Mario Party 5

Mario Party 5 is the fifth installment in the Mario Party series and the second for the Nintendo GameCube. The most notable change in this game is that the shopping system was replaced with the new Capsule system.

In the game's Story Mode, a playable character has to face Bowser and the Koopa Kids (known as Mini Bowser in PAL regions) throughout every stage. Eventually, the character will face Bowser one-on-one.

The game is notable for featuring places and characters that appeared in or resembled places and characters from Paper Mario. The most prominent of these is the Star Spirits.

Story
From the Mario Party 5 Instruction booklet: In the night sky, past the moon and beyond the stars, there's a dream world known as Dream Depot, where everyone's dreams come together. This is the real land of dreams... In this land, there are Star Guards who protect the dreams of everyone. One dreamy night, the Star Guards thought of something. "Many dreams arrive here at Dream Depot every day," they said, "so... why don't we offer those with the power of dreaming a chance to visit?" Eventually, they decided to invite Mario and his closest friends because, when it comes to dreamers, nobody dreams bigger than they do! The Star Guards prepared for their guests' arrival by creating many fun-filled games for them to play. And that is how this adventure for Mario and his friends both old and new began!

In Story Mode, Bowser and Koopa Kid are planning to ruin everyone's dreams, and players must stop Bowser from taking over said dreams. If players clear the five boards, they must face the Koopa Kids in Bowser Nightmare, and if they beat that board, they fight Bowser in Frightmare.

Playable Characters
Returning Playable Characters

New Features
This installment to the Mario Party series comes with new mini-games, characters, and maps. Toad, Boo, and Koopa Kid are now playable characters, as is Donkey Kong in Super Duel Mode once the player unlocks him. In Party Mode, he is on Donkey Kong spaces and either gives the players coins or stars, or starts a Donkey Kong mini-game which involve collecting bananas for a predetermined amount of coins.

The game is also significant for being the second in the series to introduce 3D game boards. Previous titles, all except for Mario Party 4, utilized pre-rendered backgrounds, which are static and limited in their presentation. As a result, all subsequent Mario Party titles, with the exception of Mario Party Advance on the Game Boy Advance, have employed 3D backgrounds allowing for much more dynamic fields of play.

Mario Party 5 has a few new features. First off, in Story Mode, all the Koopa Kids move at the same time, quickening game play. The point of single player mode is to deplete all of the Koopa Kids' coins by beating them in mini-games.

It also features two whole new modes: Bonus Mode, and Super Duel Mode. In Bonus Mode, players could choose one of three bonus games: Beach Volleyball, Ice Hockey, and Card Party.

Super Duel Mode
In Super Duel Mode, one buys vehicle parts using points received by playing mini-games and builds a battle vehicle to use in different tournaments or against friends. To unlock all the different parts, one must play all the tournaments and beat certain opponents. There are a total of 44 different parts that can be used to customize a vehicle. The last two, Bob-omb Wall and Bowser Punch, are unlocked after all other parts are purchased. There are five symbols that indicate different aspects of the vehicle's ability:
 * Red Heart: Health
 * Green Steering Wheel: Handling
 * White Boxing Glove: Power
 * Blue Vehicle Icon: Top Speed
 * Yellow Vehicle Icon: Acceleration

After the player has made the vehicle, there are various options to improve the vehicle:

Vehicle Parts
The following is a list of all the parts the player can use:


 * Body Types


 * Tires


 * Engines


 * Weapons

Super Duel Battles
The player can choose the battle from the garage menu, but only Battle Competition on easy and normal are available at the start. In order to unlock the rest, the player must complete each game as it opens on the normal or hard level. If the player loses any game, the tournament ends and the player receives no trophies.

In all competitions, there are obstacles, such as stationary Spiny Shells or Bob-ombs that detonate within a certain amount of time or upon contact. The size of an obstacle mirrors the damage it can do. Warp Pipes simply block vehicles. Mushrooms occasionally appear along the course and grant the vehicle better speed and control for a certain amount of time when collided with, as well as Poison Mushrooms, which hinder speed and control.

Terrain can vary when battling a CPU or a human player in a arena called Random Ruckus. Dirt and grass are present and do no special effects. Metal and ice make the vehicles harder to control. Lava damages and pushes away the vehicle. However, if a vehicle is equipped with Lakitu Cloud or E. Gadd Jet tires, the vehicle is not get affected by any sort of terrain.

The goal of this 90 second game is to eliminate the opponent. If nobody wins, the battle ends. The player must fire the weapon with B at the other player and keep moving to avoid opposing attacks and obstacles.
 * Battle Competition

In this game, the object is to collect three flags before the opposing player does. This is also a 90 second game; the game ends if nobody collects three flags. Although hitting the opposing player slows him or her down, attacking the opposing member is not the goal of the game.
 * Flag Competition

This time the goal is to wipe out three Robo-Rabbits before the opposing player does within the time limit of one minute and thirty seconds. Again, the player can shoot and slow down the opposing member. The Robo-Rabbits are very fast and can tunnel underground.
 * Robo-Rabbit Competition

Story Mode
In Story Mode, the player will go on five boards facing the three Koopa Kids. The boards are much smaller boards then in Party Mode. When a player passes/lands on a Koopa Kid, they will duel them; losing costs them 5 coins while winning costs the Koopa Kid 15 coins. When the Koopa Kid passes/lands on the player, they will duel them; losing costs them 5 coins while winning costs the player 10 coins.

There is a VS Space; if there are three Koopa Kids, then this will cause a 1 vs. 3 game. Two will cause a 2 vs. 2 game (with Toad as the player's partner). One causes a duel.

When a player loses all their Coins, they are eliminated from the board. The main objective is to eliminate all three of the Koopa Kid's before they eliminate the player. After all five boards, the player faces Bowser in Frightmare.

Boards

 * Toy Dream
 * Rainbow Dream
 * Pirate Dream
 * Undersea Dream
 * Future Dream
 * Sweet Dream
 * Bowser Nightmare (unlockable)

Capsules
The items in Mario Party 5 are called capsules. They are procured by passing by Capsule Dispensers. For players to utilise a capsule, it may be thrown at a space on the board. The space can be up to ten spaces in front of the space the player currently is standing on. Another way for players to use their capsules is by directly using them on themselves. If players chose to do so, they must pay a fee. The fee depends on the capsule the player wants to use. Below is a list of all twenty-eight capsules found in Mario Party 5, and a description describing their effects.

Music
The music in Mario Party 5 was composed by Aya Tanaka. It is somewhat significantly different from the other Mario Party games — including its sequels — in that the music sounds sophisticated and (despite being synthesized as in all Mario Party games) has the illusion of being played by a professional symphony orchestra. This may be caused by the use of sounds that sound like true instruments, especially the harpsichord. This apparently didn't catch on, however, as Aya Tanaka has not composed any other Mario Party game, and Mario Party 6 and Mario Party 7 returned to the style of Mario Party 4.

Reception
The game received positive reviews.

Trivia

 * The capsule depicting a Toady is incorrectly labeled as "Magikoopa Capsule". Later Mario Party games correctly labeled it as "Toady Orb".