Mario Party game for the Mario Party series as a whole, see This article is about the firstgame for the Nintendo 64 . For theseries as a whole, see Mario Party (series)

Mario Party (Japanese: マリオパーティ, Mario Pāti) is a video game based on a board game for the Nintendo 64, and the first game of the Mario Party series. Players choose one of six characters and move around the board. As they go around, they collect coins and various other items that can help them or hinder others in their quest to collect Stars.

Following each turn, players participate in minigames where they each compete for extra coins; in addition to free-for-alls, they can be grouped together in pairs or in a three-against-one style. The minigames very widely and test the players' reflexes, puzzle solving skills, or plain luck. In certain mini-games, players can attempt to steal as many coins as they can from each other; some other minigames also give the winner five coins each from the losing players. Later installments would introduce dueling minigames that served a similar purpose. The game is known for pioneering an iconic and renowned sub-series of the Mario franchise that has stayed to this day, and has become one of the most well-known series in gaming.

Story [ edit ]

The group arguing.

The six playable characters.

One day, Mario and his friends are sitting around arguing over who is the Super Star. Wario states that a Super Star must be strong, to which Donkey Kong agrees. Both get into an argument over who is stronger. Toad says that maybe Mario would make a good superstar, or Princess Peach, or even the energetic Yoshi. The gang starts to close in on Toad, who shouts out that he has an idea of what they should do. He suggests that the crew take the Warp Pipe in Mushroom Village, and find out who is the Super Star of their adventures. He warns that the road will be dangerous and that being the Super Star requires not only strength, but courage, wisdom and kindness. Luigi bravely agrees first to this plan and sets off to find the warp pipe. Wario and the rest of the group agrees and follows along in order to find the warp pipe and become the next Super Star.

Playable characters [ edit ]

Game modes [ edit ]

Game modes are selected from a "Map" screen, Mushroom Village, that the player is led to once starting the game. Each building or feature represents a mode, and the player can select one to play a certain mode.

Listed below are the available areas for the player to access in Mario Party:

Party mode [ edit ]

Party mode is the heart of Mario Party. Four players will play on a board game, each getting a turn to roll the 1-10 Dice Blocks, which will determine how many spaces they will move across. After everyone rolls, a roulette will appear which will randomly select a minigame to play. This process will repeat itself until the set amount of turns is up.

Boards [ edit ]

Spaces [ edit ]

Space Description Blue Space Players will gain three coins from landing on this. The amount of coins received will be doubled in the last five turns. This space is the most common space on all boards. Red Space Anybody who lands on this space will lose three coins. On the last five turns, this amount will be doubled. Happening Space A variety of events will happen if anyone happens to land on this space. These events can help or harm one or more players, and they differ from board to board. Chance Space A player that lands here will play a Chance Time game. The player hits three blocks, which identify two players and what one will give to the other. Game-changing events can happen here, from trading stars or coins, to giving one star or 10-30 coins to someone else. Mini-Game Space A player that lands here will play a One-Player Mini-Game. If the player wins the mini-game, they will receive coins. If they lose, then the player loses five coins. If the game is a bonus mini-game though, the player will be rewarded the amount of coins collected, but not lose any if they get none. Mushroom Space A roulette block will appear if a player lands on this space. Either the player can receive a Mushroom, which will give the Player the chance to roll another dice block, or receive a Poison Mushroom, which will force them to forfeit their next turn's Dice Block roll. Bowser Space Any player who lands on this space will trigger a roulette, which any of these events can follow: Coins For Bowser : Bowser will take 10-50 Coins from the player.

: Bowser will take 10-50 Coins from the player. Bowser's Balloon Burst : This mini-game is played just like the original Balloon Burst, but anyone who loses will get 10-50 coins taken away.

: This mini-game is played just like the original Balloon Burst, but anyone who loses will get 10-50 coins taken away. Bowser's Face Lift : This mini-game is played just like the original Face Lift, but players that don't get 90 points or more will lose 10-50 coins. If all players achieve more than 90 points, Bowser will steal the aforementioned amount of coins from the player who landed on his space.

: This mini-game is played just like the original Face Lift, but players that don't get 90 points or more will lose 10-50 coins. If all players achieve more than 90 points, Bowser will steal the aforementioned amount of coins from the player who landed on his space. Bowser's Tug o' War : This mini-game is like the original Tug o' War, except the losing side will lose 10-50 coins to Bowser. If the mini-game ends in a tie due to the time running out, Bowser will steal the aforementioned amount of coins from everyone.

: This mini-game is like the original Tug o' War, except the losing side will lose 10-50 coins to Bowser. If the mini-game ends in a tie due to the time running out, Bowser will steal the aforementioned amount of coins from everyone. Bash 'n' Cash : This mini-game is just like the normal Bash 'n' Cash, except the coins will disappear so none of the other players can collect them. If no coins are lost in this mini-game, Bowser will steal 30 coins from the player who landed on his space.

: This mini-game is just like the normal Bash 'n' Cash, except the coins will disappear so none of the other players can collect them. If no coins are lost in this mini-game, Bowser will steal 30 coins from the player who landed on his space. Bowser Revolution : Bowser will take everyone's coins and split them evenly among all the players.

: Bowser will take everyone's coins and split them evenly among all the players. Bowser's Chance Time : This event is just like Chance Time, but Bowser has it modified so that he will always be on the receiving end of the trade, and that he will not give or trade coins. Unlike normal Chance Time, Stars cannot be lost.

: This event is just like Chance Time, but Bowser has it modified so that he will always be on the receiving end of the trade, and that he will not give or trade coins. Unlike normal Chance Time, Stars cannot be lost. 100 Star Present, 1000 Coin Present, and Star Steal: These are all in gold letters when shown. The cursor will very rarely land on these events, and if it does, Bowser will leave and do nothing.

There is also a Star Space. When a player passes here, they can obtain a Star only if they have at least 20 Coins. The Star Space won't count towards the player's movements, unlike other spaces.

Mushroom Village [ edit ]

Mini-Game House [ edit ]

The Mini-Game House is located to the right side of the river, and resembles a mushroom with a large, red cap.

Free Play [ edit ]

The Free Play wall allows the player to access all mini-games they have unlocked so far and can play them as many times as they like for free.

Toad [ edit ]

The resident Toad of the Mini-Game house is an elderly-looking one named Puff who has a large red cap on its head, similarly shaped to the Mini-Game House itself. By speaking to her, the player is given a list of mini-games that have been played in the game so far. There are various price ranges of mini-games. Once one is bought, it can always be played for free via the orb on the table.

Pot o' Skills [ edit ]

The Pot o' Skills leads to the Mini-Game Stadium. The Mini-Game Stadium has its own board shaped in the form of a star, and only has 24 total spaces. Each turn, players roll the dice and advance the number of spaces, like in Party Mode. However, blue spaces do not add coins and red spaces do not subtract coins. All coins are gained or lost from mini-games which are played at the end of each turn. There is a One-Player mini-game space as well. Passing Koopa will result in 10 coins for the player. At the end of the game, the player with the most coins wins.

Mushroom Shop [ edit ]

The inside of the Shop, with the owner to the left and the shelf with items to the right.

The Mushroom Shop is run by the Mushroom Shop Clerk and is located on the left side of the river on the map, it resembles a brown mushroom on its side. In the shop, various items can be bought with Coins earned from mini-games and Party games. Here is a listing of every item, along with its price and in-game description.

Mushroom Bank [ edit ]

The inside of Mushroom Bank, with the two Toads with stars on their caps.

The Mushroom Bank is where players can store their coins as well as Stars and items. The bank is run by two portly Toads who are similar in every way except that one has yellow stars on his head in place of the usual dots, while the other has orange stars within yellow circles.

The Left Toad [ edit ]

The Toad behind the left counter, whose name is Porto, is in charge of storing the items the player buys at the Mushroom Shop until they are used during a game. Here is also where the player can choose how they want to save their coins, whether with the Coin Box, Lucky Box, or Casino Box.

The Right Toad [ edit ]

The Toad behind the right counter, whose name is Bello, will tell the player how many total coins and stars the player has saved up. He will also say how many more stars need to be collected, out of 100, in order to unlock the Eternal Star map.

Option House [ edit ]

The Option House is a mushroom-resembling blue-topped toward the top of the map across the river. As the name suggests, it is used to adjust the multiple options for the game. There are other features such as the Talking Parrot and Juke Box as well.

Toad [ edit ]

The resident Toad of the Option House, whose name is Fun Gus,[4] can delete all saved data. Once spoken to and asked to delete all data, he takes out a remote and opens an electrical box on the other side of the house. The cover will open revealing a large red switch, and the player is asked if they are sure about deleting their data. Once the player accepts deleting the data, they should either press to press the switch and erase all data, or press to cancel the process.

Talking Parrot [ edit ]

The Talking Parrot is an item that can be bought from the Mushroom Shop, and once bought, will appear on a perch in the Option House. By pressing the button, the parrot speaks various voices from various characters in the game randomly. Two lines of dialogue were edited from the Japanese version to remove religious references, which were Luigi and Wario exclaiming "Oh my God!" after losing mini-games. These voices include:

Sound Lever [ edit ]

The Sound Lever is a lever that changes the sound from Mono to Stereo or vice versa. There are two speakers at the bottom with pipes leading up the lever. By pulling the lever down, one of the speakers are deactivated and the sound is changed to Mono. There is no surround sound.

Juke Box [ edit ]

The Juke Box allows the player to listen to any song from the game. The only prerequisite is that the player must have heard the song in the game itself before it becomes available on the Juke Box. The Juke Box becomes available for use after the player buys the Record from the Mushroom Shop for 50 Coins. For PAL and Japanese players, an extra song is available entitled "Move to the Mambo!", which is unavailable in the American version. No official explanation has ever been released as to why it was removed.

Mini-Game Island [ edit ]

Mini-Game Island is a special challenge in which the goal is to travel all around the island and beat every mini-game one by one. After beating every mini-game and reaching the end, Toad will challenge the player once more to a race against him and two other CPUs in Slot Car Derby. This mode is for one player only. Completing the mode will reward the player with the Bumper Ball Maze minigame, which can be accessed in the Minigame House.

Main article: List of Mario Party minigames

Staff [ edit ]

Main article: List of Mario Party staff

Pre-release and unused content [ edit ]

Gallery [ edit ]

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Mario Party.

Media [ edit ]

For a complete list of media for this subject, see List of Mario Party media.

Reception and legacy [ edit ]

Mario Party received mostly positive reviews from critics. The most frequent criticism Mario Party received was the lack of enjoyment without multiplayer. GameSpot explains "The games that are enjoyable to play in multiplayer are nowhere near as good in single player mode. Really it's that multiplayer competitive spark of screaming at and/or cheering for your friends that injects life into those often-simple little games and without it, they're just simple little games." IGN took a similar line, saying that it was the interaction between players rather than the interaction between the game that made Mario Party fun. Another common criticism was the game's dependence on luck rather than skill, though it this was seen by many to add to the game's board game atmosphere, as players who were comfortably in the lead one turn could be losing the next.

Nintendo of America sent the gaming magazine Game Informer a sarcastic certificate over the publication's negative review of Mario Party and its sequel[5]. From then on, Game Informer became infamous for their constantly bad reviews of the Mario Party games, which usually get positive reception from critics such as IGN and GameSpot, and their picky reputation has stuck since.

Reviews Release Reviewer, Publication Score Comment N64 Peer Schneider, IGN 7.9/10 "Mario Party is an excellent party game for four people and we suggest everyone out there with three friends should own it (unless your three friends own it). But be prepared to spend at least an hour for a game and do a lot of waiting for the other players. Had the overall speed of gameplay been faster (especially when playing against computer players), Mario Party would have scored higher in our final review score. Still, this is probably one of the best "virtual board games" I have ever played and the inclusion of the many mini-games makes this one of the few ones that couldn't have been done better outside of a game console." N64 Joe Fielder, GameSpot 7.2/10 "Mario Party is intended to be played with a group of friends, and for those people who can really take advantage of that, this game is a must-buy. The less-social gamer might want to rent." Aggregators Compiler Platform / Score Metacritic 79 GameRankings 78.02%

Sales [ edit ]

Mario Party is the 17th best selling game for the Nintendo 64, selling approximately 2.7 million copies: 1.23 million copies in North America, 870,000 copies in Japan, and 580,000 copies elsewhere [1].

Legal issues [ edit ]

Nintendo gave away a free Mario Party glove for a time after the game's release, the reason being that many players got blisters and other ailments on the palms of their hands due to the mini-games that involve spinning the around as fast as possible, which are Tug o' War, Paddle Battle, and Pedal Power (this is also commonly thought to be the reason Mario Party wasn't released on the Virtual Console, but Mario Party 2 was). Nintendo suggested that the players should use the thumb to spin the Control Stick, but this method is a lot slower than rotating with the palm of the hand, and the thumb can slip off the joystick. Receiving the glove required proof of purchase of the first game of the series. The glove giveaway did not surface until after the release of Mario Party 2. This was because Nintendo lost a class action lawsuit that was filed by several families of the injured players and had to pay several thousands of dollars in damage reparations as a result. As a consequence of unbalanced difficulty and self-injury, as well as the Control Stick's high potential for decalibration through this method, there were no more mini-games after Mario Party that involved spinning the Stick as fast as possible until Mario Party: Island Tour was released since the analog stick on the 3DS made it safe to spin quickly without injuries.

Regional differences [ edit ]

Differences from Japan [ edit ]

In the Japanese version, Wario and Luigi say "Oh my God!" when they lose. This was changed in the Western versions to remove religious references; Luigi wails in pain instead, and Wario says "So ein Mist!" (the voice clip for which was taken from Mario Kart 64), which is a German expression of showing disgust like "Oh, shoot!" or "No way!" and the like.[6]

NTSC vs. PAL [ edit ]

Language select

Exclusive to the PAL version is a language select, which allows the game to be played in English, German, or European French. The screen first appears when turning on the game for the first time. can be held down before turning on the console to force the screen to appear after the first time.

References to other games [ edit ]

References in later games [ edit ]

Trivia [ edit ]

The error.

This is the only Mario Party game to have a title screen that changes depending on which character wins a board, except for Mini-Game Stadium.

game to have a title screen that changes depending on which character wins a board, except for Mini-Game Stadium. If more than one character wins a mini-game, it will be shown with a grammatical error, with the singular "wins" being used instead of the plural "win" or the past tense "won". This was fixed in subsequent games.

References [ edit ]