Mario Party 9 Rolls the Dice with Something New (Hands-On)
By:
Andre Segers
|
February 28, 2012, 1:00 pm

It doesn’t seem all that long ago that a new Mario Party would find its way to store shelves almost every year. And yet, as I was reminded during my recent visit to Nintendo, the franchise has somehow been MIA for nearly 5 years now. So I jumped at the chance to visit head into San Francisco yesterday to take Mario Party 9 and some of its 80+ brand new mini-games out for a spin, and hopefully relive some of the classic memories I have of the original.

Now if this were a preview of any of the previous eight games, I would probably begin by mentioning that Mario Party is, at its core, a virtual board game...but that isn’t really the case anymore. Sure, there’s still rolling dice and moving across spaces, but they have been sufficiently changed that even the game itself doesn’t refer to the levels as “boards” anymore, instead opting for the more conventional “stages.”
 
 
Why stages? Well, unlike previous Mario Parties where you moved around the board in a circular fashion, there’s now a clear goal--the Bowser Gate--to reach, which ends the game...with a boss fight, no less. Heck, there are even mid-bosses (which you defeat by, what else, taking them on in a mini-game) and checkpoints, where Toad provides a recap of the game’s events and throws the losing player a bone. Yes, this isn’t your father’s Mario Party.
 
There are five board...sorry, stages available from the start: Toad Road (which is New Super Mario Bros. Wii themed), Boo’s Horror Castle, Magma Mine, Blooper Beach (points for alliteration!), and Bob-Omb Factory, which is the one we played. In addition, there are two more stages that can be unlocked, but Nintendo was keeping what those might be secret. 
 
The biggest change to the game, however, is that all four-players no longer move as individuals; instead everyone now rides in a stage-specific vehicle (such as a boat, or in our case, a robotic spider) and move in tandem. To compensate for this, each player takes turns being the “captain,” which gives them control of everything that happens during that turns, such as rolling the dice, choosing which path the vehicle takes, as well as reaping--or becoming the victim--of whatever surprises may await them on the board itself.
 
 
Captains also have the ability to use “Special Dice Blocks”--assuming they found one earlier by landing on the appropriate spot. These special dice allow one to roll only low numbers (1, 2, 3) or high numbers (8, 9, 10). They can be used strategically to better your position in the game, such as by rolling low to avoid an upcoming trap, or rolling high to end the game sooner--assuming you’re in the lead of course. And players in last might even find themselves awarded a special dice: the Slow Dice Block, which basically allows them to choose the exact amount of spaces they’d like to move.
 
Of course, what would a Mario Party game be without mini-games? And Mario Party 9 delivers with more than 80 brand new ones. But surprisingly, you might not see too many of them during a session since mini-games are no longer tied to rounds; they now crop up only if you land on a mini-game space or reach a boss. And in an interesting twist, the Captain actually chooses which of the three randomly selected mini-games to play, which can give them a slight edge if they happen to know one better than the others. 
 
 
The quality of the mini-games appear to be as strong as ever, based on the few we played. Here’s some quick thoughts on the more memorable ones we saw:
 
  • In Speeding Bullets, each player took control of a Bullet Bill as we raced through a track and dodged obstacles like walls and Piranha Plants in split-screen Mario Kart style. And in hallmark Mario Party fashion, the controls were extremely simple: just tilt the controller to steer (again, like Mario Kart Wii)
     
  • Smash Compactor is similar to Mushroom Mix-up, from Mario Party 1. In this, a crushing compactor threatens to crush all but those who can successfully drop through holes that appear in the floor, leading to the level below. Of course, the catch is that there’s always one fewer hole than there are players, making for some pretty intense battles as players anxiously await for a hole to open.
     
  • Wiggler Bounce placed all four of us in a small arena where a giant Wiggler would occasionally storm through. The goal was to jump onto his back and butt-stomp him for points, with purple spots awarding one point and red ones three. Since the red spots were rarer, it was a constant battle to try and get yourself into position before an opponent pushed you out of the way.
     
  • Whomp Stomp will surely excite fans of “Honeycomb Havoc” from Mario Party 2. In this multi-round game, each player takes a quadrant of a circular platform which rests precariously in front of a giant stone Whomp. Each player then secretly casts a vote of either “1” or “0” which dictates how many positions the platform will rotate. Once everyone has cast their vote, the platform rotates the amount of voted times. If you have the misfortune of landing in front of a Whomp, you’ll not only be squished and lose a point, but you’ll also lose the opportunity the other three players have to butt-stomp the Whomp for additional points while he’s flattening you to the ground.

Now winning mini-games is pretty important as it nets you “Mini Stars,” which replaces both the coins and stars of the earlier Mario Partys. And as you may have guessed, whoever has the most at the end of the game wins. But as we saw first-hand, whoever has the lead can change at the drop of a hat. 
 
For example, after clearing the checkpoint and making our way through the final section, Bowser appeared and littered the board--err, stage--with Bowser spaces. Landing on one results in Bowser doing something devious, such as forcing one player to give Mini Stars to another, or pooling half of everyone’s Mini-Star collection and awarding it to the winners of a random mini-game. And of course, the post-game awards return too, granting some last-minute Mini Stars for players who won the most mini-games, collected the most Mini-Stars, and used the most Special Dice Blocks throughout the game.
 
Mario Party 9’s attempt to shake-up the formula might very well help broaden its reach, but we’ll find out soon if it’ll appeal to fans of the previous games as well, as it launches in the US on March 11th. Stay tuned to GameXplain.com for more on Mario Party 9 as we approach its release date!
 
If you have any questions about the game, fire 'em off in the comments and I'll respond. I promise!
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