collect items known as Orbs (a feature returning from Mario Party 6) from Orb Spaces, buying them at Orb Shops, or winning them from Green Spaces. The items can be used to have different effects, which help players or hinder an opponent's progress.

After each player has completed his or her turn, a minigame is played. The type of the minigame is determined by the colors of the spaces that the players ended their turn on. When all colors match, a 4-Player minigame is played, otherwise there is a 1-Vs-3 or a 2-Vs-2 minigame. In Mario Party 7, minigames might involve clearing action courses, solving puzzles faster than the other players, or fighting against each other, but all rules and controls vary between minigames. Several minigames use the Nintendo GameCube Microphone that is shipped with the game and plugs into Memory Card Slot B. Players can play microphone minigames without the device by adjusting the game settings. Winning players earn ten coins, however, some minigames are dependent on their category, such as the special Bonus minigames (which are mixed in with the normal minigame categories, they are marked by a yellow name), Battle minigames, Duel minigames, DK minigames, and Bowser minigames. Various minigames have specific conditions to play in them: Battle minigames occur at random, rare intervals where players have their coins put at stake and the reward is dependent on how well the player has done. Duel minigames are triggered by Duel Spaces, where players can win Duel minigames for a prize dependent on a roulette, a change from the two preceding installments, Mario Party 5 and Mario Party 6, where players are required to put coins and Stars at stake to play. DK and Bowser minigames occur when players land on their respective places; a new feature exclusive to Mario Party 7 is that single player DK and Bowser minigames are thrown into the mix of multiplayer DK and Bowser minigames. Once a minigame after every turn is completed, the game is saved and players resume their turns on the board. At the last four turns, the Last Four Turns Event occurs. Bowser appears to give current standings, while also inviting the last player or team to spin the bonus wheel. Some of the effects can help or hinder the players on the board, where one of them triples coins earned on Blue and Red Spaces while others involve Bowser Spaces being placed on all Red Spaces.

The main objective of any Mario Party game is to gain Stars that are located at a special location in the board. In Mario Party 7, each board offers its unique way to obtain stars, unlike most preceding games in the Mario Party series where there is only one way to obtain stars. At the end of every game, Toadsworth announces the game's current Star count and final coin count. After that, there will be three Bonus Stars for the players who did the best during the course of the game. The player with the most Stars overall, wins the game. If there is a tie for Stars, then the winner will be decided with coins (Dice Blocks if the final coin count is the same).

A new addition to the board gameplay is Bowser Time. After each turn, a special gauge representing Bowser's head appears on the screen to tell the player when that time comes; the meter fills up every turn. When the gauge is filled, Bowser Time is initiated. During this special event, Bowser comes to the board and cause trouble in various ways, some are general while others are specific to the board being played on. This special event happens every five turns; in the Last Four Turns event, the gauge stops appearing after every turn.

After every session, whether on board gameplay in Party Cruise or playing minigames in Minigame Cruise, Cruise Mileage Points are earned. These are used to spend on various items at the Duty-Free Shop.

One change has been made to Tag Battle in Mario Party 7. Unlike previous installments, where both players in a team move separately, both players in a team move at the same time by hitting two Dice Blocks from 1-5. Also, both players may be able to participate in certain board events by landing on a Green Space. Players alternate between the leader every turn, where initially, the first leader is determined by the controller order. Leaders make the decisions such as using Orbs, visiting Orb Shops, or making choices in board events. If a player is partnered with a CPU player, that player is always the leader.

Game modes
Toadsworth is the host of Mario Party 7, and he guides players through the various modes of the game. At the main menu selection screen, players can get a small description for each of the six game modes and navigate different ways to play through this screen. The game modes are themed after pleasure voyages on a ship and a ship's various locations.

Party Cruise
Party Cruise is Mario Party 7's main mode. Up to four players can play the game normally, but the mode also features a 4-Team Battle, where four teams of eight players can compete against one another. This game mode uses the default Mario Party rules to play: players win by collecting the most Stars on the board.

Before any game is started, players can adjust various settings, which are the following:


 * Turns: The number of turns that the game takes to be finished can be set between 10 and 50 turns in 5 turn intervals.
 * Rules: Players can play in Battle Royale, where four players compete in a free-for-all, Tag Battle, where four players split into two teams, and 4-Team Battle where eight players divide into four teams. Whenever players are in teams, coins, Stars, and Orbs are shared with a teammate.
 * Bonus Stars: Players can either opt for receiver three Bonus Stars awarded at the end of the game or not. The three Bonus Stars are randomly awarded for six of the following achievements:
 * Minigame Star: Most coins earned in minigames.
 * Action Star: Most Green Spaces landed on.
 * Orb Star: Most Orbs used.
 * Shopping Star: Most coins used to buy Orbs.
 * Red Star: Most Red Spaces landed on.
 * Running Star: Most spaces walked over in total.
 * Minigame Sets: By default, all available minigames are played. Players can restrict the minigames to only being Easy games, Action games, Hard games, or Weird games. In PAL regions, they are known as Family games, Action games, Technical games, or Bizarre games respectively.

After these settings are confirmed and the number of players selected, players choose their characters. If there are not enough players, CPU players can be chosen to fill up extra slots; players can adjust CPU player difficulty from Weak, Normal, Hard, or the unlockable Brutal difficulty. Players can then adjust the number of Stars a team or a player can start with with the Handicap feature to give an advantage; up to nine Stars can be initially given. Once these settings are all set, the game can be started.

Players can access the pause menu by pressing. Here, players can view how many turns they have left, how filled the Bowser Time gauge is, and toggle more settings. These are the following settings available:


 * Player Control: Players can switch the control type of the characters. Players can become a CPU player, or turn their character in CPU players. Players can also adjust CPU difficulty through this menu.
 * Minigame Instructions: Players can choose to view or skip minigame instructions.
 * CPU Minigames: Players can choose to view or skip minigames between CPU players.
 * Minigame Sets: Players can change the current minigame set to All, Easy, Action, Hard, or Weird games.
 * Rumble Feature: Players can toggle controller rumbling on or off.
 * Message Speed: This setting can change the speed messages are displayed. The speeds are slow, normal, and fast.
 * Mic: Players can set the mic on or off. If the mic is on, Mic minigames can be played.
 * Quit: This quits the game and returned to the mode selection screen. Players can choose to leave off where the game was last saved.

Solo Cruise
Solo Cruise is the single player mode of this game, though up to two players can participate. The gameplay is very similar to Party Cruise save for several key differences. All games pit one player against another player, either controlled by the CPU or a human player, though players need to play against the CPU player in order to progress through this mode. When players first start the mode out, they are required to register a character and name as player data. Players can also create their own pregame and victory messages.

Once everything is set up, players can pick a board; these boards are shorter than Party Cruise and offer different objectives than Party Cruise's objectives. For example, in order to win in Pyramid Park, a player needs to retrieve the stolen Star and give it back to the Bowser Sphinx. The spaces also give a slightly different coin amount to a player upon landing on one in this mode. Blue Spaces give 5 coins, Red Spaces take 5 coins and Character Spaces give 10 coins.

Players need to clear all boards against the CPU player before they can unlock Bowser's board, Bowser's Enchanted Inferno. If they win Bowser's minigame, Bowser's Lovely Lift! against the CPU, they unlock the board, become the Solo Cruise champion and can leave their name and comment on the ranking board.

Deluxe Cruise
Deluxe Cruise is a mode specifically created for 8 player support in Mario Party 7. In this mode, players need to share their controllers with another person; one player controls and  while the other player controls  and. Players can then choose the number of human or CPU players playing, up to 8 different characters, and then choose from two of the available game modes.


 * 8-Player Free Play: Players can freely chose one of the 12 available 8-player minigame to play. Unlike the Free-Play Sub in Minigame Cruise, all 12 minigames are available from the start.
 * 8-Player Ice Battle: Players compete with each other to reach the central island. Every time players win a minigame, an ice block is created, and once the ice block path is fully connected, the players win. Players can choose from three different rules.
 * 8-Player Battle Royale: All players compete against each other, with only individual battle minigames.
 * 8-Player Team Battles: Players split into teams of two, having four teams in total. Only team minigames are played.
 * 8-Player Combined Battles: The same as 8-Player Team Battles rules, except the minigames alternate between individual minigames and team minigames. The combined results determine the winning team.

Minigame Cruise
Players can play with the minigames they have unlocked in Party Cruise or Solo Cruise. Up to four players can participate playing one of the six modes specifically designed around minigames.


 * Free Play Sub - Players are able to play any unlocked minigame they choose. They may also obtain 2 Rare minigames by purchasing them in the Duty-Free Shop, that can be played only in the Free Play Sub.
 * Volcano Peril - As the name suggests, this mode takes place in a volcano. After picking the number of victories (3, 5, 7) and the type of minigames (4-Player, 2-Vs.-2, 1-Vs.-3), the four characters race from some bolts. After each game, the character(s) who won rise one level. There is no penalty for losing. The first character (or team) to beat the required amount of games wins. They escape(s) from the volcano while the others get trapped in the skeleton of a dinosaur. In the sky, a Shy Guy on an airplane flies back and forth, spewing stars made out of smoke from the back. To play this game, players need unlock at least one 4-Player, 1-Vs.-3, or 2-Vs.-2 minigame, Duel minigames and Mic minigames excluded.
 * Waterfall Battle - The player must beat every other player in a Duel minigame. Players that lost a minigame have a chance for a comeback victory. The game is won when there are no other players left to battle. In order to play this mode, at least one Duel minigame has to be unlocked.
 * Pearl Hunt - Four characters are placed in a capsule underwater while seashells are placed around them. After beating a minigame, whoever won can select a shell. If it is a pearl with the winner's face on it, that player collects it. However, if it is not the winner's face, the shell closes. The player can find Mushrooms or Super Mushrooms to choose additional shells in a turn, a Bob-omb that briefly opens surrounding shells, or whirlpools that shuffles the order of the shells. The first one to collect three pearls that have their image on it wins the game, then appears in a giant shell, while the others are chased around by a shark. To play Pearl Hunt, players need to unlock at least one 4-Player minigame.
 * Decathlon Castle - Players play ten selected minigames to earn the most points, dependent on how well they performed in the minigame. The game can be played in two ways: players can either play from the standard ten minigames or from five randomly selected minigames, though the top score is saved only when the standard ten minigames ruleset is played. Players can view their top scores in the Duty-Free Shop. The following minigames must be unlocked to play this game: Track & Yield, Fun Run, Snow Ride, Target Tag, Pokey Pummel, Take Me Ohm, Kart Wheeled, Helipopper, Monty's Revenge, and Air Farce.
 * King of the River (unlockable) - This mode is a game for one player only. Single players play a set of minigames with a limited supply of lives. Each time the player loses a minigame, one life is lost; if all lives are lost, the game ends. Koopa Kid shows up between 6-10 minigames, 16-20 minigames, and 26-30 minigames with a multiplayer Bowser minigame. On every five minigames, players can save their progress. It is also possible to recover any lives that are lost, but players cannot hold more than three lives. As the player plays through this game mode, they can advance to higher difficulty levels. For each difficulty level cleared, the player receives a souvenir, which will then be placed in the Duty-Free Shop. Winning King of the River on all the skill levels effectively wins the game. The prize received is a star statue, and when it is accessed in the Duty Free Shop, the surprise action is the end credits.

Duty-Free Shop
The Duty-Free Shop serves as the game's shop and area that saves the game's records. Whenever players complete tasks, Cruise Mileage Points are earned, which can then be used to spend on various goods on the shop. Players can buy new characters, minigames, difficulty levels, collectable souvenirs and more. When players buy souvenirs, the item gets relocated to the Souvenir Stand, where players can view them; if players have the microphone enabled, saying "Surprise" at the souvenir causes a special effect. Records are stored in the Travel Diary, where players can view Party Cruise, Minigame, Decathlon Castle, and Staff Records. At the Cruise Sounds menu, players can listen to the various background music and character voices from Mario Party 7. Finally, players can view the Minigame Packages to see which minigame belongs in each minigame set.

Control Room
The Control Room is Mario Party7's option mode. Here players can change various game settings.


 * Rumble Feature: Players can turn the Controller Rumble Feature on or off.
 * Sound Settings: Players can change the sound to stereo, mono, or surround.
 * Mic Settings: Players can toggle the microphone on, off, or while using the controller. If the settings are on, Mic minigames will appear in Party Cruise, and the Mic Spaces are also active. While using the controller, players can press the to open up a menu of commands, where they can choose the command they want to use.
 * Mic Test: This tests the microphone if it is working properly.

Playable characters
All playable characters from Mario Party 6 save Koopa Kid return, who instead hosts the Koopa Kid Spaces. Newcomers are Birdo and Dry Bones, the two unlockable characters of Mario Party 7. In order to unlock them, the player has to spend 1,000 Cruise Mileage Points each at the Duty-Free Shop. This game also does not feature character-specific colors at all; instead, the default red, blue, green, and yellow color scheme is used to determine player color.

Default partners
Each pair of partners have their own special orbs. Before Birdo and Dry Bones are unlocked, Yoshi and Boo are considered default partners, but they share different orbs. If two unpaired characters are on the same team, they can both receive their special Orbs, but the special Orbs can be obtained and used only by the designated players. For example, if Mario and Peach are on the same team, Peach can share her special Flower Orb with Mario, but only she can obtain it and use it.


 * Mario and Luigi
 * Princess Peach and Princess Daisy
 * Wario and Waluigi
 * Toad and Toadette
 * Yoshi and Birdo
 * Boo and Dry Bones

Team names
Special team names for each pair do not return in this Mario Party installment, unlike its predecessors Mario Party 5 and Mario Party 6. Rather, they are represented by one of the various marine animals: dolphin, seagull, tuna, and mollusk. Team Dolphin and Seagull appear as team one and team two respectively in 4-player matches, while Tuna and Mollusk are added as team three and team four respectively in 8-player matches.

Orbs
Orbs make a return from Mario Party 6, all of their mechanics intact, with the introduction of two new categories of Orbs. As in Mario Party 6, Orbs can be obtained by buying them through Orb Shops, passing through Orb Spaces, or winning them through Green Spaces. Orbs are used to help assist a player's progress or to hinder opponents. There are five types of orbs in the game, each with their own distinct category based on their mechanics. Two types of Orbs can be set up as traps: Thrown and Roadblock Orbs. They can be set only in Blue, Red, Character (barring Roadblock Character spaces), or Koopa Kid spaces.

Self Orbs
Self Orbs have a green shell and are used on the player.

Thrown Orbs
Thrown Orbs are traps that can be throw on a space. If an opponent lands on the space, various effects occur. The Thrown Orbs' shell color is yellow. These orbs have an effect on a player who lands on the space. If the owner lands on the space, they will receive five coins. During the last four turns event, they may receive 15 coins if the coin's ×3 roulette is chosen. The orb stays on the board as long as no one replaces the orb or the Star space does not overlap it.

Roadblock Orbs
Roadblock Orbs are orbs with red shells and can be thrown on spaces. They are triggered when an opponent passes it and disappear once triggered.

Character Orbs
Character Orbs are orbs that only can be used by a specific pair. Their shells are blue.

Other Orbs
Other Orbs are orbs that are automatically thrown when somebody receives it. They're colored violet and cannot be found in Orb Shops nor can they be won in Green Spaces.

Minigames
Mario Party 7 has 88 minigames, the most of any Mario Party game to date. These include the traditional 4-player minigames, 1-vs.-3 minigames, 2-vs.-2 minigames, duel minigames, and battle minigames. Similarly to its predecessor, it employs the Nintendo GameCube Microphone for several 4-player and 1-vs.-3 minigames. Unique to this game are 8-player minigames. This game also includes DK minigames and Bowser minigames, both of which have three each of single-player and four-player minigames. Finally, there are two rare minigames and one boss minigame, which is categorized as a Bowser minigame.

Staff
The game was developed by Hudson Soft, who was responsible for developing all Mario Party titles before Mario Party 9, and it was published by Nintendo. Shuichiro Nishiya, who was the previous director of Mario Party 6 would go on to direct Mario Party 7, as well as Mario Party 8, Mario Party 9, and Mario Party 10. The game's soundtrack was composed by Hironobu Yahata and Shinya Outouge, the same composers for Mario Party 6's soundtrack.

Critical reception
Mario Party 7 has received mixed to positive reviews, with aggregate review sites Metacritic scoring it a 64 based on 25 reviews and GameRankings giving the game a score of 65.39% based on 28 reviews. Critics generally cite how similar the game plays to the rest of the Mario Party games, where they recommend it to seasoned Mario Party players or players who want a minigame collection to play with family or friends, but cannot draw in people who do not like the earlier entries of the Mario Party series.

Ryan Davis of GameSpot gave the game a 6.5/10, saying that the game was a huge improvement. He praised the controls, the challenging Bowser minigames and more usage of the mic, and mentioned that Mario Party 7 is an actual party because of the use of 8-player modes and that the game really gets the whole family to join in the fun. However, Davis notes how the game is short on the originality department, where he states that 8-Player minigames are the only innovation Mario Party 7 has going for it. Matt Casamassina of IGN gave the game a 7/10, noting the fun multiplayer experience, the 8-Player minigames, and the huge number of minigames, but also notes how the franchise is aging and that the single player experience is disappointing. He ended with "Mario Party 7 is still entertaining, but I'd be a liar if I wrote that I'm not growing bored with new iterations of the same old formula. To its credit, the title delivers some fun new boards and mini-games, and the multiplayer experience is as robust and enjoyable as ever. But it in contrast dishes out a worthless single-player mode marred by tediously slow computer-controlled character interactions. And the overall presentation of the story, cut-scenes and real-time achievements is only passable."

Ellie Gibson of Eurogamer gave the game a scathing review, criticizing the unoriginality and sheer tedium of the game, despite noting how some of the minigames are fun, giving the game a final verdict of 3/10. On the other end, Dave 'Fargo' Kosak gave the game a 4 out of 5 Stars, while noting the similar feel it has to other Mario Party games and that it is running out of gimmicks, but has commented that it is slightly better than the last Mario Party game and that no other game franchise does the party formula as good as Mario Party has done.

Quotes

 * "It's everybody's favorite time, BOWSER TIME!" -Bowser
 * "Ready? Here we go! Hang on tight!" -Flutter
 * "Let's see how I can make your life miserable this time. Hmm... Oh, I know!" -Koopa Kid
 * "Training is like a road on the horizon with no beginning and no end. Keep training hard, young one." -Koopa Master
 * "Well, what would you like to do? Make a choice, I say!" -Toadsworth

Pre-release and unused content
Mario Party 7 has very similar unused content that was reused since Mario Party 5. The debug minigame menu is simply an update from the one used in the first three Mario Party games, and players can view the animation debug through a similar cube used in Mario Party 5. An unused title screen can be loaded with action replay codes: this title screen shows Mario on the MSS Sea Star with various characters on islands in the background.

References to other games

 * Mario Party 6: Some of the songs in this game are cover versions of songs in this game. For example, the song that plays on the main menu is a cover version of the Castaway Bay theme; the song that plays when a player lands on a Mic space is a cover version of the Speak Up theme; the song that plays in King of the River is a cover version of the song that plays in Endurance Alley (which, in turn, is a cover version of the Super Mario Bros. underground theme); the song that plays when the player loses King of the River is a cover version of the song that plays when the player loses Endurance Alley; the song that plays in Take Me Ohm, Pogo-a-Go-Go, and Bob-ombic Plague is a cover version of the song that plays in Granite Getaway, Surge and Destroy, and Burnstile; and the song that plays in Track & Yield and La Bomba is a cover version of the song that plays in Conveyor Bolt, Ray of Fright, and Verbal Assault. The music when winning a minigame is also a more upbeat version of Mario Party 6 ' s winning theme, and the minigame instructions theme has parts of Mario Party 6 ' s rendition in it. Pyramid Park also takes the idea of using Chain Chomps to steal Stars from Snowflake Lake in this game. Pink Boos act the same here as they did on Towering Treetop and Castaway Bay, but they now appear when an opponent lands on a Character Space created by a Pink Boo Orb. Also, several voice clips are reused in this game.
 * Super Mario 64 DS: This is the first Mario Party game to use the more modern appearance of some enemies, such as Mr. Blizzards and Thwomps, from this game onwards.

References in later games

 * Mario Kart Wii: On Bowser's Castle, the artwork of Boo and Dry Bones from this game can be seen on a billboard. Also on Moonview Highway, the artwork of Princess Peach from this game can be also seen on a billboard.
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl: The solo artworks of Dry Bones and Toad, as well as the team artworks of Peach and Daisy, and Toad and Toadette, appear as stickers.

Trivia

 * Like its sequel and Super Paper Mario, Mario Party 7 contains text that is considered inappropriate in the United Kingdom. In Grand Canal, if the player chooses to hear advice about the board from Toadsworth, he will say the following: "The Star will move to another location when someone gets one. What a crafty bugger!" Despite this, the game was not recalled or edited and it did not receive a PEGI 12+ rating, unlike other games (such as Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars) that contain this word.