Mario Party DS

Mario Party DS
Protagonist(s): Various Genre(s): Party Platform(s): Nintendo DS Release Date: November 19, 2007 Developer(s): Hudson Soft Publisher(s): Nintendo Country: Japan Series: Mario Party Predecessor: Mario Party Advance Successor: Mario Party: Island Tour

Mario Party DS is a sub entry in the Mario Party series and the second handheld entry, after Advance. It was the last Mario Party game to be developed by Hudson Soft, before NDcube would take over development, due to the former being absorbed by Konami in 2012.

Like most installments in the Mario Party series, Mario Party DS features characters of the Mario franchise competing in a board game with a variety of minigames, many of which utilize the console's unique features. Up to four human players can compete at a time, though characters can also be computer-controlled. The game features a single-player story mode as well as several other game modes.

Mario Party DS received mixed reviews, with general praise for its minigame variety and criticism for its absence of an online multiplayer mode. The game has sold more than nine million units worldwide, making it the 11th best-selling game for the Nintendo DS. Mario Party DS was succeeded by Mario Party 9 for the Wii in 2012.

Plot

Mario and the gang all get invited to dinner party at Bowser's castle, along with an apology from Bowser saying he's sorry for kidnapping Princess Peach for 20 years. The heroes get to the castle and discover its a trap, as they are caged soon after and shrunk by Bowser's minimizer. The miniature heroes get blasted away by Kamek, and land close to Wiggler's Garden, which is the first board. The boards get much more difficult from there on out, and ends in a Pinball machine owned by Bowser.

Why It Rocks

1. Great graphics for a DS game.
2. The Minimizer is a weapon so stupid, it's awesome.
3. The Minimizer also grants the Mario crew a great variety in Party boards, as they allow the characters to party down in everyday places, like a music shop and a library.
4. Fun mini games, including Hanger Management, Fast Food Frenzy, and Sweet Sleuth.
   1. A lot of them take advantage of the Minimizer, as there are mini games set in houses, backyards, schools, etc. One great example is a mini game where you are skating down a stair guard rail.
5. A massive improvement over Advance, which was a mediocre-at-best Mario Party entry for a handheld console.
6. Good replay value.
7. The story is really funny.
8. Fun and unique boss battles.
9. The music is extremely catchy.
10. Multiplayer only needs a single copy, unlike many other DS games.
11. Many of the older puzzle minigames such as Bob-Omb Breakers (from Mario Party 4) and Piece Out (from Mario Party 5) return in this game, which can be a throwback to fans of Mario Party 3 through 7.
12. Unlike the other handheld entries (if you don't count the Switch games), this one genuinely feels like a proper handheld Mario Party game.

Bad Qualities

1. Inconsistent boss battle difficulty. The first one with a Piranha Plant is near-universally considered the hardest by fans (especially since these fans were/are children playing the game), and the rest of the bosses are easy up until Bowser, who is the second hardest.
2. The AI during the board game sections is dumber than most of the other games, as they have no concept of how to save coins for stars and they waste items pointlessly, so they basically just charge towards wherever the star is placed even if doing so isn't in their best interest.
3. Like with Mario Party 8, Bowser is too nice in this game as he's barely a threat during the Bowser Space events and he actually feels sorry for the player in last place during the Final 5 Frenzy.
4. Only 8 playable characters to choose from, which is low for Mario Party standards.

Reception

Mario Party DS received mixed to positive reviews. It currently has a 7.3 on IGN, who called it "a huge leap over the last portable rendition". In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 33 out of 40. The minigame variety was generally praised, while criticism was largely directed at the lack of Wi-Fi connection, which heavily restricted the multiplayer aspect. Several reviews alluded to Mario Party DS being superior to its predecessor, Mario Party 8. IGN's Patrick Kolan and Craig Harris summarized the game as "a worthwhile party outing for gamers who are new to the series" and "a solid multiplayer mini-game experience with a lot of the flaws of the previous versions", respectively.

The variety in Mario Party DS's minigame control schemes was consistently praised by critics. Some reviewers expressed concern toward certain minigames requiring usage of the console's built-in microphone, though also complimented the ability to exclude such minigames from normal play if desired. Response toward the design and pacing of the minigames was more mixed; GameSpot's Frank Provo stated that a majority of the minigames were engaging, Game Informer's Bryan Vore wrote that they were "suitably amusing", and Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson described them as "too simplistic, over too quickly or simply too dull to be enjoyable", as well as "badly designed and boring".

Mario Party DS's additional game modes also attracted a mostly positive response from critics, particularly "Puzzle Mode", despite most of the puzzles originating from prior entries in the series. Nintendo Life's Dave Frear, in a review of the Wii U's Virtual Console version of the game, referred to these puzzles as "quite addictive", while Ellie Gibson of Eurogamer stated that the puzzle games were more entertaining than the actual board game. Michael Cole of Nintendo World Report offered a less positive response toward the puzzle games, describing them as "simplistic and cumbersome".

The game's single-player focus and absence of an online multiplayer mode were widely panned by critics, especially due to the inclusion of an online mode in Mario Kart DS despite the game being released two years earlier. However, the local multiplayer aspect was generally complimented. Mario Party DS's artificial intelligence was also poorly received, particularly due to its poor cooperation and reactivity with human players, as well as the competence of characters controlled by AI varying widely depending on difficulty level. IGN's Patrick Kolan also expressed criticism toward a perceived lack of game boards, while GameSpy's Bryan Stratton spoke of a lack of both game boards and playable characters.

The presentation of Mario Party DS was also a frequent topic of discussion. The game's graphical style was referred to as "big" and "bold" by Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson, while Nick Tan of GameRevolution described the graphics and music as "appropriate and whimsically imagined". GameSpot's Frank Provo stated that the presentation "reflects the cheerful attitude you'd normally expect a game starring Mario to have". Provo also praised references to previous Mario games, such as one minigame featuring a music box that plays a rendition of Super Mario Bros.'s World 1-1 theme.

The win condition usually only involving Stars elicited criticism from reviewers, with Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson referring to the system as "flawed and unfair". Bryan Vore of Game Informer expressed dismay due to luck remaining "a key gameplay mechanic" that could determine the outcome of a game, even during the last turn, while Michael Cole of Nintendo World Report noted that some minigames were "pure chance".

Sales

Mario Party DS became the most-sold game during the first week of its release in Japan, selling 230,000 copies. According to Famitsu, as of July 9, 2008, the game had sold 1,700,000 copies in Japan. It was the 18th best-selling game in Japan in 2008. By March 2011, the game had sold more than eight million copies worldwide. By September 2015, Mario Party DS had sold more than nine million units worldwide, making it the 11th best-selling game for the Nintendo DS.

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