Mario Party 4

Mario Party 4 is the fourth game in the Mario Party series, and the first for the Nintendo GameCube. It follows the original style of board-game-esque gameplay, as well as the use of many items and mini-games. The game's goal, as with most of the others, is to collect stars. It is also the first Mario Party game to allow players to team up.

Playable Characters

 * Mario -  Red 
 * Luigi -  Blue 
 * Yoshi -  Green 
 * Peach -  Pink 
 * Wario -  Purple 
 * Donkey Kong -  Brown 
 * Daisy -  Yellow 
 * Waluigi - Black

Plot
Toad, Koopa Troopa, Goomba, Boo and Shy Guy all found the odd, mystical Party Cube. According to the instruction booklet, they have invited all of the game characters to celebrate the birthday of a character (the character is chosen by the player). However, instead of just giving the character the presents, they make the characters win the presents themselves. After beating a board, a character has to defeat the host of the board in a mini game to win a present.

After the character clears all boards, Bowser ruins the party by saying he stole all of the player's presents. To retrieve them, the player has to beat Bowser's own board, hosted by Koopa Kid (known in PAL regions as Mini-Bowser) called Bowser's Gnarly Party. After the player clears the board, the player has to defeat Bowser in the mini-game The Final Battle!.

After being defeated, Bowser grumbles and whines about losing. Bowser and one koopa kid run offstage, dropping a present in a Bowerishly-styled box. A koopa kid comes by and says Bowser dropped it by accident and he really didn't steal your presents. Like any other present, the character picks it up. It flies, spins, and the character get a special present. Bowser walks depressed into darkness, saying Happy Birthday and he is not good with the mussy stuff. Toad runs in and says that there is still someone who wants to give you a present. A star rises up and produces a lovely pyrotechnics display, then puts a constellation of the player in the sky. The screen displays "HAPPY BIRTHDAY [insert character name here]!" It rolls the credits, showing a slide show to the side of the "hosts" costuming and etching their images into the party cube. It enlarges the final picture to the full screen and fades it into a FMV of the Party cube melting back the etchings into its original form. It flies off and disappears.

Boards

 * Toad's Midway Madness
 * Koopa's Seaside Soiree
 * Goomba's Greedy Gala
 * Boo's Haunted Bash
 * Shy Guy's Jungle Jam
 * Bowser's Gnarly Party

Other Modes
Thwomp and Whomp have a room full of bonus mini-games. These mini-games could be played on two bonus boards. Their mini-games are:

One Player (Whomp's Basement Brouhaha)

 * Jigsaw Jitters
 * Barrel Baron
 * Mushroom Medic
 * Doors of Doom
 * Bob-omb X-ing
 * Goomba Stomp

Multiplayer (Thwomp's Backroom Ball)
Thowmp's Backroom Ball is like the rest of the game modes except it doesn't feature mini-games, therefore the player has to stay on the game board for the entire time.
 * Mega Board Mayhem
 * Mini Board Mad-Dash
 * Challenge Booksquirm
 * Panel Panic

Other
Also featured was a bonus volleyball game, hosted by Ztar, an odd dark version of the Power Star. Finally, players are able to access the Present Room, which allows them to view all the presents that he or she has accumulated throughout the Story Mode for each character.

General

 * Mario Party 4 is notable for being the first Mario Party game to actually have a plot revolving around an actual party.
 * The game is also notable for being the only one in the Mario Party series that does not feature the Piranha Plant in any board, mini-game, item or any other place at all. The Piranha Plant only makes a brief cameo in the background of the Option Room.
 * Mario Party 4 is the last Mario Party game Donkey Kong is fully playable in.
 * This is the first Mario series installment overall to have Princess Peach and Princess Daisy in their current main dresses, as well as Princess Daisy's hair being short.

4-Player minigames

 * Booksquirm is a pun on bookworm.
 * Domination is dominoes mixed into domination.
 * Long Claw of the Law is a pun on "Long Arm of the Law"

1 vs. 3 minigames

 * Blame it on the Crane is a pun on a song named "Blame it on the Rain".
 * Fish n' Drips is a pun on fish n' chips.
 * Hide and Go BOOM! is a pun of "Hide and go Seek".

2 vs. 2 minigames

 * Right Oar Left? is a pun on "right or left?".

Story Mode minigames

 * Archaeologuess is a pun on archeologist.