Why Does Nintendo Keep “Winning” E3?

Another E3 has come and gone. Originally, I was going to make an article that would go over the highs and lows of E3, but the script wasn’t as strong as I like, no one is reading this blog for that, and there really isn’t much I had to say on well over half of them. Besides, I was just going to say Nintendo won in the end while Microsoft had a better than usual showcase, so am I really saying anything new or useful there?

Then I realized no one ever talks about why Nintendo wins every year in the eyes of so many. And since Jim Sterling gave up being a video game commentator to become a Chinese bootleg Keemstar in a silver trash bag, I figured I’m as qualified as anyone to do so. So, here are the reasons Nintendo tends to Win E3 in no particular order:

Weak Competition

If Nintendo wanted to do a Mario only direct, they could announce a 2D Platformer, a 3D platformer, an arcade kart racer, several arcade sports games (Mario Baseball and Mario Strikers have not received entries since the Wii era), a new Mario Party, a puzzle game (Be it a revival of Mario Pitcross or Mario vs Donkey Kong), or a RPG (let me dream). And that’s assuming it’s not something entirely new like Mario + Rabbids was).

THAT’S ignoring the various spin offs the Mario Universe has. It could involve Captain Toad getting a sequel, a new Yoshi game, or a new Luigi game (be it Luigi’s Mansion or just a more traditional game starring him). Donkey Kong has the traditional Donkey Kong Country series, along with the retired DK 64 and Jungle Beat styles of gameplay. Then there’s Wario, who on top of the on-going WarioWare.Inc series has the legacy series Wario Land and the cult classic gameplay style of Wario World. And that’s assuming that’s it not something new like giving the princesses a proper spin off that isn’t Super Princess Peach or turning the Bowser’s Minions side modes from the Mario and Luigi remakes into full games.

Then there’s literally everything else. The massive franchises that will get something on basically every console they release these days like The Legend Of Zelda, Kirby, and Fire Emblem. Nintendo also has dormant franchises that can be revived at any time via a sequel or a remake (Like Metriod Dread and Advanced Wars Re-Boot Camp). Combine this gaming vault with third party releases (more than a few being exclusives to boot) and a fairly strong indie scene to get a especially varied line-up almost every time.

An unstoppable force meets and immovable object.

Ubisoft has a lot of IPs but only has about 4 actual styles of gameplay (Tom Clancy, Open World Exploration, Just Dance, and Tom Clancy again) with the occasional curve ball. Gearbox is just coasting off of the Borderlands making them a household name, (despite the fact they got to work on Half Life years ago; but that was likely a very different Gearbox from the one we see today). Square Enix is dead set on making all their games play like Marvel’s Avengers or Kingdom’s Hearts’ Final Fantasy 16/4, and Sony gave up on both E3 and on making games that can’t be easily turned into movies.

The only companies I’d say have a strong enough catalog to compete with Nintendo in this regard would be Capcom and Microsoft.  Capcom just isn’t big enough of a studio to have constant bangers out in somewhat reasonable times (there’s a reason they only had 3 proper games to show this year), and Microsoft is in a completely different corner of the market and has to compete with the companies previously mentioned in T to M rated games (They just aren’t making party games, platformers, or Mertroidvania games – even after all the acquisitions).

All of this is to say: Nintendo has a large variety of series they can pull a new entry from, many in genres other companies just don’t even try to have entries in, and can have a lot of games in development at a time thanks to their sheer size as a company. As such, it’s very likely that at least one game each direct (let alone each E3) is likely to get someone interested.

Gameplay

This one is simple: gameplay sells a game. If gameplay isn’t shown, it either means they don’t have it ready (MIGHT be a sign it’s too early to announce a game, but it happens sometimes), that they don’t want you to see it, or that the gameplay is not a selling point. Nintendo usually has a lot of games with actual gameplay to show instead of just giving a cinematic trailer that promises the game will indeed exist. It’s not that Nintendo has never done that, Breath of the Wild 2 alone shows that. But having consistent gameplay shown makes the cinematic trailers much easier to stomach. It also gives viewers confidence that gameplay will be shown at a later date.

Also, when it comes to gameplay, it helps that they generally are good about knowing when to cut to the next game. And when they do show a lot of gameplay (like Mario Tennis Aces or Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), they make sure to actually have enough unique footage and talking points to justify the run time instead of spending 18 minutes to talk about the same 5 minutes of gameplay.

However, when it comes to pacing, that’s not their secret sauce.

Nintendo Treehouse Live

I have never watched a single Treehouse event, especially at E3. Despite that, I can say it’s the most important part of any given Nintendo direct. My stance on this was actually formed during the Square Enix presentation with Guardians of the Galaxy. After they went over the same gameplay they already showed us, I thought to myself Huh, so this is why Treehouse is so important.

Having an after show means they can show the trailer and put a grey box in the corner at the end to signify that there’s more to show for those interested if they stick around without having to destroy the pace of the direct, which is a must if the direct isn’t focusing on one game in particular. Mario party Superstars would have been must less exciting of an announcement if it was followed by a 10-minute game of Mario Party. Once a presentation, E3 or otherwise, does that then it’s no longer a presentation. It’s a let’s play between people I don’t know how often lack chemistry and are under corporate mandates to not react a certain way or too much. And if I want a corporate let’s play, I’ll go watch the Game Grumps.

The Best For Last

To close off this quick little think piece, Nintendo just has the benefit of being one of the last events of E3. It’s simply easier for people to remember what happens to a strong presentation towards the end of E3 than a strong one in the middle followed by either equally strong ones that can steal a bit of their thunder or a series of weaker showcases that can “kill the hype” so to speak. I doubt this is a deliberate strategy on Nintendo’s part (seeing how often they just don’t care what other companies are doing), but it definitely works out for them. And when you combine that with a stronger (potential) line-up, consistent gameplay demonstrations, and long-form deep-dives being saved until after the presentations, you’re left with a style of announcements that always stands on it’s own two feet.

They may not always be home runs but ever since Nintendo went to digital presentations, they haven’t struck out either. And sadly at E3, reliably not being crap is often enough to be the highlight of the event.

Awful Archives: TMNT Smash Up

Tonight, I archive turtle soup!

TMNT Smash Up was Ubisoft’s attempt to capitalize on the capitalize on both the TMNT’s 25th Anniversary and the hype of the recently released Super Smash Bros. Brawl – right down to even getting the original comic artists to make drawings for the cutscenes and gets some devs from Brawl to help them make the game.

Given that neither Smash fans or TMNT fans talk about this game (with it having the most mediocre reception in the Archives thus far), it’s safe to say it missed its mark to some extent. And that’s what the actual focus of this particular Awful Archives will focus on. First covering the game as a TMNT game, and then as a Smash Bros. game. This is also because there’s not as much to say on this one on any front.

As a TMNT Game

The original soundtrack is, while the rock soundtrack doesn’t particularly fit the IP itself, really appropriate for a fighting game, with the victory jingle and the battle results music being really strong bangers. The voice cast is taken directly from the 4Kids cartoon, which was the latest cartoon at the time. Thankfully, none of the actors gave a half-hearted effort. From cutscene dialogue to intro banter to taunting to victory quotes, characters sound just as they should. (after such a lackluster performance in said movie, it was nice to hear Casey Jones have a lot of energy in his voice again). And sound effects are impactful, although there’s not as much crunch to the sounds of getting knocked around as I’d like to hear.

The game uses the art style from the (then recently released) 2007 film, with characters who didn’t appear in the film being based on the 4Kids cartoon. However, the cutscenes in the arcade mode are actually done in the style of a motion-comic. The film and cartoon art styles mesh surprisingly well together, although the comic cutscenes [while conceptually awesome] aren’t that visually appealing to look at, more closely resembling a low-budget motion-storyboard than proper animation. In fact, the choice to give these pictures motion ironically only emphasizes how stilted the drawings actually are; MadWorld handled this visual idea a lot better.

The story itself is pretty bad, to the point where I don’t know why they bothered.

Splinter holds a tournament, you win it, then the Fugitoid sends an SOS that the Shredder has kidnapped him. The only part I found amusing was Karai – she gives the Shredder’s plan away to the team (he wants a teleporter built for him to travel around the globe in seconds with his army) so that way he can be disposed of and she can take over. But there’s literally nothing more to the story beyond the character endings, and none of them are particularly good. Some get nice character moments (Casey and Splinter) while others are just jokes (Donnie’s ending especially). Even for stories that exist to frame an arcade mode, this is lame. Would have legit been better to have all the characters (good and bad) pulled into an interdimensional tournament, or have unique mini-stories for each playable character.

The character roster itself is a bit of a letdown too. It has all the staples you’d expect a TMNT game to have, but not much more than that. The player starts out with the 4 turtles, Splinter, Casey, and April. The player can unlock the Shredder, Karai, Utraminator, Foot Ninja, and Nightwatcher via arcade mode playthroughs, and the Fugitoid can be unlocked by completing the 50 missions in mission mode (this also unlocks an “All Star” type challenge). Not a bad roster, but for the 25th anniversary, it feels rather empty. Bebop and Rocksteady are most people’s go to examples, but their licenses may have been a hassle to get. The fact that Baxter Stockman and the Rat King (two staples of this IP who appeared in the 4Kids version too) get no reference at all in this game is much more baffling. The game could have also come up with it’s own versions of some characters (like, let’s say, the Metal Turtle from the Fred Wolf cartoon).

Oh right, the Rabbids. They were in this game.

The Wii version also features three unlockable Rabbids from the Rayman series (a standard one, one dressed like Sam Fisher, and one dressed like a Ninja Turtle). The Ninja Rabbid is really funny and makes for a cute joke character. The other two are overkill. If Ubisoft had to draw to their own franchises for characters, why not actually use Sam Fisher and maybe redesign Rayman as a TMNT character (like a subtle nod to Usagi) at that point? Maybe because it’s cheaper to have three characters with reusable model rigging and the same voice actor who just does grunts… call it a hunch. Still, they’re harmless additions and with a better roster I’d pay them no mind.

The costumes have some nice call backs, though. April gets her tube top and pants from the 4Kids series, Casey gets his back-to-the-sewers design, the Footninja gets the Cyber Ninja closely resembling the Fred Wolf era foot ninjas, and the turtles get outfits based on unreleased toy lines that also resemble the kind of disguises they’d often use on the surface. The Shredder easily gets the best outfit with the Cyber Shredder.

Overall though, it really is that character roster that makes this a bit of a let down as a TMNT game. Realistically speaking, a “proper” TMNT smash game where characters are pulled from various different iterations was, in all likelihood, just not feasible with how the rights to the different shows were spread around, but it’s also hard to believe this was the best possible effort unless the game was rushed.

So how’s the game as a Smash game?

As a Smash Bros. Game

As far as mascot fighters go, the biggest change everyone notices is the switch from damage percentage to a standard health bar system. This doesn’t actually change much in the way of the stage layouts – only four stages in the game lack a bottomless pit and 2 of them have gators in the bottom of the stage that can eat a player for an instant kill; this is why I wouldn’t say it misses the point of Smash bros. To not include a damage percentage.

Instead, what actually changed by the switch to health is knockback. Unlike the dynamic knockback based on the attack used and the victims position, weight, and damage, only the attack itself seems to affect the knockback as the weight of the characters play a less significant role in this game’s air movement. You would think that means that knocking players out of the ring would be quite hard since you’re never knocking them back any further or any longer – and you would be right. So, in an effort to further mimic the playstyles in Smash, knockback takes about a second longer than you might expect to recover from. If you’re sent flying or are knocked down, just assume you’ll need two and a half seconds to regain control of your character. This makes fights have a slower pace with little actual flow, even when compared to Brawl, not helped by the fact the game has sluggish movement to begin with.

And this doesn’t even actually help the game play more like Smash anyway. The game plays like everyone is in reduced gravity, meaning you can almost always just spam jump when sent flying until your character bounces back and floats back to the edge. Despite having 100% completed this game more than once, I think my actual ring out victories were less than twenty total, and more than half of them were from missions that required those kinds of kills to count. By and large, this game is a traditional 2D fighter without lock-on to always face the enemies direction.

I’d say that’s the actual big issue with the game overall. The application of the more traditional fighting game mechanics don’t have to be bad, but are often implemented in a counter-productive manner to the point where it is shoving a square peg into the round hole. 

Take the combat: instead of special and standard attacks, the player has A and B attacks with light, and heavy versions. Light version is a button with a directional input, while heavy attacks are the button input while holding the direction. This is on top of running attacks as well, so expect for several moves to come out that you didn’t mean to do [even more so than in Smash]. While it doesn’t have the issue of Playstation All Stars where there’s no correlation between direction of input and attacks, it is very easy to forget which attacks are A or B attacks since there isn’t much distinction between them like there is in Smash.

But okay, so the controls aren’t easy to learn and not as reliable as Smash’s – but how’s the combat in practice once the player is practiced? Well, it can be solid. Rather if you dwindle your opponents health down slowly through light and rapid combos or if you flat out evict a tenth of their HP with that slow charge attack, combat has a nice impact if you can look past that the game is less Smash Bros and more Ultimate Ninja in terms of flow.

But there are still issues. First of all is being stunned. Instead of just having a select few attacks that can stun or having it so that you’re stunned when your defense is broken, every character has multiple attacks that can stun an opponent. Plus, much like knockback, getting stunned in this game is preset, and half of the stun-capable attacks will give your aggressor the time to charge up for a heavy move. The knockback system is supposed to actually help prevent stunlocking, but all that does is make it harder to turn the tables around on an aggressor in a 1-1 fight.

The second is air combat: there basically is none. Nevermind any comparisons to Smash, Street Fighter 2 had more air combat. Sure, the wonky gravity means you won’t be (and moreover, shouldn’t be) spending as much time in the air, but each character has only a single air attack and an air dodge. The air dodge is only useful if the opponent is right below you, and most up attacks will miss airborne targets since they can easily just float out of the way of the always delayed up attack. This game greatly favors players on the ground, with one exception.

That exception is the third issue: the pole. In a few select stages, there’s a red pole you can spin around and launch yourself. This attack is basically the wall attack every character has with 360 attack range. The thing is, wall attacks are meant to discourage cornering an opponent as they let you move across the entire stage at an incredible speed with high priority over opponents until you land. But the pole turns this into an unblockable attack that does about a tenth of a player’s health bar with the added “benefit” of it being unpredictable in a 4 player match who the target will be. These stages will likely end up banned in even casual play.

But wait folks, there’s more! Issue number four comes down to character balancing! Mostly with the Nightwatcher, the Fugitoid, and the Rabbids. The Nightwatcher has the longest range of any character in the game and hits like a truck, and is only barely slower than the other characters as a result. He also has the best air attack that forces players away from him. Then there’s the Wii-exclusive Fugitoid, who has a lot of combos and is way more durable than you might think. As for the Rabbits, they are near worthless as they have very little health and nothing to really make up for it.

The final issue I have is with most of the stages. These places are absurdly dangerous and will often kill you before your enemy does. I already mentioned the stages with the pole, but there’s also:

• The Train where the stage is constantly pushing forward and the ground below the carts will really hurt. Imagine Big Blue from Melee with nothing but heavyweight characters.
• The Underground which has rocks often falling and they REALLY hurt.
• Both the Jungle and the Sewers have the instant-kill alligators who take forever to disappear and have destructible platforms so avoiding them can be actually impossible.
• The Enemy Base where the pillars will fall over and break the floor. If they land on you, that’s 40% of your health gone, and both can hit you. The second half has a laser fire that may as well one shot you.

The game’s use of items, however, is actually handled fairly well. Instead of traditional items in a mascot fighter like this, Items are limited-use special moves (Ninja Skills) that spawn around the stage.These moves range from traditional ninja weapons (kunai knives, exploding throwing stars, and bombs) to flat out Naruto-style jutsus (Breathing fire, causing an earthquake, emitting electricity around you). There’s also Pizza that heals you because it’s the Ninja Turtles. The only issue I have with health is that the Pizza Slices heal so little health (about 10% worth) and are such rare spawns I don’t know why they didn’t just make the full pizza the only healing item.

My only issue with items is with the item swap system. You can block and bring up a cursor on screen to aim at and change any individual ninja skill to another. The idea is that you can use this to make a skill something you’d actually want or to screw an opponent out of getting the one they want. However, the fact you’re immobile makes the former worthless, and the camera zooming in and out to keep everyone on screen makes the latter impossible. Outside of a single mission in mission mode, no one will ever use this feature except out of spite.

In terms of actual game modes, it’s a bit hit and miss. The arcade mode suffers from it’s attempts at a story because, on top of the story not being very good to begin with, it only allows the default seven to be protagonists and therefore you can’t use any unlockable characters in it. You also fight roughly the same enemies in roughly the same order: the first few fights are against five of the default seven, then some fights against foot ninjas, Kurai, and an Utraminator, before finally the fight against the Shredder and two foot ninjas.

The only part of arcade mode I really liked is the minigames, actually. The minigames don’t change between characters, but instead the player picks one of six minigames based on what they think their character specializes in. There’s a minigame that’s basically just break the targets, but there’s three variations on Board the platforms (Climb has the player platform upwards with a focus on wall jumping, Proceed is horizontal with a focus on avoided hazards, and Survive has the player jump between falling platforms to avoid the shark pit below), dodge the kunai is exactly what you think, and there’s a fun little Jenga challenge of punching blocks out without making the tower lose balance. If Break The Targets became too much for Smash as the roster got bigger and bigger, this approach would have been much better. Thankfully, you can unlock these minigames to be played anytime with any unlocked character.

There’s the survival mode of trying to beat 100 enemies in one life while trying to preserve HP drops for when you need them; basically this game takes one 100-man-melee. The enemies have really low HP but get really aggressive after 10 KOs, and the game adds more enemies on screen at once as you get higher in ranks. Some enemies without reduced health bars will start spawning, but they must go through their pre-fight taunting before they can join the brawl so the player gets a heads up. This is honestly a really thrilling mode, and I might actually prefer it to the Smash version.

Mission Mode is basically the same as it is in Brawl, so perfectly fine. Fifty-one missions to clear with the player choosing easy, normal, or hard. There’s really no reason to ever do higher difficulties, as no collectibles are locked behind difficulties beyond just clearing the mission itself and the easy mode can be surprisingly hard with some of the more gimmicky missions. With that said, the missions are very varied with little repetition, and Mission 50 unlocks the Fugitoid in the Wii version so most players will at least be rewarded for their efforts.

Battle Royale is just the free fight mode because it came out before PUBG ruined the term for humanity and the online mode is no longer relevant, so let’s instead talk about Tournament Mode. It’s crap. It only allows up to eight players, and it has to be all human players. So it’s limp and limited. If you thought that Smash 4’s Tournament Mode was a let down, maybe try this game out to realize what a real letdown feels like.

The game’s answer to trophies are figurines. It’s interesting to have what looks like toys be the unlockables since TMNT are so toy-dependent on their various adaptations. Sadly, there’s not even 20 figurines in the game to begin with since there’s just one for each playable character and each costume, so you instead unlock them piece by piece (eight pieces per figurine to be exact). Why they didn’t/couldn’t make some extra character models for legacy characters they had the rights too for figurines is beyond me, but it won’t take more than a few play sessions to save enough money to collect all the parts for the figurines too. The shooting gallery to get the parts is pretty fun, though.

There are some other unlockables in a vault of sorts, ranging from non-rewards like commercials for DVD box sets to what you’d expect like comic book covers or the game’s concept. The best of these are, hands down, concept art for the never-made TMNT 4: The Next Mutation. This film would have seen the turtles and splinter mutate even further and have to blend in and survive with these new changes. If that name sounds familiar, it was used for the Saban TMNT series Ninja Turtle: The Next Mutation. This would be cool if there was more of it, as it’s so close to feeling like a collection of the turtles throughout time but just isn’t quite there.

Isn’t quite there… That’s actually a good way to explain why Smash-Up is frustrating: because it’s so close to being a good game. The side content is solid but needs just a bit more. The roster needs just a few more characters and stages. The combat needs just a bit more polish. The unlockables just need to cover a bit more ground. But when you combine that with the actually bad elements of the game like the story, repetitive arcade mode, bad tournament mode, difficult to learn controls, to the fact the game had to rely on cheat codes for makeshift event updates because the Wii and PS2 couldn’t do DLC like the HD consoles could (meaning you need to look these codes up online to unlock some of the content and even a character), you have a game with very, very limited appeal.

Super Mario Party 2: The Wish List

Who doesn’t love a game of Mario Party? Everyone who isn’t winning, that’s who. And that’s what’s fun about it.

Super Mario Party’s recent update to the online mode is likely a sign that a sequel isn’t coming any time soon. Fair enough; if the game is still selling may as well just keep adding value to it to push sales even higher. But with this biggest element many people (myself included) wanted out of the sequel now in the released game, what else would people want from a hypothetical Super Mario Party 2? Well, that’s this article: a game pitch (or wish list, either or) of what such a sequel could entail.

Oh, as an aside, the general gameplay would not change too much from the previous game to this one. This is, instead, about the balance changes and content I’d like to see done.

Menu

Minor detail, but the who idea of having a hub instead of a menu is… not great in the long run. It makes figuring out where everything is a bit annoying, locks players into whoever they picked when booting the game up (which is REALLY stupid given the character die system), and there’s ultimately nothing to actually do in the hub. Also, the AI having difficulties pre-assigned to select AI characters/groups is really stupid; just have the player use the random select if they can’t decide.

Doing what the original Mario Party did with the menu (a 3D menu where you select the location on the map) would be a better, streamlined, but still immersive means of accessing the game.

Characters And Dice Blocks

Super Mario Party brought over the character specific Dice Blocks from Star Rush, since it was easily the best idea that game had. When applied to a traditional game of Mario party, however, some balancing issues show up. So before getting to the characters and their special die blocks, I’d make the following changes upfront:

• Allies can only add rolls to the basic dice block, not character specific ones. This will help put the playable characters on more equal footing, and help add value to the standard dice block (Since most character dice are functionally just better than the standard one, especially if the dice block has a 9 or a 10 on it). This also serves to help keep the functions of character dice when the player has allies (Shy Guy and Daisy have dice that give them a lot of control of their movement, but that appeal is largely gone when a single ally is gotten, and the Ally Bonus Star is annoying common)
• Mushrooms lock players out of Character dice. When under the effects of any mushroom, you can only use that mushroom’s associated dice. Allies get their own dice block as well.
• Adjust the coins sides of a dice block. First, make it so you simply roll a red or a blue space instead of individual coin values. This makes it more consistent across the board. Second, have it be so that way it overrides whatever space you’re standing on. This adds value to a dice block with a 0 on it, and makes the chance of losing coins mean something (there’s little threat in losing 3 coins or less when you’re on a blue space, and they’re the most common space in the game); it also has the benefit of allowing player to try and manipulate what kind of minigame they’ll play.

With that said, here’s the proposed character roster and their dice:

_{Side Note: Goob, Noki, Penny, Dr. Cygor, Dread Kong, Krunch, Piranha Plant and Kamek would have to be unlocked.}

I’m assuming they can just lift character assets from the previous game, seeing how they’re already so high quality to begin with. But the actual character picks isn’t the important part, but rather adding a Donkey Kong and a Wario Team.

Party Mode

The Party Mode would be relatively similar to the previous game. The big changes would be:

• Increased Turn Maximum: 10 turns is now the minimum and 30 turns is the maximum. I definately think players should have the option for a 50-turn nightmare of a board (even in Super’s slower pace), but I get the limitation; that said, a 3-hour 30 turn maximum or a 1-hour 10 turn minimum should be a nice compromise for people who want a quicker experience.
• New Hostess: With Toad and Toadette becoming playable, Pauline would be the Party Mode hosts
• Increase Board Size: In Super Mario Party, boards were roughly 50 spaces (except for Kamek’s Tower, which doesn’t even have 30). This matters when you remember the branching paths, with some of these paths having further branching paths. As such, any one given route will have you back at a previous crossroad in often no more than 15 spaces. And if you character has a 10 die roll and a few allies, then you can functionally traverse the entire path in 1 to 2 turns – making the makes feel even smaller than they already are. Simply adding another 5 spaces per pathway would go a long way to making the board feel meatier, and would give room for more board events.
• Ally System Changes: Allies can now only add to rolls made with the normal dice. As it stood, any players have special dice that most players will just use over the standard die (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and Monty all have die that are basically small but straight upgrades to the basic die), a player with dice features higher numbers became increasingly over powered (for example, a single ally invalidates the downside of DK’s die having a 2/3 chance of not moving him anywhere), but players with dice that give them control over their rolls (Shy Guy, Daisy, and Dry Bones) lose their only real advantage when getting an ally. But since allies are beneficial to certain minigames and also often give a bonus star at the end of the game, it’s impossible to justify not getting one (and it’s not like you can say “no” to an ally). This single change fixes all three of these issues in one fell swoop.
  • Quick Aside: The default Dice Block for Ally Die is [1] [1] [1] [1] [2] [2]
• Coin Dice Changes: On the character sheet, you probably noticed that coin spaces are just represented by blue and red spaces. This is because:
  1. It would unify the values to +3 for blue and -3 for red; it’s just easier to balance around.
  2. Coin value spaces will instead act as if you landed on a blue or red space respectively. This adds value to a dice with a 0 (which does not affect coins and instead just has you reactive the space you’re already on) and fixes the problem of dice with negative coins being negated on blue spaces (what’s the downside to Bowser’s Dice if the only bad rolls are negated by 30% of the spaces on the board?)
• Modifiers: Players can apply some modifiers to change a few rules around. Modifiers include but are not limited to:
  • Custom Victory Value: Players can adjust how many coins each position gets. The only restrictions is the max value is 10 and at least one position must have a lower value than the other three. Players can even make lower positions (like last or third) offer more coins than higher ranking positions if they want.
  • Starting Funds: Players can adjust how many coins everyone starts with (it’s 5 by default, with 20 as the maximum).
  • Five Turn Roulette: Players can have the Roulette occur on the final five turns, or every five turns.
  • Allies: Players can turn Allies on or off. When disabled, Ally spaces become Blue Spaces.
  • Free Lottery: Players can have the lottery cost nothing to play.

Spaces

Just a quick rundown of the spaces in the game.

Active Spaces

Spaces that must be landed on to activate

• Blue Space: Earn 3 Coins. During a five turn roulette, this can increase to 9 coins. Another possible event is to make hidden blocks more common.
• Red Space: Lose 3 Coins. During a five turn roulette, this can increase to 9 coins, for all Red Spaces to become Petey Spaces, or for all Red Spaces to become Swanky spaces
• Happening Space: A space with a question mark on it. What it does exactly varies from board to board, and often WHERE on the board it is.
• Battle Space: Featuring King Bob-Omb’s face on it, this space explodes when the player lands on it. This frees King Bob-Omb and sends him to the start of the board. He’ll then spin a roulette for how many coins are taken from everyone. The players then play a Battle Minigame for the spoils. 75% goes to first place, 20% to second, 5% to third, and a final coin can be randomly given away if one is left after dividing.
• Duel Space: You get to pick a player to duel against. Depending on the player’s stats, the winner can claim 3 coins, 10 coins, 20 coins, half their coins, a star, or an ally.
• Ashley Space: Unlike most red spaces, Ashley’s is actually a good thing. Landing here can reward the player with a free item, extra coins, a “curse” that let’s that player get stars cheaper for a few turns, or get to pick one of 4 certain partners. On the final 5 turns, Ashley herself can join as an ally with her own 1-6 die.
• Petey Space: This red space has the player teleport back to start to find Petey Piranha waiting for them. Petey will then spin his awful wheel to see what the player(s) lose. If the player has a poison berry in their inventory, Petey will instead take it and give the player 10  coins. Petey will also give the player 10 coins if they arrive without any stars or coins. After the event, the player is returned to their spot
• Dire Petey Space: During the last 5 turns, Petey Piranha will vomit black sludge onto his spaces, turning them pitch black with a red version of Petey’s symbol. Land on this version, and Petey pays you a visit by stomping you into the ground. All players then play a Petey Piranha minigame. The loser will forfeit a star.
• Ally Space: Serves the same general function from the first game although with a few changes. Not only is it a blue space this time, but the player gets to pick which group of partners to receive a character from. However, which player from that group will be random.
• Swanky Space: When a player lands on this yellow space, spotlights appear on them as the stage darkens. The spotlights then swirl around before moving to the corner to reveal Swanky Kong, who in turn reveals that the stage is now a game show with three massive roulettes. The roulettes determine who gives something up, what that something is, and who gets it. If this sounds familiar, that’s because this is basically Chance Time, but 100% more Swanky.

* Green, Black, And Yellow Spaces will randomly assign players to the red or blue team at the end of a turn to determine the minigame type played, as usual.

Passive Events

Areas that you pass to activate or are given the option to enter. They do count as spaces.

• Item Box Space: An item box from Mario Kart. Passing it will give the player a random item, with players in lower positions getting more rare items.
• Item Shop Entrance: Player enters a toad house that has a blue, yellow, green, or purple Toad in it. They will sell 10 items, although which ones will depend on which color the Toad is. Players in third or fourth will receive discounts on non-rare items.
• Lottery Entrance: A house shaped like a coin bag. Enter it to spend 5 coins and try to win big! Plays basically like the Lottery did in Mario Party 4. It is hosted by a Koopa Para Troopa.
• Dog House Entrance: Originating from Mario Party 5, the player can pay a Chain Chomp to steal from a player. It’s only 5 coins to steal coins, 30 coins to steal a star or ally from a rival.
• Event Entrance: Some boards have special minigames and events on them.
• Rabbit House Entrance: Nabbit’s personal shop where he sells dice blocks. They cost 20 coins each, but can be very helpful.
• Star Space: Buy a star. The exact price, conditions and availability vary between boards, however.

Boards

I already went over how boards would benefit from having a few more spaces per route (with ideally 20 or so more spaces overall), but the other thing Super was a bit of a letdown on was board variety. The fact there’s only 4 boards [which is 2 boards below average] is one thing, but the larger problem is that all boards have the same “meta” to them. Three of the four boards are the standard Mario Party affair, and Kamek’s tower (the unique one) doesn’t actually require a different strategy 90% of the time. If anything, it just has higher rewards for the playstyle the game is already using (horde coins and buy stars, only this time you can mass horde and buy multiple ones at once).

So instead of just saying “add more boards” I’d instead like to say “boards need more variety.” So for these 5 boards, the aesthetic of the boards are secondary to the functionality.

Royal Cake Factory

“A restaurant funded by Princess Peach herself, this factory makes cakes for any and every occasion – even parties! In fact, it has cakes so large the cake itself can host a proper game of Mario Party!”

A single massive, square cake is the main backdrop for this board. The cake is decorated to look like a typical grassland/plains World 1 Mario level.

• This is the most normal board in the game.
• The board loops normally.
• There is a star space where the player can buy a star for 15 coins. Once the star is bought, it will move to a new location. This is the only board where Pauline is not only the host, but in charge of the star space.
• Happening Spaces:
  • On Graham Cracker Bridges will cause the player to fall in and float down stream to a certain part of the board. There are two streams with 4 bridges where this can happen.
  • Anywhere Else On the Board will blow out one of 15 candles. For each candle blown out, the player can either wish to raise or lower the price of the star by 1 coin.

Kongo River Rumble

“DK and King K. Rool love to fight it out down here. This waterfall at the end of the river has several log bridges moving at a slight diagonal angle. It almost looks like an arcade game, actually. King K. Rool currently has control of the place, and has even placed a gong at the starting space!”

A long, narrow board. It’s visuals are based around Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat with various characters from the Country games, but the board’s structure is based on the first stage of the Donkey Kong Arcade Game.

• This board is a Point A to Point B board.
• This board has the most star spaces in the game, with a total of 6. There are 5 Kremling Patrols on the way down, and King K. Rool himself on his ship at the end of the board.
  • A Green Kremling will often charge 20 coins for a star, but might charge 30 instead.
  • A Red Kremling will often charge 15 coins for a star, but might charge 40 instead.
  • A Brown Kremling will often charge 30 coins for a star, but might charge 15 instead.
  • A Blue Kremling will often charge 25 coins for a star, but might charge 20 instead.
  • A Black Kremling will often charge 40 coins for a star, but might charge 10 instead.
  • King. K. Rool will charge the player 5 coins per star they already have for a new star.
• King K. Rool launches any player who reaches him back to the start (regardless if you buy a star from him or not), with them hitting the gong at the start. This will cause the Kremling Outposts to swap who’s on guard duty.
  • When the game starts, one of each color is on duty.
  • When the gong is rung, the combination does not have to involve all 5 colors being available; in fact, sometimes all 5 will be the same color.
• There are several ladders that allow the player to get down to the next lower level of the bridge. However, doing so will skip the next Outpost.
• Happening Spaces:
  • On The Bridges will cause a Klaptrap to jump out and knock a player down a level on the waterfall.
  • Outside An Outpost will cause that outpost to swap out the Kremling on Duty.

Budget Diamond City

“Wario is known for three things: being greedy, having expensive tastes, and being cheap. He’s somehow manage to accurately display all three of these traits in a single board.”

A miniaturized version of Diamond City made entirely of colored cardboard. Players will need to play the stock market to win here.

• This is the “economy board” style introduced in Mario Party 6.
• At only 40 spaces, this is the smallest map in the game
• There are no proper star spaces, but instead 7 businesses the players can invest in.
  • Whoever has the most coins invested into the business earns it’s star(s).
  • Buildings start out as a 1-star street cart, and max out as a 5-star business. Star value is based on total coins invested from all players.
  • Players who have invested in a business but don’t own it’s stars get a coin bonus at the start of each turn – 10% of their investment to be exact.
  • Players can withdrawal investments, but there’s a 5-coin fee.
  • Top Investor in the business can sell their stars back for a net profit, but will empty all the money they invested.
• Businesses double as the shops; higher star value means more items but higher prices
• Happening Spaces:
  • On The Sidewalk can cause a bump or slump in the economy. This will cause a 10% increase or decrease in any given business’ investments.
  • Near An Alleyway will make a Bandit appear. They will then rob a business (total of 10 coins per star; 4 coins from top investor, 2 from any others). The player who landed on the space gets half the cash.
• Chain Chomps, and all associated items, do not spawn on this board.

Bowser’s Brimstone Boneyard

“The graveyard behind one of Bowser’s many castles, although this one is designed to resemble a miniature castle itself. Being Bowser’s home turf, you’ll be playing the game his style – stealing and scheming!”

The player enters a graveyard with a castle aesthetic. Lava flows down into a pool below, and gravestones can be found around the map. These serve as the shops and lottery, with the shops having different colored Boos (Red, Green, Blue, or Purple) and the Lottery is hosted by a Para Dry Bones, but the are functionally no different.

• This Board has two circles, with three bridges leading into the inner circle and one leading out.
  • The paths that lead inward are guarded by Thwomps, which charge 10 coins to enter.
• The map has no star spaces. Players instead start with 5 stars each.
• Every store sells bones. Bones cost 5 coins for ever star you have.
• There are 3 Chain Chomp Houses on the board, all on the outside circle.
  • Chomps work differently on this board, as players must roll to have the chomp move across the board, stealing a star from anyone crushed by the pooch.
  • Players pay for a dice roll. The player gets a die for every 10 coins, up to 30 coins for 3 dice. Chomps get a 10-side die that roll 1-10.
  • Because of the Thwomps, Chomps cannot enter the inner circle.
• Happening Spaces will cause the three Thwomps to raise up and lower back down, changing which three paths become entrances and which or the four becomes the sole exist.

Satellite Of Luck*

“Ya feeling lucky? Then stop by the Satellite Of Luck and try to win big. There are 4 chests around the map. 1 has a star, the rest can coins, items, nothing, worse than nothing, or even multiple stars.”

Set in the far reaches of space, players head around the space station to open up the various chests in hopes for getting the star. Once the star chest is opened, any unopened chests are removed, and 4 new chests populate the field at different locations. The left side of the stage is covered in sunlight while the right side is covered in shadows

• This stage is based around Neon Heights from Mario Party 7.
• There are 4 star spaces. There are 12 separate locations a chest can spawn – all of them blue spaces.
• There’s always a chest with a star. Once this chest is opened, all other chests are removed before 4 more are added.
• The others can contain:
  • 20 Coins
  • Nothing
  • A Special Dice Block
  • Chomp Caller
  • Reverse Shroom
  • Thwomp (Ends your turn)
  • Amp (Lose 3 Coins for every remaining move)
• There is no Chomp House, Nabbit Hut, or Lottery on this board, although the various chests can give items that replace them.
• Happening Spaces:
  • At A Teleporter will give the player the option to teleport to the next teleporter on the map.
  • Anywhere Else will cause the chests to be teleported to new locations (although it won’t add any more chests)

_{*This board must be unlocked first}

A traditional board, a point A to point B board, an economy board, a star stealing board, and a luck based board. These 4 boards require different approaches while still having the same gameplay loop. At the end of the day, that’s what I really want.

Items

What’s a Mario Party game without items?

And that’s bad. Thankfully, the biggest issue with items has low-key already been addressed: The Item Box Event Space. Not only does it reference Mario Kart, but a free item event you pass gives more chances for items than one you have to land on does. It also compliments the generally lower turn count that Super Mario Party aims for. Now for a full list of items: separated by category for your convivence (and my own).

Application

Items that the player uses on themselves for a buff

• Mushroom: When used, the player is given a special die of 3-8 die to roll (replacing the normal die). Allies are also each given a [1] [1] [2] [2] [3] [3] die to roll. Get a bit more mileage out of your roll here.
• Golden Mushroom: When used, players are given a magnificent 5-10 die to replace their standard die, with allies getting a [2] [2] [3] [3] [4] [4] die to roll. You can go FAR with this one.
• Smart Shroom: A aqua blue mushroom with adorable glasses. Players pick a number from 1-6, and with their newfound intelligence from this mushroom will be garmented to roll that number.
• Reverse Shroom: Causes the player to move backwards. The player is actually given an 1-8 die to roll, with allies getting their standard rolls as well. Nice to back-track for something you missed… provided the map lets you.
• Metal Box: Turn yourself to metal and avoid any traps in your path! You also won’t activate red spaces. Does nothing against Petey spaces, though. Unlike mushrooms, character die blocks work with this one.
• Golden Flower: Turn yourself to gold and earn 3 coins for every space you roll. All dice are viable with this one, but allies are really profitable here.
• Double Cherry: Make a clone of yourself to serve as an ally for three turns. Unlike your allies, this clone with get a copy of any die you use, allowing for multiple character dice in a turn. Do take note that traps will destroy the clone.
• Sell-U-More Phone: A store on speed dial! While stores only carry 10 items per visit, any non-rare items can be bought here! Free Shipping, too!
• Buddy Phone: Now, a good friend is only one call away. Works the same as an ally space.

Attack

Items that are used with the intention of messing with other players.

• Warp Dice: A die with the faces of other players on it (two places for each rival player). Swap places with whoever you roll.
• Duelling Gun: There’s no actual ammo in this gun (that’s dangerous), but firing this gun off starts a Duel Minigame with the player of your choice. Operates on standard duel rules.
• Poison Mushroom: Will poison a player of the user’s choosing (this can include you if you’re weird enough). Player’s are limited to a [0] [1] [1] [2] [2] [3] die. Allies are given [-1] [-1] [0] [0] [1] [1] dice. No, going into the negatives won’t send you backwards.
  • If the victim uses any other mushroom, the effects of both items are cancelled out.
• Petey Phone: A plant-looking cell phone. When you ring it up, Petey will ask who woke him up. Ya know, ya don’t have to answer him honestly. Works like a Petey Space. Do be warned: in the final five spaces makes this item a portable Dire Petey Space.
• Mega Mushroom: That mushroom from New Super Mario Bros. that returns every now and then. You grow to giant size and roll a 6-11 die (No ally dice). You will steal 10 coins from every player you crush (and destroy any double cherry clones they have), but you by pass any board events (no free items, no stores, no stars, etc)
• Pocket Pickpocket: A strange brown sack that, when opened, steals a single item from your player of choice (although which item of their is taken is random).
• Chomp Whistle: Summons a Chain Chomp to do your dirty work. Functionally a Chain Chomp Dog House.

Trap

Items that set traps on the board to hinder other players. Modifiers can determine if players can trip their own traps.

• Banana Peel: Leave a banana on the space. Whoever slips on it looses 3 points of movement.
• Thwomp: Leaves a Thwomp hovering off screen over a space. Squishes the next player to walk past them, stopping their turn there.
• Amp: Hides 3 Amps under a space. They will zap the next player to walk by them, robbing 3 coins per remaining move.
• Podoboo: Hides a Podoboo under a space. it’ll pop up and burn the next player, forcing them to skip the next 5 spaces.
• Tweester: Hides a Tweester under a space, When he shows up, he spins the poor fella around and has them move backwards for the remaining movements.
• Pokey: Hides a Pokey under a space. It’ll send the next player who passes back to start.

Inventory

Items that you’re not meant to directly use, but instead offer benefits for holding in your inventory or otherwise protect you from misfortune.

• Bone: If you have this when a Chain Chomp is coming, he’ll go after the bone instead of you.
• Good Luck Charm: When you hold this items, you have a higher chance of finding hidden blocks, but hidden blocks have a lower chance of given stars.
• Poison Berry: Useless on it’s own, but it’s Petey’s favorite snack. If you have one of these, Petey will happily leave you alone if you feed him.
• Swanky Banana: They don’t do anything on their own. However, if you get three of them, then something truly Swanky will happen.

Rare

Items that almost never appear in the shop or in item boxes. Ashley is your best bet at this.

• Item Bag: Gives the player three items when used. These items can be any non-rare items.
• Ashley Phone: Call Ashley to come hang out. Is the most common rare item to appear in shops.
• Bad Luck Charm: Turns all blue spaces into red spaces for 3 turns.
• Platinum Card: Offers the player discounts at stores so long as it’s in their inventory, regardless of position.

Exclusive

Items that only appear on a certain board.

• Star Wand (Royal Cake Factory): When used, it will teleport the player directly to the star space.
• Ztar Wand (Royal Cake Factory): When used, it will change the location of the star.
• Blast Cannon (Kongo River Rumble): When used, the player will launch a cannon ball at the start gong.
• Barrel Cannon (Kongo River Rumble): When used, the player will launch themselves at the start gong.
• Gold Membership (Budget Diamond City): Gives the player 5% of their total investments when used.
• Warp Pipe (Budget Diamond City): Let’s the player teleport to any business they’ve invested in.
• Golden Bone (Bowser’s Brimstone Boneyard): Can be used like a regular bone, but also can be fed to a Chomp for a free gold-tier ride.
• Skeleton Key (Bowser’s Brimstone Boneyard): Allows a player to access any Thwomp path for free.
• Plunder Chest (Satellite Of Luck): When used, it will give the player the contents of a random chest.

And with this, everything relating to the Party Mode has been covered. Minigames weren’t covered here since what minigames are there doesn’t directly effect how Party Mode works (if anything, Mario Party 9 and 10 indicate that the party mode influences the Minigames). That said, Minigames will be covered shortly.

Sound Stage

Drop this mode. Seriously. This feels like a massive tech demo that’s there just to show off what the Joy-Cons can do. Which is dumb since there’s already several Minigames that did that. It’s also the most repetitive mode in the game, with virtually no variation across it’s difficulties other than, well, it going on longer. Personally, I don’t think anyone would have bothered with this mode if Pom Pom wasn’t locked behind it. The effort that went into this mode would be better suited elsewhere.

Co-Op Mode

In Super Mario Party, the Co-Op mode was River Raft Survival. It was a fine mode with solid theming, and it’s multiple paths offer better replay value than Sounds Stage could have ever achieved. That said, I think there isn’t much more to do with the mode, and that there’s a better way to handle a Co-Op mode anyway.

The answer is to combine Mario Party 9 with Mario Party 6. More accurately, the Party Bus system from Mario Party 9 and the Solo mode from Mario Party 6. The idea is that 1-4 players get into the bus, teaming up in the vehicle. The team does not need a full team of 4 to play, and there will not be any AI Partners choosen. The game can even be played solo. Each player can roll a standard die, or the die of any character on the team. Each turn, the players rotate whoever is rolling (the Captain that turn), and they’ll play the minigame associated with the space they land on. Speaking of which:

Spaces And Mini Stars

Unlike Party Mode, the spaces do not reward coins and instead trigger a minigame where the player earns Mini Stars for the team. If the player/team finish in first place, they collect the Minigame (kinda like collecting a Star in Party Mode) The exact breakdown is:

• 4 Player Spaces have the Captain part take in a 4-player minigame. The captain will earn a Mini Star for every player they defeat, and collect the minigame if they finish first.
• 2 vs 2 Spaces have the captain team up with another teammate for a 2 vs 2 Minigame. Winning rewards the team with 3 Mini Stars
  • With 1 Player, they will be assigned an AI partner for the minigame.
  • With 2 Players, both team up.
  • With 3 Players, the Captain will choose their partner
  • With 4 Players, the teammate sitting adjacent to the Captain will work with them.
• 1 vs 3 Spaces has a 1 vs 3 Minigame occur. The team receives 3 Mini Stars for winning although how people play depends on how many are playing:
  • With 1 Player, they go up against 3 AI enemies.
  • With 2 Players, the Captain selects which of the two goes up against 3 AI.
  • With 3 Players, all three team up against a single AI.
  • With 4 Players, the Captain decides if they alone go up against 3 AI or if the other three battle a solo opponent.
• Happening Spaces (not listed in the image above) will typically make the players move backwards. It’s rarity varies across boards.
• Duel Spaces cause a Duel Minigame. The Captain can pick anyone to enter the duel. Unlike other spaces, the Captain also must wager Mini Stars here. If the chosen player wins, the team wins double their wager and collects the Minigame. If they lose, the gambled Mini Stars are lost.
• Battle Spaces behave on the same logic as Duel Spaces (Captain picks participant and sets the wager). The only different is that coming in second minimizes the loss to half the wagered Mini Stars. The AI will typical be more aggressive in Battle Games.
• Co-Op Spaces will have the entire team work together to complete a Co-Op minigame. The ending rank determines the Mini Star payout.
  • C Rank: 0 Mini Stars
  • B Rank: 2 Mini Stars
  • A Rank: 5 Mini Stars
  • S Rank: 10 Mini Stars
• Team Spaces have the entire team joining up to battle another team or three other teams, depending on the games. The team receives 10 Mini Stars for winning.
• Petey Spaces, contrary to what you may think, do not involve a Petey Minigame. Instead, Petey Piranha will show up to challenge the Captain to a difficult 4 player Minigame. The Captain takes the Minigame and 5 Mini Stars if they win, but losing can cost the team half their Mini Stars, all of them, of even take all the Minigames won. Generally speaking, it’s best to avoid these spaces if it can be helped.
• The Rare Space is the final space on the board. Landing on the space ends the game and unlocks a rare Minigame for the entire team. Going past this space means the game ends, but you lose all your Mini Stars and Minigames collected.

The team can elect to end the game at the start of any turn. The Captain must choose to end the game, and then the team must all agree to. There’s no inherit punishment for ending the adventure. There are several bonuses the player can receive for extra Mini Stars, including but not limited too:

• Rare Collector: Collected the Rare Minigame Space [25 Mini Stars]
• Petey’s Nemesis: Defeat Petey’s Posse at least 5 times [20 Mini Stars]
• Risk Taker: Gambled more than 20 Mini Stars for a single Duel [10 Mini Stars]
• Never Miss: Collected the Rare Minigame Space and never lost a Minigame [10 Mini Stars]
• Team Synergy: All four players are from the same group [5 Mini Stars]
• No Items: Clear the Adventure without using any items [5 Mini Stars]
• Item Fanatic: Clear the Adventure using every item at least once [5 Mini Stars]

Items And Boards

Oh yeah, items. There’s only 5 of them, and all are mushrooms in this case.

• Mushroom: Let’s teammates all roll a [1] [1] [1] [1] [2] [2] die. If playing alone, the player gets the 3-8 die.
• Golden Mushroom: Let’s teammates all roll a [2] [2] [2] [2] [3] [3] die. If playing alone, the player gets the 5-10 die.
• Smart Shroom: Let’s the Captain choose exactly how far they go on a 1-6 die.
• Poison Mushroom: Gives the Captain a 1-3 die.
• Reverse Shroom: Allows the Captain to move backwards with their standard die roll.

_{*Teammates do not get ally dice without the aid of items, by the way.}

Now in terms of boards, I took the simple approach. Since the structure is based on of Mario Party 6, the visuals from the boards would take note from Mario Party 9: being based around the mainline Mario series. There would only be three boards for Co-Op, but they are unique from the Party Mode boards.

• Undersea Underpass: A tunnel that goes under the ocean. Several fish-related Mario characters/species can be seen in the background. The vehicle for this stage is a stylized submarine. Going past the Rare Space causes the tunnel to collapse and get flooded. This board has 35 Spaces, and is the shortest board in the game.
• Dehydration Station: A railroad going through a gulch that’s all dried up. Pokey and Klepto enemies can be seen in the background. The vehicle for this stage is a rusted train car with no roof. Going past the Rare Space causes the train to derail and fall into the canyon. This board is 45 Spaces but features the most amount of Happening Spaces.
• Koopa Road: Based on the Mario 64 Bowser stages. Amps and Mechakoops can be seen from time to time. The vehicle for this stage is the Koopa Clown Car. Going past the Rare Space causes the entire sage to collapse into the abyass. At 60 spaces, this is the longest Co-Op board.

Finally, once a game of Co-Op Mode is done, the team receives their Mini Stars (If they gathered 35 Mini Stars in the end, then everyone gets 35 Mini Stars) and any Minigames unlocked. They can decide to play again, to change maps first, change characters first, or exit the mode.

Minigames

I haven’t listed the Minigames yet because, honestly, what the Minigames are the least important to this write up, especially in regards to Party and Co-Op. The kind of Minigames that can appear are far more important. That said, I did write down a full list of Minigames. (It was meant to be a sample… but this article was meant to come out on May 22nd).

4-Player

Name	Description
Pacing To Unwind	4 players wind up their Bob-Omb and then let them run through the track. They break when the wind up runs out, but the last one explodes into confetti.
Shake It, Take It, Make It	4 players enter a temple with 15 treasure chests. 1 has 10 coins, 4 have 7 coins, 3 have 5 coins, and 7 have 3 coins.
Head Boppin’	4 players take part in a weird version of whack-a-mole. Use your hammer to hit a target. Mushroom targets give one point. Gold Mushrooms give three. Heads of any player takes two points away from that player.
Polarizing Discharged	4 players are trying to bring power back to their house. The room they’re in has several amps moving around with electricity. Touching one will stun the player for a bit but recharge the battery they’re carrying. However, get hit when the charge is full and you’ll overcharge and lose juice. However has the most charge left after 60 seconds is the winner.
Whose Linedance Is It, Anyway?	4 Players take part in a line-dance. All 4 must hit the buttons as they come. Button combinations become more complicated as the game goes on. Score is based on how precise the timing is, but getting one button wrong means you sit that dance out. Best dancer wins.
Bumper Balls 3	4 players are put inside of surprisingly bouncy balls. The arena’s gimmick will reflect the board the game was played on.
Slippery Slogs	4 players are trying to reach their respective goals. There are three forks in the road, where the player either enters a wide area with banana peels or a winding road frozen over.
Be A Bro	4 players are racing to repair a metal boomerang. There are three bent areas. Each part must first be heated up, then mended with a hammer, then quickly cooled into place.
Chasing Sleep	4 Players try to earn a massive workout on a treadmill. After 15 seconds of running, all four take a nap. The more tired they are the longer they sleep. Last one awake wins.
Yank The Chain	There are 20 panels with chains dangling above. 4 players are given 5 panels each. They get to decide which of the 5 to rig, if any. Afterwards, they take turns Yanking one of the chains. Last player standing wins.
The Claw Gain	4 Players play a claw game. Al 4 then try to get one of each unique plushie (Octo-Goomba, Red Boo, Mr. Blizzard, Toadie, and Blooper)
Coin The Term	4 players access computers from the 1990’s. Trivia is then played on a 1990’s website. players must correctly choose the right answer. You get a coin for each correct answer, and a extra coin for every player slower than you to answer correctly than you did.
Thorn In My Hive	4 players enter a garden filled with Stingbies. The players have to avoid the bees swarming around them. As time goes on, they close in on the player. Last player standing wins.
Up, Abduct, And Away!	On a 5×5 floor, 4 players stand. Alien spaceships well above them will try to abduct them. The players must look at what parts of the floor are covered in shadows to figure out where the beam(s) will appear. Outlast other players or the time to win.
Fall Fishing	4 players start on top of a rooftop with 4 Lakitus. They then use the fishing rods to have the 4 players bungee jump to the pond below. This is done 5 times, each with the goal of getting a Cheep Cheep. Red is worth one, gold worth three.
Teather-Bomb	4 players stand around a pole with a bomb on a string. Players hit it to send it around, but one hit will eventually detonate it, taking that player out. However, if no one hits the ball, it’ll wrap around the pole and blow it up, rewarding the last player to hit it with the win.
Test Your Might	4 players are in a dojo. Given a piece of wood, they must button mash whatever button appears on screen. Once broken, they can either step down or try something harder to break. If one steps down and the player(s) who didn’t break the tougher item, the one who stepped down is out. Alternatively, failing to break something knocks that palyer out.
Cash Me if You Can	4 players are on a cloud in the sky with a golden block. They then try to catch said block and run while holding it to get coins. A single punch will cause the player to drop it.
Mario Goes Karting	4 Players drive go karts around a track based on the board being played. There’s really nothing more to it than that.
Vending Pending	4 players are in an office next to 4 vending machines. The players must try to get one of each item on their vending machine. Each item has a 8-digit button combination. First to get all eight wins.

2 vs 2

That’s Nacho Order	2 teams of 2 are in a Tastarian Restaurant. Both teams must make and deliver as many orders of Nachos as possible. Some orders take more time than others, but both teams are given the same number of steps per order. Higher score wins.
Take Your Pick	2 teams of 2 are in a frozen tundra, each having a treasure chest completely frozen. Using the several pick axes laid out with each team, they must try to break the ice. Axes eventually break and have different damage stats, but both teams have the same distribution of axes.
Mario Can Can	Lifted directly from Mario party 5, both players must take turns ground pounding in an effort to operate the can opener. First team to open their can wins. The cans are based on the stage being played.
Tug Of Chore	2 teams of 2 are in separate hotel rooms. Their goal is to clean up the room. Press RB to use the duster for dust and press LB to use the handheld vacuum cleaner for trash.
Hallway Haunt	2 teams of 2 enter a haunted manor. They must work together to solve all of it’s puzzles (there are five rooms in total). Both players are armed with torches to light up the way. First team to escape wins.
Double Batter Fly	2 teams of 2 are in a baseball stadium. Both teams have a pitcher and a batter, with the goal of the batter to throw hard to hit balls while the enemy team’s batter tries to hit them. The pitch and the batter press two face buttons (first is the wind up, the second is the action). The batter getting one action right earns one point, but getting both right scores three points via a home run.
Ping Pong Cha-Ching	2 teams of 2 are inside a bank, with money jumping out of a bank and into their van. There are six spaces for each team (three assigned to each player), and the players must bounce the coins from the bank to their van. Teams keep whatever coins they get to the van.
Time Spent Together	2 teams or 2 are inside a digital clock. Both teams are on a 4×4 panel with different minute amounts (positive and negative) on them and a digital clock displaying a time, in the middle is a grandfather clock. Each round has the grandfather clock trn to a new time, and the teams must ground pound on panels to make their digital clock match the time.
Just Wing It	2 teams of 2 try to pilot a weird spaceship that looks like a Para Koopa Troopa Shell. Both players on each team control one of the wings, and must navigate the canyon and reach the goal first.
Window of Opportunity	2 teams of 2 are trying to clean a skyscraper; one has the cleaner and the other the rag. The two members of each team much head to the far ends of the platform to adjust the altitude they are at. First team to clean all 9 dirt spots wins.
Trial By Iron	2 teams of 2 are on separate railroads, attempt to get to their goals first by pumping their karts. The railroads twist and turn, so the teams must keep that in mind or they’ll tilt and derail, delaying them considerably. Keeping in rhythm will keep things in control.

1 vs 3

Cowboys vs Ninja	At the stroke of midnight, the wild west ninja makes his move – but the three sheriffs set a trap! The sole ninja as a cowboy to their left, right and front. Pressing in the direction will have them stop the shots they fire from hitting them. The Cowboys need to reload after each shot and only get five shots each; the ninja will lose balance if they miss time an attack and can only take 3 hits. The ninja wins by outlasting the timer or the ammo.
Hexagon Havoc	In a massive lava pit, one player decides which platforms to raise or lower. The 1 player gets 15 attempts and 60 seconds to try and get the three players out, with the platforms getting faster every 3 flags. The sole player’s ace in the hole is the two flags. Raising the left flag means that platform is the only one to stay up, but raising the right flag means it’s the only one to sink.
Tank Me On!	In a military training camp, one player drives a giant tank while three others control smaller ones. The smaller tanks have small but fast bullets, while the bigger tank has stronger missiles that bounce off walls. The bigger tank has more HP than the three smaller tanks.
Eye See All	A single player with a Mr. Eye can see into the future… maybe. The other three have no way to know how accurate it is. In reality, there are 4 slots to hide cash prizes (perfectly aligning with the joycon face buttons); the single player will press buttons in the order they wish to distribute money (3 coins in the first one, 2 in the second, then 1 in the third). After this, the player highlights a cup of choice. It’s up to the three to decide if there’s any importnace to that. The players choose 3 slots. The team of three can pick the same one to multiply their winnings, but all unpicked slots go to the one player. After 3 rounds, players keep their winnings.
Plunderous Pirates	A pirate captain and their three swabbies are out digging for treasure. The Captain has a golden shovel for easy digging, while the swabbies take longer to dig up treasure. Coins are easy to dig up, coin bags take longer, and treasure chests are time consuming. Players keep their spoils.
Circumference Clouds	3 players surround a large, circular cloud with a lone player on it. Armed with air charge cannons, the three try to blast the one off the cloud. They can charge the shots up, but slow down their ability to move around the cloud. Air blasts hitting each other will set them off.
Bombs A Wave	1 player is commanding a pirate ship while 3 others are on a tilting island nearby. The teams of 3 must simply survive until the timer runs out. The 1 player has to aim their cannon at the island. Missed shots will make waves, resulting in the platforming titling with them. The 3 players jumping too much can make this a bigger problem. A hit on the platform will stun the players on the ground, while a direct hit on a player knocks them out. The 1 player can also fire a quick cannonball that, while it’ll surely miss, can make a quick wave for stunned players.
Roll With It.	Remember Shock, Drop, and Roll? It’s that again, but with it’s visuals being based on the board being played.
Dispense And Dispose	3 players are on a rotating platform while one player adds threats to it. The one player can drop a Podoboo (fireball) as a stationary trap, a Mr. Blizzard (snowman) that can throw projectiles but has no touch damage, or a poison shroom that will chase players but eventually disappear. The one player can adjust the X-axis for where the threat is dispensed, but will need to keep the spinning platform in mind to stop the enemy team.
Up The Creek, Down The Tubes	1 player in a boat race against three player in tubes going down adjacent streams. The tubes are lighter and more easily pushed around. First to the finish wins.
Hat’s Off To You	During a magic show, 3 players volunteer for part of a magic show. With four hats to choose from, the three choose whichever hats they hide in. The magician then sets the hats on fire one by one, with the goal being to get the three out. The magician only gets three guesses. More than one player can hide in the same hat.

Duel

Bone Goomba To Pick	2 players stand atop the skull of a T-Rex at night as Bone Goombas come out. The two players then compete to stomp as many of them as possible. Bone Goombas take three normal jumps or a single ground pound to defeat. Crush the most to win
Putter On By	2 players are at a golf course based around the board they are playing. They both playing a game of mini speed golf. Number of strokes don’t matter, since the course is so long. be the first player to get to the finish hole, or at least the closest by 60 seconds to win.
Ice to See A Snow Brawl	2 players are in a snowy area. Both sides are joined by red or blue Ukiki’s for a snowball fight. The players hit by a snowball are frozen. the two players will break out after a few seconds, but the Ukikis are out once hit. The first player to knock out the 4 enemy Ukikis wins.
Rain On Your Fire Brigade	Two players are in a metal room with no roof, red/blue fire balls and translucent umbrellas. A rain cloud appears, and the players must try to protect their three wondering Podoboos from it’s rain. More rain clouds appear as time goes on. If both outlast the timer, the one with the most fire left wins.
Caver Of Blunders	2 players are in a cave with branching paths are turn out to be a maze. In this maze, there are 10 chests and 10 keys across 20 dead ends. A key can open any single chest, but only one chest as the coins in it. Chests can be empty, explode, or give a super mushroom for a speed boost. First player to find the money wins.
Fender Bender	2 players find themselves in an amusement park on two bumper cars. The goal is simple: knock the enemy driver off. The stage is fully railed, but a piece of the railing falls after three collisions. HOWEVER, a collision also sends them flying in the opposite direction as a fairly fast speed. After 45 seconds, the stage will slowly start to lose pieces. First to fall loses.
It All Fell Apart	2 players are high in the sky on a 4×4 grid of panels with a Fly Guy keeping watch. There are yellow, red, blue and green panels – 4 of each numbered 1 through 4. The Fly Guy will hold up his sign with a number or color, making all the panels it applies to crumble. players must move around to avoid falling. Players have a jump, but it’s not enough to cross a missing panel. It can save you in a pinch, though.
Can We Fix It?	2 players find themselves in a boiler room where things keep breaking! More accurately, the pipes keep leaking steam. The two players compete to fix the most steam shafts until the pressure is under control. They recieve 1 point for fixing a hole. If a valve flys off, they must pick it up and bring it back for the bonus, but fixing it is worth 3 points! walking in the water will slow you down.
Pump Action Panic	2 players find themselves in a green technological room with 2 balloons and 2 pumps. Take one each, they will alternate having to pump air into their balloon for 5 seconds. Once one player is done, the next player must then air into their balloon. If their balloon is smaller, they lose. if they go larger, than it’s the next player’s turn. This continues until a player either chooses to not inflate as much, so someone pops their own balloon. Each pump adds a good amount of air, so don’t button mash and instead count your pumps!
Paint The Brown Red!	2 players are inside a wooden room with paint hammers. Their goal is to hit stuff with their hammer to paint it red or blue. Simply whack an item to paint it. Some items might take more than one whack to paint.
Ice Climbing	2 players are at the base of an icy mountain, trying to climb up it. They must press the indicated face button to inch their way up..If they press the wrong button, they’ll lose their grip and have to wait before trying again. First player to get to the top wins.
Ghost Hider	2 players are in a haunted house, trying to find some ghosts. The ghosts from Evershade Valley are the ones to look for, but the Golden Gliders are only there to scare you. First to find 5 of the hidden ghosts wins.
Shell Fame	It’s basically Kareening Koopas but themed around the board being played.
Path of Yeast Resistance	2 players find themselves into a kitchen, and they’re making pizza! They must beat the dough, add the sauce, the cheese, the toppings, then cook it as the food critic requests. All of these have their own simple button and control stick controls. Whoever makes the higher quality lizza wins!
Pool Fools	2 players are at an indoor pool. The compete in a race. The first step requires them to jump across barrels in the pool to the other side (time your A presses), climb up the ladder (alternate between A and B), dive effectively (press the buttons as they appear) and then swim back to the starting line (A and B at the same time)
Cloud Nine	2 players are in the clouds. The cloud they’re standing on gives way and they land on small clouds. Once the minigame starts, the screen starts moving forward and cloud will disappear if they go too far back. This keeps going until a player falls. Every 6 seconds adds a new coud color (green move left to right, red are slightly sloped, yellow clouds are electrified until halfway down the screen, and black cloud become electrified a second after someone jumps on them). Outlast your opponent to win.

Battle

A Star Is Burned	4 players find themselves in space on a floating circular platform. As time goes on, star bits will fall and knock out pieces of the platform until 3 of the players are out. Players can punch and kick each other. Getting hit by a star bit won’t knock you out, but you will be dazzed with reversed controls for a few seconds.
Facial Awareness	4 Players are on a gameshow where three cards of a playable character will appear. Players must then press the face button in relation to the card that has something wrong with it (wrong eye color, hat letter is incorrect, mustache color off, etc). Only the first player to buzz in gets the point, but getting it wrong takes you out of the next round. First to 5 points wins.
Fuzzy Flatliners	4 players are in a watery underground with a lot of fuzzies bouncing around. Each player armed with a hammer, their goal is to squid as many fuzzies as possible with their hammer. They have a horizontal and a vertical swing for their hammers. The vertical swing is faster, while the horizontal swing has some wind up but more of an arc. The vertical smash squishes players while the horizontal swing merely knocks them back. Gold fuzzies will randomly appear for three points if squished, but are much faster
Shooting Foulery	4 players are in a colorful shooting gallery. They need to shoot out targets. Every few seconds, a target board will show up with four bullseyes – one of each player. Hitting the target of a player steals 10 points from them, but hitting your own target earns 25 points. There is a large 10 point target on each board, too. All players start out with 50 points.
Laser Focus	4 players are in a lab on laser turrets. The turrets quickly start to spin around, beginning the mini game. While the turrets spin very fast, the laser will actually bounce off the angled walls. With every hit the player takes, the laser will get faster with it’s firing, allowing more more shots. However, 3 hits will knock you out. Last player standing wins.
Marker Me Down	4 players open up a notebook with an outline. Using a marker, they try to trace it’s outline the best they can. Holding the bottom face button allows the player to pick up and reposition their market if they get too off course. Players only have 25 seconds to complete the task. Best outline wins.

Petey

Feed Me Some More	Petey Piranha is hungry, and so players take turns feeding him food. Petey will list every food he wants, although it gets way too fast to realistically read the second half of the list. The player then must grab the food items (an apple, an orange, a steak, a chicken breast, a pumpkin, some broccoli, a loaf of bread, a pretzel, a cheese wheel, and a carton of milk). Bring him the wrong food or one too many, and the minigame ends with you as the loser.
Bloom Of Doom	Petey Piranha wants a new minion, and so players take turns watering him. They can add as much water as they want for 5 seconds, making it grow larger and large. However, once the plant is fully grown, it’ll eat whoever is watering it, making them the loser. Petey himself won’t be pleased if you don’t water at all, either…
Wake me up Before You Go	Petey Piranha wants to sleep, but the four players want to escape. After spinning them around in cages, the four players are too dizzy to move straight. Petey then dozes off, starting the minigame. The four players must learn their confused controls and stumble their way to the warp pipe in the back of the room. Petey is sleeping into the center of the room, and running into him will wake him up and make you instantly lose. Petey will also wake up from the noise of three players using the warp pipe, meaning the fourth player will face his wrath.

Co-Op

Cheep Tactics	4 Players are in a pond, trying to get a punch of Cheep Cheeps into the gate for feeding. The 4 players can either move around and position themselves to get them in, or pick a single Cheep Cheep up in their net and manually move it there.
Mine Your Manors	4 players are trying to mine their way out of a caved in tunnel. They have to break each individual rock until the get to the big one that’s blocking the exit. For the big one, the most efficient way is for each player to time their button press so it’s one right after the other.
You Should Snow By Now	4 players are trying to build snowmen. There are a total of 5 different snowmen of varying heights and masses to make, so the only way to do so quickly is to work together on making the body parts. Wants the right snowball sizes are put together, the rest will be put on it. the snowman will then be locked in place, so the team should mind where they build them.
Buzzy Beat All	4 players are in a desert with Buzzy Beetles climbing up our platforms. The goal is simple: jump on and knock off as many Buzzy Beatles as possible by jumping on one then kicking it off the edge. The team gains a point for knocking a Buzzy Beetle off the stage, but loses two points for hitting a teammate with one or falling off the edge.
Egg Me On	4 players are trying to cross a canyon with a Yoshi Egg. one player carries it at a time, passing it off to the next person. Get to the end as fast as possible. If a path is straightforward, it’ll be a long one. The more curved a path is, the shorter it’ll be.
Card Counters	4 Players are on a massive card table, with there being a total of 40 cards (all four suits, 1-10). The cards are all shown for five seconds and then flipped over, and the players must then each pick a card to add to the score. However, if the final score goes over 21, they don’t count. Rank is determined by final score.
Griddle Me This!	4 players are in a kitchen making Pancakes! All 4 players must try and make pancakes of the right size, color and favors for the various orders coming in. Player rank is determined by the number of correct orders filled.
Pipe Down And Try Something!	4 Players are above ground with a lot of warp pipes. The team of 4 must find the one pipe that sends them down a floor in the underground dungeon. Once found, the other three must get to it. This goes on until time runs out. Final rank is determined by how deep the players got.
Compact And Extract	4 Players are in a basement with bags of trash and money. The problem is all of them are in trash bags. 2 Players have coin detectors and 2 players pick up to move the bags. Garbage goes in the trash compactor, coins go into the cash extractor.
Crushing Teamwork	4 Players are on top of a Thwomp that has just smashed into the ground. Their goal is to ground pound him into the ground. Timing your ground pounds will make the process faster. The faster it gets smashed in, the higher the rank.

Team

Bumper Dumpers	4 Teams are in Bowser’s Castle on team-colored Koopa Bumper Carts. The goal is to knock everyone else off and be the last team standing. More allies means more AI teammates to work with.(note, if a player gets knocked off, they will be assigned a surviving partner to control if one is available).
Ninji Warrior	4 Teams enter a Dojo. They see a Ninji effortless clear the Bamboo room. They then must clear the course. There are five rooms total (Bamboo, Swamp, Ice, Temple, and then volcano), with an elevator taking them to the next floor. If you fall down, your ally will take over at the start of that obstacle. If every partner fails, you have to restart the room.
Punched Out	4 Teams are on top of a boxing arena with a cheering crowd. Each team captain is holding a boxing glove gun, and their teammates are tied to them. The players hear “sudden death” yelled, and at the ring of the bell the ropes fall off. The goal is to punch the enemies off the arena. Players can charge their punch by holding down the B button (or its equivalent). If a partner gets knocked off, they’ll pull the captain down with them. In this mini game, more allies is actually a downside.
Looping Fish In A Barrel	4 teams find themselves in front of rotating wheels with 6 barrels. The players must then grapple the barrels to get the Cheep Cheep out. A few 10-point barrels have a golden Cheep Cheep in them, worth 50 points. There’s also one barrel worth 30 points containing a partner the player has found, with one per partner spawning. Highest score wins.
Bing Ping Wah-Hoo	4 teams pilot a large, jumping “Mini-Mario” mech down a road with objects blocking their route. They must choose left, right or forward. They get one input per ally, then they move. More partners means that teams can move more without stopping, but also means mistakes are more costly and it takes longer to start moving.
Whomp, Drop, And Snow	4 teams are in a snowstorm with fans and and some Whomp between them. The teams break off into 2 groups of teams with a Whomp between them. They then try to blow the Whomp over onto the enemy team. After both groups lose a team, the two winning teams compete in one last gust battle. while the losers compete for third place.
Bowser’s Biggest Blast	4 teams find themselves in a factory with a Bowser Bomb and 7 colored pumps. The eyes roll down into a 9, and the first team steps up. Each member must pick 1 of the 7 pumps. 4 pumps are duds, 3 count the bomb down by 1, and the remaining one will count down by 2. If the number of remaining pumps is equal or less to the next team, the pumps shuffle and reset. If your team makes the bomb hit zero, the team is out. Last team standing wins.
Drift Kings	4 teams enter a race track. The vehicle they drive is determined by the number of allies. Single cars are faster but turn more loosely, while larger cars will have lower acceleration but more weight and pushing power.
Whack Up Call	4 Teams are in a warp parp arcade room. The 4 team captains highlight a pipe they want to appear out of. The allies of enemy captains will attempt to run over and whack them (so the more allies you have, the harder it is for enemies to stay above ground). Getting whacked means the player is stunned for 3 seconds underground. Whoever spends the most time above ground wins.
A Furlong Of Fire And Ice	4 Teams are atop a frozen ramp leading downward. The players slide down on their scooters and break before flying off into the fire pit at the end of the ramp. You have to press A for each member of your team, so more teammates means more chances to stop. Whoever gets the closest without getting burned wins.

Rare

Slam Dunk Bros.	A game of Basketball. In Minigame Mode, this is a 2v2 game. In the Extras Mode, however, you can actually play up to 4v4. Game follows standard arcade basketball rules. Alternate balls can be unlocked for it in the start bank.
Volley Folly	A game of Volleyball. In Minigame Mode, this is a 2v2 game. In the Extras Mode, however, you can actually play up to 4v4. Game follows standard arcade volleyball rules. Alternate balls can be unlocked for it in the Mini Star bank.
Ice Shot	A game of Hockey. In Minigame Mode, this is a 2v2 game. In the Extras Mode, however, you can actually play up to 4v4. Game follows standard arcade hockey rules.
Cosmic Pin Bowling	A game of Bowling… in space. A 4 player minigame where players can bowl down pins. Plays like a game of bowling.
Meet The Team	A brown-haired reported wants to interview the entire team! with a 2×2 panel view, the players will have to keep with the beat of the interview to score highly. The controls are a single button (press it once to answer, twice to strike a stance, and twice with a delay to pose for the fans), but the timing is unforgiving. The reporter’s eyes will look over at who she’s about to ask this question too, so use that to know when it’s your turn. Also, don’t try and steal the spotlight. Rank is determined by keeping in beat with few mistakes.
Bumper Balls EX	An ultimate game of Bumper Balls. All 4 players work together against another 4 players. Once the four enemies are knocked off, another 4 will spawn. On top of that, a new AI enemy spawns when a team player is knocked off. Beat as many of them as possible to win.

To think an article could have been on time for once…

Extras Mode

I miss the Extras Mode. This was the more experimental set of ideas based on what the game had to offer, or otherwise has some secondary game modes. Sadly, Rare Minigames kinda stole this mode’s thunder. Oh well. So consider this just some other ideas I’d love to see.

Backroom Boardwalk

A board based on a film lot for a pirate movie. Unlike the other boards, this one operates on very different rules. There are no dice in this mode. Instead, Minigames occur at the start of a turn, and the positioning determines how far you move (First goes 5, second goes 3, third goes 2, and last goes 1). The Minigames will be either 4 Player or Battle Minigames. There are also unique spaces on this board, and spaces themselves do different things:

• Blue Space: Earn 10 Coins
• Red Space: Earn 10 Coins From Each Player
• Happening Space: Spin a roulette for one of 20 different effects. From gaining/losing coins, to trading places, to a free item
• Item Space: Get a free item when you pass it. Doesn’t count against movement.
• Store Space: Access The Shop. Unlike Party Mode, you can buy a full inventory worth of items in a single visit. You can enter by just passing, but you landing here gives you discounts.
• Forward Space: Launch yourself forward 6 spaces.
• Rival Space: Make an enemy of everyone. Doesn’t nothing right away, but makes the next Minigame a 1vs3 game. Winner moves 5 Spaces, Losers only move 1 space. Once landed on, it becomes a Red Space.
• Toll Road: These three final spaces on the board serve as a final roadblock. The first one can only be past by getting at least third in a Minigame, the second one requires at least second place, and the last one requires first. Get here ASAP to get as many chances at winning a Minigame.
• Finish Line: The final space. First one to get here wins the single star of the map, and as such wins the game.

This mode does have a few items, but much like Co-Op Mode they’re in limited use. They are used before a Minigame starts.

• Mushroom: Adds 2 movement points to your next move when used.
• Golden Mushroom: Doubles you next move when used.
• Safe Shroom: It looks like the Smart Shroom, but without the glasses. Move 3 spaces regardless of position in the Minigame.
• Warp Pipe: Teleport to another player’s location.
• Dueling Gun: Works exactly as it normally does in Party Mode

Card Party

The Yang to Backroom Boardwalk’s Yin. Card Party features no Minigames at all, and is instead a traditional board game. The mode would be functionally similar to the Mario Party 5 Card Party, so he’s the short version for those who need a refresher:

• Players control plastic figures of the characters
• The board can be anywhere from a 6×6 to a 10×10 board
• Each player pick any spot outside the board to start
• There are only standard dice in this mode
• Each card is flipped over at start, the game ends when every card is flipped. The Color reveals what kind of card it is.
  • Path Card: Every Card will become this when flipped, but most are this by default. Adds more road to the board.
  • Star Cards: Gives the player a card for a Star before revealing the pathway.
    • Star Card: Gives the player a card worth 1 star.
    • Double Star Card: Gives the player a card worth 2 stars.
    • Ztar Card: Gives the player a card worth -1 star. Stars can go into the negatives in this mode.
  • Item Card: Gives the player an item.
    • Mushroom Card: Gives the player a mushroom to use. Let’s the player roll two dice.
    • Curse Mushroom Card: Gives the player a poison mushroom to use. Forces any one player to only roll 1-3.
    • Warp Pipe Card: Gives the a Warp Pipe to use. Trade places with another player.
  • Event Space: Causes an event to happen.
    • Teleport Card: Randomly teleport to a different card that’s been flipped over.
    • Nabbit Card: Nabbit appears to steal a card from another player and give it to the player.
    • King Boo Card: King Boo shows up to steal a card for himself. Might be nice if he steals a Ztar card, though.
    • Black Hole: Sends the player back to start.
• It’s possible
• There is no limit to how many cards a player can hold.
• When there’s only a single card left, the player in last place can get one of four random benefits:
  • Star Chance: The player rolls two dice with a star on a square of each of them. The player gets a Star Card for each one they roll.
  • Dice Bonus: The player in last gets to roll two dice for the remainder of the game.
  • Time Stop: Last place rolls a dice to get that many turns when they’re the only ones to move.
  • Item Surplus: The player gets three of every item.

Rare Minigames

Rare Minigames can all be played in Minigame mode, but once purchased in the star bank, they can also be played in the Extras mode with a few bonus characters:

• Pauline
• Swanky Kong
• King Bob-Omb
• Ashley
• Petey Piranha (Smaller than normal, though)

Star Bank

The Star Bank returns from Mario Party 6, although now the currency is strictly in Mini Stars. Mini Stars are earned directly in Co-Op mode (making it great for grinding Mini Stars), but there’s a conversion rate for other modes:

• Party Mode:
  • 1 Mini Star for every 10 coins the player finishes with
  • 5 Mini Stars for every star the player finishes with
• Mini Game Mode:
  • 1 Mini Star for every 5 Minigames played

So, here’s the bank itself:

Unlock	Description	Price
Goob	Unlocks Goob as a playable character	30 Mini Stars
Noki	Unlocks Noki as a playable character	30 Mini Stars
Penny	Unlocks Penny as a playable character	30 Mini Stars
Dr. Cygor	Unlocks Dr. Cygor as a playable character	30 Mini Stars
Dread Kong	Unlocks Dread Kong as a playable character	30 Mini Stars
Krunch	Unlocks Krunch as a playable character	30 Mini Stars
Piranha Plant	Unlocks Piranha Plant as a playable character	30 Mini Stars
Kamek	Unlocks Kamek as a playable character	30 Mini Stars
Satellite Of Luck	Unlocks the Satellite Of Luck Board for Party Mode	100 Mini Stars
4 Player Minigame	Unlocks a random 4 Player Minigame. Can be purchased multiple times.	10 Mini Stars Each
1 vs 3 Minigame	Unlocks a random 1 vs 3 Minigame. Can be purchased multiple times.	15 Mini Stars Each
2 vs 2 Minigame	Unlocks a random 2 vs 2 Minigame. Can be purchased multiple times.	15 Mini Stars Each
Duel Minigame	Unlocks a random Duel Minigame. Can be purchased multiple times.	10 Mini Stars Each
Battle Minigame	Unlocks a random Battle Minigame. Can be purchased multiple times.	20 Mini Stars Each
Petey Minigame	Unlocks a random Petey Minigame. Can be purchased multiple times.	30 Mini Stars each
Co-Op Minigame	Unlocks a random Co-Op Minigame. Can be purchased multiple times.	10 Mini Stars Each
Team Minigame	Unlocks a random Team Minigame. Can be purchased multiple times.	15 Mini Stars Each
Slam Dunk Bros.	Unlocks Slam Dunk Bros.	25 Mini Stars
Bomb Ball	Unlocks a Bomb Ball for Slam Dunk Bros. Explodes if a shot isn’t attempted in 10 seconds.	5 Mini Stars
Fireball	Unlocks a Fireball for Slam Dunk Bros. Builds up power as it dribles, allowing for unblockable passes every so often.	5 Mini Stars
Volley Folly	Unlocks Volley Folly	25 Mini Stars
Dice Ball	Unlocks a Dice Bal for Volley Folly. the score earned is anywhere from 1 to 6.	5 Mini Stars
Yoshi Ball	Unlocks a Yoshi Ball. Looks like a Yoshi eggs, and gets faster with every attempted spike.	5 Mini Stars
Ice Shot	Unlocks Ice Shot	25 Mini Stars
Cosmic Pin Bowling	Unlocks Cosmic Pin Bowling	25 Mini Stars
Bumper Balls EX	Unlocks Bumper Balls EX	25 Mini Stars
Classic Coins	Replaces coins with the Mario 64 coins on any given board.	20 Mini Stars
Star Bits	Replace Coins with Star Bits on any given board.	20 Mini Stars
Shine Sprites	Replaces stars with Shine Sprites on any given board.	20 Mini Stars
Power Moon	Replaces Stars with Power Moons on any given board.	20 Mini Stars
Cookies	Replaces coins with cookies on the “Royal Cake Factory” Board	20 Mini Stars
Brownies	Replaces stars with brownies on the “Royal Cake Factory” Board	20 Mini Stars
Banana Coins	Replaces coins with Banana Coins on the “Kongo River Rumble” Board	20 Mini Stars
Bananas	Replaces Stars with Bananas on the “Kongo River Rumble” Board	20 Mini Stars
Pennies	Replaces coins with Pennies on the “Budget Diamond City” Board	20 Mini Stars
Gold Wario Statue	Replaces stars with Gold Wario Statue on the “Budget Diamond City” Board	20 Mini Stars
Koopa Coin	Replaces coins with Koopa Koins on the “Bowser’s Back Yard” Board	20 Mini Stars
Ztar	Replaces stars with Ztars on the “Bowser’s Back Yard” Board	20 Mini Stars
Pauline Figurine	Unlocks Pauline for the Card Party Mode	20 Mini Stars
King Bob-Omb Figurine	Unlocks King Bob-Omb for the Card Party Mode	20 Mini Stars
Ashley Figurine	Unlocks Ashley for the Card Party Mode	20 Mini Stars
Petey Piranha Figurine	Unlocks Petey Piranha for the Card Party Mode	20 Mini Stars
Swanky Kong Figurine	Unlocks Swanky Kong for the Card Party Mode	20 Mini Stars
Nabbit Figurine	Unlocks Nabbit for the Card Party Mode	20 Mini Stars
Player Trophies	Unlocks a trophy of that playable character.	5 Mini Stars Each
Item Trophies	Unlocks a trophy of that item.	5 Mini Stars Each

Trophies are collectibles you unlock as you play and earn high scores in minigames. I have some, but I’m too tired post them and they’re not that important to the write up.

Final Words

The basic idea of this write up was to show that there’s still places to take this franchise and that there’s room for improvement in the formula itself. I’m perfectly fine if a Super Mario Party 2 comes out and doesn’t look like this. So long as improvements are made and the next content is fun to play, I’m fine. This is just my idealized version.

Anyway, I’d like to thank my friends and readers for waiting so long on this. It’s good to finally have this done, and nice to know that my write ups can work as an article.