Mario Party 7

Released: November 7, 2005

Mario Party 7 is the seventh in a series of board game style video games for Nintendo platforms, featuring popular Nintendo characters. It was released on the Nintendo GameCube in North America on November 7 , 2005 and was released on February 10 , 2006 in Europe . It features 86 new minigames and allows up to eight players to play simultaneously. This game's host is Toadsworth , Princess Peach's longtime steward. It also makes use of the microphone peripheral introduced with Mario Party 6 , which can be used in 10 minigames.

Toadsworth has invited Mario and all his friends to go on a luxury cruise around the world. However, Bowser isn't on the list. Furious at being omitted, the Koopa King vows revenge! When the cruise ship arrives at its first destination, the passengers discover that Bowser has turned their vacation paradise into a stress-filled madhouse.

The goal is to gather stars, but each board requires one to do that in a different way. For instance, people must buy a star at Pagoda Peak - if they have enough coins. In Neon Heights, one must pay coins to open a treasure box. One might find a star - or something far less desirable. Also, in Bowser's Enchanted Inferno, players may be on their way to getting a star, but end up not getting it and losing half of their coins. In Solo Cruise, some boards do not involve purchasing stars, but stealing them.

Characters

• Mario
• Luigi
• Peach
• Yoshi
• Wario
• Daisy
• Waluigi
• Toad
• Boo
• Toadette
• Birdo (New Character)
• Dry Bones (New Character)

Note: Koopa Kid , who was playable in both Mario Party 5 and Mario Party 6 , and Donkey Kong who was playable in the first four games, are not playable in this game.

Non-Playable Characters

• Toadsworth (Hosts the game.)
• Bowser (Hosts his minigames and Bowser Time and the final boss.)
• Donkey Kong (Hosts his minigames.)
• Shy Guy (Hosts events on Grand Canal & Neon Heights.)
• Koopa Troopa (Hosts events on Pagoda Peak & Windmillville.)
• Goomba (Hosts events on Pyramid Park & Bowser's Enchanted Inferno.)
• Koopa Kid (Hosts Last 4 Turns on Party Cruise and events as a result of landing on his character space, and appears in various Bowser Time happenings and events on Bowser's Enchanted Inferno.)
• Chain Chomp /Red Chain Chomp (In Pyramid Park, you may ride him to steal stars.)
• Bandit (Challenger in the solo mode version of Pyramid Park.)

Spaces

Blue: Gives 3 coins.
Red: Takes away 3 Coins.
Happening: Triggers a board-specific event.
Character: Triggers a thrown Orb and/or gives 5 Coins to the owner of the space.
Koopa Kid: Triggers a random Koopa Kid event.
Bowser: Triggers a random Bowser event.
DK: Triggers a random DK event.
Duel: Triggers a Duel mini-game.
Mic: Triggers a special Mic mini-game. Only works if the Mic is turned on.

New features

8-player

For the first time since the series' initial release in 1999 , 8 players may participate in either Party Cruise or Deluxe Cruise (the 8 player equivalent of the Mini-Game Cruise). Players are split up into teams of two and are required to share a controller, with the first player using the L Button and Control Stick in minigames and the second player using the R Button and C-Stick.

Solo cruise

While a mode for a solo player in itself isn't new to the Mario Party series, this game's take is very much different from any of the past 6 games. One player competes against another (either computer controlled or human played), trying to complete the set objective on the board map before the other can. Tasks range from collecting a set number of stars to having a set number of coins on a space. Up to 10 slots of different characters with different phrases may be saved. Once a player has completed all 6 boards, they are added to the rankings section, where it shows the players who took the least turns to complete them.

Bowser time

The premise of this game is not only based on a cruise, but Bowser's rage as well since he was not invited. This is where Bowser Time, only on Party Cruise, comes in. After every turn, a meter with Bowser's face on it rises. After 5 turns, the meter will fill completely, and Bowser Time commences. Bowser may take a picture of all the players and charge them coins, but not give them the picture, destroy a shop and build his own, selling items players don't need to one player before closing (Such as a Koopa Kid Orb for 10-20 coins), or do something else, which varies from board to board. In addition to Bowser Time, Bowser wrecks the party by adding three Koopa Kid spaces at the start of the game.

Other features

• There is a Single-Player Mic Minigame, which requires the player to name the fruit behind each card selected. The player may wager up to 99 coins, if they have that many, which allows them to double their coins if they win. It is only available on Board Maps; the sequence begins when a player (or team) lands on a Mic Space.
• There is a "duty-free shop", where new characters, sounds, and other unlockables can be bought. It is similar to Mario Party 6 ''s "star bank".
• DK and Bowser now have Single-Player Minigames to attempt to help/hinder one player's progress. DK requires the player to defeat DK in a minigame to win coins and even a star. Bowser requires the player to find a key before time runs out, or he'll steal coins or a star.
• Duel Minigames are no longer wagers for coins/stars as they were in the past. Instead, the winner of the Duel Minigame will get the chance to spin the Slot of Stupendousness , where they will get 10 coins, half the coins, all the coins, a star, a double star or nothing from the losing player.

Boards

Since, in Mario Party 7, Mario and his friends are travelling the world they go to different countries and have parties there.

• Grand Canal ( Italy )
• Pagoda Peak ( China )
• Pyramid Park ( Egypt )
• Neon Heights ( United States )
• Windmillville ( Netherlands )
• Bowser's Enchanted Inferno (Bowser's Castle)

Orbs

There are many new orbs in Mario Party 7, and new ways to acquire and use them. Some can be used beneficially, such as increasing the amount of dice blocks used, while others can be set to damage opponents, by placing them on certain game board spaces. Certain orbs have defensive uses, for instance warding off a chain chomp's attack. Orbs are obtained by passing Orb Spaces or by purchasing them from Orb Shops. Orbs can be thrown up to five spaces behind or ahead of the player, but they cannot placed on special spaces.

Minigames

There are nine types of minigames in the game: Four-player, one versus three, two versus two, battle, duel, eight-player, DK, Bowser, and rare. For four-player and one versus three, there are an additional five minigames that can be played with the microphone . Examples of minigames include "World Piece", "Helipopper", and "Ice Moves".

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