Mario Party 9 Review
From: March 15, 2012 To: April 14, 2012
Mario Party 9 comes to a whole new era to the Mario Party’s main series. It was announced during E3 2011 after 4 years of unheard news. This game was developed by Nintendo’s subsidiary, Nd Cube because the key developers of Hudson left after the release of Mario Party 8 back in 2007. Nd Cube also developed Wii Party back in 2010 and later, they took over the development of the Mario Party series since the release of Mario Party 9. This caused most of the elements to change; Rules and Objectives, Characters, Minigames, Gameplay Controls, etc. That’s the reason why Mario Party 9 took so long. Now, Mario and Company have to restore the Mini Stars to the night sky that were stolen by Bowser’s Influence. They also get to travel around the boards as friends but they battle it out like foes in Minigames and other events during gameplay.
Mario Party 9 has 12 Characters; 10 at the start, and 2 that play for Bowser and need to be unlocked. In addition to the new series, Boss Battles hinder the party and they also have some Mini Stars that Bowser has stolen. There are 12 Bosses, plus 2 for Special Bonuses; and each 2 are located on a single board. We have a Minor Boss in a Fort and a Stage Boss that is behind the Bowser Gate. But the main element returning to the series is from Mario Party Advance, where 4 Players or less move around the board in a vehicle and their goal is to collect the most what is known as “Mini Stars” to become the Superstar of the board. A player is also known as the “Captain” during their turn. But that’s not all; a bad thing introduced to Mario Party 9 is “Mini Ztars”, which can deduct their current total of Mini Stars. There are also new spaces on all boards which replaced the old ones. Minigames don’t occur after all players finish their turn, it occurs when the captain lands on Minigame Spaces; either a VS. Space, a 1-vs.-3 Space for four players or a 1-vs.-2 Space if there are three players, a Battle Space and a Bowser Jr. Space. Boss Minigames occur when the captain passes by a Boss Space, Battle Minigames occur when the captain lands on a Battle Space; Either Hammer Bro. or Fire Bro. will turn up. If it’s Hammer Bro., all players will lose 3 Mini Stars and Battle for it in a Free-For-All Minigame; if it’s Fire Bro. however, the player who ends in last will get burned and lose 10 Mini Stars and giving them to the other players. This can also occur to the players who tied for last. Bowser Events are also present, where bad things happen such as losing Mini Stars to the last place player, a Bowser Revolution where all of the player’s Mini Stars are divided up equally, or a Reverse Minigame; where a player must end up in last to win Mini Stars. These events can be triggered when the captain lands on the returning evil Bowser Spaces. Another thing bad that has been introduced is the Bowser Jr. Space, where the captain and the 4th place player or the captain and a Player if there are CPUs challenge Bowser Jr. into his dreaded Minigames known as “Bowser Jr. Minigames”. If they fail, they will lose 5 Mini Stars to him; if they win, this is reversed. Players can get Dice Blocks when landing on a Blue Space. However, that’s not all; sometimes they can get Mini Stars or a Free-For-All Minigame occasionally. There is an opportunity to get an extra turn: Landing on a Dash Space can make you roll again, but only the Standard Dice Block. The Back Space can also make you roll again, with the same Standard Dice Block but the space can send you backwards. The way to mix-up the turn order is to land on a Shuffle Space, where the turn order can be modified on who goes first, second, third and fourth. The captain might roll again, but who knows? One thing good about this game is the captain landing on a ! Space. No, it does not start Chance Time from the previous generations, but it causes a special effect to the captain and maybe bad things to the other players. Another thing is the Lucky Spaces from Mario Party 8, where the captain goes to a Lucky Route or a Toad House to get Mini Stars or a Bonus. There is a bad thing about them, and that is the Unlucky Spaces, where you get Mini Ztars there instead. A newly introduced challenge on all boards is the Captain Event Spaces. When the captain passes these spaces, a certain event occurs when all players attend to this. There are some events that can make them fail and some that are informal. The Captain Event Spaces and Boss Spaces cannot be skipped, even if the captain has a few spaces left to move; all players are forced to attend these events. The Happening Spaces also known as Event Spaces from all generations also return, meaning that a certain event can occur when the captain lands on it in a board. There are also Mini Star Spaces and Mini Ztar Spaces, where you get the number of Mini Stars or Mini Ztars shown on the space. At the end, Bonus Stars make a return to the series and again, there are 6 in total and they only get 3. Each Bonus Star is worth 5 Mini Stars or 10 Bananas in DK’s Jungle Ruins. Handicaps make a return to the start, where they get a starting advantage from the other players; they can have a maximum of 50 Mini Stars. And lastly, nothing will happen when the captain lands on a Green Space.
Mario Party 9 has a total of 7 boards in all. We have Toad Road for beginners. After defeating the Minor Boss in the Fort, they will encounter a Bridge-out zone, where all players must get a number that is shown on the gauge or higher. If the number is not reached by the players, the captain will roll a 1-10 Dice Block to make sure if they can get to the end or not. If they succeed, they will make it to a Mini Star field; if they fail however, they will all fall into an area of Mini Ztars. Next we have Bob-omb Factory, where the players may move around the board by the moving conveyor belts triggered by Event Spaces and they have to avoid Bob-ombs which can deduct half of their Mini Stars when their countdown reaches zero. The best idea is to roll a low number to avoid it during your turn. Then we have Boo’s Horror Castle, where they must flee from the Boos; getting caught will result the captain to lose half of their Mini Stars; if there are more Boos that caught the captain, then he/she will lose more than half. This can also happen if the captain runs into another Boo in front of him/her. Boos don’t enter rooms where the players can enter, so it’s a safe spot but it can waste valuable time when there is a Boo chasing the players that’s due to a longer route inside. Landing on an Event Space will cause the players to warp from one room to another. The Bowser Gate has also changed, where the captain must roll a number or higher shown. If it does not match, they will not face the Stage Boss and they would have to do another lap. The number on the gate will decrease as well. Next we have Blooper Beach. At the start, we have the Dolphin the gives 5 Mini Stars to the captain who reaches it; and then we have Sushi the Shark chasing the players, if the captain is caught, he/she will lose half of their Mini Stars. High numbers are recommended for both of these events. On the other side, we have Mini Stars that can turn into Mini Ztars caused by Huckit Crabs on a Pirate Ship when the captain lands on an Event Space. This can be turned around when another captain lands on the same space and so on. If the captain lands on an Unlucky Space near the whirlpool, they will be sent to an area of Mini Ztar Spaces and some Dash Spaces as well. After a player lands on a Mini Ztar Space in the area, the whirlpool will then pull them back by 2 Spaces before his/her turn ends. But if the captain lands on a Lucky Space near the end of the board, they will be sent to Star Island, an area full of Dice Blocks Spaces and Mini Stars; the captain will also roll again due to a Dash Space that he/she landed on. Whoever lands on the Lucky Space on the island will get to take home 10 Mini Stars and will be sent back to the main route. We have Magma Mine, where the captain must avoid the rising magma, which can deduct half of their Mini Stars if caught; the magma can raise up to 2 spaces per turn, which can be avoided by a high number always. Also the captain can’t choose a direction where he/she wants to go, other players can select which direction on where they want to go as well, it is randomly determined by the Which Way Wheel. There is also Magma Spaces as known as the Red +2, +3 and +4 spaces, which can rapidly raise the Magma assigned on the space. Also, anyone who touches the magma in front of the Fort that is triggered by an Event Space, they will lose half of their Mini Stars, but landing on the space again will cause it to turn off. There are 2 unlockable boards in Mario Party 9. Bowser Station, which is heavily luck based in Single Player despite the Captain Events and Jackpot Spaces, the White +5 and +8 spaces. There is a Jackpot Machine at the center of the board that contains Mini Stars; the number goes up whenever the captain lands on a White Jackpot Space. If the number reaches 20 or more, a Free-For-All Minigame also known as “Jackpot Minigame” will begin with more Mini Stars to claim depending on their results. Landing on a Lucky Space where a Rainbow Star is marked at will cause the captain to win the Mini Stars from the Jackpot Machine to make things simple. Bowser or Bowser Jr. can also interrupt Captain Events and can mess them up; they can actually give misfortune to some players who reach their point. The bosses in Bowser Station are always Bowser Jr. and later, Bowser. And finally, we have DK’s Jungle Ruins, where Mini Stars have been replaced by Bananas and Mini Ztars which have been replaced by “Z-Bananas”. The players move around the board for 2 laps and play time is usually 30 minutes. DK Spaces make a return as well and only in this board, where the Bananas and Z-Bananas spin in a circle. The captain can press A to stop the circle moving and get the Bananas and Z-Bananas that passes him/her when they slow down and stop. The Lucky Spaces has some challenges for the captain who lands on it to gain more Bananas. There are also Special Boss Minigames, where Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong can give out to the players by collecting the most Bananas by using barrel cannons. There are no Bowser and Bowser Jr. Spaces on this board; however Bowser Spaces are more likely to be added near the end of the last lap.
There are a total of 82 Minigames in Mario Party 9 and there are four categories, Free-for-All, 1-vs.-Rivals, Bowser Jr. and Boss. The in-game controls have improved for this generation. However, luck Minigames make a return from Mario Party DS, where it doesn’t matter if you win or lose such as Mecha Choice, 10 to win, and Pier Pressure and sometimes, Pinball Fall. That’s the only thing bad about them. There are some thrilling Minigames like Magma Mayhem, Smash Compactor and Bomb Barge, where you must throw all your opponents off the game. There are some fun Minigames such as Pizza Me Mario, Logger Heads, Buddy Bounce, Flinger Painting and Fungi Frenzy. There are some survival Minigames such as Thwomper Room, Tumble Temple and Billistics, where you must be the last player standing. These survival Minigames can also be reversed, where you must suicide first to win. Some of them are racing Minigames such as Snow Go, Peak Precision, Chain Event, Manor of Escape, Skyjinks and Speeding Bullets, where you must get to the finish line first before your rivals do. Chain Event can also be reversed, but you must end up in last to win. In addition, some Minigames requires the players to pay attention such as Toad and Go Seek, Player Conveyor, Jigsaw Jumble, Twist Ending, Goomba Spotting and Goomba Village. The 1-vs.-3 Minigames return to the series, also known as 1-vs.-Rivals Minigame, where the solo must defeat the team in Minigames like Hole Hogs, Hazard Hold, Line in the Sand, Ruins Rumble and Spike-n-Span. Or the team must defeat the solo like with Mob Sleds, Tackle Takedown and Block and Roll. There are also racing games such as Pix Fix and Weird Wheels. If there are 3 players, this is converted into a 1-vs.-2 Minigame. The new thrilling thing about Minigames is the newly introduced dreaded Bowser Jr. Minigames, where 2 players try to defeat Bowser Jr. or something else in those. Boss Battles returning from Mario Party DS also is certain, there are 14 in total. With the first 12 Bosses, they must make the Boss take damage by attacking them until their meter reaches zero, while the other 2 require collecting the most Bananas. The biggest positive about the Boss Battles, is that you and the other players will never lose to a Boss, especially Bowser; but you must have the most points to win off from the other players. There are no 2-vs.-2 Minigames returning from the previous generations, however there is only 1 that is available in the Extras Mode, and that is Shell Soccer.
We also have Minigame competitions coming back to the series such as the returning Step it Up from Mario Party DS, where you must win 3, 5 or 7 Minigames to become the crowned champion. Garden Battle, where the players must fill their garden with plants, the player who fills their entire garden first is the winner. Choice Challenge, where 5 Minigames appear and they are randomly chosen on which players that are attending or not before that, but they can pick up to a maximum of 3. The player with the most points at the end wins. In High Rollers, the players roll their block to collect points, and they must reach 500 points before their rivals do. There are some power-ups during the game that can help out the last place player like the supporting Rush Item or hinder the other players by using the POW Switch. Time Attack is the only single player challenge, where the player must clear 10 Minigames for the fastest time. And Boss Rush, where the players must defeat 6 or 12 bosses to get the most points at the end to win. Boss Rush can be available at the Museum by completing Solo Mode once. Free Play will also return, where you can play any Minigame you want, Reverse Minigames don’t appear in this mode however. These can be found in Minigame Mode only. And finally, the Extra Mode has 4 Minigames. Castle Clearout, a puzzle minigame for 1 or 2 players, where they clear 6 balls or more at the same color or the player can clear the entire color by forming a shape pattern either a line, a hexagon or a diamond; they must clear all of the stars in the balls to proceed to the next level, a similar remake of Mario Party 6’s Block Star but with no time limit. That game is over when the balls reach the red line at the top of the playing field. If there are 2 Players, there is a competition that each player must win 3 rounds. By that, their rival’s playing field must be overloaded when their red line is on his/her balls; this causes the player still playing to win the round. Completing shapes with the balls will cause the other player’s field loaded with extra balls; also this might mess up their developing shape panels on what they are trying to clear. The only way to shrink the load is to clear 6 balls or more of the same color, which does no special effect to the other player. Shell Soccer is the only 2-vs.-2 Minigame available in Mario Party 9, where one team must clear 7 Goombas at their goal to win before the other team does. That Minigame will not be shown during Party Mode, Solo Mode and Minigame Mode at any costs because it’s the only 2-vs.-2 Minigame available. Goomba Bowling, a Free-For-All Minigame but is extended and has 5 frames with 2 shots each, and Perspective Mode, where the player must win 10 Minigames in different viewpoints.
Whenever you want to play alone, Solo Mode is the choice for you instead of Party Mode with CPU players. Solo Mode is also known as Story Mode. The play is when you must make your way from Toad Road to Bowser Station and to become the Superstar of all the 6 boards. You must make your way to the top without losing to Bowser’s Minions, either Shy Guy and/or Kamek. If you fail to them, you must start the board all over. Remember, it gets more intense as you advance. Completing this mode once will make those 2 hidden characters unlocked for future games. Also, you will be ranked depending on your results at the end. There is a Start Over option at the Pause Menu. You can use that if you know that you’re going to lose if you wish, but use it wisely. This causes you to start the current board all over. When completing a board, your progress will be saved.
Restoring the stolen Mini Stars to the night sky is great. There is credit from the game known as Party Points that you can use at the Museum. Use them to unlock special items such as new vehicles, DK’s Board, restore the Mini Stars that can be viewed from the night sky, special features and sounds that can be heard. You can collect Party Points wherever you win any mode except for the Museum. You can also check out your Records and the Staff Credits on who made the game, by Nintendo and Nd Cube. Boss Rush will be available when completing Solo Mode once for 500 Party Points. You can change your vehicle that you want to use in a board. All items in the game are worth 7100 Party Points. However, you can also view the Mini Stars from the sky, which is also common in the Main Menu. You can set off fireworks that are not usable in the Main Menu’s version. But every firework you set off will cost you 1 Party Point, it is not infinitive. You can view the description of the stars by pointing the cursor to one and pressing A.
Instead of collecting Coins to buy Stars in the previous generations, collecting Mini Stars is the goal to win the day. Mario Party 9 also removes some characters and replaces them with newcomers and some that are non-playable or even bosses. No, there are no Red Spaces in this, so nothing bad will happen but there are some certain spaces that could cause trouble during the game. Minigames does not occur at the end of each turn, but they will if someone lands on certain Minigame Spaces or is triggered by a Dice Block Space. The captain gets to choose a Minigame on which players are going to play; however near the end, the last placed player gets to choose it. There will be no items or space traps returning from the previous generations, but only Dice Blocks are collectable. We have the yellow Standard Dice Block that can roll 1-6, a green 1-2-3 Dice Block to slow down your speed or avoid traps if you get a high number, a purple 4-5-6 Dice Block to avoid certain spaces if you get a low number, a blue 0-1 Dice Block to pass your turn as captain or move 1 space and very useful to avoid getting a high number like the 1-2-3 Dice Block, a golden pentagonal trapezohedron shaped Dice Block known as the 1-10 Dice Block for a possible boost on the board and a golden Slow Dice Block where you can get the number you want. Saving at the end of each turn is not possible, because the game takes about 30-60 minutes to finish. Character taunts will not return to this game either. The last 5 turn bonus has also changed and is now located near the end of the board, where the last place player gets a Slow Dice Block for free; while on the bad side, Bowser will give the captain a ‘present’ by adding more Bowser Spaces near the end of the board.
Before the game’s release at E3 2011, Shy Guy was playable in the first version, but in the final version, Shy Guy needs to be unlocked by completing Solo Mode once, along with Kamek the Magikoopa. Some people say that Mario Party 9 would have online gameplay featuring Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, but that didn’t happen because Nintendo would not allow it. Classic Mode was predicted to return, but was later removed. The worst thing about Mario Party 9 is Toadette not returning to the game after nearly 4 years of absence, this would be her perfect time to return. But unfortunately she didn’t, and she was replaced by Kamek the Magikoopa because Kamek had a role for Bowser during Solo Mode, along with Shy Guy. She hasn’t been seen since Mario Super Sluggers back in 2008, but I think I will live with Kamek as a playable character for future games. But I think Nintendo is planning something ‘big’ on Toadette in the future. The reason for all this is because of Birdo returning from Mario Party 8, which made me think that Toadette would return.
I didn’t find Mario Party 9 boring at all but I can predict on what’s going to happen next, the good and the bad; it is a fun game to play with your friends and family at anytime. You can make the Dice Block much larger and spin faster by shaking the Wii Remote. Solo Mode is not tricky, I mean, you can complete that in 1 whole day, but it might be more luck related during play. It’s also easy to unlock Bowser Station, by completing every stage at once except DK’s Jungle Ruins, which is available at the Museum for 500 Party Points. So, to end my speech: “With enjoyable Minigames and tons of excitement in Party Boards, it is the true way to create an amusing festivity. If you want to party with your friends and family on your Wii, Mario Party 9 is the perfect way to get your party started.”
Gameplay 7.7
Controls 8.9
Sound 8.8
Graphics 8.2
Total 8.375
From: March 15, 2012 To: April 14, 2012
Mario Party 9 comes to a whole new era to the Mario Party’s main series. It was announced during E3 2011 after 4 years of unheard news. This game was developed by Nintendo’s subsidiary, Nd Cube because the key developers of Hudson left after the release of Mario Party 8 back in 2007. Nd Cube also developed Wii Party back in 2010 and later, they took over the development of the Mario Party series since the release of Mario Party 9. This caused most of the elements to change; Rules and Objectives, Characters, Minigames, Gameplay Controls, etc. That’s the reason why Mario Party 9 took so long. Now, Mario and Company have to restore the Mini Stars to the night sky that were stolen by Bowser’s Influence. They also get to travel around the boards as friends but they battle it out like foes in Minigames and other events during gameplay.
Mario Party 9 has 12 Characters; 10 at the start, and 2 that play for Bowser and need to be unlocked. In addition to the new series, Boss Battles hinder the party and they also have some Mini Stars that Bowser has stolen. There are 12 Bosses, plus 2 for Special Bonuses; and each 2 are located on a single board. We have a Minor Boss in a Fort and a Stage Boss that is behind the Bowser Gate. But the main element returning to the series is from Mario Party Advance, where 4 Players or less move around the board in a vehicle and their goal is to collect the most what is known as “Mini Stars” to become the Superstar of the board. A player is also known as the “Captain” during their turn. But that’s not all; a bad thing introduced to Mario Party 9 is “Mini Ztars”, which can deduct their current total of Mini Stars. There are also new spaces on all boards which replaced the old ones. Minigames don’t occur after all players finish their turn, it occurs when the captain lands on Minigame Spaces; either a VS. Space, a 1-vs.-3 Space for four players or a 1-vs.-2 Space if there are three players, a Battle Space and a Bowser Jr. Space. Boss Minigames occur when the captain passes by a Boss Space, Battle Minigames occur when the captain lands on a Battle Space; Either Hammer Bro. or Fire Bro. will turn up. If it’s Hammer Bro., all players will lose 3 Mini Stars and Battle for it in a Free-For-All Minigame; if it’s Fire Bro. however, the player who ends in last will get burned and lose 10 Mini Stars and giving them to the other players. This can also occur to the players who tied for last. Bowser Events are also present, where bad things happen such as losing Mini Stars to the last place player, a Bowser Revolution where all of the player’s Mini Stars are divided up equally, or a Reverse Minigame; where a player must end up in last to win Mini Stars. These events can be triggered when the captain lands on the returning evil Bowser Spaces. Another thing bad that has been introduced is the Bowser Jr. Space, where the captain and the 4th place player or the captain and a Player if there are CPUs challenge Bowser Jr. into his dreaded Minigames known as “Bowser Jr. Minigames”. If they fail, they will lose 5 Mini Stars to him; if they win, this is reversed. Players can get Dice Blocks when landing on a Blue Space. However, that’s not all; sometimes they can get Mini Stars or a Free-For-All Minigame occasionally. There is an opportunity to get an extra turn: Landing on a Dash Space can make you roll again, but only the Standard Dice Block. The Back Space can also make you roll again, with the same Standard Dice Block but the space can send you backwards. The way to mix-up the turn order is to land on a Shuffle Space, where the turn order can be modified on who goes first, second, third and fourth. The captain might roll again, but who knows? One thing good about this game is the captain landing on a ! Space. No, it does not start Chance Time from the previous generations, but it causes a special effect to the captain and maybe bad things to the other players. Another thing is the Lucky Spaces from Mario Party 8, where the captain goes to a Lucky Route or a Toad House to get Mini Stars or a Bonus. There is a bad thing about them, and that is the Unlucky Spaces, where you get Mini Ztars there instead. A newly introduced challenge on all boards is the Captain Event Spaces. When the captain passes these spaces, a certain event occurs when all players attend to this. There are some events that can make them fail and some that are informal. The Captain Event Spaces and Boss Spaces cannot be skipped, even if the captain has a few spaces left to move; all players are forced to attend these events. The Happening Spaces also known as Event Spaces from all generations also return, meaning that a certain event can occur when the captain lands on it in a board. There are also Mini Star Spaces and Mini Ztar Spaces, where you get the number of Mini Stars or Mini Ztars shown on the space. At the end, Bonus Stars make a return to the series and again, there are 6 in total and they only get 3. Each Bonus Star is worth 5 Mini Stars or 10 Bananas in DK’s Jungle Ruins. Handicaps make a return to the start, where they get a starting advantage from the other players; they can have a maximum of 50 Mini Stars. And lastly, nothing will happen when the captain lands on a Green Space.
Mario Party 9 has a total of 7 boards in all. We have Toad Road for beginners. After defeating the Minor Boss in the Fort, they will encounter a Bridge-out zone, where all players must get a number that is shown on the gauge or higher. If the number is not reached by the players, the captain will roll a 1-10 Dice Block to make sure if they can get to the end or not. If they succeed, they will make it to a Mini Star field; if they fail however, they will all fall into an area of Mini Ztars. Next we have Bob-omb Factory, where the players may move around the board by the moving conveyor belts triggered by Event Spaces and they have to avoid Bob-ombs which can deduct half of their Mini Stars when their countdown reaches zero. The best idea is to roll a low number to avoid it during your turn. Then we have Boo’s Horror Castle, where they must flee from the Boos; getting caught will result the captain to lose half of their Mini Stars; if there are more Boos that caught the captain, then he/she will lose more than half. This can also happen if the captain runs into another Boo in front of him/her. Boos don’t enter rooms where the players can enter, so it’s a safe spot but it can waste valuable time when there is a Boo chasing the players that’s due to a longer route inside. Landing on an Event Space will cause the players to warp from one room to another. The Bowser Gate has also changed, where the captain must roll a number or higher shown. If it does not match, they will not face the Stage Boss and they would have to do another lap. The number on the gate will decrease as well. Next we have Blooper Beach. At the start, we have the Dolphin the gives 5 Mini Stars to the captain who reaches it; and then we have Sushi the Shark chasing the players, if the captain is caught, he/she will lose half of their Mini Stars. High numbers are recommended for both of these events. On the other side, we have Mini Stars that can turn into Mini Ztars caused by Huckit Crabs on a Pirate Ship when the captain lands on an Event Space. This can be turned around when another captain lands on the same space and so on. If the captain lands on an Unlucky Space near the whirlpool, they will be sent to an area of Mini Ztar Spaces and some Dash Spaces as well. After a player lands on a Mini Ztar Space in the area, the whirlpool will then pull them back by 2 Spaces before his/her turn ends. But if the captain lands on a Lucky Space near the end of the board, they will be sent to Star Island, an area full of Dice Blocks Spaces and Mini Stars; the captain will also roll again due to a Dash Space that he/she landed on. Whoever lands on the Lucky Space on the island will get to take home 10 Mini Stars and will be sent back to the main route. We have Magma Mine, where the captain must avoid the rising magma, which can deduct half of their Mini Stars if caught; the magma can raise up to 2 spaces per turn, which can be avoided by a high number always. Also the captain can’t choose a direction where he/she wants to go, other players can select which direction on where they want to go as well, it is randomly determined by the Which Way Wheel. There is also Magma Spaces as known as the Red +2, +3 and +4 spaces, which can rapidly raise the Magma assigned on the space. Also, anyone who touches the magma in front of the Fort that is triggered by an Event Space, they will lose half of their Mini Stars, but landing on the space again will cause it to turn off. There are 2 unlockable boards in Mario Party 9. Bowser Station, which is heavily luck based in Single Player despite the Captain Events and Jackpot Spaces, the White +5 and +8 spaces. There is a Jackpot Machine at the center of the board that contains Mini Stars; the number goes up whenever the captain lands on a White Jackpot Space. If the number reaches 20 or more, a Free-For-All Minigame also known as “Jackpot Minigame” will begin with more Mini Stars to claim depending on their results. Landing on a Lucky Space where a Rainbow Star is marked at will cause the captain to win the Mini Stars from the Jackpot Machine to make things simple. Bowser or Bowser Jr. can also interrupt Captain Events and can mess them up; they can actually give misfortune to some players who reach their point. The bosses in Bowser Station are always Bowser Jr. and later, Bowser. And finally, we have DK’s Jungle Ruins, where Mini Stars have been replaced by Bananas and Mini Ztars which have been replaced by “Z-Bananas”. The players move around the board for 2 laps and play time is usually 30 minutes. DK Spaces make a return as well and only in this board, where the Bananas and Z-Bananas spin in a circle. The captain can press A to stop the circle moving and get the Bananas and Z-Bananas that passes him/her when they slow down and stop. The Lucky Spaces has some challenges for the captain who lands on it to gain more Bananas. There are also Special Boss Minigames, where Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong can give out to the players by collecting the most Bananas by using barrel cannons. There are no Bowser and Bowser Jr. Spaces on this board; however Bowser Spaces are more likely to be added near the end of the last lap.
There are a total of 82 Minigames in Mario Party 9 and there are four categories, Free-for-All, 1-vs.-Rivals, Bowser Jr. and Boss. The in-game controls have improved for this generation. However, luck Minigames make a return from Mario Party DS, where it doesn’t matter if you win or lose such as Mecha Choice, 10 to win, and Pier Pressure and sometimes, Pinball Fall. That’s the only thing bad about them. There are some thrilling Minigames like Magma Mayhem, Smash Compactor and Bomb Barge, where you must throw all your opponents off the game. There are some fun Minigames such as Pizza Me Mario, Logger Heads, Buddy Bounce, Flinger Painting and Fungi Frenzy. There are some survival Minigames such as Thwomper Room, Tumble Temple and Billistics, where you must be the last player standing. These survival Minigames can also be reversed, where you must suicide first to win. Some of them are racing Minigames such as Snow Go, Peak Precision, Chain Event, Manor of Escape, Skyjinks and Speeding Bullets, where you must get to the finish line first before your rivals do. Chain Event can also be reversed, but you must end up in last to win. In addition, some Minigames requires the players to pay attention such as Toad and Go Seek, Player Conveyor, Jigsaw Jumble, Twist Ending, Goomba Spotting and Goomba Village. The 1-vs.-3 Minigames return to the series, also known as 1-vs.-Rivals Minigame, where the solo must defeat the team in Minigames like Hole Hogs, Hazard Hold, Line in the Sand, Ruins Rumble and Spike-n-Span. Or the team must defeat the solo like with Mob Sleds, Tackle Takedown and Block and Roll. There are also racing games such as Pix Fix and Weird Wheels. If there are 3 players, this is converted into a 1-vs.-2 Minigame. The new thrilling thing about Minigames is the newly introduced dreaded Bowser Jr. Minigames, where 2 players try to defeat Bowser Jr. or something else in those. Boss Battles returning from Mario Party DS also is certain, there are 14 in total. With the first 12 Bosses, they must make the Boss take damage by attacking them until their meter reaches zero, while the other 2 require collecting the most Bananas. The biggest positive about the Boss Battles, is that you and the other players will never lose to a Boss, especially Bowser; but you must have the most points to win off from the other players. There are no 2-vs.-2 Minigames returning from the previous generations, however there is only 1 that is available in the Extras Mode, and that is Shell Soccer.
We also have Minigame competitions coming back to the series such as the returning Step it Up from Mario Party DS, where you must win 3, 5 or 7 Minigames to become the crowned champion. Garden Battle, where the players must fill their garden with plants, the player who fills their entire garden first is the winner. Choice Challenge, where 5 Minigames appear and they are randomly chosen on which players that are attending or not before that, but they can pick up to a maximum of 3. The player with the most points at the end wins. In High Rollers, the players roll their block to collect points, and they must reach 500 points before their rivals do. There are some power-ups during the game that can help out the last place player like the supporting Rush Item or hinder the other players by using the POW Switch. Time Attack is the only single player challenge, where the player must clear 10 Minigames for the fastest time. And Boss Rush, where the players must defeat 6 or 12 bosses to get the most points at the end to win. Boss Rush can be available at the Museum by completing Solo Mode once. Free Play will also return, where you can play any Minigame you want, Reverse Minigames don’t appear in this mode however. These can be found in Minigame Mode only. And finally, the Extra Mode has 4 Minigames. Castle Clearout, a puzzle minigame for 1 or 2 players, where they clear 6 balls or more at the same color or the player can clear the entire color by forming a shape pattern either a line, a hexagon or a diamond; they must clear all of the stars in the balls to proceed to the next level, a similar remake of Mario Party 6’s Block Star but with no time limit. That game is over when the balls reach the red line at the top of the playing field. If there are 2 Players, there is a competition that each player must win 3 rounds. By that, their rival’s playing field must be overloaded when their red line is on his/her balls; this causes the player still playing to win the round. Completing shapes with the balls will cause the other player’s field loaded with extra balls; also this might mess up their developing shape panels on what they are trying to clear. The only way to shrink the load is to clear 6 balls or more of the same color, which does no special effect to the other player. Shell Soccer is the only 2-vs.-2 Minigame available in Mario Party 9, where one team must clear 7 Goombas at their goal to win before the other team does. That Minigame will not be shown during Party Mode, Solo Mode and Minigame Mode at any costs because it’s the only 2-vs.-2 Minigame available. Goomba Bowling, a Free-For-All Minigame but is extended and has 5 frames with 2 shots each, and Perspective Mode, where the player must win 10 Minigames in different viewpoints.
Whenever you want to play alone, Solo Mode is the choice for you instead of Party Mode with CPU players. Solo Mode is also known as Story Mode. The play is when you must make your way from Toad Road to Bowser Station and to become the Superstar of all the 6 boards. You must make your way to the top without losing to Bowser’s Minions, either Shy Guy and/or Kamek. If you fail to them, you must start the board all over. Remember, it gets more intense as you advance. Completing this mode once will make those 2 hidden characters unlocked for future games. Also, you will be ranked depending on your results at the end. There is a Start Over option at the Pause Menu. You can use that if you know that you’re going to lose if you wish, but use it wisely. This causes you to start the current board all over. When completing a board, your progress will be saved.
Restoring the stolen Mini Stars to the night sky is great. There is credit from the game known as Party Points that you can use at the Museum. Use them to unlock special items such as new vehicles, DK’s Board, restore the Mini Stars that can be viewed from the night sky, special features and sounds that can be heard. You can collect Party Points wherever you win any mode except for the Museum. You can also check out your Records and the Staff Credits on who made the game, by Nintendo and Nd Cube. Boss Rush will be available when completing Solo Mode once for 500 Party Points. You can change your vehicle that you want to use in a board. All items in the game are worth 7100 Party Points. However, you can also view the Mini Stars from the sky, which is also common in the Main Menu. You can set off fireworks that are not usable in the Main Menu’s version. But every firework you set off will cost you 1 Party Point, it is not infinitive. You can view the description of the stars by pointing the cursor to one and pressing A.
Instead of collecting Coins to buy Stars in the previous generations, collecting Mini Stars is the goal to win the day. Mario Party 9 also removes some characters and replaces them with newcomers and some that are non-playable or even bosses. No, there are no Red Spaces in this, so nothing bad will happen but there are some certain spaces that could cause trouble during the game. Minigames does not occur at the end of each turn, but they will if someone lands on certain Minigame Spaces or is triggered by a Dice Block Space. The captain gets to choose a Minigame on which players are going to play; however near the end, the last placed player gets to choose it. There will be no items or space traps returning from the previous generations, but only Dice Blocks are collectable. We have the yellow Standard Dice Block that can roll 1-6, a green 1-2-3 Dice Block to slow down your speed or avoid traps if you get a high number, a purple 4-5-6 Dice Block to avoid certain spaces if you get a low number, a blue 0-1 Dice Block to pass your turn as captain or move 1 space and very useful to avoid getting a high number like the 1-2-3 Dice Block, a golden pentagonal trapezohedron shaped Dice Block known as the 1-10 Dice Block for a possible boost on the board and a golden Slow Dice Block where you can get the number you want. Saving at the end of each turn is not possible, because the game takes about 30-60 minutes to finish. Character taunts will not return to this game either. The last 5 turn bonus has also changed and is now located near the end of the board, where the last place player gets a Slow Dice Block for free; while on the bad side, Bowser will give the captain a ‘present’ by adding more Bowser Spaces near the end of the board.
Before the game’s release at E3 2011, Shy Guy was playable in the first version, but in the final version, Shy Guy needs to be unlocked by completing Solo Mode once, along with Kamek the Magikoopa. Some people say that Mario Party 9 would have online gameplay featuring Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, but that didn’t happen because Nintendo would not allow it. Classic Mode was predicted to return, but was later removed. The worst thing about Mario Party 9 is Toadette not returning to the game after nearly 4 years of absence, this would be her perfect time to return. But unfortunately she didn’t, and she was replaced by Kamek the Magikoopa because Kamek had a role for Bowser during Solo Mode, along with Shy Guy. She hasn’t been seen since Mario Super Sluggers back in 2008, but I think I will live with Kamek as a playable character for future games. But I think Nintendo is planning something ‘big’ on Toadette in the future. The reason for all this is because of Birdo returning from Mario Party 8, which made me think that Toadette would return.
I didn’t find Mario Party 9 boring at all but I can predict on what’s going to happen next, the good and the bad; it is a fun game to play with your friends and family at anytime. You can make the Dice Block much larger and spin faster by shaking the Wii Remote. Solo Mode is not tricky, I mean, you can complete that in 1 whole day, but it might be more luck related during play. It’s also easy to unlock Bowser Station, by completing every stage at once except DK’s Jungle Ruins, which is available at the Museum for 500 Party Points. So, to end my speech: “With enjoyable Minigames and tons of excitement in Party Boards, it is the true way to create an amusing festivity. If you want to party with your friends and family on your Wii, Mario Party 9 is the perfect way to get your party started.”
Gameplay 7.7
Controls 8.9
Sound 8.8
Graphics 8.2
Total 8.375
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