Mario Party DS

The newest edition in the Mario Party franchise is Mario Party DS. This game supports up to four players via local wi-fi (single cartridge download play) in a multitude of modes. There is a also a single player mode that you have to go through to unlock all of the boards.

So, how does it stack up? Is it worth buying? I'm going to cover the basics of the game and let the final decision reside with you.

Story Mode (1 player)

Something has fallen from the sky and broken into a pieces. It is up to Mario and friends to find all five pieces of the star crystal and put the broken crystal back together again.

The game begins with King Bowser inviting Mario and friends to his castle for a feast. While there everyone is shrunk down to the size of miniature dolls. It is now up to you to battle your way through five game boards to acquire all five pieces of of the Star Crystal.

After you win each game you will go one to a boss mini-game. Win the mini-game and you will be awarded a piece of the star crystal and move on to the next board.

Story mode is single player only so you have to win each game to fight the boss and proceed. The final board is not available until you complete story mode.

You will also earn Party Points for playing the game. These points provide you with items for your gallery and that's about it. Once you complete story mode you will also earn a badge for the character you played as.

Mario Party DS

Party Mode (1 to 4 players)

In party mode game play is much as you would expect from the Mario Party line of games. One player takes the role of host and all other players download the game via DS download play.

What is very nice about party mode is that the host can not begin a mini-game until all players have read the mini-game rules. I have had problems in the past where the player on controller one hits the "play game" button before all players are ready.

Party mode plays much as you would expect with Battle Royale, Tag Battle and Duel Battle modes.

Mini-Game Mode (1 to 4 players)

Don't feel like playing on the board but you just want to get in some mini-games? Mini-Game mode is just the thing for you. Between Free Play, Step It Up, Battle Cup, Score Scuffle, Boss Bash and Rocket Rascals you will be able to get in some quick mini-game action without having to worry about getting stars.

Puzzle Mode (1 to 2 Players)

Play six puzzle-action games, which include five classics from previous Mario Party games. This mode also includes the new touch-controlled Triangle Twisters, which has two play modes. In Frenzy Mode, players clear the field by twisting triangles so they connect with those of the same color. In Focus Mode, they twist them to build complex shapes, like turtles and pinwheels.

Gallery

As you accumulate party points from game play (single player only) you will be awarded prizes that go in your gallery. Unlike in previous games you do not spend points in a store. Instead, as you reach preset point levels prizes will be awarded to you. Prizes will also be awarded based on game play goals.

So, how does it play?

A common complaint of the Mario Party games is that you can't skip over animations and that the game can drag while waiting for animations to complete. It's great fun when you first see the animations but, after the 500th play you would rather skip over the 30 second animation of a character being eaten by a plant. You still can not skip animations but the characters do appear to be moving faster on the game boards.

The mini-games all make excellent use of the DS. Some use the stylus while others capitalize on the dual screen format. There are even some games that use the touch screen as a pad of buttons. Rather than push A or B you will be tapping on buttons that appear on the lower screen.

Each of the five game boards offers a different brand of fun:

Mario Party DS

Wiggler's Garden: This is the first board you will encounter in story mode and it is also the easiest. This board takes place in a huge garden and the boss is a piranha plant. Stars cost 20 coins and the star space moves every time someone buys a star.

Toadette's Music Room: The second board takes place in a music room. Stars are purchased from musical notes that appear on the board. The price starts at five coins and maxes out at 30 coins before reseting back to five. Every time a star is purchased the music spot moves. A Hammer Bros. is the board boss.

DK's Stone Statue: While making his way to Bowser's castle DK ran afoul of Dry Bones and was turned into a garden statue. It is up to Mario and friends to win the board and defeat Dry bones to save DK. The star space never moves on this board and you can buy as many as you can afford at 20 coins each.

Kamek's Library: The magical library of Kamek is your next stop in your quest. There are magical teleportation spaces that will teleport you between the two boards. Stars are hidden inside one of three magic jars on the board. One jar has a star, one eats you up and another gives you coins. all jars cost 10 coins to open. When you gain a star all jars go away and three new jars appear on the board.

Bowser's Pinball Machine: The final board takes place inside Bowser's castle. Stars cost 20 coins and the star space moves every time you buy one. After beating the board you take on Bowser, defeat him and you win the story mode.

When preparing to play you can assign players up to three bonus stars and COM players can be set to easy, normal or hard. Completing story mode unlocks expert difficulty for COM players.

For characters you can use: Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Toad, Peach, Daisy and Yoshi.

Mario Party DS

What's New?

Every Mario Party game released has a few changes made in the item selection available, this game is no different. As well as purchasable items there are also hexes you can acquire to place on board spaces.

Among items there are old standbys such as double, triple and halfway dice. You can also purchase a warp block and a star pipe, both of which teleport you prior to rolling your dice for movement. You can also purchase a snag bag that will allow you to steal an item from another player. The block sensor helps you find hidden blocks (full of coins) and the grab bag is an item that holds three items inside of it; star pipe, block sensor and a triple dice set.

Hexes are something new in Mario Party DS. These can not be purchased in a store but can be acquired by passing over certain spaces. When you use these you place them on a space on the board. When someone steps on them they are activated.

  • 10 coin hex: steal 10 coins from an opponent
  • 20 coin hex: steal 20 coins from an opponent
  • coin swap hex: swap coins with an opponent
  • 1 star hex: steal one star from an opponent
  • 2 star hex: steal two stars from an opponent
  • space swap hex: swap your board location with an opponent
  • star block: creates a block that can be hit for 1 to 3 stars
  • coin block: creates a coin block that can be hit for a lot of coins

If you land on a hex placed by you (except for the last two) you get some coins rather than the desired effect.

My Opinion

I am very happy with Mario Party DS. One thing that always bothered me about the Mario Party games is that when you play a mini-game everyone sees the same thing. With the mini-games being played on the DS screen only you get to see your screen.

The boards are fun and not too long. If you are not in the mood to play a full game you can play one of the mini-game modes and play as few as three mini-games at a time.

Not all is good in the game. The party points are fairly useless. You also do not earn any party points when playing in multi-player mode, which is the whole point of the game!

When playing with COM players you have to set them all to the same difficulty level. To do otherwise runs the risk of finding yourself in a 2 vs. 2 mini-game that you can not win because the difficulty translates into the speed at which the COM player presses buttons and you are stuck with the slow COM player!