Super Duel Mode

Super Duel Mode is a side game mode in Mario Party 5, hosted by Skolar. It is a one-on-one battle mode in which two players face off against each other using custom-assembled vehicles (called "machines"). In this mode, one buys machine parts using points received by playing minigames in either Party or Mini-Game Mode and builds a battle machine to use in different tournaments or against friends. There are a total of 44 different parts that can be used to customize a machine. To unlock all the different parts, one must play all the tournaments and beat certain opponents.

Garage areas
The following areas are available in Super Duel Mode's initial segment, the Garage.

Playable characters
Playable characters do not have any noticeable differences except for the color on their steering wheel.


 * Unavailable to players in trial battles. **Always controlled by the CPU player in trial battles.

Machine parts and statistics
Machines are composed of four parts: a body, a set of tires, an engine, and a weapon. They have five statistics which are as follow:
 * Health: The amount of hearts the machine starts with in Battle Competition mode. Each heart represents four Hit Points (HP).
 * Power: The amount of damage the machine's weapon deals, in HP.
 * Speed: The top speed of the machine.
 * Acceleration: The rate at which speed increases when accelerating.
 * Handling: How tight the machine turns.

To rate a machine's statistics, the game uses a base rating and applies the statistic modifiers of the machine parts that compose it. The base ratings are as follow:
 * Health: 5/9
 * Power: 4/12
 * Speed: 16/31
 * Acceleration: 5/13
 * Handling: 10/18

When previewing a machine, the raw numbers of its statistics are not shown and are instead hinted at via a radar chart.

Some machine parts possess an ability, granting a certain advantage during battles, at the cost of hindering a statistic to compensate.

Body Types
Bodies affect the health statistic, and are the only kind of machine part to do so. They can also impact power and speed.
 * Despite making the health statistic total 9, the machine starts battles with 8 hearts.

Tires
Tires modify speed, acceleration, and handling.

Engines
Like tires, engines modify speed, acceleration, and handling. Engines are not visible on the machine; however, a machine's running sound can differ with the engine used.

Weapons
Weapons mainly affect power, but they also impact speed. Stronger weapons tend to have lower speed.

Options
After a new machine has been assembled in a garage, the player will be prompted to give it a name. After this, various options will appear:

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. If the player loses any game, the tournament ends and the player receives no trophies. On easy mode, the player faces mostly Koopa Kids and few other characters. In normal mode, there are more unique characters and less Koopa Kids. In hard mode, Koopa Kids are absent and Bowser and Donkey Kong appear in the competition.

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 a Bob-omb mirrors the damage it can do. Warp Pipes simply block machines. Mushrooms occasionally appear along the course and grant the machine 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 in an arena called Random Ruckus. Dirt and grass are present and do no special effects. Metal and ice make the machines harder to control. Lava damages and pushes away the machine. Mud makes vehicles slower. However, if a machine is equipped with Lakitu Cloud or E. Gadd Jet tires, the machine does not get affected by any sort of terrain while Spiny Tires negate sliding.

CPU opponents and machines
All the CPU opponents also have nicknames for the final battle in a tournament.

Arenas
These arenas are playable only in Vs. matches. In D1 Tournament, the arena is always a variation of Random Ruckus. There are a total of eight arenas to battle in.

Trivia

 * The Super Wiggler Tires' description states they are very slow, but they are actually tied with the Lakitu Cloud Body and the Choo-Choo Tires for the largest speed bonus, with a modifier of +4. This is presumably a mistake and intended to be -4 instead.
 * Although the speed, acceleration, and handling statistics are usually randomized by the DK Tires and the DK Engine, they are always maxed out when used by CPU-controlled Donkey Kong in tournaments.