Mario Party 9

Mario Party 9

European box art
Developer(s) Nd Cube[1]
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Director(s) Shuichiro Nishiya
Composer(s) Toshiki Aida
Ryosuke Asami
Series Mario Party
Platform(s) Wii
Release date(s)
  • HKG June 29, 2012
  • KOR April 11, 2013
Genre(s) Party, Adventure
Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer
Distribution Wii Optical Disc

Mario Party 9 (Japanese: マリオパーティ9 Hepburn: Mario Pāti Nain) is a party video game for the Wii.[4] It is the second and final Mario Party game for the Wii, the ninth for Nintendo's home consoles, and the twelfth overall. It was officially announced at E3 2011 and was released on March 2, 2012 in Europe, on March 8, 2012 in Australia, on March 11, 2012 in North America, on April 26, 2012 in Japan, on June 29, 2012 in Hong Kong and on April 11, 2013 in Korea. It is the first of the Mario Party series to be developed by Nd Cube, as they took over development of the series from Hudson Soft, which was absorbed by Konami on March 1, 2012. Mario Party 9 is followed by Mario Party: Island Tour.

Gameplay

Thwomper Room, one of the free-for-all minigames in Mario Party 9.

Like previous Mario Party titles, two to four players move around a virtual board and play minigames. A new gameplay element in all of the boards is that all four players move around together in one vehicle.[5][6] The number of spaces the player moves is determined by a roll of the dice block found within the game. Instead of trying to collect coins to buy stars, players receive Mini Stars if they pass by them. While doing that, players must also try to avoid Mini Ztars, which deduct their current amount of Mini Stars. Mini Stars and Mini Ztars are replaced with bananas and Z-bananas on the board "DK's Jungle Ruins."

Minigames have a larger focus on the gameplay than they did in the previous game.[7][8] However, the minigames don't appear after everyone moves, but only when a player ends up on any of the spaces or events that triggers a minigame. A person can play on solo mode to unlock the final stage, as well as two playable characters.

Another new feature is that each board culminates in a boss battle that is played with all players in the vehicle.[9][10] There is also a boss battle at the halfway point of a board. There are 82 minigames in Mario Party 9, divided into five categories: Free-for-all, 1-vs.-Rivals, Bowser Jr., Boss Battle, and Extra.[11]

At the end of each stage, the number of Mini Stars the player collects is converted into Party Points, which can be used to buy new stages, constellations, vehicles, difficulties, and sounds in the museum.

Playable characters

Mario Party 9 features twelve playable characters, with two being unlockable.

Plot

One night outside of Peach's Castle, Mario and his friends come to watch the Mini Stars glitter in the sky. As Mario searches through the telescope, he notices that the stars suddenly begin to get 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 in the sky. 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 Kamek are seen coming out of the woods and start following them, as part of Bowser's plan.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings75.05%
Metacritic73/100
Review scores
PublicationScore
IGN7.0/10[12][13]
Nintendo Power8/10[14]
NintendoLife[15]
GameSpot6/10
Destructoid7.5/10[16]
Nintendo World Report8.5/10
Joystiq[17]
Computer and Video Games8/10[18]

Mario Party 9 received mixed to positive reviews, having an aggregate score of 73 on Metacritic based on 44 reviews and an aggregate score of 74.69% on Gamerankings, based on 27 reviews.[19][20]

German magazine N-Zone gave Mario Party 9 a 75% score for single player mode, and 85% for multiplayer mode.[21] Nintendo Power gave it an 8/10, saying that "the majority of the game's 82 activities are fun", while commenting that "some may be discouraged by the game's radical changes".[14] Nintendo World Report gave the game a score of 8.5/10.[22] Gaming magazine Famitsu gave the game a score of 34/40.

IGN gave the game a 7.0 "Good" rank, praising its graphical improvement and its control style. Like previous Mario Party games, IGN strongly criticized the luck-based factor of the game. UGO Entertainment gave the game an A-, criticizing the game's single player mode, but praising its multiplayer and improvement from previous titles.[12][13]

MyNintendoNews gave the game an 8.5/10, criticizing the game for not having an online mode, but stated that the game is "immensely entertaining" and an improvement from past Mario Party games.[15][23] GamesRadar gave the game a score of 8/10, praising Mario Party 9 for being balanced, but criticized the predictability of the boards.[24] NintendoLife gave the game a score of 8/10.

Ashton Raze from GameSpot awarded the game a 6/10, stating that the game is too "predictable" and "much too familiar". However, he praised the game's wide variety of fun mini-games and cheerful, colorful visuals.[25]

As of September 2012, Mario Party 9 has yielded sales of 2.24 million copies worldwide.[26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Mario Party 9". Nintendo. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Mario Party 9 (Wii)". NintendoLife. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "Mario Party 9". Nintendo. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
  4. ↑ Fletcher, JC. "Yep, there's a Mario Party 9". Joystiq. Retrieved 2011-08-11.
  5. ↑ "Minigame Madness coming to the Wii this Christmas.". Everybody Plays. Retrieved 2011-08-11.
  6. ↑ kksl1der. "Mario Party 9 announced". The Nintendo Basement.
  7. ↑ Lucario. "E3 2011: Mario Party 9 trailer". Aussie Nintendo. Retrieved 2011-08-11.
  8. ↑ Cole, Joey. "E3 2011: MARIO PARTY 9 Announcement Trailer". The Daily BLAM!. Retrieved 2011-08-11.
  9. ↑ Mario Party 9, Nintendo.com
  10. ↑ "Mario Party 9". bestbuy.com. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  11. ↑ "Official Site - Mario Party 9 for Wii". Nintendo. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Claiborn, Samuel. "Mario Party 9 Review - Wii Review at IGN". Wii.ign.com. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Furfari, Paul (2012-03-05). "Mario Party 9 Review - Mario Party". UGO.com. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Nintendo Power Issue 276: March 2012
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 James Newton (March 1, 2012). "Life and soul". NintendoLife.
  16. ↑ "Review: Mario Party 9". Destructoid. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  17. ↑ Cabral, Matt (2012-03-14). "Mario Party 9 review: Rolling like a boss". Joystiq. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  18. ↑ Sykes, Tom (2012-03-17). "Wii Review: Mario Party 9 review: A big improvement - but it can't live with Nintendo's best". ComputerAndVideoGames.com. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  19. ↑ "Mario Party 9 for Wii Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  20. ↑ "Mario Party 9 for Wii". GameRankings. 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  21. ↑ Schirado, Tyler. "New 'Mario Party 9' Gameplay Details and Mini-Game Descriptions". Game Rant.com. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  22. ↑ "Mario Party 9 Review - Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  23. ↑ "Mario Party 9 Review". My Nintendo News. 2012-03-09. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  24. ↑ "Mario Party 9 Review". GamesRadar. 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  25. ↑ Raze, Ashton (2012-03-14). "Mario Party 9 Review - GameSpot.com". GameSpot. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved 2014-07-16.
  26. ↑ "Financial Results Briefing for the Six-Month Period Ended September 2012" (PDF). Nintendo. Retrieved 2012-11-10.

External links