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 twelfth in the main series (fifteenth in Japan). It was released in Europe on March 2, 2012, Australia on March 8, North America on March 11, 2012, and Japan on April 26, 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 to initiate an event similar to the Last Five Turns Event from past games.

Story
On a night outside of Princess Peach's Castle, Mario and his friends came to watch the Mini Stars glitter in the sky. As Mario peers though the telescope, he notices that the stars suddenly begin to get sucked through a vortex. It is then 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 was introduced in this game, retiring the old format seen in the prior eight titles: players 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 rolling a dice with a 1-10 on it like in the previous games, players can only roll a dice block with a 1-6 on it; however, there are other dice blocks that can be collected, which includes a dice block that allows a 1-10 roll. Instead of trying to collect coins to buy stars, players receive Mini Stars if they pass by them. While doing so, players must also try to avoid Mini Ztars, which deduct their current amount of Mini Stars. New minigame types are introduced in the Mario Party series, one example being 2 vs. 1 minigames against Bowser Jr. In this game, the minigames don't appear after every player has moved, but only when a player ends up on any of the spaces that triggers a minigame. Also, when receiving dice blocks, a minigame might pop up after as well. Unlike previous Mario Party games, where often only the winner mattered, all minigames are ranked from first to last place and generally all players receive Mini Stars, although the winning player earns the most.

Modes
Mario Party 9 has 5 modes in all. They are:


 * Party Mode
 * Solo Mode
 * Minigame Mode
 * Museum
 * Extras

Party Mode
Once again returning from previous Mario Party games, Party Mode involves the players going around the board like with the previous games, but changed due to the new gameplay mechanics of Mario Party 9. The amount of party points that the players will earn is determined by how many Mini Stars they have at the end of the game. However, if handicaps are used, the handicap amount will not count towards the party point total; for example, if a player has a 50 Mini Star handicap, and finishes with 100 Mini Stars, he/she will only earn 50 party points.

Minigame Mode
Blue Toad is the host of Minigame Mode.
 * Free Play: In the Free Play mode, the players can play unlocked minigames freely. Each minigame rewards players "1" party point when played.
 * 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 three minigames from a group of five that they would like to play. 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, similar to Boss Bash in Mario Party DS.

Note: With the exception of Free Play mode, all game modes will award the players "10" party points when finished.

Solo Mode
The game's story mode, Solo Mode involves the players traveling across all six boards to defeat Bowser and save the Mini Stars. Completing Solo Mode will award the player 500 party points, and the Mini Star grand total will also be added onto the player's party point amount; for example, finishing Solo Mode with a grand total of 500 Mini Stars will award the player 1000 party points.

Museum
The Museum is where the players can spend Party Points on various things such as Mini Star constellations, game sounds, vehicles, extra game modes, or watch the credits. Once they return a constellation into the sky, the players can go back and see it in the sky.

Extras
In Extras, the player can play through various extra minigames such as Goomba Bowling, Castle Clearout, or Shell Soccer. There is also a mode called Perspective Mode, in which the player plays through various minigames with a changed camera angle.

Free-For-All Minigames

 * Logger Heads is a pun on loggerhead.
 * Launch Break is a pun on lunch break.
 * Skyjinks is a pun on hijinx and sky.
 * Skipping Class is a play on skipping class.
 * Mecha Choice is a pun on make a choice.
 * Jigsaw Jumble is a pun on jigsaw puzzle.
 * Upward Mobility is a play on the term upward mobility.
 * Ring Leader is a play on ringleader, a person who leads others.
 * Smash Compactor is a pun on trash compactor.
 * Card Smarts is a pun on the game show Card Sharks.
 * Toad and Go Seek is a portmanteau on the game, hide and seek.
 * Twist Ending is a play on the term, twist ending.
 * Manor of Escape is a pun on manner of escape.
 * Flinger Painting is a pun on finger painting.
 * Plunder Ground is a pun on plunder and underground.
 * Billistics is a pun on ballistsics and Bullet Bill.
 * Pit or Platter is a pun on the term, "pitter-patter".
 * Thwomper Room is a pun on romper room and Thwomp.
 * Urn It is a pun on earn it.
 * Pizza Me, Mario is a pun on Mario's famous phrase, it's-a me, Mario!.
 * Pier Pressure is a pun on the friendship term, "peer pressure".

1-vs.-Rivals Minigames

 * Line in the Sand is based on the phrase, "line in the sand".
 * Block and Roll is a pun on the music style, Rock 'n' Roll.
 * Spike-n-Span is a pun on spick and span.
 * Mob Sleds is a pun on bobsleds.

Bowser Jr. Minigames

 * Cage Match is a play on cage match.
 * Sand Trap is a play on sand trap.
 * Pedal to the Paddle is a pun on Pedal to the Metal.

Items

 * Dice Block
 * Slow Dice Block
 * 0-1 Dice Block
 * 1-2-3 Dice Block
 * 4-5-6 Dice Block
 * 1-10 Dice Block
 * 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 - Neutral spaces that often lets one or all players attend an event that can either help or hinder the player.
 * 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.

Critical Reception
Mario Party 9, like most Mario party games, reviews have been mixed. IGN gave it a 7/10 telling that the graphics are good but the music is so repetitive and the luck plays a big role in determining your fate in the game. GameSpot gave it a 6.0 saying that it´s too familiar and Solo mode is tedious and required for unlocks.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros.: A extract of the overworld theme is in the minigame Speeding Bullets, also the complete theme is in Hexapuzzle, plus the music in the Minigame mode Choice Challenge is a remix of the underworld theme. The bridge tiles during Goomba Bowling are very similar to the stones in the overworld levels.
 * Super Mario World: A extract from the music of the Results screen of the boards is a remix of the overworld theme. Also Bowser appears with his Koopa Clown Car.
 * Mario Kart: A lightning bolt appears in King Boo's Puzzle Attack
 * Super Mario 64: The music when Bowser appears to initiate a Boss Battle is the beginning of the Koopa's Road theme.
 * Luigi's Mansion: King Boo is a boss. Also, Boo's Horror Castle resembles the mansion.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: A Pianta appears in the minigame Pianta Pool.
 * Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: The vehicle from DK's Jungle Ruins resembles the DK Jumbo.
 * Mario Party Advance: The game uses a vehicle to move on the board. Also, Toad Mobile, the default vehicle from Toad Road resembles the car from this game.
 * Super Mario Galaxy: The Ground Pound Switch icon appears on Wiggler's body segments and on Whomp's back. Also the music of some Bowser Jr. minigames is a remix of Bowser Jr.'s theme of the game. Voice clips reused from this game include Boo's. The concept of underwater shell riding (used in the Cheep Cheep Boss Battle) is taken from this game and its sequel.
 * Mario Party DS: Step It Up is a minigame mode, and it was also in DS.
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Many of the environments and minigames in the game are based on the worlds of this game, including the background of the minigame Upward Mobility. Yellow Toad and Blue Toad also reappear as the hosts of the game. The design of the Ice Flower of this game appears in King Boo's Puzzle Attack. 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. Toad houses also appear, in the style that they did 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. The setting of the boss minigame Bowser's Block Battle is similar to the areas where Mario would meet Bowser in the game. The hammers Bowser Jr. uses in Bowser Jr. Breakdown are similar to the ones used by Megahammer. The concept of underwater shell riding used in a boss batlle is from this game and its prequel.
 * Super Mario 3D Land: In the minigame Skyjinks, the platforms and rotating mushrooms resemble those found in the game. Also, in the minigame Goomba Spotting, the Goomba Tower enemy returns and binoculars interface resembles the one used when Mario or Luigi looks through the binoculars. Graphics and a few elements are borrowed as well.

Trivia

 * The players' cursors when selecting options and playing minigames are the hands of their characters, similar to the hands from the first four Mario Parties, and the Hedge Honcho minigame from Mario Party DS.
 * 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.
 * This is also the first Mario Party game to not include a category of 2-vs-2-Minigames, and the first since Mario Party 2 to not include a category of Duel Minigames (if the 1-vs.-1 Story Minigames from Mario Party 4 are counted as Duel Minigames).