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 gameplay, as well as the use of many items and minigames. The game's goal, as with most of the others, is to collect the most stars. It is also the first Mario Party game to allow players to team up. The game won the Family Game Of The Year award at the Interactive Achievement Awards of 2003.

Plot
''"Toad, Koopa, and a whole host of party patrons have arrived on the mysterious Party Cube to celebrate YOUR Birthday Party!"

''"But giving you presents would be way too easy, so you're going to have to win the presents by playing a game or two!"

''"Now let's get this party started!"

Beach Volley Folley exclusive

 * Toad
 * Shy Guy
 * Boo
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Koopa Kid
 * Bowser

Extra Room
Thwomp and Whomp have a room full of bonus minigames. These minigames can 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 is a bonus volleyball game, hosted by a Ztar. 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.

Reception
Mario Party 4 received mostly mixed and positive reviews from critics. GameSpot's Ryan Davis praised the game's mini-game format, but noted that "players that who already exhausted themselves on pervious Mario Party titles may not have enough here to draw them back again". Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell acknowledged the variety and thematic features of the boards, but thought they were too large, resulting in a "glacial pace" when coupled with the on-board animations. Despite this, IGN praised the boards for their thematic features on each one, which helped "ease the tediousness". New gameplay features such as the mushroom system received a negative review from multiple critics, with frustration being expressed at not being able to enter shops or purchase stars with big characters. The game's multiplayer was praised by reviews, especially in comparison to the single player mode, "Story Mode".

Mario Party 4 is the 7th best selling game for Nintendo GameCube, with approximately 2 million copies were sold worldwide, 1.1 million copies in US, and 902,827 copies in Japan, as of December 31, 2009.

Trivia

 * 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 current appearance.
 * This is the last Mario Party game to have Donkey Kong as a fully playable character.
 * This game completes a revamp in the 3-D art direction of the Mario franchise that started with Luigi's Mansion and continued with Super Mario Sunshine.