Mario Party: Island Tour

Mario Party: Island Tour
Even if the car mechanic was temporarily removed, it doesn't save this game.
Genre(s): Party Platform(s): Nintendo 3DS Release: NA: November 22, 2013 HK: January 10, 2014 EU: January 17, 2014 AU: January 18, 2014 JP/KOR: March 20, 2014 Developer(s): NDcube Publisher(s): Nintendo Series: Mario Party Predecessor: Mario Party DS Mario Party 9 Successor: Mario Party 10 Mario Party: Star Rush

Mario Party: Island Tour is a party video game developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo in November 2013. It is the third Mario Party handheld game, is the thirteenth game in the Mario Party series, as well as the first of three to be released for the Nintendo 3DS. It was announced by Satoru Iwata in April 2013. This was also the game in the series that uses AR and Streetpass.

Plot

Mario and his friends receive a letter saying that they should join the party. Suddenly, the bubbles trap the characters and then they were sent to a place called Party Island.

Bad Qualities

1. Repetitive gameplay ranging from mediocre to just plain boring.
2. For a game on a console that has started to heavily support online play, this game lacks Online Play.
3. Bowser's Tower isn't that fun of a solo mode when compared to the previous games. You simply fight bubbly clones from other characters in mini-games rather than on boards.
   • It also has a horrible ending. After the Player Character defeat Bowser and destroys the bubble machine, you would think that it would be it right? Well guess what, it isn't, as it's revealed that the Bowser that the Player(s) had just beaten was a decoy and the real Bowser then comes in, mocks the characters and then knocks the Player Character and Toad off the tower, to which he then says "I'll be back with a bigger, better plan to ruin your fun next time! Your tour of Bowser's Tower isn't over yet! We'll meet again! GAA HA HA!" which means that all our progress was absolutely nothing. And no, this is not the "bad ending", this is how the mode actually ends.
     • From how Bowser says that line, there's a slight possibility that Bower's Tower was meant to have a Version 2, with more mini games/bosses and a proper good ending after defeating Bowser for real, but was never made into the final game, which could suggest that Mario Party: Island Tour was a bit rushed and was released in a 95% of development completion before such thing could be even implemented.
   • If the Player(s) play it again as his son Bowser Jr. after he/she unlock him, Bowser is still mean-spirited to even Bowser Jr. of all characters, showing how heartless he is in this game.
4. Speaking of Bowser's character derailment, in Bowser's Peculiar Peak, he straight-up LAUNCHES the loser into who-knows-where with a giant metal hammer (which thankfully reveals that the loser survived because of Lakitu carrying them). Nathaniel Bandy calls that action, "Pretty savage for Bowser's usual standards". He even can do that to his own son, Bowser Jr. of all people! That can actually be considered child abuse in a kids game.
5. The board gameplay does not play as the original titles play, which was a large disappointment to fans. Alongside, a lot of the boards became more luck based than skill based, with the worst offender being Banzai Bill's Mad Mountain.
6. There's no 2 vs 2, duel, battle or even 1 vs 3 minigames.
7. The Boss and AR mini-games weren't better at all, and they are extremely easy to win.
8. The game reuses numerous songs and even characters voices from Mario Party 9.
9. On the topic of characters, there are only 10 playable characters.
10. False advertising: Rosalina is seen on the cover art of this game, yet she only appears as a cameo in Rocket Road, and doesn't make a playable appearance until Mario Party 10.
11. Rocket Road is completely unbalanced, because staking boosters is downright broken and extremely overpowered. You could win a game of Rocket Road in 3 turns, and that is NOT an over-exaggeration! Nathaniel Bandy actually managed to accomplish that in his TRIGGERED video of this game because of how broken staking boosters is. In extremely rare cases, it can be finished in 2 turns.
12. In Shy Guy’s Shuffle City, there are lots of problems:
    • Players strangely can't play Shy Guy's Shuffle City on single-player, but rather 3-4 players to access this board, even though it would be easy to program the AI for the board, even in regards to the card-swapping mechanic.
    • Also, if the Players' holding the Bowser Card when the game is over, they automatically get last place, which is just so cruel and doesn’t make a lot of sense.
    • If the Players' holding the Bowser Card, he/she cannot participate in the Final Challenge, which is just unacceptable.

Good Qualities

1. The infamous car mechanic has been temporarily removed here.
2. Boo returns as a playable character since Mario Party 8.
   • You can also play as Bowser Jr. after finishing Bowser's Tower for the first time. It marks the first time that someone nearly identical to Koopa Kid has been playable since Mario Party 6.
3. Decent soundtrack.
4. Good voice acting.
5. Some decent minigames, such as The Choicest Voice, where you humorously do impressions from characters in this game.
6. The graphics are good for a 3DS title.

Reception

Mario Party: Island Tour was met with mixed reception from critics and a mixed to negative reception from gamers with Metacritic giving it a 57/100.

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