Mario Party 7

Mario Party 7 is a party game from the Mario Party series, released for the Nintendo GameCube console. It is the seventh Mario Party home console installment, the fourth and final Mario Party installment for the Nintendo GameCube, and the eighth installment in the Mario Party series. It was first released in North America and Japan in late 2005, before being released in Europe, Australia, and the United Kingdom in early to mid-2006. As previous Mario Party installments, the game is laid out as an interactive board game, where players use Dice Blocks to advance in the board, while also playing various minigames. In this game, Mario and the gang, using the MSS Sea Star, go vacationing to locations based on landmarks on Earth. However, Bowser is not invited on the cruise and decides to cause trouble for Mario and his friends.

Up to four players can enjoy the most of the game's modes; however, a special mode that this game introduces to the Mario Party series allows up to eight players to participate in a party. Players are required to share their controllers, and thus, controls are simplified in such modes. The microphone, first introduced in this game's predecessor, Mario Party 6, makes a return in this game.

Story
From the Mario Party 7 Instruction booklet: TOADSWORTH: Oh, I say! Hello there! It's me, Toadsworth! Yes, yes, let me tell you about what happened recently. You see, Mario and his friends are always busy fighting evil and saving the world and so forth, so I offered him a chance to come on a cruise around the world! Oh ho! Splendid! But in doing so, I apparently made that rogue Bowser somewhat angry. Let me tell you what he said...

BOWSER: "This makes me MAAAAD!! GRRRAAAA!! They're going on a vacation... AND NOT TAKING ME! They want a fun vacation? I'll give them a fun vacation! And by that, I mean NO FUN AT ALL! I'll find those chumps and wreck their good times! Bwa ha ha ha!"

TOADSWORTH: Great Kippers! That King Koopa has never been that angry! Who knows what he'll do? But chin up, old bean! We won't let him ruin our good times, right? Right!

Toadsworth has invited Mario and all his friends to go on a luxury cruise around the world. However, Toadsworth invited everyone except for one person, Bowser. Furious at being omitted, the Koopa King vows revenge. When the cruise ship MSS Sea Star arrives at its first destination, the passengers discover that Bowser has turned their vacation paradise into a stress-filled madhouse.

After conquering the boards, the player enters Bowser's Castle for their final showdown against Bowser, in which they eventually are able to use the power of the Stars they gathered to send Bowser and the Koopa Kid crashing down. The epilogue sees the duo landing on a tiny island with a tree and feeling dizzy afterwards until they catch sight of the player, who is waving at the duo from aboard the MSS Sea Star as Bowser says that he won't forget this.

Gameplay
Mario Party 7 features game boards on which players and CPU characters move around on spaces similar to a board game. Players roll the Dice Block with numbers from one to ten to advance on the board. At the beginning of the game, players can hear an explanation of the board's objective, as well as various other quirks the board may have. The turn order is then determined by a Dice Block roll, with the higher numbers going sooner. Each player starts off with ten coins, and the number of coins is affected by the spaces that the player lands on after their turn, as well as multiple other factors. For example, landing on a Blue Space gives a player three coins, while landing on a Red Space takes three coins away. The boards feature a variety of spaces that have different effects, and players can collect items known as Orbs (a feature returning from Mario Party 6) from Orb Spaces, buying them at Orb Shops, or winning them from Green Spaces. The items can be used to have different effects, which help players or hinder an opponent's progress.

After each player has completed his or her turn, a mini-game is played. The type of the minigame is determined by the colors of the spaces that the players ended their turn on. When all colors match, a 4-Player minigame is played, otherwise there is a 1-Vs-3 or a 2-Vs-2 minigame. In Mario Party 7, minigames might involve clearing action courses, solving puzzles faster than the other players, or fighting against each other, but all rules and controls vary between minigames. Several minigames use the Nintendo GameCube Microphone that is shipped with the game and plugs into Memory Card Slot B. Players can play microphone minigames without the device by adjusting the game settings. Winning players earn ten coins, however, some minigames are dependent on their category, such as the special Bonus minigames (which are mixed in with the normal minigame categories, they are marked by a yellow name), Battle minigames, Duel minigames, DK minigames, and Bowser minigames. Various minigames have specific conditions to play in them: Battle minigames occur at random, rare intervals where players have their coins put at stake and the reward is dependent on how well the player has done. Duel mini-games are triggered by Duel Spaces, where players can win Duel minigames for a prize dependent on a roulette, a change from the two preceding installments, Mario Party 5 and Mario Party 6, where players are required to put coins and Stars at stake to play. DK and Bowser mini-games occur when players land on their respective places; a new feature exclusive to Mario Party 7 is that single player DK and Bowser minigames are thrown into the mix of multiplayer DK and Bowser minigames. Once a minigame after every turn is completed, the game is saved and players resume their turns on the board. At the last four turns, the Last Four Turns Event occurs. Bowser appears to give current standings, while also inviting the last player or team to spin the bonus wheel. Some of the effects can help or hinder the players on the board, where one of them triples coins earned on Blue and Red Spaces while others involve Bowser Spaces being placed on all Red Spaces.

The main objective of any Mario Party game is to gain Stars that are located at a special location in the board. In Mario Party 7, each board offers its unique way to obtain stars, unlike most preceding games in the Mario Party series where there is only one way to obtain stars. At the end of every game, Toadsworth announces the game's current Star count and final coin count. After that, there will be Bonus Stars for the players who did the best during the match and then, the final tally is announced and the player with the most Stars overall, wins the match. If there is a tie for Stars, then whoever has the most coins will win. If a tie occurs with Stars and coins, then the winner is decided with a Dice Block roll.

A new addition to the board gameplay is Bowser Time. After each turn, a special gauge representing Bowser's head appears on the screen to tell the player when that time comes; the meter fills up every turn. When the gauge is filled, Bowser Time is initiated. During this special event, Bowser comes to the board and cause trouble in various ways, some are general while others are specific to the board being played on. This special event happens every five turns; in the Last Four Turns event, the gauge stops appearing after every turn.

After every session, whether on board gameplay in Party Cruise or playing minigames in Minigame Cruise, Cruise Mileage points are earned. These are used to spend on various items at the Duty-Free Shop.

One change has been made to Tag Battle in Mario Party 7. Unlike previous installments, where both players in a team move separately, both players in a team move at the same time by hitting two Dice Blocks from 1-5. Also, both players may be able to participate in certain board events by landing on a Green Space. Players alternate between the leader every turn, where initially, the first leader is determined by the controller order. Leaders make the decisions such as using Orbs, visiting Orb Shops, or making choices in board events. If a player is partnered with a CPU player, that player is always the leader.

Game modes
Toadsworth is the host of Mario Party 7, and he guides players through the various modes of the game. At the main menu selection screen, players can get a small description for each of the six game modes and navigate different ways to play through this screen. The game modes are themed after pleasure voyages on a ship and a ship's various locations.

Party Cruise
Party Cruise is Mario Party 7's main mode. Up to four players can play the game normally, but the mode also features a 4-Team Battle, where four teams of eight players can compete against one another. This game mode uses the default Mario Party rules to play: players win by collecting the most Stars on the board.

Before any game is started, players can adjust various settings, which are the following:


 * Turns: The number of turns that the game takes to be finished can be set between 10 and 50 turns in 5 turn intervals.
 * Rules: Players can play in Battle Royale, where four players compete in a free-for-all, Tag Battle, where four players split into two teams, and 4-Team Battle where eight players divide into four teams. Whenever players are in teams, coins, Stars, and Orbs are shared with a teammate.
 * Bonus Stars: Players can either opt for receiver three Bonus Stars awarded at the end of the game or not. The three Bonus Stars are randomly awarded for six of the following achievements:
 * Minigame Sets: By default, all available mini-games are played. Players can restrict the mini-games to only being Easy games, Action games, Hard games, or Weird games.
 * Mini-Game Star: Most coins earned in mini-games.
 * Action Star: Most Green Spaces landed on.
 * Orb Star: Most Orbs used.
 * Shopping Star: Most coins used to buy Orbs.
 * Red Star" Most Red Spaces landed on.
 * Running Star: Most spaces walked over in total.

After these settings are confirmed and the number of players selected, players choose their characters. If there are not enough players, CPU players can be chosen to fill up extra slots; players can adjust CPU player difficulty from Weak, Normal, Hard, or the unlockable Brutal difficulty. Players can then adjust the number of Stars a team or a player can start with with the Handicap feature to give an advantage; up to nine Stars can be initially given. Once these settings are all set, the game can be started.

Minigame Cruise
There are six ways to play minigame cruise:
 * Free Play Sub - Players are able to play any unlocked minigame they choose. They may also obtain 2 rare minigames by purchasing them in the Duty-Free Shop, only be played in the Free Play Sub.
 * Volcano Peril - As the name suggests, this mode takes place in a volcano. After picking the number of victories (3, 5, 7) and the type of minigames (4-Player, 2 vs. 2, 1 vs. 3), the four characters race from some bolts. After each game, the character(s) who won rise one level. There is no penalty for losing. The first character (or team) to beat the required amount of games wins. They escape(s) from the volcano (by a convenient stairwell) while the others get trapped in the skeleton of a dinosaur of some sort. In the sky, a Shy Guy on an airplane flies back and forth, spewing stars made out of smoke from the back.
 * Waterfall Battle - The player must beat every other player in a duel minigame. Players that lost a minigame have a chance for a comeback victory. The game is won when there are no other players left to battle.
 * Pearl Hunt - Four characters are placed in a capsule underwater while seashells are placed around them. After beating a mini-game, whoever won can select a shell. If it's a pearl with the winner's face on it, that player collects it. However, if it's not the winner's face, the shell will close shut. The player can find mushrooms to choose additional shells in a turn or whirlpools that shuffles the order of the shells. The first one to collect three pearls that have their image on it will appear in a giant shell, while the others are chased around by a shark.
 * Decathlon Castle - Play ten extreme mini-games to earn the most points.
 * King of the River (unlockable) - Solo mini-game cruise. The lone player basically plays mini-games with a limited supply of lives. Each time the player loses a mini-game, one life is lost; if all lives are lost, it's game over. Koopa Kid will show up between 6-10 Minigames, 16-20 Minigames, and 26-30 Minigames with a Multiplayer Bowser minigame. Every five mini-games that the player plays, that player can save their progress. It's also possible to recover any lives that the player has lost, but can't hold more than three lives in their possession. As the player plays through this game mode, they can advance to higher difficulty levels. For each difficulty level cleared, the player will receive a souvenir, which will be placed in the Duty-Free Shop. Winning King of the River on all the skill levels effectively wins the game. The prize received is a star statue and when it is accessed in the Duty Free Shop, where the surprise is the end credits.

Playable characters
All characters from Mario Party 6 save Koopa Kid return, who instead hosts the Koopa Kid Spaces. Newcomers are Birdo and Dry Bones, the two unlockable characters of Mario Party 7. In order to unlock them, the player has to spend 2,000 Cruise Mileage Points, 1,000 for Birdo and 1,000 for Dry Bones, at the Duty-Free Shop.

Default partners

 * Mario and Luigi
 * Princess Peach and Princess Daisy
 * Wario and Waluigi
 * Toad and Toadette
 * Yoshi and Birdo
 * Boo and Dry Bones

NOTE: Each pair of partners have their own special orbs. Before Birdo and Dry Bones are unlocked, Yoshi and Boo are considered default partners, but they share different orbs.

Team names

 * Team Dolphin
 * Team Seagull
 * Team Tuna
 * Team Mollusk

Spaces
There is also a Coin Block Area that are only in Solo mode.

Orbs
There are five types of orbs in the game.

Self Orbs
Self Orbs have a green shell and are used on the player.

Thrown Orbs
Thrown Orbs are thrown on a space. Happenings are executed only if the player lands on it. The thrown orbs' shell color is yellow. These orbs have an effect on a player who lands on the space. If the owner lands on the space, they will receive five coins. During the last five turn events, they may receive 15 coins if the coin's ×3 roulette is chosen. The orb will also stay on the board as long as no one replaces the orb.

Roadblock Orbs
Roadblock Orbs are red orbs that are thrown. They are triggered when an opposing player passes it and disappear once triggered.

Character Orbs
Character Orbs are orbs that only can be used by a specific pair. Their shells are blue.

Other Orbs
Other Orbs are orbs that are automatically thrown when somebody receives it. They're colored violet.

Minigames
Mario Party 7 has 88 minigames, the most of any Mario Party game to date. These include the traditional 4-player minigames, 1-vs.-3 minigames, 2-vs.-2 minigames, duel minigames, and battle minigames. Similarly to its predecessor, it employs the Nintendo GameCube Microphone for several 4-player and 1-vs.-3 minigames. Unique to this game are 8-player minigames. This game also includes DK minigames and Bowser minigames, both of which have three each of single-player and four-player minigames. Finally, there are two rare minigames and one boss minigame, which is categorized as a Bowser minigame.

Reception
The game received mixed to positive reviews. GameSpot gave it a 6.5/10, saying that the game was a huge improvement. 1UP put an A+ rating for Originality. IGN gave it a 7/10. GameSpot praised the controls, challenging Bowser minigames and more usage of the mic, and mentioned that Mario Party 7 is an actual party because of the use of 8-player modes and that the game really gets the whole family to join in the fun.

References to other games

 * Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: The Character Orbs function similarly to the Special Items in this game.
 * Mario Party 6: Some of the songs in this game are remixes of songs in this game. For example, the song that plays on the main menu is a remix of the Castaway Bay theme; the song that plays when a player lands on a Mic space is a remix of the Speak Up theme; the song that plays in King of the River is a remix of the song that plays in Endurance Alley (which, in turn, is a remix of the Super Mario Bros. underground theme); the song that plays when the player loses King of the River is a remix of the song that plays when the player loses Endurance Alley; the song that plays in Take Me Ohm, Pogo-a-Go-Go, and Bob-ombic Plague is a remix of the song that plays in Granite Getaway, Surge and Destroy, and Burnstile; and the song that plays in Track & Yield and La Bomba is a remix of the song that plays in Conveyor Bolt, Ray of Fright, and Verbal Assault. The music when winning a minigame is also a more upbeat version of Mario Party 6 ' s winning theme, and the minigame instructions theme has parts of Mario Party 6 ' s renedition in it. Pyramid Park also takes the idea of using Chain Chomps to steal Stars from Snowflake Lake in this game. Pink Boos act the same here as they did on Towering Treetop and Castaway Bay, but they now appear when an opponent lands on a Character Space created by a Pink Boo Orb. Also, several voice clips are reused in this game.
 * Super Mario 64 DS: This is the first Mario Party game to use the more modern appearance of some enemies, such as Mr. Blizzards and Thwomps, from this game onwards.

References in later games

 * Mario Kart Wii: On Bowser's Castle, the artwork of Boo and Dry Bones from this game can be seen on a billboard. Also on Moonview Highway, the artwork of Princess Peach from this game can be also seen on a billboard.
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl: The solo artworks of Dry Bones and Toad, as well as the team artworks of Peach and Daisy, and Toad and Toadette, appear as stickers.

Trivia

 * Like its sequel and Super Paper Mario, Mario Party 7 contains text that is considered inappropriate in the United Kingdom. In Grand Canal, if the player chooses to hear advice about the board from Toadsworth, he will say the following: "The Star will move to another location when someone gets one. What a crafty bugger". Despite this, the game was not recalled or edited and it did not receive a PEGI 12+ rating, unlike other games (such as Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars) that contain this word.
 * This was the last Mario game released for the Nintendo GameCube in Europe and Australia. In Japan and North America, Super Mario Strikers holds this distinction.