Series at a Glance: Mario Party

One of the gameboards from
Mario Party 1

Although it probably ranks second to Mario Kart in popularity, Mario Party is definitely the Mario Spinoff series with the most games to date. Incorporating all of the numbered games, the ones made for handhelds, and the ones only released in Japan and you have 11 entries. Add the upcoming Mario Party 9 for the Wii and you have 12 mini-game riddled party games staring Mario and his pals.


How does it work? 

Mario Party is essentially a board game brought to life...sorta. With a main map or board made up of panels and a dice to roll to move the characters, the game looks similar to say: Monopoly, Sorry, or Parcheese. 
Each board has it's own theme, difficulty, and special traits. Players collect and lose coins as well as activate different occurrences depending on what they land on. But here's where Mario Party springs up from a boring board game. At the end of each turn, all 4 players (human controlled or CPU controlled) participated in one of tons and tons of minigames.


Minigames

Minigames are short, usually timed or race based, challenges where each character tries to outdo the others. Goals could be to collect the most coins, be the first one to get a item, race to the finish, or be the last one eliminated. Each game has it's own set of rules, controls, and strategies which keep the game fresh.

Stories

Each game has it's own "story" mode based on one thing or another but they usually involve an enemy (typically Bowser) and require the acquisition of Stars to bring peace back to the world.

Characters

Like other Mario spin-off titles, the list of playable characters grows with each addition to the series. However, unlike most sport and racing games, each character plays the same way so it's simply a matter of preference that determines who to choose.

And like any boardgame, it's usually more fun to play with friends than it is to play against the Computer...


Overviews of these Never Ending Parties:

Mario Party (1)

*Released for the Nintendo 64 February 8, 1999.

The first game in the series which was an instant hit and opened up a new direction for Nintendo and Mario. The opening shows Mario and his pales all getting into an argument about who's the strongest and to settle it, Toad decides to settle the matter with a competition in which the winner, who defeats Bowser and beats the rest, will be crowned as a SuperStar. The game sports about 50 different minigames of different categories allowing for tons of fun and high replay value.

Mario Party 2

*Released for the N64 January 24, 2000

Mario Party 2 added more fun to the series by introducing a theme with each board that would affect the characters and their outfits. It has a total of 65 minigames including a handful of edited or slightly changed minigames from the previous title. It also introduces new items and game mechanics. The story is created from each character's desire to have an amusement park named after them and compete to win.


Mario Party 3

*The last Mario Party released for the N64 May 7, 2001.

Mario Party 3 was one of the last big games released for the Nintendo 64. It had 70 completely new minigames and new types of boards such as "duel-boards". Characters also have their own "partners" who help them out in various situations. The biggest addition to the series however was the inclusion of two new characters, Waluigi and Princess Daisy.

Mario Party 4

*Released October 21, 2002 as the first Mario Party for the Nintendo GameCube.

Mario Party 4's story is the planning of  a party for the character chosen and the plan is for him/her to win it herself. The boards serve as the competition and even Bowser comes in with his own board to stir up trouble.  MP4 has new mini games and a new cooperative system where the player picks a team from the 8 available characters.



Mario Party 5


*Released for the GameCube November 10, 2003.


Mario Party 5 is unique in that it features many elements from the Paper Mario Series including locations and non-playable characters. The game's story involves the Star Spirits from Paper Mario as well as mischief caused by Bowser. Toad, Boo, and Koopa Kid were added to the roster of playable characters in the game and a Capsule system for getting items is introduced. It also has it's own cast of minigames.


Mario Party 6


*Released December 6, 2004 as the third game of the series for the GameCube.


The game is the first in the series that features an installment of voice controlled minigames using a packaged microphone, which makes an all new mode, Speak Up, which is microphone-oriented. With this add-on, the categories of minigames is again expanded with tons of new minigames available. In this game, there is a day-night element as the story shows a conflict between the sun and the moon and the only way to settle it is with the collection of Stars. All of the characters available in the previous games return as well as an unlock-able. character.

Mario Party 7 

*Released November 7, 2005 as the final game for the Nintendo GameCube.

The story of this game is around a vacation taken by Mario and his pals around the Mushroom world by way of Peach's personal cruise ship. Bowser gets word of this adventure and decides to crash the event (since he wasn't invited). Mario Party 7 shares many similarities in game play as Mario Party 6 including the microphone options. Two more characters were added to the roster as well as plenty of new boards and mini-games. 

Mario Party 8

*Released May 29, 2007 as the first Mario Party for the Nintendo Wii.


MP 8 takes the Mario Party series to new heights with the added use of Motion Control. With a new type of game play, this game comes packed with an incredible number of mini-games of all types as well as minor gameplay changes. Boo and Hammer Bro. are also added to the roster of playable characters.

Mario Party 9


*Released March 11, 2012 for the Nintendo Wii

The story of Mario Party 9 has more of an adventure feel to it than a simple party spoiled by Bowser. The collection of stars serves to foil his and Bowser Jr.'s plot to suck up all the mini starts. Like the rest, more mini-games are available as well as a new way of moving around the board referred to as the "Transportation System". Mini stars take priority over coins and there is a bit of a change in how characters progress. Kamek and ShyGuy are two new characters.


Further Reading
http://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Party_(series)