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Mario Party 9 (also called MP9) is the ninth home console installment of the Mario Party series and the second and final installment (the first being Mario Party 8) for the Wii. The game was the first in the series to be developed by NDcube instead of Hudson Soft. It is also the sixteenth in the series overall. The game was released on March 2, 2012 in Europe, March 8, 2012 in Australia, March 11, 2012 in America, and Canada and April 26, 2012 in Japan. The host of the game is Yellow Toad for the boards while Blue Toad is the host for minigames, and Green Toad appears near the end of Boards to initiate an event similar to the Last Five Turns Event from past Mario Party games. This is also the twenty-fifth and the final installment of the Mario franchise overall to be released for the Wii console. Unlike Mario Party 8, the game features widescreen support.

Story[]

On a night outside of Peach's Castle, Mario and his friends are gathered to watch the Mini Stars glitter in the sky. As Mario peers though the telescope, he is shocked as he notices that the Stars are suddenly being sucked through a vortex. It is then revealed to be Bowser and Bowser Jr. on a spacecraft, who are using a vacuum-like machine to suck the Stars out of the sky and into containers. Upon witnessing this, Mario and the gang set out to defeat them and save the Mini Stars. After they start their journey, Shy Guy and Magikoopa are seen coming out of the woods and start following them, as part of Bowser's plan.

Before each board, there is a cutscene that features Bowser admiring his collection of Mini Stars. Bowser Jr. then runs over to him to show his father the progression of Mario's group. Bowser is enraged, but summons two of his minions to stop the group before they can take all the Mini Stars. Eventually, however, the group reaches Bowser's location, Bowser Station, and must face Bowser Jr. before battling his father.

After the final battle with Bowser, the player looks out from the stadium at Bowser's other platform, where the canisters containing all the Mini Stars burst and release them back to where they once were. As this happens, Bowser and Bowser Jr. are flying off. Bowser is mourning over the failure of his plan, which he reveals was to decorate his castle using the Mini Stars. However, upon seeing the released Mini Stars, Bowser is enraged and chases off the ones that fly near him. However, this only results in him falling out of his Koopa Clown Car; Bowser Jr. flies down to save him. Back at Peach's Castle, Mario and friends are once again gathered around the telescope to admire the Mini Stars as they glisten in the night sky.

Gameplay[]

In Mario Party 9, a new form of gameplay was introduced in this game, retiring the old format seen in the prior eight titles: players move all at once through the board in a vehicle (a car in Toad Road, a magic carpet in Boo's Horror Castle and a legged machine in Bob-omb Factory, for example), still taking turns rolling, moving from a starting point to to an ending point. Instead of rolling a die with a 1-10 on it like in the previous games, players can only roll a dice block with a 1-6 on it; however, there are other dice blocks that can be collected, which includes a dice block that allows a 1-10 roll. Instead of trying to collect Coins to buy Stars, players receive Mini Stars if they pass by them. Coins and stars are replaced by Mini Stars and Mini Ztars. While doing so, players must also try to avoid Mini Ztars, which deduct their current amount of Mini Stars. The player who collects the most Mini Stars by the end of the game is declared the winner. In the board DK's Jungle Ruins, Mini Stars and Mini Ztars are replaced by Bananas and Z-Bananas and players collect that instead. However, they function like Mini Stars and Mini Ztars from the previous boards.

New minigame types are introduced in the Mario Party series, one example being 1 vs. 2 minigames against Bowser Jr. In this game, the minigames don't appear after every player has moved, but only when a player ends up on any of the spaces that triggers a minigame. Also, when receiving dice blocks, a minigame might pop up after as well. Unlike the previous Mario Party games, where often only the winner(s) of a minigame receives a reward, all minigames are ranked from first to last place and generally all players receive Mini Stars, with players in a higher position earning more Mini Stars.

During a party, there are two board events that are required to occur before advancing: Captain Events and Boss Battles. The former occurs whenever a player arrives on a Captain Event Space. The event differs for each board, but they all allow the players to earn more Mini Stars, though the player that has started the event always has some form of control over the event, putting him or her in an advantage state. As for Boss Battles, there are two Boss Battle Spaces on every board, one near a fortress and one at the end. During the Boss Battle minigames, players must work together to defeat a boss while attempting to increase their own individual scores, as the player with the highest score wins the minigame, which gives more Mini Stars than normal.

Characters[]

Playable Default

Unlockable[]

  • Shy Guy (newcomer)
  • Kamek (Magikoopa in American editions) (newcomer)

Non Playable[]

Bosses[]

Stages[]

Name Description Captain Event Image
Toad Road First stage. It is very simple, only a few gimmicks. Features grasses and trees, and as well as windmills. 9 Island
Bob-omb Factory Second stage. Slightly harder than first one. It is full of pale green conveyor belts. The owner of this factory is Bob-omb, hence the name. Side-by-side Zone
Boo's Horror Castle Third stage. This takes place in very scary castle floating on a sea. Boos will stop people and anyone caught by ghost will lose half their Mini Stars. For example, if Mario has 10 Mini Stars, then he'll only have five. Scaredy Rat Race
Blooper Beach Fourth stage. This takes place in the beach. Players travel on ocean to reach the goal. Huckit Crabs turn all of Mini Stars into Ztars if someone lands on green space. Sunken Treasure
Magma Mine Fifth stage. This takes place in hot, hot volcano. Touching lava will cause players to lose half their Mini Stars. The goal is to escape volcano's vent. Dice Block Chicken
Bowser Station Sixth stage. Bowser Jr.]is the mid-boss while his father, Bowser is the main boss of the stage. Jackpot will increase your character's Mini Stars. Strangely, it has no hazards. Heart Star Colony, Bingo Colony, & Speed Star Colony
DK's Jungle Ruins This is the last stage. It can be unlocked by getting 500 party points in Museum. Bananas act a substitute for Mini-Stars while Z-Bananas act as a replacement for Ztars. Barrel Choice

Minigames[]

Free-for-All Minigames[]

Note: Mini-games are listed in alphabetical order. The # means it's actual number.

Number (Alphabetically) Name Pun Number (Actual)
1 10 to Win N/A 18
2 Ballistic Beach N/A 28
3 Billistics Ballistics 37
4 Bomb Barge Bombard 31
5 Buddy Bounce N/A 1
6 Bumper Bubbles Bumper Cars 29
7 Card Smarts Card Sharks 20
8 Chain Event Main Event 8
9 Don't Look N/A 32
10 Flinger Painting Finger Painting 30
11 Fungi Frenzy N/A 44
12 Goomba Bowling N/A 23
13 Goomba Spotting N/A 41
14 Goomba Village N/A 5
15 Growing Up Going Up and Growing Up 13
16 Jigsaw Jumble Jigsaw Puzzle 12
17 Launch Break Lunch Break 4
18 Logger Heads Loggerheads 2
19 Magma Mayhem N/A 42
20 Manor of Escape Manner of Escape 26
21 Mecha Choice Meta Choice and Make-a-Choice 11
22 Peak Precision N/A 17
23 Pianta Pool N/A 7
24 Pier Pressure Peer Pressure 36
25 Pinball Fall N/A 3
26 Piranha Patch N/A 34
27 Pit or Platter Pitter-plater 38
28 Pizza Me, Mario It's a me, Mario! 43
29 Player Conveyor N/A 27
30 Plunder Ground Plunder and Underground 35
31 Polar Extreme The Polar Express 22
32 Ring Leader Ring Leader 15
33 Skipping Class Skipping Class 10
34 Skyjinks Sky and Hijinx 9
35 Smash Compactor Trash Compactor 16
36 Snow Go No go 33
37 Speeding Bullets N/A 6
38 Thwomper Room Romper Room 39
39 Toad and Go Seek Hide and go seek 21
40 Tuber Tug N/A 19
41 Tumble Temple N/A 24
42 Twist Ending Twist Ending 25
43 Upward Mobility Downward Mobility 14
44 Urn It Earn It 40

1 vs. Rivals Minigames[]

Number (Alphabetically) Name Pun Number (Actual)
45 Block and Roll Rock 'n' Roll 48
46 Hazard Hold N/A 46
47 Hole Hogs N/A 52
48 Line in the Sand Line in the Sand 47
49 Mob Sleds Bobsleds 54
50 Pix Fix N/A 53
51 Ruins Rumble N/A 45
52 Spike-n-Span Spick and Span 51
53 Tackle Takedown N/A 49
54 Weird Wheels N/A 50

Bowser Jr. Minigames[]

Number (Alphabetically) Name Pun Number (Actual)
55 Bowser Pop N/A 56
56 Bumper Sparks N/A 61
57 Cage Match Cage Match 59
58 Crossfire Caverns N/A 60
59 Double Pounder N/A 57
60 Mecha March N/A 55
61 Pair of Aces N/A 63
62 Pedal to the Paddle Pedal to the Metal 64
63 Sand Trap Sand Trap 62
64 Zoom Room N/A 58

Boss Battle Minigames[]

Number (Alphabetically) Name Number (Actual)
65 Blooper Barrage 75
66 Bombard King Bob-omb 73
67 Bowser Jr. Breakdown 70
68 Bowser's Block Battle 77
69 Chain Chomp Romp 76
70 Cheep Cheep Shot 68
71 Deck Dry Bones 67
72 Diddy's Banana Blast 71
73 DK's Banana Bonus 78
74 King Boo's Puzzle Attack 74
75 Sock It to Lakitu 65
76 Spike Strike 69
77 Whomp Stomp 66
78 Wiggler Bounce 72

Extra Minigames[]

Number (Alphabetically) Name Number (Actual)
79 Castle Clearout 79
80 Goomba Bowling 81
81 Perspective Mode 82
82 Shell Soccer 80

Minigame Music[]

Note: Goomba Bowling (both versions) and Don't Look lack mini-game music.

Name Plays in:
Jump-Jump-Jumping! Skyjinks, Upward Mobility
Hit the Field Skipping Class, Bomb Barge, Tackle Takedown
Pandemonium Flinger Painting, Fungi Frenzy, Hazard Hold
How Strange! Chain Event, Thwomper Room, Weird Wheels
Fluff Buddy Bounce, Bumper Bubbles
Hoopla Tuber Tug, Piranha Patch
Fun Times Pinball Fall, Goomba Village, Toad and Go Seek, Pit, or Platter
Hurry Up! Tumble Temple, Magma Mayhem, Block and Roll
Watch Out! Billistics, Ruins Rumble
Freshen Up! Speeding Bullets
Think About It Jigsaw Jumble, Card Smarts, Goomba Spotting, Pix Fix
What's This? Twist Ending, Urn It
You're Not Getting Away! Mecha March
Go Crazy! Launch Break, Peak Precision
Be Careful! 10 to Win, Player Conveyor, Ballistic Beach
Island Activities Pianta Pool, Ring Leader, Pier Pressure, Line in the Sand
Don't Freeze! Polar Extreme, Snow Go, Mob Sleds
Which Is It? Plunder Ground, Hole Hogs
Can You Do It? Logger Heads, Growing Up, Pizza Me Mario
Run! Smash Compactor
Heart-Pounding Thrills Mecha Choice, Manor of Escape, Spike-n-Span
Super-Duper Mario Bros. Castle Clearout, Shell Soccer
Bowser Jr. Battle 1 Zoom Room, Cage Match
Bowser Jr. Battle 2 Bowser Pop, Double Pounder
Bowser Jr. Battle 3 Pedal to the Paddle
Bowser Jr. Battle 4 Crossfire Caverns, Bumper Sparks, Pair of Aces
Bowser Jr. Battle 5 Sand Trap
Tough Enemy Sock It to Lakitu, Whomp Stomp, Deck Dry Bones, Cheep Cheep Shot, Spike Strike
Now You've Done It! Sock It to Lakitu, Whomp Stomp, Deck Dry Bones, Cheep Cheep Shot, Spike Strike
Battle with Wiggler Wiggler Bounce
Wiggler's Mad! Wiggler Bounce
Battle with King Bob-omb Bombard King Bob-omb
King Bob-omb's Mad! Bombard King Bob-omb
Battle with King Boo King Boo's Puzzle Attack
King Boo's Mad! King Boo's Puzzle Attack
Battle with Blooper Blooper Barrage
Blooper's Mad! Blooper Barrage
Battle with Chain Chomp Chain Chomp Romp
Chain Chomp's Mad! Chain Chomp Romp
Battle with Bowser Jr. Bowser Jr. Breakdown
Bowser Jr.'s Mad! Bowser Jr. Breakdown
Battle with Bowser Bowser's Block Battle
Bowser's Mad! Bowser's Block Battle
So Many Bananas! Diddy's Banana Blast
Even More Bananas! DK's Banana Bonus

Note: There are 82 minigames, more minigames than others except Mario Party 7.

Spaces[]

There are twenty one spaces in the game. They are:

  • Blue Space
  • Red Space
  • Green Space
  • Yellow Space
  • White Space
  • Star Space
  • Mini Star Space
  • Mini Ztar Space
  • Dice Space
  • Event Space
  • Dash Space
  • Back Space
  • Shuffle Space
  • Spin Space
  • Lucky Space
  • Unlucky Space
  • Bowser Space
  • Free-for-all Space
  • Battle Space
  • 1-vs-Rival Space
  • Bowser Jr. Space
  • Captain Event Space
  • Boss Battle Space
  • Magma Space
  • Jackpot Space
  • DK Space

Items[]

Reception[]

Reviews for Mario Party 9 have been generally mixed to positive. It has received a 73 from Metacritic based on 45 reviews.[1] and a 75.05% from GameRankings based on 30 reviews.[2] IGN gave it a 7/10 explaining that the graphics are good but the music is repetitive and the luck plays a big role in determining a player's fate in the game. GameSpot gave it a 6.0 explaining that it is too familiar and that Solo mode is tedious and required for unlocks. Game Informer, known for their infamously bad reviews of Mario Party games, gave the game a 5.75/10 explaining that the game relies far too heavily on luck and can make for a "disheartening experience."[3] Destructoid gave the game a 7.5/10, praising the reduction of motion-control minigames, and saying that many of the minigames feel like true Mario experiences and not Mario versions of party games, and that the influence of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Super Mario Galaxy, and to a lesser extent, Super Mario Sunshine, is "pretty much the game's central theme," and that it feels more like an "honest-to-god" Mario game than the other entries, but complained that the game is still determined a lot by chance.[4]

Sales[]

Mario Party 9 is the 26th best-selling game for the Wii, having sold 3.12 million copies worldwide, as of October 2016.

Credits[]

Main article: Mario Party 9/credits

Gallery[]

  Main article: Mario Party 9/gallery

Trivia[]

  • This is the first home console Mario Party game since Mario Party 5 to not feature Toadette.
  • This is the last Mario Party game until Mario Party: The Top 100 where Donkey Kong is a non-playable character.
    • This is also the last mainstream Mario Party game so far where Donkey Kong is a non-playable character.
  • This is also the second and final Mario Party game to be released on the Wii. The next game would be released on the Wii U.
    • This is also the final Mario game to be released on the Wii overall.
  • This is the only Mario game on the Wii to use the modern Mario font for the in-game text, including Mini Star counts.
    • The beta screenshots for the game however used the classic font, why the font was changed in the game's final build is unknown.
  • This is the only Traditional Chinese Wii game that does not mention iQue in its credits. All Chinese localization was done by Nintendo Hong Kong and Taiwan personnel.

References[]

  1. Metacritic score for Mario Party 9. Metacritic. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  2. GameRankings score for Mario Party 9. GameRankings. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  3. Game Informer Score for Mario Party 9. Game Informer. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  4. Destructiod score for Mario Party 9.] Destructoid. Retrieved June 29, 2017.

External links[]

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