Mario Party: Island Tour

Mario Party: Island Tour is a party game for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the thirteenth in the main series (seventeenth in Japan) in the Mario Party series and the third installment for a handheld console. It was released on November 22, 2013 in North America and will be released on January 14, 2014 in Europe and Winter 2013 in Japan.

Gameplay
Mario Party: Island Tour uses the traditional independent four player gameplay as opposed to Mario Party 9, except players still hit a six-sided Dice Block numbered 1-6 instead of a Dice Block numbered 1-10 in the first eight installments. Like Mario Party 9, players appear to move along a linear board, though in this game it appears to be a race to the end. However, the Spaces appear similar in function to those from Mario Party 9. It is also shown that the players can use special cards to hinder their opponents, similar to Orbs from previous Mario Party installments. It will also have Local Multiplayer. It has been seen that players may verse shadowy versions of the other playable characters in minigames. Also, whenever a minigame ends with a tie, there will be a Dice Block tiebreaker to determine the final results.

Boards
As the title suggests, the boards are split between various themed islands. Seven gameboards have been confirmed in the game.


 * Perilous Palace Path
 * Banzai Bill's Mad Mountain
 * Star-Crossed Skyway
 * Rocket Road
 * Kamek's Carpet Ride
 * Shy Guy's Shuffle City
 * Bowser's Peculiar Peak

Spaces

 * "+3," "+4," and "+5" Spaces, most likely allowing the player to advance farther.
 * Card Spaces
 * Green Spaces
 * Bowser Spaces
 * Event Spaces - In this game they appear in both blue and red colors, possibly denoting whether the event is beneficial or not.
 * Free-for-All Spaces
 * Item Spaces
 * Piranha Plant Spaces
 * Blue and Red Spaces on Banzai Bill's Mad Mountain indicating safe and dangerous areas.
 * Booster Spaces (appears only on Rocket Road)
 * Warp Spaces
 * Just-Right Spaces

Cards
Cards have been seen to be used in Kamek's Carpet Ride and Shy Guy's Shuffle City.
 * Random Cards - Randomly decide how many spaces the player will move.
 * Precision Cards - Move the player the number of spaces written on the card.
 * Power Precision Cards - Move the user the number of spaces written on the card forwards, while moving all other characters backward the same amount.

Dice Blocks

 * Gold Dice Block - Adds 1 to 6 spaces to the player's roll.
 * Silver Dice Block - Adds 1 to 3 spaces to the player's roll.
 * Bronze Dice Block - Adds 1 to 2 spaces to the player's roll.

Other

 * Mini Stars
 * Mini Ztars
 * Roulette Block
 * Setback Shell - Knocks a selected player back two spaces.
 * Backwards Bill - Knocks a selected player back five spaces.
 * Blooper Chopper - Cuts an opponent's roll in half.
 * Lightning Score Striker - Subtracts three from an opponent's roll.
 * Lakitu Leech - Summons Lakitu to steal one item from an opponent.
 * Dash Mushroom - Adds three spaces to the player's roll.
 * Golden Dash Mushroom - Adds five spaces to the player's roll.
 * Super Star - Doubles the player's roll.
 * Custom Dice Block - Allows the player to roll any number they want.
 * Crazy Kamek - Summons Kamek who switches the players' space with another player, whom is randomly chosen.
 * Chaos Kamek - Switches everyone's places.
 * Boosters - Appear only on Rocket Road, they multiply the Dice Block roll.

Reception
Mario Party: Island Tour has received mixed reviews. The game currently averages a 60 on Metacritic. IGN gave Mario Party: Island Tour a 5.5, criticizing its motion control, "uninventive" minigames, and its "poor" single-player campaign, but praising its unique board rules and use of Download Play.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros. - The main theme is used in the minigame Xylophone Home and is remixed in the boss minigame Goomba Tower Takedown. Also, the Starman theme is used for the Perilous Palace Path board whenever a player uses a Super Star.
 * Super Mario 64 & Super Mario 64 DS - King Bob-omb originated from Super Mario 64 but he had no personal interest with anything while in the remake he cares about his mustache which Bowser makes a reference to by saying "My next guard has an even more formidable mustache than Mario". Also, the Koopa's Road theme is remixed for Bowser's Peculiar Peak.
 * Super Mario Galaxy - Rocket Road is based on this game and Rosalina appears as a cameo along with the Lumas.
 * Mario Party 9 - Most of the gameplay elements, including the voices from the characters and minigame announcer are borrowed. Also, the main menu theme is a cover for this game.

Trivia

 * For a time the Nintendo 3DS eShop mistakenly stated Mario Party: Island Tour to be a title on the Nintendo Entertainment System.