Mario Party 4

Overview

Mario Party 4 is the fourth game in the Mario Party franchise. It is the first installment for the Nintendo GameCube, as well. The game was released on October 21, 2002 in North America, on November 8, 2002 in Japan, and on November 29, 2002 in PAL regions. Mario Party 4 was developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo. The game is largely similar to previous installments in the franchise, leading to complaints from critics and fans for lack of originality. Despite this, the game was praised for its simplistic-but-fun minigames, graphical improvement, and whimsical music. Mario Party 4 holds a 74% average rating on Game Rankings and a 70% average rating on Metacritic.

The plot of the game involves several characters from the game finding a "Party Cube," which can be used to create a party and game boards revolving around their dreams. Bowser, naturally, decides to be the rotten apple by spoiling everything with his own game board.

Gameplay

Mario Party 4 uses the same traditional gameplay as the three previous games in the franchise. The game takes place on a variety of boards, on which an individual "board game" takes place. Characters from the Mario franchise traverse these boards, with goals depending on what board and mode it is. In the single-player story mode, one player plays against several computer-controlled opponents, while in the multiplayer mode, several players play against one another. Squares on the board do different effects, such as triggering a minigame, giving coins, opening a shop, or triggering the opportunity to gain a star (the goal of the game). There are only a few other items in the game, mostly available for purchase, but Mini and Mega Mushrooms can be gained by stepping on the right square.

There are several different types of minigames in Mario Party 4. Each minigame awards coins for the player, which can be saved and then used to purchase a star. The types of minigames are four player minigames, one versus three minigames, two versus two minigames, battle minigames, Bowser minigames, story minigames, and Extra Room minigames. Four player, one versus three, and two versus two are all played with the corresponding amount of players. Battle minigames are where the players all contribute to an award "pot," of which the winner gets a large percentage. Bowser minigames are encountered towards the end of the game, while story minigames are only available during the single-player mode. Extra Room minigames can be accessed in the Extra Room.

There are six boards and eight playable characters in the game. The playable characters are Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess Peach, Wario, Donkey Kong (his last appearance as a playable character, as he begins running the Donkey Kong minigames in Mario Party 5), Princess Daisy, and Waluigi. Princess Daisy and Waluigi were previously only available in certain areas, so they are technically new additions. The six boards are Toad's Midway Madness, Koopa's Seaside Soiree, Goomba's Greedy Gala, Boo's Haunted Bash, Shy Guy's Jungle Jam, and Bowser's Gnarly Party. Each of these boards has a specific theme, with features reflecting on the setting of the board (such as a roulette in the casino board). Various locales of interest on the board include Events (which are scattered about the board), Lottery Shops (essentially gambling coins ), and Boo Houses (the Boo can be paid to steal from other players). Most other spaces are either red or blue (which subtract or add coins).

Minigames

Four player minigames

• Avalanche!
• Bob-omb Breakers
• Booksquirm
• Domination
• Long Claw of the Law
• Manta Rings
• Mario Medley
• Mario Speedwagons
• Mr. Blizzard's Brigade
• Paratrooper Plunge
• Photo Finish
• Slime Time
• Stamp Out!
• Take a Breather
• Three Throw
• Toad's Quick Draw

One versus three minigames

• Blame it on the Crane
• Candlelight Flight
• Fish n' Drips
• GOOOOOOOAL!!
• Hide and Go BOOM!
• Hop or Pop
• Makin' Waves
• Money Belts
• Tree Stomp

Two versus two minigames

• Cheep Cheep Sweep
• Cliffhangers
• Dungeon Duos
• Order Up
• Pair-a-Sailing
• Reverse-a-Bomb
• Right Oar Left?
• Team Treasure Trek
• The Great Deflate

Battle minigames

• Bowser's Bigger Blast
• Butterfly Blitz
• Chain Chomp Fever
• Paths of Peril
• Rumble Fishing
• Trace Race

Other mini-games

• Mega Board Mayhem
• Mini Board Mad-Dash
• Panels Of Doom
• Bowser Wrestling
• The Final Battle!
• Archaeologuess
• Bowser Bop
• Goomba's Chip Flip
• Kareening Koopas
• Mystic Match 'Em
• Booksquirm
• Panel Panic
• Barrel Baron
• Bob-omb X-ing
• Doors of Doom
• Goomba Stomp
• Jigsaw Jitters
• Mushroom Medic
• Beach Volley Folley
• Balloon of Doom
• Darts of Doom
• Fruits of Doom