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 minigames. 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 
 * Peach -  Pink 
 * Daisy -  Yellow 
 * Yoshi -  Green 
 * Donkey Kong -  Brown 
 * Wario -  Purple 
 * Waluigi - Black

New Playable Characters

 * Boo - Light Blue
 * Bowser -  Red 
 * Koopa Kid - Orange
 * Koopa Troopa -  Yellow 
 * Shy Guy -  Green 
 * Toad - White

It should be noted that these characters are playable only in Beach Volley Folley.

Default Partners

 * Mario and Luigi
 * Peach and Daisy
 * Yoshi and Donkey Kong
 * Wario and Waluigi

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. Eventually, Bowser enters to ruin things with his own board, hosted by Koopa Kid (known in PAL regions as Mini-Bowser).

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 minigames. These minigames could be played on two bonus boards. Their minigames 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 minigames, 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 the player has accumulated throughout the Story Mode for each character.

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"
 * Mario Speedwagons is a pun on the band "REO Speedwagon"

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".
 * Hop or Pop is a pun of "Hop on Pop" by Dr. Seuss.

2 vs. 2 minigames

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

Story Mode minigames

 * Archaeologuess is a pun on archeologist.

Trivia

 * The game is notable for being the only one in the Mario Party series that does not feature the Piranha Plant in any board, minigame, item or any other place at all. The Piranha Plant only makes a brief cameo in the background of the Option Room.
 * This is the only Mario Party title for GameCube to have Donkey Kong as a main playable character.
 * This is also the only Mario Party title to feature Bowser as a playable character.
 * 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.