Mario Party 9

Mario Party 9 is the ninth home console installment of the Mario Party series and second for the Wii. The game was developed by Nd Cube. It is also the eleventh in the main series (fifteenth in Japan). It was released in Europe on March 2, 2012, and will also be released in Australia and North America in March 2012 and later on in Japan in April 2012. The host of the game is Yellow Toad for the boards while Blue Toad is the host for minigames, and Green Toad appears near the end of Boards.

Story
On a night outside of Princess Peach's Castle, Mario and his friends came to watch the Mini Stars in the sky. As Mario peers though the telescope, he notices that the stars suddenly begin to get sucked through a vortex. It is soon revealed to be Bowser and Bowser Jr. on a spacecraft, who are using a vacuum-like machine to suck the stars in the sky. Upon witnessing this, Mario and the gang set out to defeat them and save the Mini Stars. After they start their journey, Shy Guy and Kamek are seen coming out of the woods and start following them (as part of Bowser's plan).

Gameplay
A new form of gameplay will be introduced in this game: players will move all at once through the board in a vehicle (a car in Toad Road, a magic carpet in Boo's Horror Castle and a legged machine in Bob-omb Factory, for example). Instead of trying to collect coins to buy stars, players receive Mini Stars if they pass by them. New minigames will be introduced in the Mario Party series, as well as 2 vs. 1 minigames against Bowser Jr, with one of them closely resembling one of the boss battles in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Players must try to avoid Mini Ztars, which deduct their current amount of Mini Stars. In this game, the minigames don't appear after every four turns, but only when a player ends up on any of the spaces that triggers a minigame.

Modes
Mario Party 9 has Party Mode, Solo Mode, Minigame Mode, Extra Mode and the Museum.

Minigame Mode
Blue Toad is the host of Minigame Mode.
 * Free Play: In the Free Play mode, the players can play unlocked minigames freely.
 * Step It Up: In this mode, players must win minigames to climb stairs. The player who reaches on the top first wins.
 * Garden Battle: The players must get puzzle pieces to fill their gardens winning minigames. The player who completes it first wins.
 * Choice Challenge: All the players choose a minigame from a group of five. These minigames are played and the player who get more points wins.
 * High Rollers: In this mode, the players must win minigames to roll a Dice Block to pass through a panel floor. The player who gets 500 points first wins.
 * Time Attack: The player must try to win 10 minigames as fast as he or she can.
 * Boss Rush: The players must defeat a series of bosses to win.

Characters
Similarly to the preceding games, Mario Party 9 will introduce newcomers to the series. There are 12 characters in Mario Party 9.

Bosses
There are a total of 12 boss battles in Mario Party 9.

Items

 * Dice Block
 * Slow Dice Block
 * 0-1 Dice Block
 * 1-2-3 Dice Block
 * 4-5-6 Dice Block
 * 1-10 Dice Block
 * Stars
 * Mini Stars
 * Mini Ztars
 * Green Shells
 * Bananas
 * Banana Bunches
 * Z-Bananas

Spaces
When a player lands on a space, something is going to happen. Each space has its own effect, but like in previous Mario Party games, every space is colour-coded. The colour of the space will tell what kind of event is going to happen. If the player moves over a space with a half cross on it, he or she automatically stops at that space and an event starts. The only two spaces of this kind are the Boss Space and the Captain Event Space.
 * Normal Spaces
 * Blue Spaces - Triggers good events and will help the player who landed on it.
 * Red Spaces - Trigger bad events and will hinder the player who landed on it.
 * Green Spaces - Lets one or all players play a Mini Game.
 * Yellow Spaces - Trigger minigames when landed on.
 * White Spaces - Adds Mini Stars to the Jackpot on the Bowser Station board.
 * Star Spaces
 * Mini Star Spaces - Gives Mini Stars to the player who landed on it.
 * Mini Ztar Spaces - Takes Mini Stars from the player who landed on it.

Because of the new rules in Mario Party 9, there are many new spaces introduced. Some old spaces returned as well, but some have a different effect (for example the Blue Space). With a total of 21 different kind of spaces, Mario Party 9 has the most spaces of the series. Also for the first time in the Mario Party series, some spaces are unique for a specific board. Here is a list of all the spaces in the game, with what kind of effect they have.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros.: The bridge tiles during Goomba Bowling are very similar to the stones in the overworld levels.
 * Super Mario World: Bowser appears with his Koopa Clown Car.
 * Super Mario 64: The music when Bowser appears to initiate a Boss Battle is the beginning of the Koopa's Road theme.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: A Pianta appears in the minigame Pianta Pool.
 * Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: Some voice files are reused from this game, notably King Boo's voice. The vehicle from DK's Jungle Ruins resembles the DK Jumbo.
 * Super Mario Galaxy: The music of some Bowser Jr. minigames is a remix of Bowser Jr.'s theme of the game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Many of the environments and minigames in the game are based on the worlds of this game. Yellow Toad and Blue Toad also reappear as the hosts of the game. Bowser Jr. appears is his Koopa Clown Car. Also some of the Bowser Jr. Minigames music is a remix of Bowser Jr.'s battle music in this game.
 * Super Mario Galaxy 2: In the minigame Logger Heads, a group of Whittles appear. They also appear in the Step It Up minigame mode in the background of the tree, and they congratulate the winner when they reach the top of the tree.

Trivia

 * The players' cursors when selecting options and playing minigames are the hands of their characters.
 * This is the first Mario Party in the series not to be developed by Hudson.
 * This is the first Mario Party to not include Advice or Hints in the Minigame Rules Screen.
 * Also about minigames, this is the first Mario Party to not include Bonus Minigames, likely due to the abolishment of coins.
 * This is also the first Mario Party game not to include 2-vs.-2-Minigames.