Mario Party (series)

Mario Party (Japanese: マリオパーティ, Mario Pāti) is a series of party games featuring the characters of the Mario franchise, in which four human- or computer-controlled characters compete in a board game interspersed with minigames. The series is known for its party game elements, including the often-unpredictable multiplayer modes that allow play with up to four (and sometimes eight) human players. The series was created under Nintendo's supervision by Hudson Soft, and was inaugurated on Nintendo 64, where its first game launched in Japan on December 18, 1998, and in the West in early 1999.

Hudson developed all installments until several of its key designers left the company, leading to its eventual disestablishment. After eight entries on consoles and two on handhelds (as well as three arcade spin-off games developed by Capcom), the ex-Hudson staffers then joined Nd Cube where they developed Wii Party, then restarted production of the Mario Party series, with the new development studio's first installment appearing on Wii in 2012.

Mario Party currently holds the record for the longest-running minigame series in video game history. According to Nintendo's official reports, by December 2014, the various games in the series had sold a cumulative total of 39.6 million copies worldwide.

Overview
Mario Party features a cast of prominent Mario franchise characters, who have included Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Toad, Wario, Waluigi, and many more with each game featuring variations on the cast and storyline. The series can be played with four players, but computer controlled players may be selected as well. From Mario Party to Mario Party DS, and also in amiibo Party mode in Mario Party 10, players move his or her character across the selected stage by hitting Dice Blocks to gather a Star. Usually, the player must then pay a fee of twenty coins to the host, a non-playable character. After each player has completed his or her turn, a minigame then begins, in which the player may be awarded coins, based on their performance. In Mario Party 9 and in the Mario Party mode of Mario Party 10, the objective is to get the most Mini Stars in the selected board to become the superstar. In Mario Party: Island Tour, with the exception of two boards in the game, players have to get to the end of the board before the other players; however, some boards use cards to advance forward, but most of them use dice blocks.

At the end of the game, Stars and Bonus Stars will be tallied. The person with the most stars at the end of the game becomes the winner, or in this case, the Superstar. If Stars are tied between players, other statistics will be applied. These include the amount of coins collected, minigame victories, and so on.

The Mario Party series amasses 13 games, across the Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, and Wii U consoles, as well as the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS. The series even sports a card game that works with the e-Reader peripheral and has ported previous installments into Japan-only arcade games. The cast of characters, character cameos, and minigames are numerous. Thus far, the series has been very commercially successful, and looks to continue its success.

Arcade


Boards
The Mario Party series includes 87 boards in total. Below is a list of all of them and what games they appear in.

Main Boards
The main boards are the board that can be played from one to four players, this is the main mode of each Mario Party games.

Other Boards
Some games included special boards that can be played. This is the list of boards that appear in other modes throughout the Mario Party games.
 * * - Unlockable Board.
 * ** - Can be unlocked with the amiibo of the respective character board (eg: Rosalina amiibo unlocks the Rosalina Board).
 * X_mark.svg – No board

Playable characters
During the first two Mario Party games, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Wario, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong are the only playable characters. Starting in Mario Party 3, the game introduces new playable characters in debut such as Princess Daisy and Waluigi, though they are only playable in the Party Mode; the previous new characters that appear in the next game are now playable in the Story Mode. There are some exceptions in games like Mario Party Advance and Mario Party DS which do not introduce new characters. Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Yoshi are the only characters to appear in all of the installments; Toad also appeared in all of the installments but was not a playable character until Mario Party 5. Wario appeared in all of the installments except for Mario Party Advance and Daisy and Waluigi appeared in all of the installments except for the first two Mario Party games and Mario Party Advance.

In the game Beach Volley Folley that appeared in Mario Party 4 and then Mario Party 5, there are exceptionally playable characters that can not be played as on the normal boards but are able to participate in this game.

The Mario Party series included 24 characters in various installments. Below is a list of all of them and what games they appear in.


 * Check_mark.svg – Playable character
 * X_mark.svg – Non-playable character
 * Question.svg – Unknown status


 * 1 — The character is playable only in Beach Volley Folley.
 * 2 — The character is playable only in Super Duel Mode.
 * 3 — The character is playable only in Party Mode.
 * 4 — The character is playable only in the Extra Mode.
 * 5 — The character is playable only in Bowser Party and amiibo Party.
 * 6 — The character is unlockable.
 * 7 — The character is playable only when players tap their amiibo in Mario Shuffle.
 * 8 — The character is only playable by Player 1 in Toad Scramble.
 * 9 — The character is only playable by Player 2 in Toad Scramble.
 * 10 — The character is only playable by Player 3 in Toad Scramble.
 * 11 — The character is only playable by Player 4 in Toad Scramble.

Hosts
These characters lead each individual Mario Party game.
 * Mario Party: Toad, Koopa Troopa, and Koopa Kid (only in Eternal Star).
 * Mario Party 2: Toad and Koopa Kid (only in Bowser Land)
 * Mario Party 3: Tumble and Millennium Star
 * Mario Party 4: Toad, Shy Guy, Boo, Koopa Troopa, Goomba, Koopa Kid, Thwomp (only in Extras Mode), Whomp (only in Extras Mode), and Ztar (only in Beach Volley Folley)
 * Mario Party 5: Star Spirits
 * Mario Party 6: Brighton and Twila
 * Mario Party Advance: Toad, Toadette, Tumble, and Professor Elvin Gadd
 * Mario Party 7: Toadsworth
 * Mario Party 8: MC Ballyhoo and Big Top
 * Mario Party DS: Wiggler, Toadette, Diddy Kong, Koopa Troopa and Bowser Jr.*
 * Mario Party 9: Yellow Toad (Party, Solo, and Museum) and Blue Toad (Minigames and Extras)
 * Mario Party: Island Tour: Yellow Toad (Party), Bowser (only in Bowser's Peculiar Peak and Bowser's Tower), Blue Toad (Minigames, StreetPass Minigames, and Collectables), and Green Toad (Bowser's Tower)
 * Mario Party 10: Blue Toad, Bowser Jr. (Bowser Party)

 *Technically there are no visual hosts, however, similar to Mario Party 4, each board has a guide that assist players in the Story Mode 

Spaces
All the spaces in the Mario Party games.

Items
Every item, capsule, orb, candy, hex and card from the series.

List of all Minigames
The Mario Party series' popularity is due in no small part to its minigames. Throughout the series' thirteen non-arcade titles, the list of minigames has become tremendous. Below is a list of all 769 minigames, separated by game. The minigames' titles generally rhyme, use alliteration, or are puns of popular phrases.

Awards

 * Longest Running Mini-Game Series - Guinness Book of World Records Gamer's Edition 2009 - 2013

Trivia

 * Luigi mentions the Mario Party series in his diary in the events of Paper Mario.
 * The Mario Party games are mentioned in one of the Coin Block/Brick Block cards in Nintendo Monopoly. Here, the player gets $50 from every player for organizing a Mario Party in the 2006 version, and $10 in the 2010 version.
 * Every numbered installment of the Mario Party series on the same console as the previous numbered Mario Party installment has had more mini-games than its numbered predecessor.
 * Donkey Kong, Rosalina, Toadette, Birdo and Dry Bones are the only characters in the Mario Party series to have been both an unlockable and a starter character.